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WELCOME TO HOW I Spend My Money, a new series on TheJournal.ie that looks at what people in Ireland really do with their cash.
We’re asking readers to keep a record of how much they earn, how much they save, if anything, and what they spend their money on over the course of one week. Want to take part? Details on how to do it are at the bottom of the piece.
To kick off the series, we’re publishing diaries by people saving for a mortgage – a tall order for anyone these days due to the acute shortage of housing.
First up, a woman working as a customer advisor in a bank walks us through her week.
Occupation: Customer advisor in a bank
Age: 29
Location: Wicklow (living with parents and commute to Dublin)
Salary: €30,000
Monthly pay (net): €1,998
Monthly expenses
Rent: €0
Household bills: €160
Transport: €160 on petrol. We drive to the Luas and have found some cheeky free parking. I have a bus and Luas tax saver ticket that runs at about €95 a month.
Phone bill: €25
Health insurance: €0
Groceries: €200 (approximately)
Subscriptions: Netflix (€10.99), Apple Music (€9.99)
We’re currently trying to save for a deposit for a mortgage and luckily in a position that we can live with my parents. It’s rent free, but I think they’re trying to get rid of us faster. Collectively we’re saving around €1,600 a month, about €700 from myself and the rest is covered by my other half.
***
5:15 am – I do shift work and this week I am working 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, so we have the joy of a 5:15am alarm. Being totally honest, I would say my alarm actually goes off at about 5:00 am and I actually drag myself out of bed somewhere between 5:15 am and 6:00 am depending on how deep into the week we are. I have a six-year long shower to try to make myself human. Not much one for breakfast – coffee is my meal. We were given a coffee machine for Christmas, so I make coffee in the morning at home and leave the house at about 6:15 am.
6:30 am – That last bit was a lie, it’s almost always closer to half past when we make the 20-minute drive to the Luas stop in Saggart. We park there and get the Luas the rest of the way. Total journey is about 1 hour 15 mins.
1:00 pm – I usually try to make a big batch of food on a Sunday to bring in with me, but I was too much of a hungover gremlin yesterday to manage to go to the supermarket. So, I run around to the shop at lunch to get something. I grab some eggs and soda bread so I can make myself microwave scrambled eggs for the week. €4.67
4:30 pm – I’ve finished work, but because myself and himself work slightly different hours, I’m in the lurch for about an hour. Usually I spend the time finishing up work or reading my book.
5:30 pm – We hop on the Luas and by 7:00 pm we’re home. Quick stop in the supermarket on the way home to buy something for dinner and some milk. €10.67
7:30 pm – We take turns making and buying dinner between the four of us in the house. My other half is up tonight, so I’m off the hook. I finally admitted defeat last month and gave up my neglected gym membership on the premise that myself and my mum would start doing a couch to 5k together. We’re on week three here and our initial spurt of enthusiasm is gone, but off we go all the same.
8:30 pm – We have dinner and then lounge about the place till 10:30 pm and it’s off to bed.
Today’s total: €15.34
5:30 am – I’m already on a slow slide towards being late. I eat a yogurt in the car on the way in but other than that it’s business as usual.
1:00 pm – Have the makings of lunch from the day before. I like making easy lunches in work, it prevents my laziness from getting in the way the night before.
5:30 pm – Back on the Luas. I spend most of my commute either reading or listening to podcasts, but a good few return journeys turn into uncomfortable naps – this is one of those journeys.
7:00 pm – I’m on dinner duty tonight so we pop into the supermarket again on the way home. Had I been more organised, or less hellish, on Sunday I’d have saved myself a few trips and euro. I’m in a bit of a dinner rut lately so we’re having a fairly bog standard Jamie Oliver pasta yoke. I also get some more yogurt and coffee. €9.23
10:30 pm – Off to bed.
Today’s total: €9.23
5:30 am – More yogurt, more coffee, more My Favourite Murder on the Luas.
8:00 am – We have tea and coffee facilities in work, which is good or I’d be broke by Tuesday, and we also have fruit delivered on a Monday. So if I snack, it’s usually on that, which saves a good bit.
1:00 pm – If you came here for exciting lunch suggestions you came to the wrong place, I’m still on the scrambled eggs train.
4:30 pm – It’s my sister’s birthday next week and she’s away on holidays during it so I offered that we go get our nails done. It’d be rude to send her alone. €60
7:30 pm – Only just leaving town so we grab a pizza on the way home. €15
10:30 pm – Bed time.
Today’s total: €75
5:45 am – I’m up. This is where we start verging on being late.
