WELCOME TO HOW I Spend My Money, a series on The Journal that looks at how people in Ireland really handle their finances.
We’re asking readers to keep a record of how much they earn, what they save if anything, and what they’re spending their money on over the course of one week.
Are you a spender, a saver or a splurger? We’re looking for readers who will keep a money diary for a week. If you’re interested send a mail to money@thejournal.ie. We would love to hear from you.
Each money diary is submitted by readers just like you. When reading and commenting, bear in mind that their situation will not be relatable for everyone, it is simply an account of a week in their shoes, so let’s be kind.
Last time around, we heard from an IT customer support worker on €19K living in Co Mayo. This week, a financial analyst on €81K who has recently moved from Ireland to London.
Having spent my entire adult life living and working at home in Ireland, myself and my girlfriend decided to make the move to the UK in May of this year. Like many other young couples, we were priced out of the property market at home even though we both had what would be considered good jobs. We were both working in Dublin and commuting from County Louth.
I had been living at home all of my adult life, however, I was not focused on saving money until January 2020. From that point until May 2022, I saved an average of €1,200 a month and now have a nice sum of money saved. I am anxious about keeping all of my worth in an asset that is currently depreciating in value at a rate of about 10% per year (ie. money). However, with financial markets across the world having a tough time of it at the minute, I don’t have many other options.
We both managed to find jobs in the UK relatively quickly and after some travelling back and forth between Ireland and the UK to view rental properties, we managed to find a good-sized two-bed apartment with a balcony in a town north of London for £1,200 (€1,391) per month. We both work from home three or four times a week, so we decided to live outside of London where rent is cheaper. We are really enjoying life here and while we plan on returning home in a few years, we may or may not do so! I was on €50,000 working in Ireland and now earn £70,000 (€81,200) for what is essentially the same job. I pay 60% of rent and we split other bills 50/50.
Age: 29
Occupation: Financial analyst
Location: Greater London Area
Salary: £70,000 (€81,200)
Monthly Pay (Net): £4,095 ( €4,748)
Transport: £260 (€300) on trains into London (10 trips over the month)
Rent: £720 (€834)
Phone Bill: £10 (€12)
Health Insurance: Paid by work
Subscriptions: £20 (€23) for Spotify and Netflix
Groceries: £140 ( €162)
Water: £15 (€17)
Electricity and gas: £74 (€85)
Council tax: £76 (€88)
Broadband: £15 (€17)
Monthly savings: £1,000 (€1,159) on average
***
8.00 am: I get up and log on to work straight away. I work from home Monday, Wednesday and Friday generally. I gobble down a bowl of Shreddies and away I go. My girlfriend also works from home but I work from the kitchen and she works from the bedroom. I get the head down and work until noon or so.
12.30 pm: Break time, and I head to the gym. I joined the gym soon after I arrived here. I paid £400 (€460) for the year which is about €100 more than I was paying at home albeit the gym I am now in has far better equipment, provides free protein and opens 24/7. I spend 90 minutes in the gym usually.
2.15 pm: I get back to work. I usually finish up around 6 pm or 7 pm depending on how busy I am. I like working at home as many others do, but that being said, I worry that it will make it harder to gain a promotion as I’m less likely to develop relationships with management by only being in the office twice a week.
7.00 pm: Finish up for the day. We need some groceries so we head to Aldi to pick up some bits (£35/€40). We live in a central location in the town so we can walk pretty much everywhere. We shop in Aldi and our total weekly spend is usually £35 each as it is this week. This covers our breakfast, lunch and dinner for about five days and we eat out on the other two.
8.30 pm: Settle down for the evening. We have yet to buy a TV so we watch Netflix most evenings. Unfortunately, this means we can’t watch the World Cup – something which my girlfriend is quite happy about.
10.00 pm: Lights out!
Today’s total: £35.00 (€40.00)
6.30 am: I’m up and after a quick bowl of cereal, I’m out the door to catch the train to London Liverpool Station. Trains here are expensive compared to back home but the difference in quality of the service you get is stark. The train costs me £30 a day return and takes an hour to travel the 55 miles (80km) into the city.
8.15 am: I’m at my desk and I get to work.
10.00 am: Unlike some of the tech companies, we don’t get much in the way of free food so as I’m feeling a bit peckish, I head downstairs and get a breakfast bap costing £6. If I had known it would have a runny egg in it I wouldn’t have gotten it as I ended up with some on my jumper. A great start to the day!
1.00 pm: I head out for lunch with some of my colleagues, many of whom are also Irish. We usually go to one of two places and I end up buying a Caesar salad costing £10. We then head back to the office and work for the afternoon.
5.00 pm: I finish work earlier when I’m in the office than I would do if I was at home, something which I’m sure many readers will relate to. I’m on the train by 5.30 pm and I’m back home by 7 pm.
7.15 pm: My dinner is ready for me when I get in, much to my delight! I’m not feeling the gym today. I suggest we go down the town to the local pub to watch the World Cup. She isn’t into football and I generally have to offer to pay for her drinks so she will go. I buy four drinks costing £18 and we’re home by 10 pm.
10.30 pm: Lights out.
