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I am a German and I always use the self checkout at the Edeka store near my home. I am 71 years old. And I also use Apple Pay for the bill. I prefer the self checkout because here I can checkout at my own pace, and I don’t feel pushed to pack faster. I use a foldable plastic basket that is rated for 24 Kg that I put on the scale part of the self checkout. So I grab my article from the shopping cart, move it over the scanner and into my basket. After I paid my bill I move the basket into the shopping cart, leave the grocery store and drive the shopping cart to my car, put the basket into the trunk. Then I bring the shopping cart back to its intended resting place, go back to my car and drive home. And I am not alone, I see many customers using the self checkout, sometimes there is also a waiting queue for them, but it is usually shorter than the queue for the old fashioned regular checkout.

Didn't you include any costs for the car (insurance, tüv, taxes...)? What about health insurance if you are self-employed or other insurances?

I really enjoyed this. One thing I noticed lacking in the list was insurance.

thanks for your vids, I alway enjoy them!

And what about insurance, reserves for new purchases/repairs of appliances and cars, and reserves for clothing and travel? What about personal hygiene, hairdressing, provisions for cameras, computers and so on? What about taxes for your business? What about pension and health insurance? If I calculate it like that, then you are using more money than many Germans earn per month. It's quite possible that you'll use more than two 'normal' full-time employees have available per month.

Thanks for sharing. I am German and live now in California. I love your apartment. Half rent what I pay right now. That's the price tag when you live in CA (and it's still cheap).

Great video & Avril, Yess!!!

It's interesting how different your life in Germany is compared to mine. Like light years different. I'm glad you like it. But yours is a very privileged experience.

I loved that you included speeding tickets in the miscellaneous section. Would those come from the traffic cameras I hear about? Happy Easter! Have a great day.

Hey, good to see Salsa Nacho, now I'm almost tempted to watch your show.

Nice, i love the research side of things in your vids, also travel vlogs, bringing us a taste of Germany.

7:49 Throwback from the past: Silas Nacita used to have his own YT channel when he was living in Germany. He usually collaborated with Conner Sullivan, who also used to live in Germany and played American Football here. Their videos dealt with the peculiarities of living in Germany.

At 1:20 a glimpse of Sparky's mug! One of your best qualities is your love of nostalgia.

Nice video! Very interesting to see how different your day is from many of your viewers like me. Wish mine were more like yours, especially the walks through your beautiful town. Just a quick additional comment about the self checkout line versus having one of the store cashiers do it. Obviously we have those here as well and the wife and I try to use the cashier lanes as often as possible. Not because it's more convenient, because it's obviously not, but because if everyone used the self checkout lanes those cashiers would be losing their jobs and we would rather not have that happen.

Interesting and helpful post. Long time big fan….I live in Vancouver, WA and have place in a small town in central Italy so interested costs and time management for healthy living. Good to know your experiences. In your post I was trying to follow by hours on the clock. Three hours instead of one hour on editing would though everything off, but you have scheduled actives. I could not guess what time you eat? Or call it a day? Also I am watching the Gentleman. Keep up the good work!

Thx for cost breakdown, I think you are living cheaper than we do in North America generally. Great location and overall lifestyle, who would want to leave that.

When I went to university, I rented a room in an apartment where the owner/landlord also lived. A few month later, he left for an extensive professional development training course, so for about half a year I had an apartment on my own, in the city, facing the backyard, next to three bus stops, 10 minutes bus ride to the city center, supermarket across the street, 15 minutes walking to the university - rent including utility costs 210 € und thus probably the cheapest apartment in a city of half a million inhabitants. :)

