All these savings aside, you should also know where to save, and for that you need an example of monthly expenses you can compare yourself to. Luckily, government assistance programs do just that when they tell you how to live on their pittance.
Here's the one for Germany, rounded to nice numbers (source), so a fairly wealthy central European country:
- 200€ Food and drink (14%)
- 50€ clothes ( 3.5 %)
- 50€ energy
- 50€ transportation (!)
- 50€ communication
- 50€ leisure and culture
- 30€ furniture and appliances
- 20€ medication
- 50€ other
550€ total flexible costs (40%)
To compare to your bill, you also need to consider the costs the agencies just take on outside of that source I gave. These are the regular expenses that depend on location even more so, but just to have them here:
- 500€ rent, no utilities (source being the maximum the local agency covers in a moderately big city)
- 150€ utilities (guess)
- 200€ health insurance (guess)
850€ total inflexible costs (60%)
Making 1,400€ for one person to live one month in a German city in 2025.
Needless to say, unless you buy multiple AAA games a month, these expenses are dominated by inflexible costs, even more so if you're living in a place with a housing and health insurance crisis. Also note that the value for transportation is clearly too low for car ownership, if you need it for work that monthly expense better be covered by the extra income.
Now you should compare those values to your own expenses and reason why you spend more/less in some areas. And then you should be able to tell where you are living above your means, or if you need a more local comparison. And then you can still figure out how you can save 7% of your expenses by cooking at home.