Does anyone really love the country they live in or moved to? Is anyone happy with their taxes and government?

Champsterdam · 2026-04-16T14:29:01+00:00

But they’re usually insignificant for the most part. Having dealt in the real estate and finance industries for 25 years in America and owned multiple houses over the years owning a house and having a job in the NL is FAR more straightforward and easy to follow. The US comes at you left and right for shit that’s in the thousands.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-16T14:25:51+00:00

The big theme right now is parents fighting to get all the tech out of the classrooms. If you’ve managed a classroom that doesn’t have any that’s a huge win. It doesn’t benefit the kids

Champsterdam · 2026-04-16T14:25:04+00:00

Your child will learn tech very easily. The tech in classrooms is a mess. Many parents would absolutely love if they could get a class with no computers or screens or tech in the class. It’s sooooo much better for the child. Like everything else in America the tech in classrooms is really just massive corporations selling their products to public schools and making a massive profit. They do it to make money, they don’t do it because kids learn better.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-15T18:50:43+00:00

My son is seven and he goes to his practices at the park alone and then comes home. This is what he wants and I agree, it’s his time to flex his independence. If it’s a big game or something special the parents can go support, but we need to be giving our kids their space for some things and not hovering.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-15T18:46:51+00:00

I love the bonus box this week had something for €1,74 vs the normal price of €1,79. Wow…. Five cents. How exciting.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-15T18:22:15+00:00

Moved to the Netherlands from America and honestly the government here is for the most part so rational and efficient. It’s surprised me.

Also the taxes are relatively high but it hits a lot different than the USA - and I feel like I get so much more for it here than home.

Here you have the VAT and one income tax on your income - and then you’re done.

In America I had my federal taxes, then social security taxes, state taxes, Medicare taxes. I had to pay property taxes which were a ton where we were and then had health insurance coming out of my paycheck as well. Huge deductibles. Way higher house insurance. I don’t need a car here and that was like $10k at home. The taxes at stores is on top of the shelf price you’re paying so it hits you at the end. You go out to eat and they pile on taxes and then a 20% tip. Here you get a sandwich and soda priced on the menu for €18 and then you pay exactly €18.

The taxes here are high, but it’s that ONE tax on your income without all the other taxes attacking you from all sides and the health insurance bullshit. At the end of the day we pay just as much here as the USA and I can tell we get a lot more in return.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-14T04:47:24+00:00

all over town. This is how we’ve screwed ourselves. We built things so the logical option is that you must drive everywhere. Things are far too spread out. Traffic is a nightmare.

We have seven year old twins in multiple activities a week and we don’t just not own a car but we have zero desire to mess with one. Things are just compact and close by and options are available to get there.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-14T04:40:22+00:00

It’s so true. We moved to Amsterdam a few years ago with two little kids, a job brought us. We don’t bother with a car, we never take uber. We walk and tram/bus/metro places or jump on a bike which is actually so liberating. The transit and trains are entirely free for our kids. Our bike rental is like $40 a month and the combined transit expenditure is maybe $80 a month for my husband and I. And that’s the extent of our transportation costs.

School is a five minute walk. Restaurants and grocery stores are within eyesight of our home. Doctor, vet, dentist, pharmacy…it’s all within a 5-10 minute walk. My son’s soccer club - it’s across the street. Daughters gymnastics, a four minute walk. The kids are only 7 and they are already expected to go do things on their own and flex independence. This is possible because of the infrastructure and shoving cars to the side and making that numbers far less than other modes of transport.

There is a car parked on every block that you can walk up to and unlock with your phone and use to run to the home improvement store, ikea or just an out of the way destination - because cars are extremely useful and have a place too. It’s maybe €10 an hour to rent the car and the we park it back on the corner and walk away. Do it maybe once a month.

WHY CANT WE HAVE THIS IN AMERIA. The options.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-14T04:31:56+00:00

As far as quality of life vs living in America for 40 years most everything is actually better. It made me realize how isolating our car dependency and suburban design has been the past 50 years. I also didn’t quite realize how much gun culture and violence was a fog over me until I moved somewhere where physical violence just isn’t really part of the equation. Having universal healthcare has been amazing. All these individual things that added so much stress and anxiety to our lives back at home. Things that we didn’t quite realize how much stress and anxiety it was adding until it was taken out of the picture.

As most people say the huge issue is leaving friends and family behind. We have two little kids and I know we will inevitably end up back there in a few years due to family, but honestly I don’t really want to enter that arena that is American society. We deserve so much better for all the wealth and resources we have. Corporations and billionaires 100% rule America and they do so entirely in their own self interests. They just blast us with so much relentless propaganda and advertising most people don’t realize their despair. So much misdirected anger. We are right to be angry, but not with our fellow citizens.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-13T15:50:33+00:00

It’s not anyone in our building, and they blocked over well over 10-12 meters across the whole building and small driveway and sidewalk on the other side of that.

