Budgeting in Germany

Help me budget. How does one survive or budget in Germany?

How do Germans manage on such salaries? Have they inherited money? Did they have mutual funds while growing up? Germans also travel a lot – oh they do big time. You see them in every part of the world. Sure, not all of them travel. They are the largest group of travelers in the world. They have nice houses, nice cars and nice clothes. And Germany is expensive. They seem to drink out a lot too.

Can anyone give me profiles of Germans?
Can you guys tell me how you budget? How do you all manage? Do you go to the supermarket once a day, once a week or once a month? Where do you shop for food, clothes, etc? I know I have read from some threads that TTers earn a lot but I trust they are good with budgeting.

you're not making enough money.

Thanks DanHessen

It's not easy to help you when we don't know anything about you. Age? Location? Profession? Interests? Etc. etc.

Exactly, tell us where you're from and then we'll tell you why you're wrong.

Germany expensive? Do me a favour.

What do you mean "help me budget"? And then you ask about Germans. Whats the purpose of your post?

Do you need help with your budget, or do you want to poll Germans about their spending habits?

Or is this some sort of troll?

Budget in Germany? you having a laugh. Germany is dirt cheap. Try London or Dublin.

Germany is not exactly "dirt cheap" and several cities in Germany are quite expensive (sure London and Dublin are more expensive, but about 99% of European towns and cities are cheaper), but if you make decent money and know what your priorities are you do not need inherited money or mutual funds to live well.

I can sympathise with the spirt of the question. I earn a pretty good salary and still don't have a big house or fast car. I see all around with theirs. I asked my financial advisor about it and he said most Germans don't save for the future. They spend what they earn.

Errr... only if you want to cram Scandinavia, Switzerland, (most of) France and quite a few other places into the remaining 1%.

I disagree with Mariposa. It doesn't get much cheaper than here unless you wanna go to Eastern Europe. Rent is cheap, housing is cheap, cars are cheap, food and clothing is cheap compared to randomly Rome, Paris, London, Dublin, Milan, Copenhagen, Zurich.

Taxes are of course a bit grim, so your take-home pay gets more of a kicking. Salaries also seems to be more "sensible/moderate" perhaps than other big cities (e.g. London) so I guess that will also have an effect.

But €uro for €uro it is cheap here. So like other poster said - you just need to earn more!

p.s. Germans - richest people in Europe. You got 100 Million German speakers going on holiday out of 300 Million total Europeans (and some of Europe is dirt poor, or already has great weather) so it's gonna seem like they are everywhere.

1. Prioritize your expensive habits and get rid of the top 10.
2. Seek employment in a job that pays more than peanuts or train for a marketable skill that pays more.
3. Avoid expensive sex toys and houses of ill-repute.
4. Minimize or quit your recreational drug use or overconsumption of alcohol.
5. Eat in, instead of take out or going out to eat.
6. Do not pay a sugar daddy or sugar momma, get sex for free, well, almost free (also see #3).
7. Don't gamble or take expensive vacations.
8. The sales rack is your best friend and buy food in bulk
9. Go the hell back home to your parent's house if Germany is so expensive for you if you have to resort to playing a banjo on the street for extra cash.

Does anyone care to add to my list, go right ahead?

The ones I know save, most of them also have their own flats/houses. It depends how you live or want to live, what level you want to reach. I mean, strange as it me seem, I don´t actually want a flash car, etc., I think you can live quite well here and also put a bit away, without starving.

Before everyone attacks I think Mariposa had a point. Munich, for example, is more expensive then other places, but Liege, Belgium, Rauma, Finland and some others are less expensive. So if you're in Munich, for example, it may be a lot more expensive than you'd originally suspect.

okay... go attack me now.

German private households currently save approx. 10% ("Sparquote") on average of their freely available incomes for the future ...

Thank you all. This is very helpful. It is givng me a picture of Germany.

Really? Must not be a very big picture?

I am sure a small town in France is not more expensive than Munich? I was including all places to live, not only the cities of > 1 million inhabitants.

I would say that all of Spain with the exception of Barcelona, Madrid and San Sebastián for example is cheaper than Munich, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt.

By the way in case what I said wasn't clear: I said that 99% of European cities and towns are cheaper than London and Dublin (so comparing life in Germany to those two cities and thus concluding that life in Germany is "dirt cheap" is a bit strange).

The combined population of all EU countries is about 495.5 Mio ...

I did say "(most of) France".


