# Pants down: yearly spending!

**URL:** <https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249>\
**Category:** Share your story\
**Created:** [September 9, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249 "2018-09-09T20:07:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![Cortana](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/cortana/32/2082_2.png) [@Cortana](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Cortana)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 11:39am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/141 "2021-12-29T11:39:05Z")

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As I’m living with my GF, these are only my expenses or my part of it. I cover 60% of all shared expenses (because my salary makes up ~60-65% of our total salary). This is for 2022:

| 4’820 | per month |
| --- | --- |
| 1’400 | Apartment, electricity |
| 630 | Taxes |
| 610 | Food, utilities |
| 600 | Vacation |
| 590 | Education |
| 390 | Health insurance, supplementary health insurance, deductible |
| 105 | Public transport |
| 105 | Internet, Mobile phone, Serafe, Netflix, Prime, Disney+, Spotify |
| 100 | Cats |
| 100 | Gym, coaching |
| 60 | Clothing |
| 60 | Gifts |
| 45 | Insurances |
| 25 | Haircut |

Net salary is CHF 6’280 without bonus. So that leaves me with CHF 1’460 net savings per month (CHF 573 VIAC, CHF 887 IBKR). When I receive my bonus (usually 12-20k net), I put 25% of it on my taxes account (as this is my marginal tax rate) and the rest of it is saved/invested. So I’m able to save around 30k/year with bonus included. 9.2k/year is the total contribution to my pension fund, so ~40k/year in total.

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**Author:** ![Burningstone](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/burningstone/32/12334_2.png) [@Burningstone](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Burningstone)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 12:09pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/142 "2021-12-29T12:09:46Z")

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If I may ask, what are the 590 for education?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cortana](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/cortana/32/2082_2.png) [@Cortana](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Cortana)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 12:12pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/143 "2021-12-29T12:12:13Z")

</div>

Bachelor at Kalaidos. It’s rather expensive but makes it possible for me to work 100%.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Slutmachine](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Slutmachine](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Slutmachine)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 12:53pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/144 "2021-12-29T12:53:52Z")

</div>

CHF/pm (rounded)

- Rent (studio with indoor parking space): 730
- Health insurance: 250
- Liability insurance: 10
- Electricity: 20
- Food: 600
- Train (AG/GA): 255
- Car (gas/insurance/maintenance): 300
- Internet: 35
- Mobile: 40
- Serafe: 30
- Haircut: 30
- Laundry: 10
- Gym: 55
- Subscriptions (mail/cloud): 15  
**TOTAL: roughly 2’400** (\<30% of my net income)

Are not counted all discretionary/extraordinary expenses such as gifts, holidays, clothing, health products and services…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cortana](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/cortana/32/2082_2.png) [@Cortana](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Cortana)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 2:10pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/145 "2021-12-29T14:10:32Z")

</div>

20 electricity? 1.5 room apartment?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Burningstone](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/burningstone/32/12334_2.png) [@Burningstone](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Burningstone)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/146 "2021-12-29T14:13:35Z")

</div>

He wrote that it’s a studio.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FunnyDjo](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/funnydjo/32/3216_2.png) [@FunnyDjo](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/FunnyDjo)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/147 "2021-12-29T14:34:24Z")

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Same as Cortana here. I live with my GF and share common expenses proportionally to our salary (65/45). We do not calculate anything for groceries/restaurants/gift and pay more or less with the same ratio.  
I am accounting on my part only:

| Main post | chf |
| --- | --- |
| Rent for 2 bed | 1464.00 |
| Heating | 8.67 |
| Home Internet | 9.00 |
| SIG - Electricity | 30.00 |
| Serafe | 27.90 |
| Phone plan | 9.00 |
| Home insurance | 15.44 |
| Laundry | 20.00 |
| Lawyer | 43.78 |
| Bank garantee | 1.67 |
| Health Lamal | 312.00 |
| Food,restaurant,clothes,travels,gift… | 1272.00 |
| — | — |
| Monthly Average | 3350.00 |

Average saving rate is 61% or 45 kchf spending for 2021 (including both lpp2 contribution). It is constant since 2016 with a peak year at 52kchf in 2017.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ed\_Waadt](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/ed_waadt/32/1732_2.png) [@Ed\_Waadt](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Ed_Waadt)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 3:07pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/148 "2021-12-29T15:07:02Z")

</div>

Well, seems that you are already playing this (painful) game.

