I knew things were going to be more expensive here in Kyiv, as it's the capital city, and closer to USA or European prices, but I was actually shocked that I somehow ended up with a $10,000 credit card balance this month. In Sri Lanka I was spending around $1,500 a month on average, going out to eat everyday, living directly on the beach. Lets break down how much I spent this month and what I got for it, as well as my thoughts, plans, and goals for April 2021. If you really want to live like a baller, take dates to high end restaurants, have cocktails at fancy bars, and live in a modern apartment, you'll actually need to budget $2,500 to $3,000 a month. In my experience, that's also the amount of money you'll need to spend each month to live comfortably in the city center, go out to restaurants, take taxis, etc. That would be equivalent to someone in the US earning $1,800 a month if you factor in taxes. More than half of the income in Ukraine isn't officially reported and all of the numbers you'll see are after tax, which means that people are actually earning closer to $1,000 a month after tax, which really only allows you to live outside of the center, and cook at home most meals. The average salary in Kyiv is $574 a month, which makes it seem like you'll be able to live comfortably off of anything more than that, but in reality, things here are a lot more expensive than you might imagine. It has a population of around 3 Million people officially, but in reality has a lot more as there are thousands of students, expats, tourists, and Ukrainians from other cities or small towns living here and working unofficially. Kyiv is the capital city of Ukraine, and is also known as Kiev from the Russian influenced times. But it's also exciting as I've been able to live a European standard of life again, eat Western food, and do a lot of things that I've missed in the past year. I'm both excited and hesitant to calculate how much I spent this month as I have a feeling it'll be 2-4x what I've been spending in Sri Lanka all of last year. Happy April everyone! It's officially the start of Spring, and it's been exactly 30 days since I arrived in Ukraine.
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