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My monthly Savings Rate report: August 2021

Last Updated on September 7, 2021 by Mr. FightToFIRE

With the end of August, we can almost say goodbye to summer. This year that’s not such a bad thing with a sluggish summer not giving many possibilities to go out and corona still around us. Luckily, this did positively affect the Savings Rate, which is well above 50% this month.

On the expense side, We didn’t have too crazy of a month. Not only were we able to keep groceries relatively well under control, but we also didn’t have to make any major (unexpected) purchases.

Besides expenses we kept in check, we also had a good month on the income side. Unlike last month where I received €1,000 less due to rectification in my payslip, this time, I received money through multiple channels:

  • Salary
  • Child allowance
  • My wife’s share of the expenses
  • Family gifts

I can see you already thinking: “why is a deposit of your wife an income?!”. Let me elaborate.

This page can contain affiliate partner links to products that I purchased this month.

Income — €4110.72

Salary

Let me start with the most obvious one: my salary. Thanks to a longer on-call period of 4 weeks instead of the usual 3 I received an additional €285.80 next to my salary of 3220.20 giving a combined total of €3506.

Child allowance

Next up, child allowance: €187.27. Per child, you receive government support through what’s called ‘kindergeld’ or child allowance. This is a fixed amount per child for a few years already -it used to go up for each child you had-. Depending on specific criteria (such as single-parent or special needs) it can increase.

My wife’s share

This one might seem a bit strange but what ‘my wife’s share’ means, is that for the expenses we share, we divided each other’s share through the amount our salaries contribute to the combined income. In our case, it’s a 35/65 split with my wife covering 35%. This month she also added her share of a visit to Burger King.

Our shared expenses

Expense type Amount (€) Frequency monthly Total monthly (€)
Groceries 400 1 400
Family Insurance 7.69 1 7.69
Gas 30 1 10
Water 200 12 15
Electricity 1200 12 100
House 15 1 15
Total 540

Family gifts

Finally, we have some final gifts from the family for the birth of our daughter. We got €220 cash in total.

Dividends

I received no dividends this month.

Expenses

Food and supplies — €669.44

Yes! We got our grocery budget under control 😀

While we did spend a bit on small snacks (€28.37), the total spending on groceries is just €622.37 and this includes a larger bill at the beginning of the month because we had my parents over for a Sunday brunch.

I had to go to the office once to do some cleaning and took the opportunity to get a small snack from the vending machine (€0.70). Talking about the office. I can still work from home till at least the end of September. Yeah!

Unlike last month where we spend quite a bit on delivery, we kept it to a minimum this time by only visiting a Burger King once (€17.80).

Home management and ownership — €301.25

Another month, another downpayment, and interest payment for the apartment. €819.33 in principal and €232.16 in interest.

Besides the recurring mortgage payments, we also bought some cleaning stuff at Colruyt (€37.6) and Action (€31.49).

Person — €189.88

Medical bills kept coming this month, it’s the main reason for this month’s total.

Luckily most of it gets refunded by the NHS and my hospitalization plan. Too bad it takes some time to get my money back. It’s the main reason why I still spend €152.50 on medical bills.

Besides the hospital bills, we also made use of household help also partially covered by the NHS. 12 hours of family aid only cost us €37.38.

Luxury — €188.80

A close fourth is Luxury. Most noteworthy spendings here were two things:

  1. Me and my wife’s first date since the baby is born! – €46,05
    We went to see Free Guy at Kinepolis. Our movie night included the cozy seat cinema tickets, lots of snacks, and parking. If it was only this, the category wouldn’t be so high up of course. I also bought 10 Kinepolis tickets at a discount through my employer’s benefits program. I paid €91.50. Combing the night out and my advanced purchase gives me €137.55 for entertainment.
  2. A day trip to Germany by car – €16.55
    We went to Monschau for a day with our daughter. this was actually her first trip outside of Belgium -the first of many I might add-.

The less important expenses were my subscriptions (€34.70):

  • Patreon: €8.27
  • Netflix UHD: €15.99
  • Spotify: €10.44
Savings Rate August 2021
My Income and Expenses for August 2021.

Kids — €128.34

In the kids’ department, our main expenditure was on care products such as diaper creme, diapers, talcum powder, etc. Not that it broke the bank but we ended up spending €123.34. Other than that, we also got a nice dress for €5 at Hema that she wore to a family gathering in my parents’ garden.

Transportation — €18.14

Technically, the gas I bought (€10.09) isn’t for my car, but for my lawnmower but I feel it’s a bit silly to make a separate category for gardening since I don’t do much of that (yet). I also spend €8.05 on parking. I honestly don’t remember where and why it’s this much but I saw ‘Easypark’ in my banking account so I just put it as such.

Banking and insurance — €€9.17

Finally, we have banking and insurance. I was able to limit it thanks to cashback:

  • Family insurance: €7.69
  • Instant transaction fee: €0.60
  • Health insurance: €15.69
  • Cashback: +€14.81

All the expenses

The bottom line

With multiple income streams providing €4,110.72 and manageable expenses, my remaining net income in August was a solid €2,590.70. This gives me a Savings Rate of €2,590.70/€4,110.72 = 63.02%.

Unlike me, my Belgian friend Roadtrip to FIRE had more than enough time to write, which he did! Take a special look at his latest portfolio update.

oneyTalks talked about how to “5 Tips for Guilt-Free Spending on the Things You Want” and “Are you School Smart or Street Smart? Which is Best?“, amongst many other podcasts.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

I'm a developer for a major financial institution in Belgium that is present in over 40 countries. I have over 8 years of working experience in the development of customer applications focussing on all aspects of banking. This helped me gain a deep understanding of the inner workings of a commercial bank. All of this experience in both banking and life culminates in this blog about personal finance and my fight towards FIRE.

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20. My monthly Savings Rate report: May 2021
21. My monthly Savings Rate report: June 2021
22. My monthly Savings Rate report: July 2021
23. My monthly Savings Rate report: August 2021
24. My monthly Savings Rate report: September 2021
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30. My monthly Savings Rate report: March 2022
31. My monthly Savings Rate report: April 2022
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