Counting coppers

While living in Croatia in one aspect I had a bad reputation. A lot of people thought I was a cheapskate that is counting coppers and is flipping every kuna (Croatian currency) three times over. I will admit, I am guilty as charged on that count. I always liked to have control over my money. I like to know how much I am earning and what are my living expenses. I also like to know what are my needs and what is fluff, what is the stuff I can live without.

It is not surprising that with my take on money I was considered a cheapskate. This take on money definitely isn't a cultural default in Croatia. As with a lot of other things, Croatians are relaxed with money. When you have money, you spend it, don't fuss about the future too much. When it runs out, we will somehow find a way. Live a little or why are you denying yourself so much was just some of things I would hear often. I was even keeping the budget, keeping track of my expenses and income and when people would see it, I would get a bewildering giggles about it.

When my ex-wife and me went on our own I started to run the budget. At first she was a bit reluctant but she went with it. But then, six years later when Croatia hit me on the head and I lost the job, she realized how useful it was, because we had savings and money wasn't an issue. Doing budget of course isn't something Croatians usually do as well. 

Another thing Croatians don't usually do is talk about money among family or friends or ever, except when they go bankrupt. Then they start but then is too little to late. In Denmark is quite the opposite. Starting position is that people are doing budget and talk about money. That way they know how much are they earning and where is the money going. Benefit of it is that it is much more difficult to find yourself in the situation where money just magically vanishes, a situation not that uncommon in my native country. But, of course these are cultural defaults, there are Danes who couldn't hold on to 1 krona if their life depended on it and Croatians who are careful with their kunas.

At first I was a bit surprised with this cultural difference. At first I was thinking, wouldn't it be reasonable to expect that Croatians will be more careful with money since they have less and it is harder to come by? But then I realized that my reasoning is going in the wrong direction. One of the reasons why Danes have more money is because they are much more careful with their spending, both on the individual level and the level of the state. Government debt in Denmark is around 35% of the GDP and in Croatia around 75% of the GDP.

I must say that in this aspect I fell more at home in Denmark then I ever did in Croatia where I was considered just as a cheapskate weirdo. My habit of "counting coppers" is taken as a given in Denmark. As my girlfriend told me: "Of course it is normal, what other way could we keep track of our money."

I will finish this entry with one Croatian proverb that goes: "It is easy to spend other people money." maybe that on it own says enough about the way an average Croatian take on money and the state of public finances in Croatia.