I will hold all spending in 2021 so that this stays true 😃 Just kidding…

While I will give more details [in my own thread](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/ed-in-lausanne-in-kanton-waadt-personal-numbers/2093) once I’m done spreadsheeting, here is how it is looking for me for cross-members comparison purposes. Looking at your figures I feel like a big spender.

And let’s not forget that taxes, a lot of taxes (Vaud!) need to be added on top of this. However every single rappen spent in 2021 is accounted for below except for taxes:

| (Sub)Category | CHF 2021 | ∆ over 3y avg. | monthly equivalent | CHF for main category | CHF monthly main cat |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Banks’ greed | 900.93 | +185.7% | 75.08 | 900.93 | 75.08 |
| Education | 123.26 | -69.0% | 10.27 | 123.26 | 10.27 |
| Entertainment | 695.36 | +32.1% | 57.95 | 695.36 | 57.95 |
| Food/Alcohol | 724.56 | +290.0% | 60.38 | 6800.25 | 566.69 |
| Food/Coffee | 538.02 | +67.8% | 44.84 | | |
| Food/Groceries | 3646.84 | +27.5% | 303.90 | | |
| Food/Lunch at work | 485.75 | -19.0% | 40.48 | | |
| Food/Restaurants | 1405.08 | +11.0% | 117.09 | | |
| Gifts | 626.28 | -35.7% | 52.19 | 626.28 | 52.19 |
| Health/Insurance | 5005.80 | +11.6% | 417.15 | 6655.03 | 554.59 |
| Health/Doctor,dentist,pharmacy | 1631.43 | +37.2% | 135.95 | | |
| Health/Fitness | 17.80 | -99.3% | 1.48 | | |
| Home/Furniture,improvements | 4844.74 | +478.9% | 403.73 | 7339.41 | 611.62 |
| Home/Help | 1275.00 | +8.6% | 106.25 | | |
| Home/Insurance | 490.80 | +97.1% | 40.90 | | |
| Home/Household goods,laundry | 728.87 | +16.4% | 60.74 | | |
| Online services | 334.42 | +21.9% | 27.87 | 334.42 | 27.87 |
| Personal hygiene | 358.52 | +50.6% | 29.88 | 358.52 | 29.88 |
| Pets/Cat stuff | 462.15 | +12.7% | 38.51 | 985.25 | 82.10 |
| Pets/Veterinary | 90.10 | -28.9% | 7.51 | | |
| Pets/Catsitting | 433.00 | +233.1% | 36.08 | | |
| Rent | 21900.00 | +21.7% | 1825.00 | 21900.00 | 1825.00 |
| Shopping/Clothing | 1170.73 | +128.0% | 97.56 | 2271.25 | 189.27 |
| Shopping/Software and electronics | 1100.52 | -72.0% | 91.71 | | |
| Taxes/Billag | 282.50 | +65.6% | 23.54 | 282.50 | 23.54 |
| Transportation/Car sharing | 439.12 | +7.9% | 36.59 | 3732.67 | 311.06 |
| Transportation/eBike | 0.00 | -100.0% | 0.00 | | |
| Transportation/Public Transportation | 3293.55 | +343.0% | 274.46 | | |
| Travel | 4291.22 | +0.6% | 357.60 | 4291.22 | 357.60 |
| Utilities/Electricity | 248.80 | -25.8% | 20.73 | 2311.73 | 192.64 |
| Utilities/Internet,phone | 355.85 | +52.2% | 29.65 | | |
| Utilities/Mobile phone | 588.13 | +11.6% | 49.01 | | |
| Utilities/Heating and common costs | 1118.95 | +14.2% | 93.25 | | |
| TOTAL | | +19.9% | 4967.34 | 59608.08 | |

Be gentle 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Burningstone](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/burningstone/32/12334_2.png) [@Burningstone](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Burningstone)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/149 "2021-12-29T15:37:05Z")

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> [@Ed\_Waadt](#):
>
> Looking at your figures I feel like a big spender.

Just wait until I post our figures, I’ll get massacred. We spend 2’700 a month for rent only 🤣

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ed\_Waadt](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/ed_waadt/32/1732_2.png) [@Ed\_Waadt](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Ed_Waadt)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/150 "2021-12-29T15:46:00Z")

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My figures are for me alone (1 person living alone) so I may still “win” this shameful competition 😬

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tia\_0](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@Tia\_0](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Tia_0)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/151 "2021-12-29T16:17:39Z")

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Living alone in ZH since my girlfriend is still studying and living with her parents in Italy.  
16% increase from last year, more “trips” and some big purchases (watch, laptop and smart trainer for the bike).

