House construction too expensive - Stop building?

What I find expandable are 800€ for food/drinks/drugstore per month, or are diapers included in that. Then again, it would be great.

800€ are 8.88€ per day and person (3). That can be better, especially since a baby needs less than that per day.

Why do you think we don't need it? With a heat pump, it makes sense, doesn't it?

Because it probably isn't worth it anyway. Besides, you can always retrofit it later if there's money left over.

And so you drive out of the village three times a month, right?:rolleyes::) (Or here is missing 3 times half)

I only estimated the amount. The car is 12 years old and no longer has comprehensive insurance. Liability insurance is cheap after 12 accident-free years, and tax, TÜV... are also not a significant amount. We haven’t had any repairs in the workshop so far. The standard maintenance is done by ourselves, and new brake discs, for example, are not expensive.

Driving out of town three times a month could actually work... Munich is easily accessible with the MVV. But for me, that would then be in the "leisure" category.

The purchase/replacement costs are the decisive point, but how do I calculate that? The car still has well under 100,000 km and hopefully lasts for a while, and who knows what we’ll buy afterward.

We both don’t trust insurance companies and are certainly significantly underinsured by comparison.

There are so many insurances you don’t need… you don’t need double coverage either. But if I add up my supplementary health insurance, liability insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and household contents insurance, I’m already at 150€/month alone. Madness…. I knew why I stopped keeping my household budget at 30 :D That’s probably the youth bonus with you, where you don’t need anything yet ;)

We are both civil servants and privately insured. We have taken the health insurance contribution into account accordingly in our net income.

We have no life insurance, no disability insurance, and no household contents insurance. That explains the difference ;-)

The acquisition/replacement costs are the crucial point, but how do I calculate them? The car hasn't even reached 100,000 km yet and will hopefully last a while longer, and who knows what we'll buy afterwards.

Although, of course, that is calculated optimistically. It could still go well for 10 more years. Or tomorrow someone could crash into you and the insurance says it's 12 years old and almost worthless. If you own a car, especially if you depend on it, you should save an appropriate amount regularly. Repairs can also come quite quickly, and you have only limited control over that.

It's always the same. People buy their used car for 20k used in cash/transfer, or for 30k new. The money disappears from the account, then the car is driven for 12 years, maybe still worth 10-20% of the purchase price. You don't have any "ongoing" costs for financing. Depreciation doesn't go directly from the account, that's why it's not there ;)

However, over 12 years (without considering inflation/interest/alternative investments),

the used car: 20,000 euros purchase minus 4,000 euros residual value = 16,000 euros depreciation, which is 111 euros per month every month, every year for 12 years!
the new car: 30,000 euros purchase minus 6,000 euros residual value = 24,000 euros depreciation, which is 166 euros every month, every year for 12 years!

What do you do in 12 years? Exactly, get rid of the car. What do you need then? Exactly, money :) So what do you do to be able to buy the car again in 12 years? Exactly, every month for 12 years you "save money" to buy the car. But that's not saving, it's simply "projected depreciation into the future".

So to save, say, 25,000 euros in 12 years (the vehicle now costs 29,000 euros (inflation, more technology etc), I get 4,000 euros from selling the used one, so 25k is still missing) for a used vehicle, you need another 173 euros every month, every year for 12 years.

Do you notice something - for a good used car that should last 12 years, just for the car itself (depreciation) and for the new purchase, you need about 300 euros every month. It won't get cheaper!

In addition, e.g. at least (!!)

insurance 40 euros
car tax 15 euros
maintenance & wear costs 50 euros (brakes, tires, inspection, check-ups) - 600 euros per year will probably only be sufficient in the first years.

So you have to calculate at least 400-500 euros per month for the car, no matter how you look at it. Anything else is undercoverage.