Starting my journey

The starting point

September Savings rate: 1,17%

October Savings rate: 13,07%

Last month it was quite a shock to get 1,17%. I was instantly looking for ways to reduce costs. I've found some options to cut costs on but none of those are in effect yet in october. So seeing our savings rate is a bit higher under normal circumstances gives hope that we could still greatly improve.

Let's have a look at where the differences lie.

Things that went better this month

House maintenance (+3,9% Savings rate)

This month we didn't have to spend any money on house maintenance. We did start building up a buffer because we might have to replace the roof on our home extension due to leakage.

Clothing (+3,27% savings rate)

Since we did our half-yearly clothing buying in September, we shouldn't expect any expenses in this category till the end of the winter.

Bouldering (+1% savings rate)

This is a bit of a skewed picture. The reason for the reduced costs is that I wasn't able to go a few times due to holiday With rumours that sport facilities might have to temporarily close due to COVID-19 it is probable we will have a reduced costs in November as well.

Groceries (+0,95% savings rate)

Not a big gain on groceries but if we can keep this trend going it can grow to a big gain. I believe we have quite high costs in groceries for just 2 adults. For example estimated national averages are nearly half of what we spend.

Investments

Yes! Finally, I'm able to put some money to work. Although it's not much, I'm glad that I can already put something aside.

Things that went worse this month

Dogs (-3,15% savings rate)

We had a bit of bad luck this month in this category. First our dogs caught fleas, so we had to get some remedies for those. Luckily it seems to have worked. Then our dog started having trouble walking and needed to go to the vet. Hopefully the medicine she is on now will resolved her pain.

Holiday (-1,58% savings rate)

Although this has a negative impact on the savings rate, it was actually a great deal. We were able to join my parents for 1 week on their holiday for no additional costs. We only had some expenses in the form of gas and some tourist attractions.

Planned changes

Formula 1

As I mentioned in my last report I wanted to look into giving up on my f1tv subscription since my tv provider already covers all races. However, when looking into this I found out that if I move my mobile phone plan to my cable provider a get quite a nice deal.

• My mobile plan costs are reduced by 4 euro per month
• My data goes up by 1 GB
• I get a free set of sport related channels on cable
• I get a f1tv subscription for free

So in total this saves me 12 euros a month. so a consistent 0,3% on my savings rate.

My plan is moved at the end of november so this month will still be the original costs.

2 cars

As I've also mentioned last report, I wanted to rethink our car situation. However, I want to go more in depth on this in a separate blog.

Have any questions or suggestions? Mail me at sound@soundsthesameas.com