Saving rate and total savings:

- 2020 - 65% (65k/year)
- 2021 - 60% (63k/year)

| Monthly expenses | 3,467 |
| --- | --- |
| Housing | 1,850 |
| Heath Insurance | 277 |
| Transport (within CH) | 81 |
| Travel (outside CH) | 86 |
| Grocery | 291 |
| Out | 102 |
| Gifts | 118 |
| Doctor | 91 |
| Subscription fees | 77 |
| Clothing | 33 |
| Other | 463 |

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FI\_yes\_RE\_maybe](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/fi_yes_re_maybe/32/7159_2.png) [@FI\_yes\_RE\_maybe](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/FI_yes_RE_maybe)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/152 "2021-12-29T17:39:16Z")

</div>

Living alone in the canton of Schwyz… @Ed_Waadt : not sure if we can talk about win… but i guess i should not be too far away from you… :- 😅

Numbers are rounded and without Taxes

| 8000 | CHF per month |
| --- | --- |
| 700 | Groceries |
| 2900 | Rent (4.5 pc)+ internet |
| 1150 | car (no leasing) |
| 400 | Insurances |
| 750 | Vacation |
| 250 | Eat and drink outside (thx corona) |
| 1850 | Misc (Child, presents etc.) |

Some positions are pretty OK, and some are for sure way off. I know… 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ed\_Waadt](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/ed_waadt/32/1732_2.png) [@Ed\_Waadt](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Ed_Waadt)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/153 "2021-12-29T17:44:52Z")

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> [@FI\_yes\_RE\_maybe](#):
>
> Rent (4.5 pc)+ internet

You make me dream 😃 😉 but I see “child” so you’re not that alone, which explains the extra budget and the extra room.

In my personal case I’m rather investing myself into the “earn more” rather than the “expend less” as I feel I still have some upside of several tens of thousands of franks per year whereas expenses-wise I would find it hard. I really do not feel as if I’m leading a luxurious lifestyle and still it’s over 8k/month with taxes.

Are you sure you are taking into account ALL your expenses?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Goyero](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/goyero/32/4382_2.png) [@Goyero](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Goyero)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/154 "2021-12-29T17:46:49Z")

</div>

Married, 2 kids living in Schaffhausen and taxed at sourced. +50% saving rate

| | 2021 Yearly | 2021 Monhtly | 2020 Yearly | 2020 Monhtly |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Housing (Rent 4.5 pc + parking, internet, electricity and insurance) | 22,750 | 1,896 | 22,500 | 1,875 |
| Insurances (Healthcare and personal liability) | 9,500 | 792 | 9,800 | 817 |
| Groceries (only in Germany) | 7,050 | 588 | 6,300 | 525 |
| Car (Insurance, repairs and gas) | 1,400 | 117 | 900 | 75 |
| Restaurants | 1,000 | 83 | 500 | 42 |
| Travel | 8,200 | 683 | 2,200 | 183 |
| Kids (Mainly Kinderkrippe) | 5,800 | 483 | 4,700 | 392 |
| Clothes/Gifts/Mobile/Furniture | 5,900 | 492 | 7,200 | 600 |
| Family & Friends | 2,400 | 200 | 1,800 | 150 |
| Doctor/Dentist/Farmacy | 1,400 | 117 | 1,600 | 133 |
| Other Expenses (Serafe, German lessons, Gym, swimming pool and others) | 7,000 | 583 | 8,400 | 700 |
| | 72,400 | 6,033 | 65,900 | 5,492 |

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FI\_yes\_RE\_maybe](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/fi_yes_re_maybe/32/7159_2.png) [@FI\_yes\_RE\_maybe](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/FI_yes_RE_maybe)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/155 "2021-12-29T17:53:54Z")

</div>

Well - i guess most of it is considered 🙂  
And yes - this is also more or less my strategy - a couple of things can certainly be reduced, but its also about the quality of life during the FI(RE) journey and so “reducing to the max” is not an option.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Burningstone](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/burningstone/32/12334_2.png) [@Burningstone](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Burningstone)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/156 "2021-12-29T19:20:26Z")

