My monthly Savings Rate report: December 2021
December was, on all accounts, a special month. It’s, of course, the last month of the year, but also in terms of expenses and income. We traveled to South America to visit my wife’s family, the in-laws. Suffice to say, this had a major impact on my expenses but not because of the airplane as this was already paid for a couple of months before, no, it was groceries, a 4-day resort trip, and even some baby stuff.
It’s becoming a recurring theme, my list of incomes to pay for all we bought this month. 3 different channels this time:
- Salary
- Child allowance
- My wife’s share of the expenses (a bit extra!)
This page can contain affiliate partner links to products that I purchased this month.
December Income — €3,294.50
Salary
Like every month, I received my salary at the end (or before the start of next month). Thanks to another on-call period and 1 intervention during the weekend, this month’s extra added up to a more typical amount of €3,294.50.
Child allowance
Next up, child allowance: €169.79. 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.
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 was special because I received her part of the plane tickets which I purchased about 3 months before. Because it’s a payback of an expense I actually have this as a negative amount on the expense side (so a return or income) which is why the total for luxury/holidays is relatively low. She transferred €977.
Not included: Dividends
I received a bit of dividend this month:
| 10 dec. 2021 HOME INVEST | 34.00 EUR |
| 23 dec. 2021 NVIDIA | 1.41 EUR |
December Expenses — €1,432.88
Home management and ownership — €334.89
Another month, another downpayment, and interest payment for the apartment. €823.33 in principal and €314.57 in interest. But like always, I don’t subtract the principal payment from my savings rate.
Except for the recurring mortgage payment, Our only other big home expense was some batteries and surgical masks at Action (€8.13) and €12.19 for the internet.
Kids — €331.08
Wait, didn’t I spend like a lot last month on my daughter as well? Yes, and this month some more in South America.
A lot on medicine. Against stomach ache, mosquito repellent and creme for bites, and sunscreen. On top of that, we already got her Meningococcal b vaccine Bexsero.
In my wife’s home country itself, we got a portable bathtub to wash her, floor tiles and a brush to wash her bottle wish we forgot at home. Btw, just the first two were about €50 each!
Person — €255.97
I got new running shoes, yeah! I bought them in SA where it was actually more expensive than in Belgium!
Besides that, I got some medical stuff for my father-in-law (€92.57), face masks, and self tests but also a refund for the postnatal kine of my wife resulting in a total medical expense of €74.79.
Finally, I got 2 mosquito nets (€59.90) of which I only used one during our entire stay…
Luxury — €277.93
Luxury contains a lot of expenses.
- Electronics: €85.90 – Antlion microphone.
- Presents: +€53.20 – gifts for the in-laws my wife repaid.
- Entertainment: +€76.30 – Refund of tickets for a concert that got canceled after 2 years.
- Holidays: €183.67 – As mentioned earlier, this one is a lot lower than expected because my wife transferred her part of the plane tickets (+€977). Without that the first part of our trip would have cost us €1,160.67! Yikes! How did I get so high?
- Luggage: €330
- Economy comfort seats: €50.40
- Rental car: €208.57
- food (groceries, restaurants, small stuff): €571.70
- Subscriptions: €90.36 – This one is a bit special in the sense that I paid €65 to my brother-in-law to keep my local phone number active till we are back in April. On top of that I have the typical monthly recurring costs of Netflix, Spotify and for the last time, Patreon. The funny thing about Netflix, it’s the South American price of just €9.92 for the UHD subscription!
- Others: €47.50 – A bol.com voucher I used to purchase some FFP2 face masks
Food & supplies — €167.17
Another low month for food? Are we starving ourselves?! Obviously not.
We did do some groceries (€133.20) but we left for South America on the 13th of December, so it was only once.
While on holidays abroad I put all the expenses made during this time and that is purely because we are abroad, under holidays and thus luxury, even food such as restaurants. Why?
I’m less careful about my expenses while away as I see it as a relaxing moment and I foresee a budget to enjoy myself.
Sports — €35.0
After more than two years I finally started doing martial arts again. This € 35 is for the yearly insurance.
Banking and insurance — €30.84
Finally, we have banking and insurance. It’s a bit higher due to Beobank charging me €7.57 for their mistake:
- Family insurance: €7.69
- Cashback: +€0.5
- Beobank fee: €7.57
- Health insurance: €16.08
All the expenses
The bottom line for November 2021
With an income providing €3,687.25 and ok expenses, €1,863.80, my remaining net income in December was to my shock again above 50%: €3,687.25/€1,863.80 = 56.50%.
Honestly, the only reason it’s this high is because my wife send her share of the travel expenses, such as the plane tickets, the luggage and the gifts she got us for her family.
My Belgian friend Roadtrip to FIRE had a calm month but still shared his latest portfolio update. He reached 200K!
JoneyTalks asked the question If you Can Really Reach Financial Independence in Europe? with Mathias amongst many other podcasts.
Please share your thoughts in the comments below!