Hello, people from the other side of the world, I’m a 30-year-old woman living in the capital of a tropical country. I have a dream of becoming a full-time housewife and mom in the near future (I hope), but I am currently working as a salaried woman. I work from 8 to 4, with overtime two or three times a week, and that earns me $540 a month.
Is $540 enough? I could say so. I live in a cozy but not so big room for $140 with a shared kitchen. However, the price of basic necessities continues to rise, while the government has asked employers to raise employees’ salaries by $10. Yeah, a salary raise of $10 to cover the double price of basic needs. Capitalism as its finest~
Living in this metropolitan city makes a side hustle the norm. What about in your place? Some people may enjoy it because they can turn their passion into a side hustle. Some may also enjoy it because they love working mindlessly. Moreover, “some” is probably about 10-20% of the population. The others are forced to do that because they barely earn minimum wage, which is $340. Cool aight? Those who barely make minimum wage are barely managing to survive. Half of them take a side hustle to be able to feed their family, and the other half take a side hustle to be able to buy a cup of coffee. So, to them, a side hustle is no longer optional. It becomes survival.
As for working 8-4 plus overtime not being enough, people need to invest more time in side hustles. At this point, it is not only the executives who have sold their lives to a company; everyone has sold their lives to the never-ending work. No more time for hobbies, not even enough time to rest. Once again, I’m not trying to blame the executive or even the government for the low minimum wage for the majority. They are also part of this broken system. And yes, our system is broken and could collapse at any time.
It is just a reflection for me, for us, that we are doing our best; it is not our fault that we cannot earn enough money to buy necessities, or that we cannot provide our family with more after working 24/7. We are doing our best. That should count for something. We hustle to survive, but we hold onto our dreams to feel alive. I still dream of becoming a full-time housewife one day. But for now, I hustle — not for ambition, but for stability.