ContractLifeHousehold costs app: every fixed cost in view
Where does the money actually go each month? The largest share of household costs is not in the supermarket but in contracts, subscriptions and utility bills. ContractLife brings exactly those fixed costs together in one place.
One-time purchase · no subscription · data held in Germany
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Fixed costs are the biggest lever
A classic budget book tracks every single purchase – laborious and rarely kept up. The real lever lies elsewhere: in recurring fixed costs. Rent, electricity, insurance, phone, streaming – that runs automatically month after month. Keeping track here saves more than any receipt tracking.
The official statistics show how large this block is: in 2024, private households in Germany spent an average of 3,257 euros a month on consumption, of which 1,181 euros – that is 36.3 percent – went on housing, energy and home maintenance alone (Federal Statistical Office, household budget survey 2024). On top come insurance, mobile, internet and subscriptions – almost all of them amounts that leave the account at the same level every month.
What ContractLife brings together for the household
- Monthly fixed costs in real time – every contract and subscription added up, always current.
- Spending chart – broken down by category, so you see where the money goes.
- Receipt scanner – scan receipts and sort spending by category.
Honestly: not a to-the-cent budget book
ContractLife does not set out to record every coffee. It concentrates on what really counts and can actually be reduced: your contracts and fixed costs. That is where most households hold the largest and most quickly realisable savings potential.
What are fixed costs?
Fixed costs are the expenses that arrive every month without you doing anything — rent, electricity, insurance, mobile, subscriptions. What separates them from variable costs is that their size does not depend on how you behave this month. That is exactly what makes them the most effective place to start: one decision keeps working twelve times a year, whereas every saving at the supermarket has to be earned again. Switch your electricity tariff once and you save permanently; shop more cheaply once and you save once. The first step is therefore not saving but seeing — the complete list of what flows out anyway. That includes converting annual amounts to a monthly figure: a policy that debits 480 euros once a year is a fixed cost of 40 euros a month, not an expensive March. Only with that conversion does the total give you a picture you can plan with.
The typical blocks in a household
It helps to sort fixed costs by one question: how quickly can they be changed at all?
| Block | What belongs to it | How movable |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | Rent, utilities, electricity, gas, internet | Slow to change, but the largest item |
| Cover | Liability, contents, car and other policies | Reviewable once a year |
| Mobility | Car costs, leasing, public transport pass | Tied to contract terms |
| Digital | Streaming, cloud, software, app subscriptions | Usually cancellable monthly |
| Other | Gym, clubs, donations | Watch for fixed terms |
Why one overview helps
In many households one person knows the contracts and the other does not. That is convenient until that person is on holiday, ill or simply unreachable — and nobody knows where the policy is or when the contract expires. One list in one place solves this: every contract, deadline and receipt sits together instead of being scattered across folders and inboxes.
Calculating fixed costs: where to start
The most common mistake at the start is wanting to be complete. The reverse works better: take your last bank statement and enter only the items that repeat — usually somewhere between ten and twenty. For each one note the amount and the billing day, nothing more. That alone gives you a reliable monthly total, and for most people that total is the real surprise. The detail — terms, deadlines, stored documents — can follow whenever you happen to have a contract in your hands anyway. The one thing that matters is dividing annual premiums by twelve, otherwise a single month distorts the whole picture.
Is ContractLife a classic budget book?
No – ContractLife does not track every purchase but your recurring fixed costs: contracts, subscriptions, insurance and utilities. Those make up the bulk of household costs.
What actually counts as a fixed cost?
Anything that arrives regularly and independently of your behaviour: rent and utilities, electricity and gas, insurance, mobile and internet, subscriptions, membership fees and leasing instalments.
How do I account for annual payments?
Divide the annual amount by twelve and store it as a monthly figure. Otherwise the month in which the insurance is charged looks artificially expensive and every other month artificially cheap.
Can I share the costs with my partner?
Yes. With an invitation code you connect your account with your partner's or a family member's and share individual contracts. They see name, provider, cost and deadlines and can add them to their own portfolio as a copy. Documents stay private.
Does the app need access to my account?
No. ContractLife does not read bank transactions. You add your fixed costs yourself or upload the contracts — no bank access is needed.
What does the app cost?
ContractLife is a one-time purchase on the App Store, with no subscription and no ads. You only pay more if you want extra AI analyses or unlimited AI receipt scans.
How do I calculate my monthly fixed costs?
Collect every recurring payment, divide annual amounts by twelve, then add them up: rent, utilities, electricity, insurance, mobile, subscriptions, memberships. The fixed-cost ratio is fixed costs divided by net income times 100. ContractLife builds the monthly total automatically.