Today’s total: £62.00 (€72.00)
8.00 am: I get up and log on to work. I’m home alone today so I have Spotify on in the background to keep me company. Even though I live in the UK now, I still listen to Irish podcasts and follow news in Ireland. I personally think £10 a month for Spotify is well worth the cost.
10.00 am: I go out to get a green tea from nearby coffee shop costing £2/€2.30.
12.30 pm: Instead of going to the gym, I go for a run. There are some great running trails close by and I run 10k. I like to run at least once a week as it’s great for both your physical and mental health.
2.00 pm: I log back on and work away. In these times of ever-increasing energy prices, I’m conscious of my energy usage. Once my laptop is fully charged I unplug it and let the battery drop to near zero before plugging it in again.
3.30 pm: I need to do some DIY in the apartment so I buy doubled sided tape in the local hardware store costing £7(€8).
6.30 pm: Finish up at work.
7.00 pm: It’s my turn to make the dinner this evening and as usual I either go for spaghetti or a stir fry. I thought moving out of home would result in my cooking skills improving significantly, but my girlfriend tells me they have a way to go yet!
8.00 pm: After 15 minutes of scrolling the Netflix home page, we find something to watch. There is not a whole lot to do in the evenings at the minute. It’s dark here from about 4 pm and it also feels significantly colder than home albeit drier. The flip side of that is the weather during the summer just gone was absolutely incredible with blue skies most days and temperatures regularly in the 30s.
10.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: £9.00 (€10.50)
6.30 am: A bowl of cereal and I’m out the door to catch the train to London Liverpool St. I read a book on the way in to try keep me off my phone. My screen time has been way too high of late.
8.15 am: I’m at my desk and I get to work.
10.00 am: Take a quick break and I go down for a green tea costing £2.50 (€2.90).
1.00 pm: I head out for lunch with some of my colleagues. We go to a nearby Japanese takeaway which is very popular with the local office workers. I spend £14. I’m back at my desk for 13.45.
5.00 pm: After a quiet afternoon, I finish up and make my way down to Liverpool St. station. The station is one of the main terminals in London so after some pushing and shoving through the crowds I get onto my train home.
7.00 pm: My girlfriend was also in the office today so there is no dinner made and as neither of us is in the mood to cook, we head to a nearby pub which does good food and most importantly has football on the big screen. When we eat out we each pay for every second meal. We get two main courses and three drinks each costing £52.
10.15 pm: Home and in bed.
Today’s total: £120.00 (€140.00)
6.30 am: Even though I’m working from home today, I wake up early and as I can’t get back to sleep, I decide to go to the gym.
08.30 am: I’m home and showered and ready to get to work.
10.30 am: I head down to the local café and get a green tea and flapjack. I like to support the various establishments around me and it’s a good way to get to know people. I spend £5 (€5.80). I’ve been really surprised at how friendly people here are, everyone has made us feel very welcome.
1.00 pm: I go to the gym during lunch and then have an uneventful afternoon. I finish up at 6 pm and look forward to the weekend.
6.30 pm: We are still decorating the apartment bit by bit so we head to the nearby IKEA to buy two bedside lockers for the spare room. They come to £170 (€197) which we split 50/50. I despair as we head home knowing that I’ll likely spend half of my Saturday assembling them.
8.30 pm: We’re home and after some Netflix we call it a night around 10.00
Total spend: £90 (€104)
8.00 am: I head to the gym and spend an hour there.
10.30 am: I get cracking on the two lockers and thankfully I have them assembled within two hours. It was pretty straightforward to be fair but I tell my girlfriend that they were very complicated to assemble to make myself feel better!
2.00 pm: After some lunch at home, we head for a walk along the nearby canal and finish up at a local pub where we spend a few hours relaxing. I buy three rounds coming to £34.
8.00 pm: There is no chance either of us will be cooking this evening so we stop off at Indian takeaway. She pays.
11:00 pm: After watching some Netflix, we call it a night. This was quite a cheap Saturday as I would usually head into London to meet some friends and go to a Premier League or Rugby Premiership event depending on what was on. On these weekends I would typically spend £150 (€173) minimum. I’m also gone past the days of being out until 3 or 4 in the morning and have been since Covid began. Looking back on the many Saturday nights I spent as a younger man spending far more money than I could afford only to wake up with a pounding headache frighten me. I don’t miss those days that’s for sure.
Total spend: £34 (€40)
09.30 am: We have breakfast at home and then head down to the train station. We are going to London for the day.
10.00 am: On the train. Trains are cheaper on the weekend costing £10 (€11.60) return each.
12.00 pm: We spend the afternoon in one of the many Christmas markets. I must say that they do markets very well over here. In our town, we have three a week with up to 100 stalls on the main square which they pedestrianise for a few hours. I spend £8 (€9.20) on a chocolate and cream-covered Belgian Waffle which was quite disappointing.
3.00 pm: We head to a pub for some dinner. I go for the beef roast and the total comes to £55 (€64). We decide to split the bill and with a tip, I spend £30 (€35).
5.30 pm: We head for the train and arrive back home by 7 pm.
7.30 pm: It’s been a long week and I’m looking forward to my bed. We watch some more Netflix and I’m asleep by 10 pm.
Total spend: £48 (€55)
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