Groceries are becoming increasingly expensive, extra VAT on soft drinks and now the municipal tax is also going up considerably. People have to pay more and more attention to the little ones. But is that possible? In our Duurder Leven series, Hans (69) from Veldhoven says: “The move to our apartment was a smart move. We used to be blue-eyed, now it is wonderfully warm.”
Hans Vissers (69) lives with his wife in Veldhoven. They have two sons.
What do you pay attention to when doing your daily shopping?
“I always keep an eye on offers. Two for one, that kind of thing. And I also choose the cheap brands, which makes a big difference. Meat has become really expensive, and so have eggs. They are now around 3 euros per box, while in the past you paid almost half as much for it. I think it is a bad thing that extra VAT is now being added to soft drinks and non-alcoholic beer. They should put it back to that 6 percent. Because those extra millions that the government earn money with that, they really don’t come to us.”
How else do you notice that life has become more expensive?
“The price of petrol is currently sky-high, so I go abroad to fill up. In Belgium it saves 35 cents per litre, which is absolutely worth a visit across the border. I drive to Lommel once every four weeks, a journey of 23 kilometers. There I fill up my tank plus a jerry can, then I have a stock again, 60 liters in total. Within an hour I have been up and down. It is really worth it, because with every trip I save 20 euros on fuel. And I’m not the only one, because on weekends there are lines of Dutch people at that pump.”
What about the electricity and gas bill?
“It is currently freezing, so the heating is on. As long as I can still afford it, it is nice and warm in the house, because we can still suffer from cold. We do not have gas, our apartment is heated by residual heat. In our neighborhood in Veldhoven they work with a kind of district heating. The heat comes from companies that supply Eteck (a supplier of sustainable heat, ed.). In this way, the hot water and underfloor heating end up with us and that makes a big difference in costs. I pay 133 euros per month. We pay 35 euros monthly for electricity. And we get a significant amount back with the final bill.”
Are there other ways you save money?
“The move to our apartment was a smart move. More than two years ago we lived in Eindhoven in an old house with energy label E. It was very cold there. Yesterday I visited my old neighbor, it was 18 degrees and he I really had trouble getting warm. I have really improved, it is very pleasant inside our house, with energy label A.”
Are you going on holiday this year?
“We are not skimping on that. A five-day trip to an all-inclusive hotel here in the Netherlands is already planned. We pay 400 euros per person for that, and then you get breakfast, lunch and dinner. And between five p.m. At twelve o’clock at night the soft drinks, beer and wine are also free. Live music, everything is included. Normally we always go to Turkey in the summer, also all-inclusive, but that has become a lot more expensive. You now pay about 400 euros more for a plane ticket than a few years ago.”
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