Your move, in your own handwriting.
The research that decides a move never fits a spreadsheet: incomes in one currency, a life priced in another, ferry legs because the dogs won't fly cargo, dates that must land in order, and the listing you found at midnight. This notebook holds all of it — yours alone, on your device.
MONEYRATES UNAVAILABLE — EUR LINES ONLY
FIELD WISDOM — WHAT THE VERIFIED DATA SAYS
- The rent in the listing is the Kaltmiete (cold rent) — your real housing bill is the Warmmiete: Kaltmiete + Nebenkosten (~€2.67/m²), and you still pay your own electricity and internet on top of that.
- A landlord can demand up to three months' cold rent as a deposit (Kaution, §551 BGB) — on a €1,200 flat that's €3,600 in cash before you hold the keys.
- To rent you need a Schufa credit score; to build a Schufa you need a German address and bank account — new arrivals are stuck in this loop and break it with an employer letter, a guarantor, or an interim furnished let.
- The Rundfunkbeitrag — €18.36 a month per household — is mandatory the moment you register your address, whether or not you own a television.
- One Deutschlandticket at €63/month covers all local and regional public transport nationwide — in most cities it replaces the need for a car.
- Health insurance is mandatory and mostly work-linked: a non-working newcomer usually cannot buy into public GKV and must take private cover, which is priced by your age at entry and rises for life.
- Buying? Budget 9–12% on top of the price in one-off costs — and the biggest single variable is the state transfer tax, from 3.5% in Bavaria to 6.5% in NRW. Non-residents also need more down (30–40%+) — buying AFTER residence + a Schufa history unlocks better terms.
- Germany's minimum wage is set by the hour (€13.90), not the month — a fixed monthly salary is only legal if it still clears €13.90 for every hour actually worked.
- The 'average' German salary (~€4,700/mo) is pulled up by high earners; the median worker earns closer to €4,490 — and a newcomer or eastern-city worker often less.
- A single person living alone in Germany faces a ~31% at-risk-of-poverty rate — the national 16% headline hides how exposed one-person households are.
- Germany's national asking rent is €9.00/m² (ImmoScout24 WohnBarometer, Q1 2026, existing-apartment new leases) — the five-country line-up now reads: Greece 8.5 · Germany 9.0 · Italy 14.3 · Spain 15.3 · Portugal 16.4. But the national number hides the spread: Munich asking runs ~€20+/m², and the affordability story lives in the east.
Income sources
Pension, rents, salary — each in its own currency; we convert at ECB rates.
Savings inventory
Cash, severance, things you'd sell — the pot that buys you time.
The life you're pricing
Monthly bills, the annual tax layer, and one-off move costs.
Add income and the life you're pricing — the verdict computes itself.
income €0/mo · life €0/mo (incl. annual ÷12) · annual layer €0/yr · one-off bill €0 · savings €0
THE JOURNEYFERRY + ROAD + HOTELS — LEG BY LEG
Built for the routes flights can't take — pets in cabins on ferries, hire cars between ports, pet-friendly hotels. Plan it leg by leg; the totals follow.
MASTER TIMELINEVET DATES · APOSTILLES · APPOINTMENTS — IN ORDER
RESEARCH & NOTESLISTINGS · MARKET PRICES · THOUGHTS — PIN THE EVIDENCE
This notebook lives ONLY on this device — no account, nothing sent anywhere. Download it to keep or move it; upload it on any device to continue. Conversions use ECB reference rates— your bank's rate will differ.