Previous blogs:

• 2019: Where did my 30000 EUR go?
• 2020: Where did my 20.000 EUR go?
• 2021: Where did my 25.000 EUR go?
• 2022: Where did my 20.000 EUR go?

And this year I am breaking all records with 34000 EUR.

The spending this year was so high because I have invested 11000 EUR in home improvements. So without this it would have been much closer to the level of previous years, especially taking inflation into account.

In 2023 I spend 33374 EUR to be exact. I do keep track of all my yearly Expenses but of course I am human and I can make mistakes.

Tracking your income & expenses is so important to make life changing decisions, such as deciding how much to invest every month.

2019-2022 Spending

Before I start with my 2023 Expenses you can show my expenses above. I did pretty well in 2022 spending only 20954, which was my record low so far, unfortunately it didn’t last in 2023.

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Where did the money go in 2023?

Of course I will not hold you in tension any longer. This is exactly where my Money went in 2023.

1. Housing Renovations (10927 EUR)

I renovated the bathroom and the bedroom and I had a lot of (paid) help doing so. So thats the reason I am not classifying this as an investment, even if I do think I can ask for more rent when I do eventually rent this out.

In the bedroom I had a build in clauset built with sound isolation (since its an apartment) and it might have been my best investment so far.

The bathroom I had fully redone, as it was still the original bathroom of 1969. It had a good run but it was time for something new.

Its the first time I renovate so much since I lived here, so its unlikely such a cost will return next year.

2. Housing (6421 EUR)

The second higher cost. About half is syndic-cost, with about 3000 EUR total this year. This includes general repairs to the building block. In this case last year we paid of the remainder of the loan of the roof.

More repairs are coming the next years, to the walls and communal parts, so I think this will remain high for another 2 years at least.

The rest of the cash is heating, taxes, internet, tv, furniture…

3. Holidays (3686 EUR)

Holidays went up the most from 2000 EUR to 3686 EUR.

I took a few city trips to Spain this year, one to Portugal but my main expense was of course the 2300 EUR I paid for Thailand. Of all expense posts I would say this one was 100% worth the money and I am happy I am spending more on this and giving myself the chance to get some breaks.

4. Restaurants (3338 EUR)

With business travel picking up again and covid totally gone I am not surpised to see this category having increased with 1700 EUR more then last year. In total I spend 31 nights abroad for business trips. I usually spend about 45 EUR on average per day on business trips on breakfast, lunch and dinner in restaurants or at the hotel. So almost half of this money got spend on restaurants.

5. Groceries (2659 EUR)

Groceries stayed pretty stable and even dropped a bit! I do always pay attention to what I buy and the shop I go to the most is the Aldi of course, Im a big fan!

6. Hobbies (2440 EUR)

A big part of it went to the sailing classes and costs of materials this year. The classes itself cost me about 500 EUR and I probably spend another 200 EUR on outfit. Of course my other hobbies cost money. I also spend 300 EUR on a subscription for unlimited spinning classes for a year which was excellent value for money! I am also paying 120 EUR per year for an online newspaper which I very much enjoy to read.

7. Shopping (1405 EUR)

Its really positive my shopping costs dropped. I really hate buying new things! I live small and don’t have much room anyway!

8. Gifts (1016 EUR)

This is one post that has dropped. I spend less on gifts and donations to charities then last year. One thing I did was buying my Christmas gifts in Thailand, this way I did spend less cash on Christmas gifts which is usually a big expense.

9. Costs (459 EUR)

This includes taxes & insurances and are as expected.

10. Health (441 EUR)

Includes doctor visits, insurance, vaccinations…

11. Transport (348 EUR)

This is actually a bit higher then usually, it includes parking and renting of sharing bikes. I might have classified some of the holiday transports on this this year.

12. Activities (119 EUR)

Day trips and visits to cinema…

11. Business expenses (115 EUR)

Upkeep of this website

Conclusions

If you would not account for a one time housing renovation costs I think I did pretty well this year. Next year I will try to lower the costs of shopping & restaurants more since I do really think these are costs I should avoid.

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