I'm Broke!!

Since I have lived here the US dollar has plummeted. In April of last year, the exchange rate was approximately 1.35 meaning that for 1 Euro it would cost you $1.35. Now, the exchange rate has reached 1.55 (for 1 Euro it would cost you $1.55). Ok, so we are only talking about $0.20 but let me explain the impact.

I bought gas for my tiny little Fiesta about 2 weeks ago. I always wait until I am almost out of gas (I know, I know....no lectures please!) before I fill up....give or take a few liters. Then I bought gas again this past week. So, on March 3rd, I spent $59.90 (yes, that is US dollars to fill up my tiny little Fiesta) and on March 13, it cost me $72.14. I may have bought a little more gas the second time, but the exchange is killing me. I spent almost $15 more the second time I filled up (getting about the same amount of gas) mostly due to the exchange rate. And, my car is a diesel...and diesel is cheaper than gas over here.

First of all, gas here is ridiculous. I spend close to 1.26 Euros per liter and sometimes more. I think there are about 4.4 liters to a gallon....so that is 5.54 euros per gallon or $8.59 per gallon. I do not want to hear how much you are all paying for gas in the US!

Another example...in April of last year, if I were to spend 100 Euros on groceries, it would cost me $135. For the exact same groceries that I spend 100 Euros on today...it would cost me $155...for the SAME THING. Let me also remind everyone that I am still being paid in US dollars...and not Euros so the impact is there!

I have to be honest and say that my company does compensate us on the exchange rate fluctuations and I am not impacted that much....but how incredibly ridiculous is this. They are predicting the dollar to continue to go down...maybe even reach 2.0 before my time here is up! What is happening to our economy?