House construction too expensive - Stop building?

Yes, working from home doesn’t matter. I have also sat there in just my underwear when there were no calls. But you explicitly mentioned the office. That’s where my mental imagery was located.

No one asks whether the car, as a truly permanently expensive asset, is really necessary. By that I mean: necessary. There are countless situations where it is hardly or not at all realistic without a car. There are just as many situations where it would work perfectly fine without a car if you are willing to embrace it.

: I am probably the one with the lowest income here in the forum. I have oriented my life accordingly. I minimize permanent costs, e.g. I don’t have any of those permanently expensive things: car, unnecessary insurances, expensive subscriptions to Netflix or newspapers, lots of electronic gadgets). I invest in things that are permanently useful (at least that is how they seem to me) or inexpensive (photovoltaics, home battery (don’t complain, I don’t live in Germany and we have different conditions here), washing machine connected to the rainwater cistern, a well-functioning, comfortable and low-maintenance bicycle including a cargo trailer, seasonal food, second hand) and if there is any money left over, then I spend it on nice things. Because of this, my life does not feel poorer at all but, on the contrary, enriched. Not being able to draw from the full brings me a slower pace of life; it forces me to engage properly with my environment and circumstances and with my needs. The latter is recommended to everyone, but we so rarely get around to it (myself included). :D

If you are really in financial panic, it can help to pause briefly and imagine what life could look like if you abolished the big and small cost eaters. Just dealing with this alone has enormous value, I think. However, do not create a horror scenario but rather a realistic scenario with your life on a smaller footprint.

Old farmers’ saying: Every little bit counts. :D Even small costs are costs and you can do something about them. Making decisions in the financial area would give you the feeling again that you have an overview and control over your finances and your life. And then the panic disappears by itself.

Fingers crossed.

I cannot understand the car bill of at least €500. Our car cost just under €14,000 as a nearly new car about 11 years ago. If I now spread €14,000 over the months driven so far, I arrive at €100 per month, which the car has cost me regarding depreciation.

Pessimistically calculated, it breaks down tomorrow, then it was €100 per month for 11 years. The next 11 years it will then be a bit more expensive monthly, since the car now costs €16,000, but even then I’m only at €120 for depreciation.

Optimistically calculated, it will last another 10 years without major repairs, which is not impossible at 70,000km. Then I would be just over €50 purely for depreciation without repairs.

And as someone already said, it is always a question of where you allocate what in your calculation. We have a monthly savings rate and whether tomorrow I have to replace a broken washing machine from it, pay for a car repair, or buy a new car because I wrecked mine, I cannot foresee that.

I already wrote, went out of the village with it three times a month. It can’t be much more than that. (With the km mileage in 11 years)

I think is an IT guy, so I’m not surprised anymore about the clothing, considering our IT department. Also, it might be that the office is the room in his house. Many almost exclusively work from home.

Home office only after the move, before that I really didn’t have any space for it. But hey, at least we all wear pants, even if one colleague sometimes walks around like this:

I myself save monthly for repairs and insurance, but the new purchase is not saved for separately, it just goes into the general savings amount.

You are reinforcing my argument. It is "not saved separately" and goes into the "general" savings amount. That is exactly wrong. You save, precisely the portion (which is only not recorded exactly) for the car. And if it was 100 euros, then it was 100 euros. The money will be spent on the car, otherwise you won’t have it later, actually very easy to understand.

But hey, everyone can do it however they want^^ And the person who wrote above that they would only pay so little for the Hyundai – just because you don’t lay out the calculation doesn’t mean it’s not there :)

Everything else is smoke and mirrors. But well, not everyone is an economist :)

Buy a mid-range 1-2 year old car after 4 years. I keep my cars longer..

Ashes on my head. My 500 refers to AI, so for someone who depends on a car, 500€/month, which includes savings AND inspections, insurance, miscellaneous :oops: