July 2026 – Expensive and hot

July 2026

The first half of July was extremely hot again. Fortunately, we then got a period of better weather. It was really nice to have some cold nights again. It seems like we will have a third heatwave in August, but at least we are more prepared than before.

Other than the heat, the month was quite nice. We enjoyed the swimming pool a lot. We had a few activities, but it was quiet overall, which is nice.

July was also the last month our son would go to kindergarten and daycare. He now has about a month of vacation, and then he will start school. Since Mrs. The Poor Swiss is also going to start school in September, next year will be hectic. The first year of school has really very few hours for children, so it is more complicated to handle than kindergarten and daycare.

Financially, this month was a bit of a disaster. We had to pay for all the maintenance we had to do last month. Moreover, we changed all door cylinders on the house. We have three outside doors, and none of them had the same cylinder. And we also set up smart locks on them. The timing could have been better since this adds up to an already expensive month.

In the end, we only could save 4% of our income this month. This is definitely not enough for our goals.

Expenses

Here are the details of our expenses in July 2026:

In total, we spent 15959 CHF this month. Without taxes, this amounts to 8858 CHF. This is much higher than we would like to spend.

We had an issue with the 230V charger for our electric. It apparently dropped and did not work anymore. So we had to purchase a new one for almost 400 CHF. We will be careful with this one, but I am now wary of the longevity of these chargers. Adding a speeding ticket to that and our transportation budget is exploding.

Most of the housing expenses come from the maintenance done last month:

• 79 CHF for inspecting the washing machine (it was not the issue)
• 512 CHF for maintaining the water softener (it was creating salty water)
• 1503 CHF for the maintenance of the swimming pool (needed to change the cell, repair something on the terrace, and do the general maintenance)
• 427 CHF to change two electrical circuits to different breakers (we could not wash laundry and charge the car together)

In addition, we also changed the cylinders on our external doors and installed smart locks on them. This costs about 1200 CHF in total, and I could do the work myself on these three doors.

When I see months like this, I start to lose hope on our expenses. Of course, some of these expenses should not repeat. But every month, there are new expenses that should not repeat. It does not seem anymore that we can afford a retirement at 100,000 CHF per year given these crazy expenses. We will have to review our target at the end of the year. Any increase in that target will mean multiple new years before we reach financial independence.

Overall, I am not satisfied with our expenses. We should be able to do better than that.

2026 Goals

Here is the status of our goals by the end of July 2026:

Month after month, we fail at our expenses goal. Instead of spending less, we spend more and more every month.

With the heat, we did not walk as much as we usually do in summer. When it’s more than 30°C outside, we are not motivated to go walking or hiking. And in the office, I am not walking as much because it heats up the room even more.

Our solar installer did the last inspection on their end and fixed one thing. Now, we are awaiting the final external audit. After that, we should get the subvention and the final bill, and this project will be done.

Overall, one important goal, our expenses goal, is not doing well. My walking goal is also not great, but that was to be expected with two days per week in the office. I am using the treadmill much less than before. Normally, this gets compensated in summer by more walks outside. But the weather is so hot we do not walk that much.  But this goal is less important, and I am still walking a fair bit.

FI Ratio

Here is the progress of our FI ratio as of July 2026:

Overall, the month was mostly flat. We almost did not save any money this month. In addition, our portfolio was slightly down this month. But the USD went slightly up, compensating a little of our losses. We gained about 0.4% in our FI ratio.

Given the state of our expenses, I do not think we can retire at 100,000 CHF per year. I will not change our target now, but at the end of the year, we will need to carefully review our expenses. I am quite disappointed, but it looks like we are significantly less frugal than I thought.

Overall, I am fine with the progress of our FI ratio, but I am not optimistic about our FI target.

The blog

The blog was quiet this month. There were very few comments, forum messages, or emails. This is expected in July and August, when people are more focused on their holidays than on their money. The activity should pick up in September.

On my end, I focus on the basics only. I did not have an opportunity to do any other projects. And I now start to realize that I will not have time for any other projects next year either. With our son starting school, I will have significantly less time for the blog. So, I am wondering whether I should bother continuing to prepare videos for the blog (I have not even had an opportunity to do one in July).

Next month, I do not have anything planned either other than writing new articles and answering everybody’s comments.

Next Month – August 2026

In August 2026, we have a few activities planned with friends and family, but nothing big. Since our son has a one-month holiday, we will likely do more activities, but nothing is planned.

Financially, it should be a standard month. We do not expect any significant income or expenses, but as usual, we are likely wrong on the expenses side, and something will come up.

What about you? How was July 2026?