Additional costs realistically estimated

Hello,

maybe my topic doesn’t fit here 100% perfectly, but we are currently thinking about how much house fits our salary and have now kept a household budget for a year and considered all expenses (including vacation, depreciation of the car, etc.). Now, besides the monthly payment to the bank, there are other costs related to "living" to consider, and this is exactly where we are stuck.

The following is planned: a detached single-family house, Ruhr area / Sauerland border, to Kfw 40 standard with about 160 sqm of living space. Heating is via wood gasifier because I can get wood for free. Lighting will be done with LED lamps, which should keep electricity consumption low. Rainwater will be collected via a cistern so that rainwater causes no costs. At the same time, the fairly large garden (850 sqm pure garden area) should be irrigated here. Four people (me with my wife and two children aged 2 and 5) will live in the house.

We have the following monthly costs in mind:

- Electricity: approx. 80 EUR
- Heating / hot water: none
- Chimney sweep / maintenance wood gasifier: 10 EUR
- Drinking water / sewage: 40 EUR
- Risk life insurance for financing: 20 EUR
- Garbage collection: 30 EUR
- Property tax: 20 EUR
- Street cleaning: 25 EUR
- Household contents / building insurance: 45 EUR
- Reserve for renovations: 150 EUR
- GEZ: 17 EUR
- Phone / internet: 28 EUR

That makes a total of 465 € plus wood for the wood gasifier. For the care of the garden, which is our hobby and is elaborately designed and maintained, we have estimated another 100 euros per month.

Are these costs realistic or have we forgotten something essential?

Thank you very much in advance.....

Hi, I consider that quite realistic! Regards, Thorsten

How is the free wood delivery ensured for the next 15 years?

As long as the company of my buddy doesn’t go bankrupt, the wood delivery should be ensured. And the company exists in the third generation. Otherwise, I will probably have to saw and chop myself :-)

Do you already have experience with this type of heating?
Have you informed yourself about alternatives?

Not personally, but I have experienced the system at the mentioned friend’s place and am very impressed by it. He has two large buffer tanks and a solar thermal system on the roof. The latter ensures that the wood gasifier hardly needs to run during the summer months. Otherwise, a few loads of wood keep the tanks full and provide long refill intervals even in freezing temperatures. The disadvantage, of course, would be that during a winter vacation someone would have to feed the wood gasifier, but since we are generally beach vacationers, this problem does not arise. Alternatively, one can also consider retrofitting the wood gasifier with a pellet module so that it might be possible to be away for a few days in winter.