In India, it's easy to spend like a relative rockstar. With 1 USD equalling approximately 45 Indian Rupees, prices are generally low here, and it's easy to drop 25 rupees on a decent-sized pack of raspberry JimJams (biscuits that are very similar to those short-lived strawberry and cream Girl Scout cookies of old).
But then Jarrod and I figured out an approximate way to calculate the actual relative cost of any item--what it should "feel like" we're paying. Just divide any price by ten. Okay, is that confusing? Here are some examples.
--The JimJams mentioned above would be $2.50 (of course it's not dollars that we're using, but it should feel like we're spending $2.50 when we buy the JimJams)
--Sweet limes, abundant right now, go for 5 rupees a piece, which feels like $.50
--One ride in an autorickshaw is also 5 rupees, $.50
--The amazing-smelling strawberry Garnier Fructis shampoo I wanted to buy was 130 rupees, which felt like $13...which is why I didn't buy it.
Seeing things this way has helped us curb excess spending; in fact, it's made us downright cheap. I'm embarassed that I dropped $15 relative-dollars on cheap mall spaghetti bolognase with ground lamb. And that's probably and okay thing.
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