Switzerland, for one, doesn't have any cities that size (even greater Zurich doesn't have more than a million inhabitants, if I'm not mistaken).

you are mistaken. The city including suburbs has about 1.1 million inhabitants and the Zürich metropolitan area has approx. 1.7 million inhabitants.

Dammit they just breed so fast these days.

Zurich (Wiki):


Kanton Zürich:

Before moving here I lived for 2.5 years in Switzerland in a village of about 5000 people, south of St. Gallen. Now I'm living in a small village south of Schwäbisch Hall so the cost of living should be comparable in a general way. Overall, I'd say that Germany has proven more expensive than Switzerland. Although some things were more expensive in Switzerland, like rent, other things like taxes and insurance were cheaper. If speaking strictly about our financial situation, moving here ended up giving us less disposable income even though my husband is earning a bit more before taxes. We obviously didn't move because of the money.

As for budgeting, it is no different than anywhere else. You decide what your priority "must have" items are, and trim the "would like to have" off the shopping list. Only when all the "must" items are paid for (which should include a bit of savings) and there's money left over do you start to consider spending money on stuff you don't really need.

I think living in germany is affordable. I just spent a month in the states, NY/NJ area, and I think, that even after converting the prices into Eruos, Germany is still more affordable. The essentials are cheaper here, they are more expensive in the states. You could get a gallon of milk for less than five dollars here, that proved impossible back home. Food is affordable, insurances are affordable, rent (when you stay away from living in the middle of the big cities) is affordable, clothing are starting to get cheaper here, as a matter of fact I regret buying the clothes i did in the states, after taking a stroll to the mall last weekend. And most important good cheese is cheaper here (I know I already said food, but cheese holds a special place in my heart). And have you notice what has been happening to car prices? they are falling, just buy a japanese brand, a BMW, and a Toyota both take you from A to B.

Not so AB:




Source

Not sure how they calculate cost of living, but I find it really hard to believe that Atlanta is cheaper than Shenzhen.

The exchange rates are largely irrelevant if you are both earning and spending the same currency. That article seems to be a lot of nonsense as far as I can see.

try the ever useful Economist Big Mac index:

http://www.economist.com/finance/displayst...tory_id=9448015

What STB said, plus I would discount any international cost-of-living comparisons that use market exchange rates rather then purchasing power parity calculations.

I don't think life is expensive in general, of course Munich is the most expensive town.

I guess it really depends on where you live in the states. For me, coming from Oregon, food is much more expensive here. A gallon of milk runs me about $2.50-$3 in Oregon, whether I'm in Portland or a farm town. By converting my Germany price of ~0,85€/L I'm paying about $4.65 a gallon here. Chicken is comparable though, boneless skinless chickenbreasts normally cost me about $4-4.50/lb. Here I can get them from Aldi for 5,99€/kg, which is ~$8.70/kg or $4/lb. I guess it really depends on the food item in question. Then again the same chicken at Rewe runs 9,49€/kg, or $6.25/lb. Beef is a lot more expensive here, but I think thats just the culture and lack of an industrial beef farming industry like us Americans have runnin for us back home

Organic meat here is ridiculous though, I expect to pay about a 20-25% premium on organic produce. However, organic turkey breast is like 18€/kg! Thats fucking ridiculous.

I guess I should also mention there is no sales tax in Oregon... I'm certainly no economist so maybe my comparisons are pointless.

We came to Germany because we were quite happily living in a city in England,I had a boring job, my wife worked a few days and we had a little baby. Still, it was time to move someplace out of a city to the countryside, and my wife being German said we should move close to her family here for a while.

Then a friend of hers called a few days later to say a flat double the size of where we were living at half the rent was available in Fischerhude (which is, compared to other areas around her, expensive - more expensive than Bremen etc). We called the landlord, he said fine come and have a look. We did this, we liked it. He said ok you can take it, sign the contract when you move in.

No questions about what we earned, what jobs we had, etc.

Who cares if the electricity bill is a little more expensive, the rents are so cheap it makes up for it. My sister in law who is studying at Leipzig Uni pays hardly anything to live in a beautiful old apartment building, and you can live in some flats for free for the first few months

You'd be in for a big shock if you were to move south. Renting in Munich costs at least 2-3 times as much as in Bremen. Focus Online ran a story about renting. They have average rent per square meter for 325 cities available (in german)

Just in case you may really be interested in a big picture (and your German is good enough) this is it (about German lifestyles, not about budgeting)

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinus-Milieu
http://www.agf.de/fsforschung/sinusmilieus/
http://www.sinus-sociovision.de/2/2-3-1-1.htm

Yeah, you may be nailing it here. Thanks. Looks good.