Expenses
Oftentimes, I hear from my fellow humans that an ecological lifestyle is expensive. I want to write more about this and over time capture various thoughts and nuances in this autoethnography. Apart from hearing from my fellow humans about their perception of this mode of living, once a reviewer of my autoethnography asked me to indicate how much I was earning. While I didn't provide a concrete amount in my paper (because a number in itself means nothing without understanding taxation, prices in a country etc.), for transparency reasons, I can now say that at that time my income was around 3600 euros per month before tax. I lived in Sweden where income tax is incredibly high. My main expenses were renting a flat and buying food. I could save some money, much of which I then spent on relocating to Finland.
Living in Helsinki was very expensive. My wage in Finland was comparable to my wage in Sweden, but outgoings were much higher. My rent was twice as much as I paid in northern Sweden, and none of the bills were included in the rent (in Sweden they were). Food was more expensive. I began to use public transport more often because Helsinki is much larger than the city in northern Sweden where I lived. I didn't save much when I lived in Finland.
I have no dependents which makes my expenses lower than what they could have been. I have no children and no pets. I mentioned my internal dialogues with regards to having children many times in this autoethnography, and perhaps at some point I will write an entry on that. And I miss having pets, but considering my almost nomadic lifestyle, it would be irresponsible to have pets.
There are many categories of products and services that I exclude from my consumption. Some of them are a car, tv, jewellery, decorations, fancy clothes, accessories and shoes, makeup, expensive skincare, travelling to far-away destinations, and so many others. Those of my fellow humans who assume that this lifestyle is expensive usually do not see this, but to enable me to spend more in some domains (rent, food, ecological products) means I have to spend a lot less or nothing in other domains.
I was on my own for two years. Then I moved in with my partner here in Denmark. He's also in academia but he has a child from his previous relationship. There are large expenses to give the child a good life. The child is still very young, so we didn't have a choice regarding where to live in Copenhagen. We had to live as close to where the child is based as possible. Rent in this area is high. For a small studio flat we pay around 1500 euros a month. Considering my wage after tax, I would not be able to rent this flat on my own. Perhaps neither would my partner want to rent this flat on his own, as it would account for a very high proportion of his income. We wouldn't be able to afford a larger place. But neither do we want to, as we practise minimalism and don't need much space.
Overall, we spend the most on rent and on food, just the way it was when I lived on my own. It is possible to buy cheaper food, but we try to prioritise buying local food grown here in Denmark and buy organic food whenever possible. Both of us feel that when people can afford it, it is better to support organic food production and reduce expenditure in other areas. We try to buy zero-waste food when possible too, and often such options are expensive, especially if you compare buying bread from a bakery and buying it from a supermarket.
When we moved in together, we bought some items. The most expensive ones were the bed frame, the clothes rack, the bench, the mattress and the table. We wanted to buy from small and preferably local, Danish companies and only get high quality items that we could keep forever. While my partner brought home a few chairs, most of the furniture he had was kept by his previous partner. I lived without furniture, so I couldn't bring anything.
We also bought a vacuum cleaner and a few items for the kitchen, though not many, as my partner brought some from his previous home. We hope that there are not many or even any large or expensive items to buy, as our home is taking shape and is almost finished.
There are expenses such as the internet, water and electricity. As I practised extreme minimalism, my electricity bill in Finland was around 12 euros a month. Here in Denmark it will not be as low as that, as there are two of us (my partner and I) and we use more electricity for our vacuum cleaner, computers, phones and also for cooking. We also use shared laundry facilities in our block of flats which comes with additional expenses.
I walk everywhere and rarely use public transport. Trains in Denmark are very expensive. At times I still use trains though.
We try to save some money because we would like to buy a home at some point, if our relationship works out. My employment situation is precarious, so any money that I am saving I will likely spend if I can't get another job soon enough. In my current job I experience harassment from the manager and the university has so far done nothing to address it. My partner and I believe that if nothing gets done, it is better for my mental health to leave that university, or let them fire me. I've written in my autoethnography about this situation at work. But overall I feel uncomfortable to work with a manager who asked her student to secretly find information about my family and even to prioritise this task.
In the past few years I've lived in England, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. For every country, apart from England (I'm a British citizen), I need a residence permit. These are expensive. The one for Denmark was around 630 euros.
My partner and I don't have a garden so we can't grow our own food. But even if we had access to land, we would perhaps need to reduce our working hours. Both of us work full time, and growing and processing food is time-consuming. In the past few weeks my partner brought some apples from a garden he shares with his ex partner, but that saves us only a few euros. Moreover, the garden and the house he shares with his ex partner is yet another expense.
As academics, we are lucky that we don't need to buy books. All the literature we need for our work we can get from university libraries and online.
I always hope that my phone and my laptop will not stop working any time soon. Even buying used items is not cheap. I don't use work laptop and I returned my work phone to the university. Somehow after the manager asked a student to find information about my family, I never felt safe using university devices. So I have to use my own.
My partner and I both practise ecological living. We consume natural products whenever possible. We buy soaps that are made here in the Nordics, and they are more expensive than conventional products. More ecological products are becoming available and accessible in supermarkets (e.g., Swedish cloths), which saves money. I remember the time years ago when in England it was mostly specialised stores that had ecological and zero-waste options. Now, here in Denmark, it is possible to buy, for example, natural dish sponges and brushes everywhere. They are affordable but not cheap.
Overall, we try to consume less and not buy things we can live without. We don't have a kettle and boil water in a pot. We wear simple, casual clothes every day. I use my partner's clothes often.
Because normalising simplicity is important to me, many things I use are inexpensive. I use cotton net bags instead of handbags. I wear simple sweatpants instead of fashion trousers.
We avoid normalising giving gifts to each other as an expression of love. For us, spending quality time together is important, and that usually entails walks around Copenhagen or cooking together, finding joy, beauty and magic in everyday activities. Most often, we cook at home. 3 or 4 days a week my partner is with his child from his previous relationship. On those days I cook just for myself. I avoid take-away food. At times, we go to local cafes for coffee or lunch but we don't do it every day.
I spent a lot on various medicines when I lived in Finland. During my time in Finland my health was worse than it had ever been in my life. It was the worst when I was dealing with the manager often and had to attend numerous meetings to oppose her in the presence of HR and her manager. Due to severe anxiety and depression caused by the manager's behaviour, I was on prescription medication. I have an autoimmune condition that gets worse due to stress. That resulted in the need to get even more items from a pharmacy. In Denmark I feel healthier.
I don't think it's useful to provide any numbers or prices because this is so context specific. Our wages may seem high in another context but considering taxes and prices here in Denmark, and our obligations (such as my partner's childcare and having to rent in a particular area in Copenhagen), our wages are not very high. I believe we navigate similar issues as others are navigating.
What helps me navigate this space is trying to live simply. Practising minimalism, seeing simplicity and sufficiency as important values, excluding large numbers of categories from my consumption, seeing magic in everyday life (walking, cooking, sleeping, writing, reading). I think I am fortunate that my work is also my hobby. I don't have hobbies that require extra money, though I love to paint with watercolours and hope to get watercolours at some point in the future.
