Fixed expenses for a family: budget per household

What counts as fixed expenses?

Fixed expenses are the ones you cannot opt out of next month. Housing first: rent or the monthly payment (ydelse) on your loan, property tax and the owners' association (ejerforening) or homeowners' association (grundejerforening). Then what the home uses: electricity, water, heating and waste collection. Insurance, the car or commuter pass, nursery and after-school care (SFO), phone, internet and the subscriptions you have forgotten you have. And repayments on other debt such as car loans and student loans (SU-lån).

Food, clothes, leisure and savings are not fixed expenses. They are paid out of your disposable income, meaning what is left once the fixed items have been deducted. That is why there is a guideline minimum: below that amount, there is no room for everyday life.

If you want to see the full 2026 rates for single people, couples and families with children, they are in the guide on disposable income. You can calculate the figure for your own household in the disposable income calculator.

Fixed expenses for 1 adult and for 2 adults

If you live alone, you carry all the fixed expenses yourself, but you also only need 7.880 kr. left for yourself. Two adults share the housing cost but typically have two cars, two phones and higher consumption, and 13.360 kr. must be left. The figures are the guideline rates for 2026, which banks typically use as a benchmark.

It is not the streaming subscriptions that break the budget. It is the home. When you look at a home, work out the full housing cost: monthly payment, property tax, insurance, heating and maintenance. Not just the monthly payment, because that is rarely what catches you out.

Fixed expenses for a family with children

Children mean both higher fixed expenses and a higher minimum. Nursery or after-school care is the big item, and it changes every time the child moves from nursery to kindergarten to school. A child aged 2 to 6 counts for 2.740 kr. in the minimum, a child aged 0 to 1 for 2.150 kr. and a child aged 7 to 17 for 3.950 kr.

A family of two adults and two children aged 2 to 6 must therefore have at least 18.840 kr. left each month. If you earn well and have low fixed expenses, that is not a problem. But a home purchase that doubles your housing cost can push you below the limit, even if your pay stays the same. That is the calculation the bank makes before it says yes.

How the bank uses your fixed expenses

When I worked at the bank, we took your fixed expenses from 12 months of bank statements. Banks still do. Then they add the future housing cost on top, work out what is left, and compare it both with the guideline rates and with what you have actually lived on so far. If you currently spend 20.000 kr. a month after fixed expenses, the bank does not expect you to suddenly be able to live on 13.360 kr.

The bank also calculates the housing cost using a fixed-rate loan with repayments, even if you want a variable rate. That makes the calculation stricter than your own. If you know this in advance, the meeting becomes a confirmation instead of a surprise. That is the whole difference between sitting in the driver's seat and sitting in the back.

House or flat: the difference in fixed expenses

In a flat, you pay shared costs to the owners' association, which cover part of the maintenance, insurance and often heating. In a house, you pay for everything yourself: roof, drains, heating system, buildings insurance and the homeowners' association. That is why the fixed expenses of a house are typically higher than the monthly payment alone suggests.

The energy label (energimærke) makes a difference you can feel every month. A house with a poor energy label can cost several thousand kroner more in heating per month than a comparable house with a good label. Always ask for the latest heating bill, and include it in your calculation.

How to work out your own fixed expenses

When we bought a house, it felt like a full-time job in itself. So many things to deal with. This is the part you can do in an evening: take your last three months of bank statements and mark everything that recurs every month. Add up the items, and spread whatever is paid yearly or quarterly over 12 months. Subtract the total from the household's income after tax. The figure you are left with is your disposable income today.

Then do the same for the home you are considering: replace your current housing cost with the new one, including heating, insurance and maintenance. Compare with the guideline rates for your household. If you are above them, you have some headroom. If you are below, you know before the bank tells you. And then you still have time to do something about it.

If you want to see the loan, property taxes, maintenance and utilities added up for a specific home, you can work out what the home costs per month.

Now you know both the items and the figure

You know what counts as fixed expenses, what must be left for your household, and how the bank calculates. That is more than most people bring to their first meeting.

Frequently asked questions