'Zero money equals zero safety'
A Ukrainian couple juggles rising costs, war and fears about their country's financial future.
What’s your money worth? A series from the front line of the cost of living crisis, where people who have been hit hard share their monthly expenses.
Names: Oleksandr Popovych (26) and Iryna Dankiv (25)
Occupations: Oleksandr is a quality assurance engineer for a Kyiv-based software company while his wife Iryna is an English tutor.
Live in: Lviv, Ukraine’s sixth-largest city, which is located in the west of the country near the Polish border.
The couple lives in a one-bedroom apartment on the seventh floor of a nondescript grey building constructed in 2013.
Monthly household income: 74,825 Ukrainian hryvnia ($2,036). Last year, Iryna grew her client base of online students. She held four to five one-on-one classes each day and worked many more hours compared to 2021. She only took one weekday off in 2022. Oleksandr left his previous role as an English tutor to join a software company. The couple has made a concerted effort to increase their household income to offset rising living costs including rent, which has doubled in the past 10 months.
Total expenses for the month: 47,131 Ukrainian hryvnia ($1,283). Their total expenses for November 2022 were about 14,000 Ukrainian hryvnia ($381) more than in the same month in 2021. If they had not managed to increase their wages last year, they would not have been able to cover their current expenses.
Oleksandr wakes up to a loud noise that rattles the bedroom windows at 5am on a cold winter’s morning. He immediately thinks, “Is it a missile or a drone attack?”
Lviv has been spared the worst of the war that Russia launched on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, but the city’s infrastructure has been targeted by cruise missiles with increasing frequency.
The noise turns out to be the strong winter winds hammering the side of the apartment block located on the foothills that border the city.
Oleksandr wipes away the condensation from the window, which suggests they lost heating during the night. The flashing from the internet router as it restarts the connection confirms there was a blackout.
They prepare oatmeal with yoghurt, bananas and peanut butter and make small talk about the day ahead, deciding on a walk through the local park to the old town. As Oleksandr measures out the ingredients, Iryna removes an empty bottle of Ukrainian red wine from the tabletop and lays out some fresh cutlery.
The couple like to stay healthy by eating well and exercising. Oleksandr has practised Brazilian jiujitsu (BJJ) for years, while Iryna often does yoga before work. But eating fresh, high-quality food has become increasingly expensive with the war causing prices to skyrocket. A pack of 10 eggs has gone up from 30 Ukrainian hryvnia ($0.82) to 70 hryvnia ($1.90) in the past year. The yoghurt they mix with their porridge has increased from 33 to 47 Ukrainian hryvnia ($0.90 to $1.28).
“I haven’t quite gotten used to the new prices yet. Our weekly shopping bill is much bigger than it was and it makes me second-guess my shopping behaviour,” says Iryna.
“It is very unusual to see prices increasing at this record pace. I am now more aware of what I buy and what I can get by without.”
Before the war, they would travel around Europe and put some money aside for a vacation. They have now redirected those savings to cover the rising prices.
They meticulously record all their spending, painstakingly shaving costs in order to send some extra money to their parents, or make war-related donations. They then withdraw the rest in hard cash and exchange it into United States dollars in case conditions worsen and they are forced to move or the Ukrainian banking system folds. “Zero money equals zero safety,” Oleksandr says firmly, adding that having a financial plan helps them focus their energies and alleviates the anxiety of skyrocketing living costs and uncertainty of life during war.
“I used to buy more skincare items and clothes before the war. Now I’m much more careful,” Iryna says. “I can’t splurge on something expensive like perfume even though I want to.”
The only expense they allow themselves some freedom with is food, which they feel is essential for maintaining their health.
They still eat out up to five times a month, always at budget places, including a cafe franchise and an inexpensive Middle Eastern restaurant where they eat kebabs. Cooking at home, meanwhile, is increasingly expensive. Turkish food is their favourite type of cuisine to cook, but the prices of many of the ingredients they use have more than doubled, including rice. For 1kg of rice, the price has increased from 20 Ukrainian hryvnia ($0.54) to 50 Ukrainian hryvnia ($1.36).