1:00 pm – I have finally run out of eggs so I grab two pots of soup for my last two lunches of the week. €4.50
7:00 pm – We’re both off the hook for dinner tonight and one solitary rain drop fell from the sky so we’re not going for a jog either.
11:00 pm – Bed.
Today’s total: €4.50
5:30 am – We need the car this evening, so we’re driving in this morning. We get an extra few minutes in bed and it means I can put on my makeup in the car. It takes about an hour to drive depending on traffic, but we need to get in early to get the car parked in a free spot in work.
8:00 am – It’s Friday, so I get myself nice coffee. €3.20
1:00 pm – Soup, again.
5:00 pm – I finish up work and drive to the north side as we’re heading out for dinner tonight. We have family home, so we’re heading to the Washerwoman in Glasnevin. Dinner and wine works out about €25 each.
10:00 pm – Little pint in the Gravediggers on the way home. €4.00.
Today’s total: €32.20
7:00 am – I’m working this Saturday for my sins. I generally feel like I should take any overtime going. And Saturday overtime is good overtime, it’s only from 9:00 am till 1:00 pm. I treat myself to a coffee and a pastry on the way in cause I’m feeling a little worse for wear. €5.20
1:00 pm – I finish up and meet with himself so we can go for a little adventure. We head to the National Press Museum in Beggars Bush. The exhibit is free, but accepts donations. So we donated €5.00 each. After a wander around there, we head into the café for some lunch. €10 each.
5:00 pm – We head home and chill out for the rest of the evening.
Today’s total: €20.20
11:00 am – Bit of sleep recovery this morning.
12:00 pm – We get up and make a bit of breakfast – scrambled eggs, for a change – and tea. Then we head down to the supermarket and do a bigger shop for the week. €47.20
2:00 pm – We head off for a nice Sunday amble up a hill with more tea after and a good, honest-to-god ham sandwich.
3:00 pm – I make a giant pot of chilli chicken that should do for dinner for the lot of us and also lunch for at least Monday and Tuesday. Takes a little while to cook, but it’s delicious and it goes a long way.
7:00 pm – Dinner with a desert of homemade apple pie, courtesy of my mother.
10:30 pm – Sleep and start again tomorrow.
Today’s total: €47.20
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.
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Can we for one please have a realistic article about someone saving for a deposit who isn’t paying ZERO rent, or received an inheritance????? How about someone who actually pays their own way and tries to save a deposit after rent, bills, pension contributions etc.
@Mark: Literally read the first line and saw €0 household bills and stopped reading.
@Mark: I think they will have difficulty finding that person who was successful in buying a house in such circumstances.
It’s just not feasible under the current situation.
@Mark: Its the first article in a series pal, patience.
@Mark: Amen. Wish I could move back in with parents to live rent free to save up that deposit.
@Diarmuid Hunt: rent was €0. Household bills was €160. But I see your point, im just being pedantic :)
Bought a 3 bed semi last year in north wicklow aged 29. Daughter in full time child care costing €1000 a month and renting in bray for €1100 a month. Stopped smoking and drinking for 2 years that’s how it’s done!
@Mark: Bought a 3 bed semi last year in north wicklow aged 29. Daughter in full time child care costing €1000 a month and renting in bray for €1100 a month. Stopped smoking and drinking for 2 years that’s how it’s done!
@Mark: something that is really getting to me is that we are limited to borrowing 3&half times our salary plus 10 % deposit which would be around 240, 000 for myself and my partner but if we continue paying the rent we’re paying now for 30 more years we’ll have spent nearly 450,000. Where’s the 3&half times limit on my rent?!
@Cllr. Martin O Reilly. BA PME: That’s the smart thing to do, no shaming of 30 or 40 year olds living with their parents, that sort of crap went out the window with ridiculous rents.
@David McShite: I did. Back in June. Took 5 years but managed it.
@Mark: Fair point. Good luck finding anyone though. Having been a tenant for nearly 20 years, most of the time its been a struggle to make ends, meet, nevermind save.
@Shane Carroll: where’s your tax breaks and rent control? Employees and tennant’s have little or no rights in Ireland, it’s disgusting how people are being treated ..
@Diarmuid Hunt: me too.
The article started off well but then turned into a diary of non events that all of us do but instantly forget.
To be honest I stopped reading after breakfast on monday, however if somebody tells me there is some graphic between the sheets action when the parents were out I might revisit it.
@David McShite: Actually, let me rephrase that…… The article started off badly and……
@David McShite: as someone who is saving for a house, that’s a lot of unnecessary spending each week – take aways, meals, nails, gifts, every week! €10k lost every year having a social life – and pay your parents at least something nominal in rent and housekeeping. how do they feel keeping you, and song you eating and drinking it every week without any contribution to your own upkeep.
