A world of difference

I like to be organised. That doesn't mean everything has its own place, or I live in a tidy home - far from it - but I like to have a well-stocked "pantry" (kitchen cupboards - pantries went out years ago with the advent of refrigeration!!), and have sufficient food in my fridge/freezer (tiny freezer compartment) for several days, if not weeks! OK, fresh fruit and veg I buy at least twice a week at the local market, but that means I need enough to last till the next market day, so covers at least 4 days - and there are other shops in town that do sell fruit and veg.
I live just outside the town centre - 10 minutes on foot - so could shop daily, but prefer to keep a decent stock of essentials, and replace my "stock" as one runs out - so as I use the last of my olive oil, and open the next bottle, I will buy another to keep for next time! This goes for almost everything, except maybe dried herbs and spices which last months, so would possibly go off before I used the "stock" packet!
Though I live alone when I go to the butcher I will buy meat in kilo amounts, so it will be a kilo of minced beef, or "carne do sol" (sun-dried beef literally, which is a local speciality) say, and split it in two when I get home and freeze it - one half kilo pack will make at least three meals when added to vegetables and served with rice, pasta or potatoes. This means that I will usually have at least a week's supply of meat in the freezer compartment at any time, and either a plastic container with leftovers (from the batch I made the previous day) or a defrosting piece of meat in the fridge for dinner that night - I will check in the morning to see what I will be eating that night. Food is my only vice, so I like to keep on top of my menus and I do eat pretty well!
The same goes for cleaning materials, toilet paper, kitchen rolls, candles, matches, and pretty much everything else - I always have "supplies" in reserve, and re-stock as soon as I open the last packet.
It has nothing to do with having loads of money - which I don't and never have had - but more with being organised, and not wanting to find myself about to cook a meal and not having any, say, onions, in the house! Back in the days when I was a smoker (I gave up 24 years ago), I was always the one among my friends who never ran out - day or night I always had cigarettes, and would buy a new packet as soon as I got to halfway through my last one. It did often mean that I was supplying to all my mates who had run out, though!
Here in the rural part of Brazil I live it is a totally different story for most people - they live a hand-to-mouth existence, so have to buy every day what they will be eating that night. It isn't only because of poverty and not having the money to buy ahead, but also to do with lack of planning, or maybe even the inability to plan ahead. Some also lack refrigeration so cannot keep perishable food long in the heat here. For many they can only afford essentials - it is a "joke" here that people live on rice and beans, but that actually isn't very far from the truth, and meat will be a luxury, or they buy extremely poor cuts, and little of it.
The area I live in here is a tourist hotspot - the only "industry" is tourism - so almost all employment surrounds tourism, and much of it is casual, with no fixed contracts, and therefore no job security or benefits! Minimum wage in Brazil is pretty poor, and many employers do not even pay that, especially if the work is casual with no written contracts, and unemployment benefits are only payable (for a very limited time) if you have your "carteira de trabalho" signed and up to date. The carteira is a record of your work, and should be filled in and signed weekly or monthly by your employer, but won't be if your work is casual!
So most people here work either in accommodation providers (hostels and hotels), restaurants, tour businesses or other shops, and much of that is on an "as needed" basis, with no contract, and "cash in hand"! Obviously this makes any sort of budgeting, or planning, almost impossible, and as soon as any money is received it goes straight out to pay bills - personal debt is a huge problem here, and interest rates can be very high, too, and almost no-one has any savings, either for emergencies or for retirement. The town is expanding and there is a lot of construction work going on, and again much of this is casual - there are no construction companies as you would find in the UK, but rather loads of informal builders and workers - so no written record of hours worked, nor any guarantee of pay, and often the "employer" will halt the work for any length of time as the money runs out, so the builders get no pay till they start again!
It is a world apart from what I was used to when back in the UK working, and something that I couldn't have done, even had it been legal there. Never knowing when the next pay-cheque will come in, nor how much it will be, must be a nightmare, and goes some way to explaining why when you are looking for any tradesman everyone claims to have the required skills, but most don't have a clue!
Since I got back in September I have had a chap doing various jobs for me. I was expecting to have to get two bedroom floors tiled, but circumstances meant that I also had to get a retaining wall built, and have two trees felled, and my "handyman" has managed to do most of the work himself (he had to find a man with a chainsaw for the trees) to an acceptable, but not professional standard - but finding that level of skill here is nigh impossible anyway - and for a reasonable price.
When you get a quote here for a job it will only cover the labour - you have to pay for materials separately, and, in many cases, will have to supply a lot of the tools, as they have little more than a hammer, a bucket and a shovel. As the work progressed he kept asking for "loans" - advances against the final price - as he needed food, needed to pay alimony (they send you to jail here if you fall behind!), or needed to go and visit his daughter in another town, so by the time the work was complete he had received almost all the payment, and on some occasions had already asked for a "loan" against the next job! Fortunately I trust this guy, so know he will still come and complete the work - also on the expectation that there might be more work afterwards - but soon there will come a time when there is no more needing to be done, and as I am now retired and on a pension, cannot keep creating new work just to help him out, much as I would like to.
A problem here, too, is that most people like a drink or two, so are as likely to spend their money on that as to use it for food for the family, or to pay any outstanding bills, and my guy is no exception! He is 44 and has two kids, living away, and I was told before he started that he was reliable, but does like a drink, and on occasions after he has asked for a "loan" (to pay a specific bill!) he has come back later a little worse for wear - and occasionally not come back till the next day! - but since I am paying for the job, and not by the hour I am in no hurry for completion. Until a few years ago he, apparently, used to get his carteira signed regularly, but then went self-employed (he also does some guiding work for the tourists), and since then has had very irregular income, but still seems to be happy and unconcerned about his precarious financial position - something that I couldn't be were it me in his situation! There are, however, hundreds like him in a similar plight here, and no backstop like social security for them.