Swiss life hacks list

Life Hacking
41

finally it’s time for all of us to contribute to his FIRE-plans

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42

or we go elsewhere … eg reddit …

43

Mmh, personally I’m fine with a few ads, I don’t think it’ll change the value of the content, unless some of the top posters are so anti & leave.

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44

The Revolut ad is a bit suprising for me - it says “Visa”.
I have only an option of MasterCard with an account registered in CH.
Anybody has other options (these days)?

(I don’t mind the ads either)

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45

I only had the option for a visa card on revolut…

46

3 posts were split to a new topic: Affiliate links on the forum (for newcomers)

47

I have a Mastercard, but a friend of mine got a Visa when he registered a month ago.

48

I could choose both (or was it Maestro instead of MasterCard, don’t recall) when I was opening the account around 2-3 months ago.
I took a Visa.

49

This is my short list:

  • Making coffee at home is always better an cheaper
  • Why drive when you can walk?
  • Plug off your panasonic beamer when not using it, it saves you money this way
  • Using apps to wake up is more effective
  • Don’t buy new phones, ever
  • Delete your Facebook
  • Use a VPN
50

Thanks for sharing your list!
What are the reasons for which you use a VPN?

51
  • Get a Lunch-Check card from Coop Prämienshop at 10% discount and pay with that to get 10% discount at most Restaurants/Take-aways:
    https://www.supercard.ch/praemienshop/search/?text=lunch-check
  • Pay everything else with a Cashback Credit-Card. (don’t use Cash or Debit Cards) Only use debit if you get a discount bigger than the cashback reward.
  • Picking up additional health insurance (VVG) where you consistently take out more than you pay in:
    • On my Atupri Mivita i pay in CHF 249 per year. But I get back EVERY year:
      - CHF 200 for my sport subscription
      - CHF 100-300 on glasses and contact lenses
      - CHF 500-1500 for sport massages
      - CHF 50+ for medicine not covered in VVG
      - In addition to this I get a lot more things that are useful at some point (out of country coverage, holiday vaccinations, transportation cost, hospital choice whole switzerland)
  • Health Insurance KVG: Pay yearly and get a discount up to 2% percent (depends on insurer)
  • Health Insurance VVG: Lot of discounts possible, personally I got the following:
    • 10% for mentioning my employer (Rahmenvertrag), also possible via some associations etc.
    • 10% for having insurance in KVG with same insurer and using alternative model
    • 4% for having multi year contract
    • 2% for paying yearly
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52

Every site tracks your online activity. From Google, to Facebook, and even to this forum. Through cookies. So, I’d rather like them not know who I am, as much as possible.

53

I don’t know where you live, but I suppose that price is for young people only. It should cost ~2x that.

54

I’m 34 years old. Would be more than 300 without the listed discounts for me as well. But yes it get’s more expensive the older you get.

55

I’d recommend you to check the Hated One on YouTube, if you haven’t already. He has a crash course video on internet privacy, from the most crucial steps to the most tinfoil hat ones. VPN is not that soon on the list. I mean, as long as you use the same browser and don’t delete your cookies, they will identify you no problemo.

In order to really stay untraceable to advertisers and tech giants, you really need to get through a lot of hoops, like using a different browser for googling and casual browsing, and a different one for social media. Perhaps even use tor browser.

If you only use VPN then what it protects is the way between you and the server, but the endpoints: you and the server are still vulnerable. VPN is also good for watching geoblocked content.

To me that’s all just a bit too much. I don’t do any shady business online, so I guess I’m too lazy to protect my privacy to that extent.

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56

Entertainment:

  • Share a netflix account (tv-series/movies) / join a spotify family (music).
  • Buy a library pass for onleihe ( free ebooks and papers (nzz…)
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57

I know The Hated One, it’s a great YouTube channel, I’m sure I watched some of his clips. I agree, it’s pretty much impossible to stay anonymous online. Maybe a combination between Tor and Tails could be pretty effective.

I’m in a similar bucket as you. I usually don’t mind it as much but sometimes the whole privacy issue still gets annoying. Thank God for Adblockers.

Great username btw.

1 Like
58

Just stumbled about the UPC offer some months ago, as my kid needed a phone preferably with a lot internet usage included. So if you have already an UPC contract, it costs you CHF 29.- for CH and would CHF 39.- für CH (data unlimited) and Europe (with 10GB data) included. They put this on “sale”, but again I bought this a few months ago and it works really fine.

Imgur

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59

I used this one in late July. 1000 superpoint + CHF 80 = CHF 100 on the lunch card. Thanks for the tip. But now it is not possible to pay with cash anymore… only with superpoints… 9000 superpoints = CHF 100 on the lunch card… Much less interesting since I do not have so many superpoints

2 Likes
60

Hello everybody,

Here are my 2 cents about life hacks in Switzerland (32 y.o, Lausanne, couple).

  • Mobile: Yallo Black Friday offer 22 CHF/month (unlimited data, no roaming). Had medinex before of you work fort he state or know someone who does (38.35 CHF/month, unlimited data, includes some roaming).

  • Internet: Green 35 CHF/month. No TV abo, only internet content for entertainment.

  • Mobility: CFF GA paid in rekka checks (3% economy) and bike abo (240 CHF/year) to be mobile in the city you live and the one you work, no time spent locking your bike at the station. Sadely had to buy a car lately because of work and let go the GA. Leared to service my bike alone.

  • Car : low fuel consumption, 75% taxe discount in VD because of less than 120g CO2/km, eco tire and serious eco-drive to save on fuel consumption, changing tires and light bulbs myself, learn where the fuel is cheaper, only fill your tank half each time.

  • Insurence : Funny fact, I called Zurich for my car insurence to change one small point of the police. They sent me back an offer where everything was lower in price (overall 10% discount). I guess it is because their prices do change in time and when you ask for a change, they apply the new costs on the whole contract. Would be interested to know if this work elwhere too. If it does not change, you can still refuse their offer and continue with the old contract.

  • Home insurence : lowest available on the market. Don’t underinsure your home (i.e. don’t underevaluate your personnal belongings). Look for other offers from time to time. Maybe it is time to switch (is it a bad idea to change homeinsurence regularly btw ?)

  • Food : Almost vegetarian (meat, cheese is pricey). I use the cumulus coupons from my Cumulus Credit card. We buy stocks of food in France from time to time when we are near the boarder, paying with Revolut.

  • Bank: Emergency fund is kept as Raiffeisen shares (part-sociales), in two differents Raifeisen banks (2% and 2.75% dividend, liquid asset as you can sell it anytime back tot he bank). Other bank fees to 0 CHF/year. Max 3a pilar contribution and try to do the same for 2nd pilar buy back.

Thanks a lor for all the usefull tips here and there!

3 Likes