These rising prices persuaded Oleksandr to take a full-time job in IT in October. Before applying for the role, he prepared with a relevant four-month-long online course whilst teaching students in the evenings.
When Al Jazeera first met the couple in March 2022, Oleksandr was certain he would have to fight in the war, but Russia failed in its attempt to take the capital Kyiv, and the full scale of the war never reached the western fringes of the country. Now, he says the Ukrainian army is not short of volunteers, and with no military experience, he is of more use working and making donations to the army. However, if Russia does attack western Ukraine, potentially from Belarus, which lies roughly four hours’ drive to the north of the city, he will take up arms.
During the weekdays, Oleksandr usually settles down for work in a local kebab shop and orders a coffee so he can use the Wi-Fi. The shop owners have brought in a noisy gasoline-run generator in the case of energy blackouts – almost daily occurrences in many of the city’s districts, forcing residents to use candles or torches for light.
If the generator isn’t running, then Oleksandr will jog to a café in another district. In the case of all the cafés being without electricity, he will try a so-called “invincibility spot” provided by the government, which offers electricity, Wi-Fi and heating during winter time. However, these venues are too crowded for Oleksandr to work efficiently.
He says he is grateful that his team members are Ukrainians because they face the same issue and are, therefore, more understanding of delays than international colleagues.
“We lived a few different lives since the war started,” he says. “First the intensity of the beginning of the war, then some relief with summertime, but now it’s back with the attacks on infrastructure.”
Since the invasion, Oleksandr and Iryna have been fearful about the financial situation in the country. Will Russia try to storm Kyiv again? Will the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure trigger a complete collapse of the economy? Amid these worries, the couple has been trying to accumulate as much money in cash as possible while spending less than they earn each month.
Their careful approach to finances also comes from what Oleksandr describes as the “trauma” of the banking crash after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, when the constituent republics of the USSR gained full sovereignty. The collapse left many Ukrainians, including Oleksandr and Iryna’s parents, without savings, and the full-scale war now raging in the country has caused this national trauma to resurface.
Over the course of a month, from November 1 to November 30, 2022, as part of a collaborative project, Oleksandr and Iryna tracked their expenses with reporter Nils Adler.
Here are the expenses that tested their finances the most.
Expenses over one month
Rent
As Lviv is considered a relatively safe location compared to other parts of the country, many people have migrated to the city. This increase in population has driven rent prices up.
The couple’s rent has almost doubled since the beginning of the war, and their landlord has recently told them that they will have to leave what Iryna describes as their “dream home” at the end of January.
The apartment, at 80 square metres, is spacious for the couple, but Oleksandr suspects the landlord plans to rent it out to multiple students and increase revenue.
2021: 8,500 Ukrainian hryvnia ($231) per month
2022: 14,000 Ukrainian hryvnia ($381)
Groceries
The price of groceries has exponentially increased since the outbreak of war. There have been a number of contributing factors to this: transport and logistics have become more timely and costly, while fuel is expensive and in short supply.
Production of certain foodstuffs has been limited in some parts of the country due to territorial losses or destruction of land and equipment. The couple’s local supermarket used to sell a brand of oatmeal, for example, which was produced in the territory now occupied by Russia and no longer exists. Each packet of the new brand is not only more expensive but also contains 200 grammes less oatmeal.
2021: 6,138 Ukrainian hryvnia ($167) per month
2022: 8,710 Ukrainian hryvnia ($237)
Fitness
Brazilian jiujitsu is important to Oleksandr for both physical fitness and mental health benefits that help him deal with wartime stress. His membership at his BJJ club allows him to escape from the constant demands of penny-pinching and remote working in between blackouts and is an important part of his social life.
