Is the overall cost estimation realistic?

The cost of living is far too low with all the pipapo.

I agree, but I can't see what's causing it. That one can manage with hygiene products for oneself and the household + food with 150€ per person per month, I consider to be a rumor.

I see it the same way, but I cannot tell what the reason is. I consider it a myth that one can manage with hygiene products for oneself and the household + food with 150€ per person per month.

I also find that too tight. We spend 250-300€ per month on food and drinks (with a toddler). But hygiene products and such are not included in that yet.

Costs for children are also very variable. As a baby, it can still be very inexpensive if you breastfeed, cook puree yourself, use cloth diapers, and buy second-hand items from the stroller to the socks. With bottled milk, disposable diapers, Hipp jars, and everything new, it gets a bit more expensive, but still manageable, even with costs for courses like baby swimming etc. Then comes daycare and kindergarten, where you just have to see how it is regulated for you – in some municipalities almost free, and I have heard everything up to €800 for daycare! At school, materials, books, after-school care, possibly school fees also vary (rented books or buying everything every year etc.) and according to your own standards, then possibly tutoring, hobbies come along (is the soccer club enough or do they go horseback riding), pocket money, and then at some point in university or vocational training it’s also very different. Does the child want to study something exotic in Munich or do training at home and stay in the children’s room? Does the child get BAföG or do you have to support them yourself and transfer €800 every month; can they work on the side or does their apprenticeship fee maybe already cover most costs? You can hardly calculate all that. The €600 can come close on average over the years. Holidays, bigger car, building/buying a bigger house, insurance, more groceries need to be bought, health costs, gifts... so our children cost us a lot of money. With daycare, glasses, daycare lunch, food, insurance surcharges, and holiday cost surcharges, we frighteningly come to €500 per child for sure, and they are 3 and 5 and currently do not pursue any hobbies; but we do occasional gymnastics courses, swimming courses etc. And we hardly go on vacation. But they are nine-headed caterpillars growing like weeds^^. And with school starting next year, it will not get cheaper either. At the moment, we are aiming at €300-350 for the initial equipment. Just for shoes, I calculate €300-400 annually for the 2 children. And I buy exclusively on sale. Slippers at home and daycare, rain boots, half shoes, winter shoes, sandals, all x 2 and possibly more if one outgrows their shoes before the season is over^^. When you add everything up and include everything, what could be saved as a couple, we come to a (much) higher amount. By the way, we did not overcalculate to death before buying the house because the children were already there both, so we could roughly estimate it. At least at the moment. What will come to us in terms of school and especially vocational training/university, of course, we do not know either.

EDIT: For food and drugstore items, the four of us spend between €600 and €800 per month. This is exclusive of the daycare lunch, which costs an extra €110-160, and the food for my husband is covered by his friendly employer.

EDIT: For groceries and drugstore items, we spend between €600 and €800 for 4 people per month. This is exclusive of the daycare lunch, which costs an extra €110-160, and my husband's meals are covered by his generous employer.

And not everyone has such a generous employer. But of course, for complete honesty, the daycare lunch should be included in the "household expenses" item. In your example, that would be about €900 for 4 people. Sounds much more realistic. And those who don't have to pay for daycare lunch may have to cover the canteen meals on workdays... It all adds up.

The first thing I would change is the mobile phone contract with €99.99 - that can only be a typo

I enter that separately in the household book, so I have written it separately out of habit; but yes, directly one after the other in the running text. The food at the daycare fluctuates depending on illness, vacation, closures, and holidays. That’s why it is included separately in my calculation. The fact that we don’t pay for my husband’s food, I have written that directly behind it for exactly that reason. It belongs in there, but I can’t say what value it corresponds to, as the employer pays it directly and my husband doesn’t even need to cover it himself. Adding everything up, it would certainly be around €900 if you take the averages each time.