What is the cost of living in Berlin? How expensive is it? I moved to Berlin in February 2019 and figured it’s time to share my budget with you. Prior to moving to Berlin, I lived in New York City, London, Vienna, and Berlin (ya, I know). In this post, I simply want to give you a brief breakdown of my Berlin budget.
Disclaimer: We all have different lifestyles, life situations, needs, and preferences. My budget may not work for you and that’s the beauty about budgeting – it’s very personal and 100% customizable.
Prior to diving into my Berlin budget, I highly recommend checking out this summary about the cost of living in Berlin. It may give you a broader and better idea about the cost of things in Berlin.
My Berlin Budget 2019
| CATEGORIES | COST |
|---|---|
| 50% Rent (incl. Water, Heating, etc.) | €247 |
| 50% WiFi | €5 |
| 50% Electricity | €32 |
| Groceries | €150 |
| Eating out | €30 |
| Phone | €10 |
| Gym membership | €20 |
| Urban Sports Club | €80 |
| Clubbing | €40 |
| Etc. | €100 |
| Travel | €100 |
| TOTAL | €814 |
Most of the categories listed on here are pretty self explanatory.
Let me dive into the ones that might not be.
- 50% – These are categories of expenses that I split with my S.O.
- Public transportation – As of right now, this is not something that I spend money on. My current workplace is paying for it.
- Electricity: My share of the bill is actually just around €25 however, I pay a little more every month to ensure that I’ll never have to pay extra and get a refund at the end of the year 😉
- Eating out – I greatly enjoy eating out right now and may make my budget a little bigger.
- Gym membership: I signed up to a gym the minute I moved here and greatly enjoyed going there. While I’d still go to some of the classes, I am much happier with Urban Sports Club and aim to cancel my gym membership as soon as I can.
- Urban Sports Club – I go to a Mysore style ashtanga yoga studio 3-5x per week for 2 hours each, I do weight lifting once a week, aerial yoga once a week, and now that it’s cold outside I also go to the sauna 2x per week. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
- Clubbing – I love dancing my face off to industrial techno. Entry fees to most clubs are between €15 to €20, sometimes €10.
- Etc. – This category is for everything that doesn’t quite fit into the above-mentioned categories. Some of these include but are not limited to: household, clothing, toiletries, piercings, hobbies, etc.
- Travel – This is money that I don’t actually spend every month. Instead, every single month I put €100 into an account dedicated to travel. When I do go on trips then I can, if need be, pull it from this particular account.
That’s it for my Berlin budget.
Of course, as my life changes, so does my budget. A budget is nothing static and shouldn’t be. It allows me to live my best life after all, and needs can and do change.
For more, you can check out my posts about frugal living, my monthly expense reports, as well as my posts about my yearlong shopping ban.
What about you? Where do you live and do you budget?
Let me know in the comments! 🙂
Also, if you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask away in the comment section!
Love, love, love your sleeping situation! It seems like that your room gives you so much air! Mine is much more rectangular shaped which is a little annoying… especially regarding to natural lighting. How many square meters does it have?
I basically live the same way… mattress on the floor… little hanging rack for my cloth… but I also have a small camping desk for my laptop. Are you working in your bed on your laptop or somewhere else?
The Urban Sports Club also seems like very well-invested money! 🙂
Ganz liebe Grüße,
Dominic
Author
I actually don’t know how big it is. I do have a standing desk in the living room that I absolutely love! It’s either that or sitting on the floor in the living room.
There’s not much else in the bed room though. A drying rack in the winter and my suitcase. The clothing is also stored a little differently now (the photo was taken a handful of months ago).
I think I’ll be posting an apartment tour soon. Sounds like you’ve got a sweet set up! I love sleeping on the floor so so much!
I highly recommend Urban Sports Club! They have different packages and tons of options regardless of whether you choose M or L. Definitely! I’d be paying the same amount JUST to go to my yoga studio and they are actually making more money if I am with USP as opposed to being with just them. It’s a win-win!
Ganz liebe Gruesse aus Berlin! 🙂
Nina
Thanks for the update and continued inspiration! Is your living space just you and your SO or do you have roommates?
It sounds like you are living your best life in Berlin😻
♥️Nicole
Author
It’s just the two of us in this apartment. I’ll be posting an apartment tour soon I think! 🙂 I truly am. My quality of life has skyrocketed! 🙂
Much love from Berlin! 🙂
Nina
I am so happy to see another one of your budget posts! They really baffle me every time how you can spend so little without compromising. It’s really inspired me to spend less. For me gifts were big, I always thought if they’re not expensive I don’t show appreciation for the receiver. Now I gift vouchers for evenings together like game evenings, dinners etc. where I do everything myself so it costs me very little. Also you can buy flowers for less if you buy them at the grocery store vs. the flower shop. How would anyone know where I bought it! The gesture is the same.
Also I had to tell myself that I don’t need clothing. Your yearly planning really resonated with me and since I am trying to do a “no buy” with 12 exceptions this year I am actually way more content with what I have and don’t constantly want more.
I was able to reduce to 80% at work and can still save 30% of my income.
In the past few weeks I have been trying to reduce whatever I can and I found so many things that I outsourced but I really don’t need to, even though I thought I don’t spend much.. This is so exiting!
When I saw your monthly rent.. phew.. I really need to move. I live in Zurich, really central in a new flat. I think I can save 40% by moving. I will see what we can get next year when our contract runs out.
Liebe Grüsse aus Zürich,
Lara
Author
Hi Lara,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with it all! It’s oftentimes the little things that can make a big difference. It’s also always important to look at what the other person values – is it something material, time, attention, etc. That’s invaluable information and can make gift giving so much more pleasant! I am thrilled to hear that you are able to save such a big chunk and that you’ve got a yearly plan set up for the things you’ll be buying! Rent in Berlin has gone way up. A comparable apartment would’ve been between 700-800. I was lucky to have found one for less than 500 and it took some digging and researching. Good deals are out there though, it’s just a matter of being smart about it and obviously also getting lucky and being at the right place at the right time (quite literally). Definitely all the best in planning your next move – that’s something that’s always worth looking into! 🙂
omg i cannot believe you guys rent a place that spacious for a little over 500 euros a month!! that is unreal to my New Yorker conditioned idea of what rent costs. You can’t even get half a room for that in NYC, which I’m sure you know since you lived there. It’s insane. The cost of living in the U.S. in general is just so much higher, everything from groceries to a phone plan to internet is a lot more. My S.O. and I are great at being frugal (living in NYC will definitely do that to you!) but we do miss living in Spain where the overall cost of living was much lower.
Thanks for the insightful post! We loved Berlin, and it’s great that you can live so affordably there.