Costs have increased for the club, and membership fees have increased since 2021. In November Oleksandr also donated 1,000 Ukrainian hryvnia ($27) for a power generator and light for his gym.
2021: 922 Ukrainian hryvnia ($25) per month
2022: 1,200 Ukrainian hryvnia ($33), excluding additional donations to the gym
Financial support for parents
Oleksandr and Iryna were able to increase their income to counter inflation, but for many, like Iryna’s father, who works in construction, and Oleksandr’s mother, who is a lawyer and state employee, income has stayed the same. Oleksandr’s mother now has less money each month as any work bonuses are diverted to fund the war effort.
The redistribution of state funds and the couple’s anxiety over Ukraine’s wartime economy have left them concerned that their parents will not have a secure pension to rely on in the future – adding to their commitment to saving as much as possible in cash reserves.
Oleksandr and Iryna say they are fortunate that they are young and have been able to adapt to remote working and changing jobs, but for people of their parents’ generation, change is much more difficult. Oleksandr has been unable to persuade his mother to find more secure employment elsewhere. “At the end of the day, eggs can’t teach chickens,” he says with a wry smile.
Iryna and Oleksandr now send money regularly to their parents to help pay for their utility bills and other essentials.
2021: Parents didn’t need support
2022: Varies, but in November it was 2,500 Ukrainian hryvnia ($68)
Military donations
Another cost of the war is military donations to friends and family who are either fighting in the war or who have lost loved ones in the fighting.
Oleksandr recently lost his friend Yuriy from the BJJ club. He was killed by a landmine, and his body was brought back to be buried in Lviv. The couple contributed 1,000 Ukrainian hryvnia ($27) to his wife for his funeral in November. He was buried in a cemetery for veterans in central Lviv.
They also donated 1,354 Ukrainian hryvnia ($37) for a military radio and the postal fees for sending sleeping bags and mats to soldiers on the front line.
2021: Nothing
2022: Varies every month. In November, 2,354 Ukrainian hryvnia ($64)
1. What’s one thing you had to forgo this month? Oleksandr is in need of a good, thick winter coat to see him through the harsh winter months, but because this costs around $200, the couple decided that it was a “luxury” they could not afford.
2. Which is the most worthwhile expense from this month? The couple spent $150 for Iryna to attend an online finance course offered by Prometheus, the largest online education platform in Ukraine, so they could learn how to best manage their budget and investments during wartime.
3. When finances get tough, what advice do you have, and what gets you through the difficult times? Iryna says she has learned a number of useful tips during her course, including “to have a financial reserve – ideally six months ahead saved”. Having this, she says, “keeps us in peace”.
She also learned about the importance of health and life insurance – which they now have – in case they lose the ability to work, are sick or die. She says it is an essential investment that “we don’t know a lot about in Ukraine, as there is a general distrust about giving money to some institution, so most people don’t buy insurance”.
Her final piece of advice is to remember that “the more you earn, the more you spend. Your expectations about the level of life will increase along with your salary”. She says that no matter your level of income, you should make a habit of saving money. “Don’t wait for a better time, don’t postpone saving at least 10 percent of your income,” she says.
Oleksandra and Iryna also use a mobile app to save all their expenditure and income data to keep track of exactly how much they are spending.
4. What’s your biggest money worry? Although Iryna has built up her client base over the past year and now boasts a busy schedule, she is aware that she is still reliant on unstable demand. If students decide to cut down their classes or stop altogether, she will not only lose income but will also have to spend more time marketing her services to potential students.
5. What’s the saving hack you are proudest of? Oleksandr and Iryna are proud of working as a team and being able to agree on their finances together.
“We analyse any big expense carefully,” Iryna says, adding that they have a price cap on clothes and try not to spend too much on beauty products.
This strategy allows them to be free to spend money on something they both enjoy together, which is food. It is “the only thing we don’t save on,” she says.
Read more stories from the series: What’s your money worth?