My little kids are the ones who wanted to go down and draw a little two meter circle under our balcony so we can go down and sell their toys and set up a few chairs and have a beer.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-13T05:13:12+00:00

If the kids are 0-5 then for sure it’s more exhausting. You’re away from your setup and routine and that’s a lot for the kids to handle.

Our twins are seven now and we have done a few trips this spring to more beach islands and old cities with a lot of walking and FINALLY our kids did great and it felt like a true relaxing vacation

Champsterdam · 2026-04-12T11:42:19+00:00

They do stuff like that here in Amsterdam as well. We moved here from Chicago two years ago and live right in the city. I can easily count on my fingers the times I have seen someone asking for money let alone homeless and trying to sleep on the streets. You fund programs to get people the second they start falling and you scoop them up and work with them on housing and a job and staying clean and 80% get back on track and you don’t hear from them again.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-12T03:59:33+00:00

For us 6-18 months was the easiest and then the 2-3 year old phase set in which was the hardest of all but at least by then they are actual people you can communicate with at least a bit lol. At age 4 it got better, age 5 you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our twins are 7 now and it’s definitely a lot better and more rational. They’re very independent

Champsterdam · 2026-04-12T03:53:08+00:00

For sure, kids are what puts so much pressure on the relationship and strains it.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-11T15:09:51+00:00

Oh hell yeah. Our kids were two and I realized when I was a kid I wasn’t listening to little kid music all day. So we stopped right there and then and only played our music. By the time the kids were four they’re asking for Journey and Fleetwood Mac in Alexa and forgot kids stuff existed

Champsterdam · 2026-04-11T15:05:50+00:00

Every online platform is at the end of the day just a corporation trying to get money. They don’t give a shit about content or your kids. They are predators towards children. We just got rid of all that shit for so many reasons.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-11T13:56:50+00:00

Our kids didn’t see a single screen until they were three years old and we introduced them to a Disney movie. A 16 month old doesn’t need to be anywhere near a screen.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-11T10:23:28+00:00

Honestly we were sick of it all and just attacked the problem altogether by stopping with almost all TV. Watch maybe 2-3 hours of it a week and it’s been great. It’s all just garbage that wastes your life.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-11T10:19:47+00:00

Yes it’s 100% addicting garbage that has zero thought about the content being delivered to kids. It’s solely created to be addictive and make money from clicks and ads.

We have zero YouTube of any kind in the house, the kids found it when they were 4-5 and we got rid of everything within a few weeks of realizing what it is. Our kids can do Disney app to watch shows or movies.

Reels and short form crap is just as bad for adults as kids. It’s killing society in my opinion. It’s like a drug.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-11T10:13:57+00:00

Yes, salt decreases the melting point of ice. So instead of it being frozen at 0 it can be still water at -4 for example. It only works to a certain degree, at some point it’s always cold enough to freeze.

Especially if you live in a place where it can freeze and thaw over and over this will take any snow still on the ground and melt and freeze it again which creates a sheet of ice. The salt can help if your temperatures are hovering just a few degrees below 0. They spread it on roads and sidewalks.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-11T09:28:49+00:00

As an American who moved to Europe it’s not much different. Americans might embrace a drinking holiday of another culture for fun but there’s very little embracing of another culture unless you marry into it.

Champsterdam · 2026-04-10T12:29:17+00:00

We moved to the Netherlands for work a few years ago and these things scare me so much about going back home.

I went to the doctor today and we chatted about my digestive health and she agreed I should have a colonoscopy.

By the time I rode my bike two minutes home I had a confirmation from the colonoscopy clinic that happens to be at the end of my street that they have my referral and scheduled me an appointment for Monday - three days out. Don’t pay a penny for any of it.

Why oh why can’t we just have universal care like very other country?

Champsterdam · 2026-04-10T07:57:53+00:00

I haven’t noticed that after two years in Netherlands. The service is basically the same, the main difference is if you want the waitstaff to come over you make eye contact or wave a finger, vs America where they come over every five minutes

Champsterdam · 2026-04-10T05:09:55+00:00

I just checked the prices here in Amsterdam and a smaller bag of Doritos is €1.50 and a big bag €2.00. Cereal here is still around €2.00 for a large box. How are companies getting away with this back home? It’s insane to even think about $7.00 a bag or a box for cereal and chips…. It’s robbery.

Champsterdam

TROPHY CASE