A 77-year-old retiree receives 883 euros in retirement each month and doubles her tips for living

At a time when everyone is advised to tighten their belts, Bernadette, a seventy-seven-year-old retiree, must be content to live each month on 883 euros. A meager sum that forces the retiree to redouble her efforts.

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As part of his podcast French lives , France Inter focuses on everyday figures. In its latest episode, the radio station dedicated its show to Bernadette. The latter lives very modestly with a small retirement of 883 euros per month.

In her small HLM residence, on the ground floor, Bernadette is grateful to have a roof over her head. Despite her low pension, the retiree strives to pay all the bills each month. At the risk of having to sacrifice his meals.

Since she started working at fourteen in Reims, where she still lives, Bernadette has constantly redoubled her efforts to survive. Mother of eleven children, the Rémoise chained the jobs while she was raising her children alone.

But difficult to live with 642 euros pension. Seventeen years later, Bernadette's pension has increased somewhat to reach 883 euros, still too little to live on properly.

The resourcefulness strategy adopted by the retiree

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« I pay 270 euros in rent, 204 euros in electricity and gas. I have my mutual, my housing insurance, my death insurance. After deducting all this, I assure you that there is not much left to live on. », confides Bernadette au mike of France Inter.

Fifteen euros a day is what Bernadette has left to eat. The retired then adopts strategies to overcome the financial difficulties of everyday life: promotions in stores, products with short expiry dates at low prices, surveying flea markets for clothes and books... Bernadette is full of tips.

As winter approaches and citizens are urged to make savings energy that go through the consumption of heating, Bernadette says she is ready to face this cold period, adorned with her sweater.