Great video! :) Thanks for including this overview at 10:10! :) The big point you might have forgotten is car insurance, that could be between 120 and 170€/month... There's Haftpflichtversicherung (mandatory for all vehicles, covers the costs of other parties involved in an accident if you are the culprit, around 30€/month), and then there's either TK (Teilkasko) or VK (Vollkasko). Teilkasko is an additional optional option that insures you against additional cases that you, as a Driver, cannot influence. Examples include theft, burglary, broken glass, natural disasters such as hail, floods and rooftop avalanches, and damage from wild HAIRY(!) game. Teilkasko won't cover: Storm damage (trees or roof tiles falling on your car due to heavy storm), collision with an elephant (no hair!!^^). Damage from vandalism. Teilkasko costs an extra €90/month on average. Vollkasko is also optional and includes Teilkasko plus insured events created by the driver himself: that is, the insurance company will indemnify or repair your car if you are the culprit of an accident - unless there was gross neglect like drunk driving. BUT when your insurance pays for you, they'll increase your monthly insurance costs by bumping up your SF (Schadenfreiheitsklasse). Schadenfreiheitsklasse is a bonus-malus class (normally known as a no-claims bonus outside of Germany) and indicates how many years you have driven without having an accident or filing a claim. If you go a whole year without filing a claim, your bonus-malus class increases by one level. Vollkasko is significantly more expensive, so it's usually recommended for new & valuable cars. An old, not valuable car doesn't justify the extra cost of Vollkasko, since the value of the car is taken into account when deciding how or even if the damage should get repaired... (new car: you get a new bumper. old car: you can get your old bumper fixed! ;) ) I'd love to know if your insurance allowed you to carry over your years of experience driving in the US (SF down to under 60% after a couple of years), or if you had to start as a "beginner" (SF90%). There's so much stuff going into this subject, I'm sure you could make an entire video about this, explaining the German system and comparing it to the one in the States. :)

God you are doing work you like. It makes paying expenses easier. It takes faith to do all that. Cheers

Hello Nalf, first of all Happy Easter. Now to the video. You live a lot cheaper here in Germany, now calculate the cost of living for you in the USA, which would also be a lot more expensive compared to Germany, and, yes, you would have to drive a long way in your car to go shopping, right. Which would also involve costs and a considerable amount of time, which you don't have in Germany. And the costs that are all included in your apartment, do you have or do you also get this in the USA, or are they all separate, which would then cause higher costs again. That would interest me.

1,300 EUR for an Apartment and 400 EUR for food seems a lot in this kind of area.

Lucky you, Nick! I pay for my Little Vienna apartment (52 square meters) nearly 950€, internet and electricity not included. Enjoy your beautiful home and keep on entertaining us with your videos. Btw, when will you launch the Android Version of Quiver? I don‘t have an IPhone. Easter Greetings from Vienna where the trees are blossoming🪻💐

In Switzerland you would add insurances and taxes 🤓 I guess also in Germany 😉

I assume, there are some insurances missing at least for the car or the health care. When you are employed health care is already deducted from your salary, but if you work self employed as a KZfaqr you have to have a health insurance on your own.

Reason why I don't use the self checkout, tried it some times and each time the thing had some problems with something , I then needed to wait for the service person to come and do/undo stuff or unlock, so this taken in consideration turns out I needed longer than in the line and had to do the work myself aditionally, so nope thank you, I'll wait in line. I'll just try it out if I have 2-4 items max.

I love it when you come by my feed - always such calm and nice vibes =) About self checkout - I do not use it when getting liquor og cigarettes as that needs someone from the register (but I'm not German, might be different in Germany - my thought is, that its similar though) and usually I would get cigarettes as well (I know, I need to quit - might happen one day =) Groseries seems to be less than in my part of the world (Denmark) but otherwise quite close to what i would use too for these items.

We dislike Self Checkout because almost all shops do it *wrong*. Until some time ago, only Globus did it right by allowing self-scanning with either handheld scanners or later a phone app.. and now Kaufland has jumped on the bandwagon as well recently. All other methods where you have to unpack everything, weigh stuff yourself, pack everything up again, get yelled at by the machine *UNKNOWN ITEM IN CHECKOUT AREA - PLEASE REMOVE ITEM* are just even more suck than standing in line for the cashier.

