She would like to save more for her son “than just 25 euros a month,” says journalist Sandra. She “closed her eyes for a long time” before her approaching retirement.
Despite her work as an editor and three part-time jobs, 52-year-old Sandra only earns 38,000 euros gross per year. As she tells “Spiegel”, 29,800 euros of this came from her half-time job at a daily newspaper. In addition, there would be 5,400 euros annually for texts in a property developer’s employee magazine and 2,000 euros for texts on websites and Facebook channels. A municipal meeting center pays her 1,200 euros a year for her occasional temporary help.
In order to enable herself and her 15-year-old son to lead a normal life, she always distributes her money into different envelopes at the beginning of the month.
“For example, I have 50 euros for everything from the drugstore, from toilet paper to detergent,” says Sandra. “So I only spend what is planned.” She can only put “25 euros a month” in the envelope that is supposed to finance her son’s future.
Sometimes she finds herself forbidding her son to eat or drink too much. Afterwards she felt guilty because he was still growing and doing “a lot of exercise”.
“Then I think to myself: Am I stupid?” says Sandra to “Spiegel”. “What does it do to him when I say something like that?”
For a long time now, she has only satisfied her own desire to buy at discount stores. She prefers to buy items there that create a festive atmosphere – Christmas or Easter decorations, for example. “My luxury is the non-food area at Aldi and Co.,” says Sandra.
The biggest expense in the month is paying off her home loan. With special repayments, she sets aside 789.50 euros per month. Food, broadcasting fees, property tax, house payments, tire changes and insurance take in 710 euros per month. In addition, there would be 50 euros for the cell phone and 240 euros for electricity, gas and firewood.
In general, the increased energy costs are bothering Sandra. She deliberately only heats the water up once a day. If her son showers in the morning and she showers in the evening, the water can be cold.
One topic that she “closed her eyes to for a long time” is pensions, says Sandra. According to the notice, the gross amount in her case is around 1,400 euros.
Fortunately, she will probably inherit something. But the thought of being dependent on others in old age, despite a lifetime of work, weighs on her.
Many pensioners in Germany feel similar to Sandra. For them, the pension is barely enough to maintain a good standard of living.
Things went differently in a rare case that was recently reported. Money is only “an issue when you don’t have enough,” claimed the pensioner, who has 120,000 euros available annually.
Since she was 19, Anouk has been unable to eat without pain without vomiting. Doctors diagnosed Dunbar syndrome. The 25-year-old explains how much it limits her – but she doesn’t give up hope.
A group of young people is said to have attacked two men in Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt, one of whom died. The victim died from life-threatening injuries, police said on Wednesday.