Back when I traveled to meet @Joannewong, I was trying to wrap my head around RM(ringgit malaysia) which has lesser zero than Indonesian's currency IDR. I asked her a question, what can I get with the coin that I had which was 0.50 RM and so on.
Now,if you have never travelled to Indonesia, the bank note starts from 1000, 2000, 5000, with the highest 100000. And yes, you can be a millionaire in Indonesia with the current exchange rate about 1$= 14053.00 idr.
I am going to show you what can you get with 2000 idr equals to 0.14$ for basic necessities.
A pack of instant noodle
College students love this. However there are many variations and prices when it comes to instant noodle. The cheapest that I can find is this brand that fits the rate of 2000idr. This will help you survive but never take too much of this. There are healthy options out there.
3 packs of small detergent
Again, there are many variations of this product and often each of them cost 500-600idr in a retail shop. This will be helpful if you want to save up instead spending your money on laundry service.
A pack of dishwashing liquid
Just in case you are settling down for more than a week and want to save up on a meal, you need this!
4 waffers or small snacks
Snacking cheap with this wafer and of course there are many variations out there. This is just one of it.
Parking lot under the sun in any street or 1 hr in a shopping mall.
Better yet, just drive around with Gojek ( The Indonesian version of Uber).
The list are actually endless. Living in Indonesia is very reasonable and adjustable depending on how you budget your spending and your mindset coming to the country. If you want to relax and do shopping spree, that's doable but if you want to stay low while saving up for another long travel, it's also doable. I've been in the low and highs, trying all kinds of financial plan and now I guess I'll be sticking being very frugal.