OMG I just watched the movie. It was terrific. Having the kids and grand kids over for a movie party. I always loved the Babe Ruth Story thought it was one of the best sports stories. This one is right up there. Coming to Schwabisch Hall this summer out of Wurzburg. Thanks a lot for the enjoyment. Mike

You have utilities and parking included in the rent which is pretty cheap anyway that is amazing actually and your expenses actually add up to what some people would pay for a nice apartment without utilities sometimes !!!

5:30 Goodness me, is that Silas Nacitas? 😯

Why no self checkout? Convenience - in many cases the things do not work properly - my experience. If you buy fresh vegetables or fruits or lose bred rolls you have to know what and search on the display which can be - depending on the checkout system - annoying as hell - also my experience. Plus The advantage on staying in line - I have the time to go over my shopping list in my brain and if I forgot something I can run back and get it. :D

Thank you good Sir 🎉

What I timing: watching this video when Nick liked my answer on Quiver 😊

Your rent is my Mortgage plus $10. I have a 3 floor completed house from 1900. All original wood everything. for a duplex. Got it with a 2.75% interest rate. I have one tenant with a $400 rent. I could charge close to double for the space he has .I have 2 utility bills for everything as well. It's not that expensive because I am in a small town. I can mostly ride my bike where I need to go.

Great video, thanks! I own a condo, but my nextdoor neighbors are renting their unit which is only 1000 sq ft for $3600 per month, nothing included but water. Based on that, for me your rent is pretty dang reasonable, especially for how much is included in the rent. BTW - great looking place you have in a beautiful town! Also, why is it harder for Americans there to rent? Lack of availability or resident status maybe? Thanks!

the aversion of self check out is easy explaned. work has to be paid and if you dont get a discount for doing the job of others then you pay a higher price for the product purchase.

I assume😄 Kaufland is a sponsor too

what about insurances? car? liability? contents? legal protection? those are just the basic ones that germans like to have covered. of those only car insurance is mandatory but with all your equipment in the apartment contents might be recommended as well :-).

2:33 Ohh Avril Lavigne...brings back memories of my teenager years..😅

Self checkout destroys employments. A lot of american business models do, like Uber, amazon and others. I don't use self-checkouts so the supermarket needs to keep more people hired.

Paying 270 euros a month for private room, living near Berlin. And being a student, my monthly expense goes from 650 upto 700 a month.

Self check out: It will kill jobs on the long run. The long I have a chance I do not work for free at any store.

You didn't mention "Heiz- und Nebenkosten" which is part of the "Miete (Warm)". The readers come in once a year to read the gauges on the heat radiators and water meters (Ablesung). If you use more water and/or heating, you will pay the difference . For some, it can be tens or hundreds of euros. If you use less, you get partial reimbursement. You didn't mention the compulsory health insurance which can be up to €900 per month for the self-employed. You're driving a car so you are paying the insurance for it, too.

The Gentleman was Great! I hope you liked it

Hi, first we aren't afraid of self checkout at the grocery store. It is just, if many people use it, it destroys workplaces!!! And we think about those people that probably lose their jobs cause of that. And second the stores should sell their products cheaper because they don't have to pay an extra employee!!!

No insurance or taxes? I remember when living in Germany that the insurance requirement (Versicherungspflicht) was a big deal.

As Patton Oswalt said (from memory): "The supermarket opened a new self-check out, of course, because they got my letter that said I WANNA BE A CHECKOUT CLERK!" Queues at the till are usually fairly short in Germany. I'd say less than 3 minutes on average. And for that, I don't have to deal with a badly designed, regularly malfunctioning piece of crap technology. Only exception: at the hardware store, where I usually buy 1 or 2 items and everyone queuing at the tills is buying an entire house with garden.

Video on taxes? Do you file returns in both countries?

