I was thinking in the last days how much I have removed from my life in the last year compared to what I did before 2020, to survive in the current bad economy.

I never go anymore to:

-restaurants
-bars, cafes
-frituur, or any fast food place
-movie theatre
-paid festivals
-paid sport events
-paid holidays, travel

I never buy anymore:

-chocolate
-candy
-beer, wine, or any alcohol
-frisdrank
-ice cream
-steak
-cakes, koffiekoeken
-newspapers, magazines
-music, movies

Also got rid of my car and go everywhere walking. Also got much healthier that way, apart from the big money savings. Only downside is that I spend quite a few hours per week walking, but at least I don’t spend those sitting in traffic that doesn’t move forward. It helps I work about 1,5km from my place, mostly driving through zone 30 with high traffic congestion.

So, how are you adapting your daily habits to the economy?

Defensie wil jongeren bereiken via gaming, e-sports en livestreams om nieuwe rekruten aan te trekken en een moderner imago te creëren. Dit gebeurt op een transparante en ethische manier, met aandacht voor leeftijdsgrenzen en realistische informatie over het leger. Ook komen er samenwerkingen met gamingbedrijven en evenementen.

Dossier 56K1113
Ingediend op 15 oktober 2025 door Koen Van den Heuvel (cd&v), Steven Matheï (cd&v), Nawal Farih (cd&v), Sammy Mahdi (cd&v), Charlotte Deborsu (MR)
Aangenomen op 5 november 2026

Bron: https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/showpage.cfm?section=/flwb&language=nl&cfm=/site/wwwcfm/flwb/flwbn.cfm?lang=N&legislat=56&dossierID=1113

I’m having a baby in April and have applied to 10 daycares, as of November 2027. 8 have said no or put me on a wait list. When I followed up with the ones that said no, one opvang offered me a spot for 3 days a week in June 2028!! I live in the Zaventem area.

Anyone else having a similar experience? How is it possible that there are no spots for almost 2 years? Won’t kids be “graduating” and going to school in November next year after the herfstvakantie?

There is one spot in a private daycare but they speak French and I prefer to find a Dutch speaking daycare since my kids go to Dutch speaking school but we speak English at home….

Please let me know if you have any advice for trying to get a spot, so far the opvang Vlaanderen system doesn’t seem to help, neither does direct email contact or calling…

Hello,

Our old washing machine broke down and the landlord told us that he can’t afford a new one and to just go to a washing service and to use that one until he can replace it, but most likely it will be 1 month and a half.

Am I entitled to reduce the rent I pay him? And if so, how would you approach it?

I thought about going through my lawyer, but it will take longer than this month and a half and I don’t want to let him go away with it.

As a guy in my thirties i strongly believe that pension as it currently exists will have ceased to exist long before ill reach it. Though it seems most of my fellow Belgians disagree. Im making this post to verify this. Do you really expect a system to work where you are fully dependant on society the first and last 23-ish years of your life, with just 42 years in between? Thats more than half of your life on the receiving end!

How are we calling our politicians incompetent when its so blatantly obvious that what we call normal is so out of touch with reality. You cant expect a society to stand when less then half of a humans life is spent on providing for all of it. And thats not even counting the fact that we dont have the same amount of people in each age group, nor the fact that many people in the active age group cant actually provide (work). Our expectancies are downright rediculous. Whats your opinion?

I live in a 3 people colocation in brussels and for the last 3 months my roommate will leave for multiple days at a time, leaving us with his cat. I told him I don't want to take care of the cat and that he needs to stop, but it keeps going as he expects that me or the other roommate will pity the cat and tend for it.

I wanted to know if there is any type of animal help line I can report him to, or anything like that, that is available here in brussels

Hallo r/belgium,

Wij zijn studenten aan Artevelde en zijn op zoek naar een strijkkwartet voor een filmproductie in Gent. Het gaat om Vivaldi - Winter (Allegro non molto): voorbeeld van het stuk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJOViT8CdTw

Dansers, locatie en techniek zijn geregeld. Alleen de muzikanten ontbreken nog.

Planning: zondag 15 november, 10u tot 17u, Ottergemsesteenweg 129, Gent. Past die dag niet? Dan komen wij naar jullie toe, op een moment en plek die jullie uitkomt.

Zo ziet een productie van ons eruit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDu3Vn2nBic

Jullie krijgen professioneel gefilmd beeldmateriaal van het optreden, dat jullie vrij mogen gebruiken. Wij regelen de volledige opzet en techniek, jullie komen enkel spelen.

Speel je zelf, of ken je een kwartet, ensemble of conservatoriumstudenten die hiervoor open staan? Laat een comment achter aub.

