Name: Mike van den Heuvel (43)
Profession: hospitality manager
Net income: €2400
Fixed charges: €1800 (jointly)
Save: €500 (jointly)
living: semidetached
then & now
“I had the classic childhood dream of becoming a pilot. When I got into that in high school, my parents said, “Think about that…” It’s an expensive education! In the end I chose the University of Tourism which I did not finish. I had a part-time job in the hospitality industry and I started doing that full-time. Now I am a hospitality manager at a culture stage. I am responsible for the catering industry, maintenance of the building, management of technology and actually all places where the public comes.”
Budget
“Our money goes mainly to standard expenses. Food and groceries are a big item. We have three children. Life is quite expensive with new clothes for them all the time and food for five people. We like to spend what we have left on going out for dinner and sitting on a terrace. We are enjoyers.”
Overview
“I keep an overview through my wife, she is a lot better at it than I am. Sometimes we suddenly notice that expenditure is going very fast and then we have to put the brakes on. Then we shop more consciously, we don’t buy clothes for a month and we adjust our finances. That will go well for a few months and then we will naturally loosen up again.”
Living situation
“We live in a semi-detached house with a large, nice garden. We were able to take a nice step at just the right time. We are both from Oss, I lived in Amsterdam for a while. We ran into each other again after years at a festival and then the spark flew. When we started thinking about children, it quickly became clear that we would go to Oss.”
Most expensive purchase
“For years we wanted to buy a fully electric car, we have now done that: a Mazda MX30 for €25,000.
We also have solar panels installed. It’s kind of a privilege to be able to do this, I think. We had the buffer to invest and in the long run it is a saving. We have had extra panels installed to charge the car. A total of €10,000.”
Financial miss
“I was not handy with money before. I sometimes forgot to pay a bill and that adds up several times. At a certain point I stopped opening the envelopes, it just wasn’t there or something. But someone will come to the door automatically… Nowadays everything is done via direct debit.”
Future
“If the kids ever leave the house, I want to live somewhere freer with a lot of land. With some chickens and a goat, the outdoors. That’s what has happened in recent years. Very different from Amsterdam, although the bustling city also gives me energy.
I can now enjoy the peace more. Every young person wants to leave Oss because it’s boring, but from the age of 35 everyone comes back because you learn to appreciate it. By the way, a house with a lot of free space will take a while, the youngest is one and a half and the others are five and six. That big house will come. If we start saving for that now, we can certainly realize that dream.”
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