Topic

Family & home

Running the books of a household with kids: school, after-school activities, utilities and everything else two (or more) people pay for without keeping score in their heads.

9 articles published.

Topics

Family & home Couples & money Groups & trips Flat-sharing

Kitchen table with a calendar, a calculator and children's birthday gift bags

family birthday children Sep 04, 2026

Children's birthdays: the real annual cost

Adding your own child's birthday to the fifteen or twenty other kids' birthdays you attend each year gives you a figure almost nobody looks at. Doing so changes the family conversation and the calendar.

ControlarGastos · Family & home

A child's hand putting a coin into a ceramic piggy bank on a wooden table

family children financial literacy Aug 21, 2026

A kid's allowance: shared expense or each parent's own?

When to start the allowance, how much to give and, above all, whether it comes from the shared family pot or each parent chips in their part. A decision that says more about the family than about the child.

ControlarGastos · Family & home

A family kitchen table with two coffee mugs, an open planner and children's toys in the background, in natural morning light

family single income splitting Aug 07, 2026

Splitting Expenses When Only One Person Works in the Family

When only one of the two partners earns a salary and the other runs the home and the children, the "I'll give you money" dynamic poisons the relationship. There is a more grown-up model: treating domestic work as what it is, work.

ControlarGastos · Family & home

A family car parked next to a home with child seats visible inside

family car transport Jul 24, 2026

Family car cost: payment, insurance, servicing and wear

Buying a 25,000-euro family car isn't 25,000 euros: it's the monthly payment, the insurance, the maintenance, the tyres, the fuel and a parking space. Adding it all up changes the conversation.

ControlarGastos · Family & home

Kitchen table with a family calendar, glasses, a generic health card and a cup of coffee in warm natural light

family health insurance Jul 10, 2026

Medical costs the public system doesn't cover, as a family

Dentist, braces, glasses, physio, child psychology. What the public health system doesn't cover can easily run between 1,500 and 4,000 euros a year for a family. The question is whether insurance pays off or you keep paying à la carte.

ControlarGastos · Family & home

Suitcases and folded towels by a window in warm light before a family trip

family holidays trip Jun 26, 2026

Family Holidays: A Realistic Budget for 4 People

Seven days in August on the coast with two adults and two kids don't come to what the brochure says. An honest figure and a method for not reaching July improvising.

ControlarGastos · Family & home

A child's backpack and sports kit on the floor of a family hallway, soft light

family after-school children Jun 12, 2026

Extracurricular activities: the hidden cost nobody adds up

English, football, music, swimming. Each activity looks affordable on its own and together they turn into a silent second mortgage. How to decide, with numbers, which ones bring value and which only bring scheduling.

ControlarGastos · Family & home

A school backpack, books and a folded uniform on a bed in soft morning light in a child's room.

family school education May 29, 2026

Subsidised private school cost: enrolment, lunch, uniforms

The state-subsidised private school is sold as almost-free education and ends up costing between one thousand five hundred and three thousand euros a year per child. We break down fees, lunch, uniforms, books, the parents' association, outings and activities so the real figure stops being a surprise.

ControlarGastos · Family & home

Family shopping cart full of basic groceries and kids' snacks in a supermarket aisle

family groceries children May 15, 2026

Family groceries with two kids: how the split changes

Going from €400 to €700 or €800 a month on groceries when you have two kids isn't just about portions. It changes the basket, the routines and the way the two parents budget together.

ControlarGastos · Family & home