ᐅ How much are your living expenses after building your house?
Created on: 21 Aug 2019 14:24
K
Kusserob
Hello dear community,
We have been proud homeowners for one year now, and I need some help regarding our family’s living expenses.
These are our average monthly costs:
- Food / personal care: 600€
- Utilities (electricity/heating/water): 250€
- Mortgage repayment: 1300€
- Home insurance (contents + building): 50€
- Private insurance (private pension, disability, term life, accident, liability, legal protection): 365€
- Car: 200€ (including 50€ monthly savings)
- Mobile / internet / streaming services: 100€
- Savings: 270€
- Miscellaneous (restaurants, cinema, hairdresser, etc.): 200€
- Clothing: 100€
- Purchases (home/child): 150€
TOTAL: 3585€
We are a household of three (single-family home with 150 m² (1600 sq ft)) with a toddler (2 years old), and I personally consider this amount quite high, but I don’t know where we could significantly cut costs. We don’t have expensive hobbies or other major expenses.
What are your typical monthly expenses?
I’d appreciate any comparison.
Best regards,
Basti
We have been proud homeowners for one year now, and I need some help regarding our family’s living expenses.
These are our average monthly costs:
- Food / personal care: 600€
- Utilities (electricity/heating/water): 250€
- Mortgage repayment: 1300€
- Home insurance (contents + building): 50€
- Private insurance (private pension, disability, term life, accident, liability, legal protection): 365€
- Car: 200€ (including 50€ monthly savings)
- Mobile / internet / streaming services: 100€
- Savings: 270€
- Miscellaneous (restaurants, cinema, hairdresser, etc.): 200€
- Clothing: 100€
- Purchases (home/child): 150€
TOTAL: 3585€
We are a household of three (single-family home with 150 m² (1600 sq ft)) with a toddler (2 years old), and I personally consider this amount quite high, but I don’t know where we could significantly cut costs. We don’t have expensive hobbies or other major expenses.
What are your typical monthly expenses?
I’d appreciate any comparison.
Best regards,
Basti
Everything looks quite reasonable. I would probably start by reviewing all the insurance policies to see if you might have become overinsured over the years.
I would recommend keeping a household budget. At first, it can be quite surprising to realize how much money is spent regularly on running expenses (card payments, cash withdrawals/cash payments that you might not fully track through bank statements).
I would recommend keeping a household budget. At first, it can be quite surprising to realize how much money is spent regularly on running expenses (card payments, cash withdrawals/cash payments that you might not fully track through bank statements).
B
Buchweizen26 Aug 2019 08:50Kusserob schrieb:
- Groceries / Drugstore: €600
- Utilities (Electricity/Heating/Water): €250
- Mortgage Repayment: €1300
- Home Insurance (Contents + Building): €50
- Personal Insurance (Private pension, Disability, Life insurance, Accident insurance, Liability, Legal protection): €365
- Car: €200 (including €50 monthly reserve)
- Mobile / Internet / Netflix / Amazon: €100
- Savings: €270
- Miscellaneous (Restaurants, Cinema, Hairdresser, etc.): €200
- Clothing: €100
- Purchases (Home/Child): €150
TOTAL: €3585
We are a household of three people (single-family house with 150m² (1615 ft²)) with a toddler (2 years old).
We are a two-person household living in a single-family house with 110m² (1184 ft²) and have the following expenses:
- Groceries / Drugstore: approx. €300
- Dining out: approx. €100
- Electricity / Gas / Water: €60 / €60 / €30
- Property taxes / charges: €60
- Mortgage repayment: €1300
- Home insurance (Contents + Building): €30
- Personal insurance (Liability, Legal protection, 2x Life insurance): €50
- Additional personal insurance (Accident, Private pension, Life): I don’t remember the exact amounts; we pay that separately, which for me is about €150
- Car: approx. €400 including fuel
- Mobile / Internet / Netflix / Prime: €65
Other expenses like savings, clothing, spontaneous purchases for the house and garden, etc., I do not consider fixed costs, so I have left them out here.
I’m surprised that many people here find your total insurance costs so high. Since you (both?) have disability insurance and private pensions, I think the amount is reasonable, depending on the coverage and contributions. I would never rely solely on my home as retirement provision.
B
boxandroof26 Aug 2019 09:49Buchweizen schrieb:
I’m surprised that so many here think your total insurance costs are too high. Since you (both?) have disability insurance plus private pension insurance, the amount seems reasonable to me, depending on what coverage limits you have and how much you pay in. Valid point: without knowing the savings portion, the amount mentioned by the original poster doesn’t really allow any conclusions. If the savings portion is around 60-80% of the total, then that would be within a reasonable range.
600€ (about $640) for household contents and building insurance is quite a bit, and it might be similar for other insurances. I don’t see any mention of special rugs or carpets. The necessity of accident and legal protection insurance can be reconsidered if you want to reduce expenses.
H
HilfeHilfe26 Aug 2019 10:56The savings rate of €270 (approximately $290) is too low. Well, it is possible to pay off an installment loan.
I cannot see any significant leverage. There is only a chance to increase income if...
I cannot see any significant leverage. There is only a chance to increase income if...
H
hemali200326 Aug 2019 11:52Now I’m really curious about how much others invest monthly in RV. The mentioned 160 euros (about 170 USD) seems low to me, but maybe we are just overinsured?
The amount varies, mostly in the four-digit range. Everything we don’t spend counts as savings or asset building.
I have never understood why an insurance product is necessary for this.
Once a year, we review what liquid funds are available and what we might still need to purchase or use, and the rest is invested, used for extra loan payments, or allocated elsewhere.
I have never understood why an insurance product is necessary for this.
Once a year, we review what liquid funds are available and what we might still need to purchase or use, and the rest is invested, used for extra loan payments, or allocated elsewhere.