Tips/Hacks discovered while living in Germany for more than a year

Since my last comment on a similar Life hack post here got a lot of upvotes. I collected some other cool ones from the comments too as I didn’t want those cool hacks to go unnoticed and decided to repost all those points once again for a wider reach. Perhaps some of you can correct or enhance this list further and add your cool hacks in the comment section too so we can all end this week being a bit smarter then yesterday 😉

1. Before you book a long ICE or RE normal journey on DB app, just open [www.bahn.de](http://www.bahn.de/) without logging in your account and search for same trip. Usually you find it cheaper on web browser. If sfill not then ask your friend to search for same trip using their own device, you’ll find it cheaper. DB app tracks you from the moment you search for a trip.
2. Open an email account with GMX and opt(its free) for email notification for all posts that you receive. Now i get a scan copy of the front of the post envelope early morning in my email so I know whats coming my way in few hours in my Briefkasten. This way I can also claim just incase the letter never gets delivered to me in physical. Since i have scanned copy i can always go back to the sender regarding non-delivery. DHL also has Briefkasten service
3. Use app called iGraal for actual money cashback for everything you purchase. App has almost all the known brands we know for all different categories of shopping. You get actual percentage as cashback. I take even further by using corporate benefits codes of same brands but using iGraal to buy. Its like i get 25% corporate discount on a particular clothing brand, and the same brand gives 5% cashback on iGraal, so here i get 25% discount plus 5% cashback into my account for making that purchase.
4. Use check24 as well for price comparisons and good deal. Also you can use check24 via iGraal to get additional cashback 😉
5. You dont have to use a german bank. I personally use bunq(dutch bank) and I am in love. It has all cool features and I get full control and overview on my money.
6. Cancel contracts the moment you sign them – It should be noted though that it’s no longer the case and by now it’s banned by law and only extend by 1 month by now. You should however still immediately cancel after signing since it’s easy to simply forget about the contract and also because if you cancel then for example the mobile company will obviously try to keep you as customer and you might be able to use your cancellation to negotiate a better contract or they might even approach you themselves with a better contract/deal that you probably won’t get under usual circumstances.
7. Be nice to your neighbours (if they are decent people!!). They help you with a lot of things if you’re willing to do the same.
8. Subscribe to your local library network, they have so many things on offer and usually they cost peanuts per year.
9. Mail redirection when you move.
10. Never have less than 50 EUR in cash on you when you go out, because I’m tired of having to pay for all my other foreign friends who refuse to adjust to this simple reality.
11. Public transport subscriptions remove all the stress of dealing with single tickets, especially in the less elegant tariff areas.
12. Read your contracts.
13. Learn German for god’s sake!
14. You going to travel by train? Never pick the connection that has less than 10-15 minutes transfer time. You might never make the connection. Set the transfer time in DB Navigator accordingly and it will include this into the search result
15. Do you want to build a network? Go to a club. Schützenverein, football club, gymnastics club or a cooking club. There are clubs for everything.
16. Use website called aboalarm.de for sending all your contract cancellations within 14 days of purchase. In german its called Widerspruch. They handle all for you in a professional manner. All you need to do is go to their website, put the company name and then your contract/customer number and some other details and thats it. They charge you a few euros for the service and sending the post but trust me its the best way to deal with Widerspruch and to avoid having any hin und her with the actual company
17. If you need to send an email to your Ausländerbehörde, write it in German. This might seem obvious but, ya know. Use DeepL Translator if you can’t speak German or really can’t find someone to help translate. You usually get a response much faster.
18. When grocery shopping, make sure you put fruits and vegetables last on the conveyer belt at the checkout. Obviously because they crush more easily and you should therefore put them on top of the other items when packing the bag and secondly because the cashier takes a little longer to scan fruits and vegetables as they usually have to weigh them. This gives you a little more time to pack up and get some money out.
19. Always wipe the shower doors and tiles after showering. Otherwise the kalk buildup is a nightmare to clean up later. – Kalk is destroyed by vinegar in n seconds.

​

Thank you all contributors in advance.