[Migrated, see pinned post] Casual Conversation

All these savings aside, you should also know where to save, and for that you need an example of monthly expenses you can compare yourself to. Luckily, government assistance programs do just that when they tell you how to live on their pittance.

Here's the one for Germany, rounded to nice numbers (source), so a fairly wealthy central European country:

• 200€ Food and drink (14%)
• 50€ clothes ( 3.5 %)
• 50€ energy
• 50€ transportation (!)
• 50€ communication
• 50€ leisure and culture
• 30€ furniture and appliances
• 20€ medication
• 50€ other

550€ total flexible costs (40%)

To compare to your bill, you also need to consider the costs the agencies just take on outside of that source I gave. These are the regular expenses that depend on location even more so, but just to have them here:

• 500€ rent, no utilities (source being the maximum the local agency covers in a moderately big city)
• 150€ utilities (guess)
• 200€ health insurance (guess)

850€ total inflexible costs (60%)

Making 1,400€ for one person to live one month in a German city in 2025.

Needless to say, unless you buy multiple AAA games a month, these expenses are dominated by inflexible costs, even more so if you're living in a place with a housing and health insurance crisis. Also note that the value for transportation is clearly too low for car ownership, if you need it for work that monthly expense better be covered by the extra income.

Now you should compare those values to your own expenses and reason why you spend more/less in some areas. And then you should be able to tell where you are living above your means, or if you need a more local comparison. And then you can still figure out how you can save 7% of your expenses by cooking at home.

Keep in mind you pay extra for convenience in many situations. It was said here before, but home cooking is the prime example.

Speaking of which, buy the stuff you use a lot off cheap, buy the expensive stuff only if you use it in small amounts. Example: I'm really into curry, so I use a lot of carrots and potatoes, the cheapest veggies here, but that alone is a bit bland. So i use moderate portions of whatever hearty veggies are in season (sweet potato, zucchini, pumpkin, eggplant). There's also this really good curry paste I like, and I didn't even bother comparing its price since I know I will need to buy a new one in half a year at the earliest.

As a consequence of that rule, skip on meat. Too expensive and too big portions. Even if you still want to celebrate the end of a week/month with it, you really need to learn some veggie recipes for the work week.

I find rice to be the perfect balance between work-intensive potatoes and pricey -in- comparison pasta. So I of course use literal 10s of kilos of it and don't buy the minute rice (again, surcharge for convenience), but from the local Asia mart for cheap.

I got a twist for the fellas! Look at women's clothes at the thrift. There's far more variety than in the men's section and it's stupid cheap. Also, if you're non-fat, women's tops tend to cut in subtly at the waist, trés chic. Imagine, clothes that don't look like they used a whiskey barrel for a mannequin.

A good chunk of my shoes are from the female section. Got several jackets and other winter tops that look dead sexy. Used to pay way too much for white linen to wear at the beach or river. Here's the top I wore yesterday. (Boat's too small for 4, even though we're all tiny. Kids took turns getting towed.) Pulled two white tops at the thrift and my wife was shaking her head, "No! Those are for girls!" Yesterday she thought I looked hot and tried to give me told-you-so that the tops would look great on me. Whatever.

Here's one of those tops with a woman's vest, $4 for both. Just noticed, that's a woman's watch, $2 plus a new battery. Wish I had more pics handy, but you get the idea.

CAVEAT: The buttons and zippers are ass backwards.