Guy Richie has a new movie coming out April 19, called The ministry of gentlemanly warfare. It’s supposed to be good.

I was actually surprised af when I heard the Price of your Apartment, up north in Germany I pay 380€ warm in a small Town, I guess Schwäbisch Hall is just a little more expensive than I expected. Keep up the great Work, Nick ✌️💚

I am also an American living in Germany. I live not too far from you here in BW. Here rent is much higher especially for Americans. Our rent is covered by our job and they see us coming a mile away. I just moved into a 164m house and am paying more than twice what you are for your apartment.

..always a nice slow morning in dirty tennis socks.. i'm having strong flashbacks to german b-movies from the late 80ies 🥴

2k is expensive. Many people here dont even have an income of 2k after taxes... Germany has very low salleries compared to rent.

Definitely missing Pretzels 🥨 in the budget 😂

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Thank you for showing Schwäbisch Hall. It makes me homesick for my home away from home.😊

Your appartment is great! But also one of the "special" ones. It is a bit outstanding and well designed and not an average one - so you could save a few hundred euros per month if you rent a more standard one. But if I could afford it, I would also take a nicer one like yours 🙃

@Nalf, it seems you, to live the boomer life? My life is actually quite similar here in the US. start at 8am, i work from home, i work on my PC, i go to the gym (which is ridiculously more expensive), i live outside of town, so not much in the way of walking to the store. i don't drive much anymore. maybe 5k miles a year. Cost of living overall is def higher here in Georgia. Car insurance is ridiculous now. I noticed you did not list that in your video.

..most used word in a smal town in germany... relax, smooooth - nice. 1300€/month is very expensive... for countryside

I like to use a personal checkout, and i'm not German.... i think about somebody who needs that job, okay? The self checkout is just the corporation getting you to do the work of someone who could use a paycheck, or maybe it's a mini job that helps thsm pay for something for the kids, or saving for a holiday ... so, i stand for maybe 4-5 minutes, and don't put up with the stupid machine weighing all my items to make sure that i'm honest, and somebody gets a job.

Maybe you can make a video ecplaining how to set up the VPN on TV......

Interesting, but I have a couple of questions: what is the cost of rental insurance on the apt, auto insurance, & health insurance ? How much more does that increase your monthly total that you showed us ?

in a small city in the US you get a nice resort style apartment for about $1000 that includes gym,pool,tennis etc ......since you did not add car insurance ,I guess you drive without car insurance 🤣

Are you able to write off your home office area on your taxes (which would make your cost of living even cheaper), or is it not "abgeschlossen" enough for the Finanzamt?

Is that table in the living room an old cable roll?

Still think Germany is the best place to live in.I am very great full for living in Switzerland 🇨🇭 do like going over to Germany for my shopping

What about the health care? AOK? or and auto insurance wow I remember that was not cheap... Basically it all ads up!

Interesting. I have lost track of what things cost in Germany since I am gone for so long. But one thing I always complained about in the US is the cost of food. I live in LA - The most expensive place - And my groceries every month (single) is between $400 and $450 and I eat a lot and buy a lot of meat (I am on Keto) and specialty products (again Keto). Are groceries now this expensive now ?? I am shocked.

I hate self-check out here in the US…. Are you kidding me? I‘m doing the job of someone who should be payed by the company. They save an enormous amount of money. Do you see prices going down? Of course not..

Avril Lavigne, good music taste. 👌🏽

It's spring, maybe you can harvest some fresh grass from the meadows and make tea with it to save money. but your apartment is incredibly expensive. I only pay €500 for the same thing.

Aversion to self-checkout: Easy. Using self checkout is taking the job away from someone who had checked out your stuff previously. Also, the story is NOT employing me to work for them. So I don't. I go to a real human who is dependent on me for a paying job.

that's really cheap. holy shit. in some areas in germany (even an hour away from frankfurt) you gotta pay like 1k++ for 30 to 40 m^2

1300€ for a 100 sq.m apartment is not bad. I pay about 1600€ for a 40 sq.m studio here in Vancouver. Canadian prices are crazy.

