Guus Bauer has been through difficult times financially and has now recovered. Budget Day is a moment for the Uithoorn resident, a security guard by day and folk singer by night, to look back and forward on his situation.
230919_PRINSJESDAGKAMPER – NH News
He was deep, very deep. Guus Bauer (38) suffered a burnout twice, resulting in depression. Irregular working hours and private problems took its toll, and he found himself stuck at home without any income: “Eating rice and pasta all week was a good thing, but it really hurt when your child had to walk around with a hole in his shoe. “
His wife, who until then had taken care of their three children, was forced to look for a job: “During that period I sometimes slept fourteen hours a day, that was no life.” Ultimately, he recovered with outside help.
“It will take some getting used to the fact that I will soon have to climb stairs in my house”
His colleagues helped him become self-employed: “I am eternally grateful to those colleagues, because thanks to them I can now plan my own days. And that is also useful for my singing career.” Bauer performs as Steffan de Kust, among other things, and sings about his life as a caravan dweller.
The fact that he now determines his own days does not mean that he has started working less: “I now work an average of six days a week, always twelve-hour shifts. And on top of that, singing. But because of all those hours I now earn so much that I can give my children a better future. Then you can go to work whistling every day.”
The best example of that better future is in Uithoorn. Bauer is building a brand new house on the site of his old caravan, with two floors and therefore a staircase for the first time in his life, although he thinks the idea ‘still takes some getting used to.’
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In the meantime, their family of five lives in a two-room caravan in his parents’ backyard in Hoofddorp: “It’s a bit of a struggle here and there, especially with the five of us in one bedroom. But the children love being like this.” to be close to grandpa and grandma, and the swimming pool in the garden also helps them.”
Even though Bauer has found a way out of his depression in his own way, he believes that it is being made too difficult for many Dutch people: “The fact that the rich are getting richer is not necessarily a problem, if it were not for the fact that the poor are also becoming increasingly richer. seem to be getting poorer. If the government would smooth that out, you would come a long way.”
He sees many groups of people around him who cannot actually make ends meet, while according to him there is enough money to solve that: “Just look at Groningen. There is far too little of the money from gas to those people went themselves. The same applies to a student and his student loan, or people who have been waiting for social housing for years.”
Fair opportunities
He personally experienced the influence of a tight budget on your own lifestyle: “the frikandels and fries in the supermarket were cheaper than the vegetables. I couldn’t always give my children what they were entitled to, and that means everything for me. Now, thank God, that’s a different story.”
The Budget Memorandum that was announced on Tuesday should give Dutch people perspective on the coming economic year, but Bauer wonders whether it will really have an impact: “The whole of the Netherlands knows what the problem is. The playing field must be fairer. Let’s first ensure that We don’t fail our own people. That’s where it starts.”
This report is part of the series of Budget Day stories in which NH looks ahead to the coming year with North Holland residents following the presentation of the Budget Memorandum. Are they worried or are they looking forward to the coming year with confidence? Do they expect their financial situation to improve or deteriorate? And do they have to make ends meet and if so, how do they do that?