Money
Criminal handymen…
The subject line actually refers to a Facebook thread that I started last week about plumbers and other handyman scum who try to rip you off in any way possible. Let me explain… Our kitchen sink was clogged and no regular solution would work (plunger and special unclogging liquid), so I called a plumber. The price would be €138 all-in for 1 hour of work, including use of materials and eventually new pipes. A bit high if you’d ask me, but it was almost 18h00 and I had no time to call around. Besides this company had a nice looking website (as if that matters) and the guy sounded like a professional. Two days later two incredibly muscled plumbers arrive. They quickly come to the conclusion that my pipes were blocked (I had not yet figured that one out myself!) and they had to use...
8 tips to find a house in Brussels
Number one worry for most inbound expats, even before packing their suitcases, concerns finding a proper house or apartment in Brussels. Where to live? What are the rental prices and conditions? How does it work with utilities? And more basic, where should I start with my search for a new home? Everyone struggles with these and several other related questions, but luckily there are many resources online to make the move into your new home town much easier. What often misses though, are the practical lessons of other expats when they first arrived, and which they had to learn the hard way. In this article you will find EIGHT important lessons to bear in mind when you start your house search. And if you have already settled down, maybe you want to share this article with people who are curre...
How to save money in Brussels?
Money. Don’t you wish it would just grow on a tree? Preferably one in your own backyard of course. Keep on wishing… it won’t happen unfortunately. However, in our perennial search to balance our monthly budgets, there are certainly a few things we can do on the debit side. In other words, how can you lower your expenses without giving in on what and how much you buy or do? In this post I would like to share a few of my experiences to save money in Brussels. It is not about budgeting or money saving in general (e.g. taking shorter showers, use the car less frequently …), but it provides some concrete examples of how I saved a lot of money in Brussels quite easily over the past few years. Some may work for you, some may not. Either way, I hope they can be of any advantage to you and ob...