11 euros for a Sauna is fantastic. I live in a European country with much lower salaries and the cheapest sauna costs 15 Euro.

When you consider that some people in Germany can't even afford an apartment for €1,000 per month (incl.) and have a maximum of €1,500 per month at their disposal.

...self checkout is just giving companies reasons to reduce staff even more. Also, they don't pay me to do their work

@NALF. How many % less you pay if you work at the shop?

Was the flat furnished or part-furnished?

Just read another post Insurance, I forget the acronym for the TV - Radio usage per item. Don't get me wrong I enjoy Germany however my relatives there Wow I know what the take home is and depending where you live is there is not much room for advancement.

How much Money do you save/ spend on travelling ?

Cool attic apartment, but ow often do you bump your head on a beam?

What is the name of the ending music?

What do you pay for health insurance? I’m looking at moving to Germany and hard to get a straight answer on healthcare. I know it’s good and I know there are two options, private or public insurance, but costs hard to determine

Where can you go to the sauna in Schwäbisch Hall for 11€ ? the cheapest is only 13€ which you can find

I miss any kind of insurances, liability, health insurance, car insurance, car taxes, ....it's more or less impossible to have a car without monthly costs.

1300 seems quite expensive. I can only compare it to Austrian numbers, but to able to effort such a rent and a total of 2050 Euros a month, you actually need to earn about 3K a month before taxes. If you earn 3K a month in Austria, that means you earn more than 66% of all Austrians. So nice job if you are able to do that.

I just love how you have a 100€ budget for unexpected bills like the radio thing and speeding tickets. Let’s be honest here okay, we don’t judge. I’m pretty sure that whole category is for speeding tickets😂

It is hardly fare to compare rent in a small town in Germany to Portland.

I like your no-nonsense lifestyle with a reasonable car. The major money dumbs in Germany are oversized cars which do not fit to the available income or extroverted life styles. And if you share your appartment with a spouse and go for smart shopping, there is still potential for cost reduction.

Many of the commenters are imagining that you are doing some quasi-scientific cost comparison between Schwäbish Hall and whereever they live. Hey folks: He's just giving us a peak into his world. I thanke him for the peak.

I pay no rent at all in America, since I own the building, which is completely paid and I also have a large garage for my vehicles and I pay much less for gas than in Germany. I prefer to use a cashier instead of self check-out to keep the cashier employed. Also I prefer to pay cash instead paying with a credit card. I lived in Germany for 23 years.

I also don’t understand an aversion to self checkout. It’s efficient.

As a Brit living in Bavaria I would definitely say it’s cheaper than the UK with some notable differences. Ibuprofen is around 1/5 of the cost in the UK as in Germany. Fresh fish is also a lot cheaper (and more available). But that’s about it. Quality of life is easily better in Germany; simple things like no shops open on Sundays, a general higher level of politeness and plain speaking. I miss UK coast and mountains but the one aspect of the UK that I really struggle with is the total lack of hedgerows here. I’m used to field boundaries of shrub or stone, and it is very unsettling not to have them on a hike! Great video (but as for everyone else, use a human staffed checkout at the grocery shop; you are keeping a job open for someone who may need it)

Avril!

Insurance ? / Health

If you have someone ideas about quiver, where can i leave them?

Avril Lavigne, I am 64 years old, but I love her music, since the beginning. Wonderfully, rocking music. 🎸👂😊

Still, that apt. is way too expensive

Not to forget the nerves it must cost to deal with immigration law. After all, despite what many people think, it is not that easy (unless you are an EU citizen moving within the EU) to just move to another country. The old "then i'm going to Canada" trope comes to mind. If it ain't family (aka marriage) or employment based, it can be quite the hassle, one might only get 1 year renewals etc. ...