</div>

Here are our (my wife, our dog and myself) spendings for 2021:

| | **2021 Yearly** | **2021 Monthly** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Home (rent 5.5pc house, electricity, internet/mobile, furniture, repairs) | 40’388 | 3’366 |
| Groceries (food, household, restaurant) | 21’498 | 1’791 |
| Health (health insurance, doctor, medication, fitness) | 11’152 | 929 |
| Insurance (car, liability, household) | 2’002 | 167 |
| Transportation (car, public transport) | 2’522 | 210 |
| Dog (food, medical bills) | 3’187 | 266 |
| Finance (bank fees) | 473 | 39 |
| Education (books, licence fees) | 233 | 19 |
| Appearance (haircut, clothes, beauty) | 5’892 | 491 |
| Entertainment (electronics, gifts, spotify, netflix, party) | 8’335 | 695 |
| Travel | 1’613 | 134 |
| Taxes (cantonal/federal taxes, AHV/IV) | 20’402 | 1’700 |
| **Total** | **117’696** | **9’808** |

**Home:** Some larger expenses because we moved to a house in September incl. some new furniture, some repairs and cleaning for the old apartment.  
**Groceries:** Way too high, we had quite a lot of take away, we are inviting friends for dinner almost every week, but it got way better towards the end of the year.  
**Health:** My wife still had an expensive health insurance, but we changed it for next year. Also some more expensive medical bills, which hopefully will not repeat next year.  
**Insurance:** Includes CHF 500 donations made to Rega and Paraplegiker Stiftung, otherwise quite okay.  
**Dog:** We only got the dog last year, so there are some first time equipments included. We also regularly go to a man-trailing school with the dog.  
**Finance:** Includes custody fees and transaction costs, could be a bit lower.  
**Education:** Mainy the yearly fees for the CFA chartholder, should be reimbursed by my employer next month.  
**Appearance:** This is mainly coming from my wife 🙂 We won’t cut down in this area, you have to make compromises…  
**Entertainment:** Some large positions in the electronics category from my side, some necessary, some not. Should be quite lower next year.  
**Travel:** Only one “big” trip to Italy for 2 weeks, “thanks” to Corona

I know, not really mustachian/frugal and some here will think we are crazy, but overall we are quite happy and we won’t change a lot for the next year, we rather try to increase our income than spending time and effort to cut expenses. We also think cutting expenses will be hard without sacrificing quality of life.

We managed to save around 60k, which is on track with our goals.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dbu](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/dbu/32/1552_2.png) [@dbu](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/dbu)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/157 "2021-12-29T21:01:51Z")

</div>

> [@FI\_yes\_RE\_maybe](#):
>
> |1150|car (no leasing)

Are you driving a W12? 😁

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![whatever](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/whatever/32/1474_2.png) [@whatever](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/whatever)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/158 "2021-12-29T21:53:07Z")

</div>

Exciting to read your reports in such granularity. Happy to share my figures which improved significantly compared to 2020.

| Monthly Expenses pre-tax | | 2021 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Fixed Costs | Rent | $ 816 |
| | Rent addons (insurance etc) | $ 87 |
| | Insurance | $ 230 |
| | Public transport | $ 13 |
| | Phone | $ 21 |
| | TOTAL Fixed Costs | $1’170 |
| Variable Costs | Groceries | $ 194 |
| | Transportation | $ 28 |
| | Material Items | $ 271 |
| | Entertainment | $ 72 |
| | Dining Out | $ 189 |
| | Gifts | $ 56 |
| | Personal/Medical | $ 91 |
| | Travel | $ 323 |
| | Miscellaneous | $ 111 |
| | TOTAL Variable Costs | $ 1’339 |
| TOTAL MONTHLY EXPENSES | | $2’550 |

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![couch2million](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/couch2million/32/7183_2.png) [@couch2million](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/couch2million)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/159 "2021-12-29T23:46:24Z")

</div>

As I just moved in with gf we share the rent&grocery, therefore I will take in account only my half in the Housing section:

- Housing: 18k (9.7k of rent + furniture + Asloca case)
- Personal: 7k
- Health: 4.6k
- Transport: 0.6k
- Holiday: 2k
- **Total: 32.2k per year** | 2.6k per month

Hopefully next year we should see a difference of 7.5k in the housing section (15k between me and my gf ) due to a lower rent, which was fought thanks to Asloca (and ofc paid), and no more necessary furniture to buy, which should bring down the yearly total spending to ±24.7k per year (2.05k per month)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ed\_Waadt](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/ed_waadt/32/1732_2.png) [@Ed\_Waadt](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Ed_Waadt)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/pants-down-yearly-spending/1249/160 "2021-12-30T00:52:07Z")

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> [@couch2million](#):
>
> Hopefully next year we should see a difference of 6k in the housing section (12k between me and my gf ) due to a lower rent, which was fought thanks to Asloca (and ofc paid),

So you got a rent reduction of 1k per month? Where are you located exactly? And was this due to contesting the initial rent or any other process? On what grounds?

Just curious!

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