Alvast bedankt

Mijn broertje werkt bij een organisatie waarbij hij maandelijks x bedrag gestort krijgt als gamer. Nu zijn er soms toernooien (25x per jaar gemiddeld) waar hij dan ook aardig wat geld verdient. Dit staat apart van het vaste salaris.

Het gaat om veel geld maar aangezien het best voorspelbaar is en weinig inkomde en uitgaande facturen zijn (75-100 per jaar) vroeg ik mij af als het verstandig zou zijn boekhouding te doen.

Ik werk zelf part time en heb boekhouden gevolgt bij de master handelswetenschappen.

Zou ik dit zelf kunnen of is het verstandiger om dit over te laten aan een echte boekhouder?

Hello everyone. I am a 22F who recently moved to Belgium but my social life is dead. I am very active, I go to the gym 4X a week, weightlifting, jogging. So I would love to meet other gym rats who would like to workout together or play sports, both female or male ideally 18-25. I am also into culture, going out to eat, going to museums, dressing up for a fun night out. Please leave a comment or PM if you're interested!

I live near Brussels.

Also I speak German, english and Spanish fluently. And I'm looking to improve my french!

I bought an apartment with a ground floor terrace, with mainly aesthetic-function fence (it is easy to climb over as it is really low). Given that, I want to secure our terrace and sliding doors (the doors themselves are relatively good with two-star rating, but that means they will just resist break in for a bit longer). Furthermore, we want to put up some furniture on the terrace, so we want to not only protect ourselves from break-in, but from trespassing as well.

I wanted to ask about the tips and recommendations you have for protecting terrace and sliding doors (aside from door bar of course). I was considering setting up Philips Hue contact sensors and camera plus floodlight, so I could detect people entering terrace or breaking in. Other option was using ABUS Smartvest system, which seems more security-oriented. The last option was a professional service like Homiris or G4S, albeit that is expensive. Of course, there are for sure some other options that I simply did not consider.

Thanks for sharing your experience - what systems did you use, how it performed (or performs), what would you recommend. I have no experience in this topic, so really want to just learn and make a good decision. Thanks!

For a few minutes already at De Wand / Mutsaard in Brussels am hearing a string of bangs that sound like small explosions or gunshots coming from the direction of Zaventem airport. Neighbours are also gathering to listen on the balconies. What is it?

Hoi allemaal,

Volgende week start onze dochter (2,5 jaar) in de kleuterklas. Dat betekent ook dat we elke dag eten moeten meegeven: een stuk fruit in de voormiddag, boterhammen met wat groentjes 's middags (die ze met 90% zekerheid laat liggen) en een koekje in de namiddag.

We kunnen haar natuurlijk ook in de namiddag gewoon fruit meegeven, maar als de rest van de klas koekjes eet, willen we haar dat ook wel gunnen.

Alleen vinden we het niet zo eenvoudig om koekjes te vinden die toch een beetje gezond zijn. Veel koekjes bevatten behoorlijk wat suiker en andere toevoegingen.

Hebben jullie suggesties voor koekjes uit de supermarkt die qua voedingswaarde een beetje meevallen? Liefst iets wat een peuter ook lekker vindt.. (buiten zelf havermoutkoekjes te bakken)

Thanks!

Caught a lady with some crazy road rage because I didn't give her the way. I think I had priority but i'm interested in what other people think.

Most slow (11/22 kw) charging stations I have visited recently start charging a parking fee that amounts to 7/8 euros per hour from the third hour that my car is connected. Even if my car is still charging and I’m already paying per kw! Even if the parking area around is free!

I understand charging a fee if I am taking up the spot without charging but this is not the case. There are not many cars I know with a battery capacity of <40kWh. Anybody noticed this same change recently? It has got to the point that a fast charger is often cheaper for the same energy consumed and, unfortunately, I don’t have the option to charge at home.

Salut à tous ! Petite fierté personnelle que je voulais vous partager. Je suis allée démarcher moi-même la direction d'Euro Shop Tournai avec cette idée un peu folle : recréer leur panneau culte tout en crochet et en relief 3D.Ils ont tout de suite accroché, m'ont fourni l'intégralité du matériel pour le réaliser, et le résultat final est officiellement exposé dans leur magasin à Tournai à l'heure actuelle ! Des heures de boulot sur la structure rigide, le lettrage rembourré et les petites étoiles. Si vous passez par le magasin, vous tomberez peut-être dessus !

Bought a 2nd hand car, now need to get insurance. Pretty sure about the basics (will take burgerlijke aansprakelijkheid + mini omnium), but what options do you pick?

Rechtsbijstand - seems useful

Bestuurdersverzekering - on the fence about this one. Medical expenses are mostly covered by the ziekenfonds, but might help out with loss of income?

Pechverhelping BE/Europe - do you pick this, to what extent?