It costs how much?! (and what’s that in dollars again?)

I turned on one of my favorite podcasts today (Planet Money), and was suprised to hear that the topic was Switzerland. Specifically, it was about how strong, and therefore expensive, the Swiss franc has become. It’s actually a great episode, if you are into dorky economics, and it gives the big picture of what we are experiencing first hand.

It seems that we have chosen the absolute worst time, financially speaking, to live in Switzerland. Switzerland has always been expensive; we knew that. When we visited here in 2010, we had serious sticker shock. Now, the prices are still high, AND our dollars are worth a lot less. With some practice, we have gotten pretty good at bargain shopping at the grocery store. Meat is particularly expensive, so we haven’t had an ounce of beef (or a gram of boeuf) since we got here. To give you some examples from the past week:

We don’t buy clothes or other household items unless we absolutely have to. The podcast even talks about Swiss people going across the border to buy things, which made us laugh. We have a list of things that we need to get, which we’ve ben updating ever since we got here. We were planning on buying them in Germany when we visit this weekend.

The unnerving thing, is that native Swiss don’t seem to bat an eye at the prices here. Perhaps it is their inborn reserved nature. Perhaps they are making oodles more money than we are guessing. Or perhaps, when you grow up in an expensive economy you just know that certain things cost a certain amount. It just so happens that now, the Swiss Franc has a lot more buying power outside of the country than it has ever had before.

While, at first, that may seem like a good thing for the Swiss (more purchasing power), most everyone we have talked to is terribly concerned about it. Swiss exports are becoming unaffordable. Stores on the border are struggling to compete with their competitors just kilometers away in another country. Tourism could take a downturn in a country that heavily relies on it (though there are no signs yet). And businesses looking to locate factory work to a country that is known for its precision engineering are finding it prohibitively expensive, even with existing tax breaks for relocated jobs.

Which leads me to our proposal: the “Schwab Family Swiss Holiday Relief Plan” (formerly the “Swiss Family Schwabinson Grrrrrrreat Deal!” – we had to drop it for several trademark violations from Disney and Kelloggs). For those of you planning to visit us, we are happy to offer free lodging and meals that cost less than $30/person!

But no matter the cost, we both agree that we would not give up this opportunity for the world. It’s worth it! At least that’s our two cents (currently worth 1.59 Swiss rappen).