I stopped reading after rent €0!
How much did her night out cost (other than in loss of grocery shopping time). Does she go out often? What does she spend on make up? Other toiletries? What about car insurance, motor tax? I kind of maybe understand what the journal is trying to do with this series, but this “article” is just a diary entry of food costs. It’s very hard to have any sympathy for her situation when it seems that all she has to spend her money on is eggs and soup.
@Niamh Carroll: Mmmm, eggs and soup!
Can’t wait to hear about 26year old, single Jamie who works in Sales. €100 PaddyPower, €100 UFC Box office, €100 haircuts, €100 escortireland, €100 cocktails.
@Stevie Doran: are you my accountant?
Why are people it is the FIRST ARTICLE in a series, alot of people who live with their parents are saving for mortagage. You all need to just calm down, jesus wept.
I like how people moan about how uneventiful the article is but has to tell everyone “I stopped reading at such a point.
I am sure there will be articles that might relate to your own situation but this article does relate to people who find themselves living with their parents in their late 20s trying to save up.
@Lisa Byrne:
Hello author.
@Lisa Byrne: I’m sure your comment was great but I stopped reading after you used CAPITALS.
@Lisa Byrne: next article should suit most in here, it’s title is…..moany hole b##tard carrying the whole country on his shoulders and earning 18k.
@John: Sorry John, I’ll stop moaning about my low wages. I’m actually a happy person and it doesn’t get me down. :)
@Slim Shady: I started out with really low wages(cleaning pots in a kitchen)and thankfully I decided early on that moaning to my friends in the pub would get me nowhere( no journal then)and I went back to school and finished it, then went to night college and thankfully now I am in a decent job with decent wages.life is very short,I know people who are still waiting for things to happen and for someone to do it for them and we are in our late 40s.
Sorry, this is not aimed at you.its just a little rant.
She needs to go back and review her budget. She’s earning 2k net a month, spends 665 but only saves 700.Where is the rest going or did I miss something.
@Padraig: I’d imagine the figure of 700 is set because it needs to be something that she can sustain every month.
That’s one cheap week for living, probably would not reflect every week, like having to buy cloths, pay car insurance, car tax, new tyres, car service, hair color, facial creams, make up, etc, there is no way that girl gets away with so little each week, God love her when she gets the mortgage and has to pay it and bills and everything else that living costs, oh and maybe a baby,, she will be down to bread and water for all meals,
@Mick Hannigan: this is a weekly journal, not an annual. Also why assume she wears make up at all? Or dyes her hair? Or uses facial creams?
@Shannon Mcg: well she does mention putting her make up on in the car….
@Aileen Byrne: you don’t buy new makeup each week regardless. Doesn’t make sense.
Why is everybody up in arms because she lives at home? Your parents are probably mortgage free and hand the room to accommodate them so why not? They pay money towards the bill and food, have their own television subscription. When our child comes of age and needs help and we are in a position to give it I would do it in a heartbeat. They are working hard and saving and trying to set themselves up for a life together. I don’t see what the problem is
@niamh ryan: People don’t have a problem with it, it’s a very sensible option for many. It’s just that this series purports to be about how people save for a mortgage (presumably to help others looking to do so), and ‘move in with your folks, problem solved!’ isn’t a great start.
Minute I seen 0 rent. I stopped reading. Thanks for putting it at the top of the article, saved me the anger.
@purple rain: so someone else not having to pay rent makes you angry…..I’d get that looked at if I were you
@Kieran: No, we just think these sorts of articles are divorced from reality. Most people now have rent 800-1200 per month on 30000pa
This is what people expect to see.
A “6 year long shower” on a Monday?? If water charging had been brought in you’d be screwed saving for that mortgage.
@Delboy: to be fair there are days when you do want to have a long hot shower to wash away the day.
Shame she just didnt cut her lip when in playschool.
@Dermot Foley: 30k that’s some pay out
@Dermot Foley: spot on,
@Liam Collins: Check out the earlier stories.
@Dermot Foley: I did ,shocking that pay out after slight split lip.increase insurance cost and then increase in child care costs then
20 months you’ll be grand…
It’s the first article folks – chill. Not everyone lives at home, so I’m sure they’re building it up.
How the hell does someone live on a €200 monthly grocery bill
@James Fox: the bank of mammy and daddy , living rent free and cooking their dinners etc
@James Fox: Easy when Mammy provides breakfast, dinner and tea.
Title is a little misleading when her partner is contributing most of the savings yet we don’t know how much he’s earning.
A couple earning circa 60+k with zero rent or bills are in a good position.
What’s going to happen when she gets this mortgage and has to pay ? I mean is it realistic for her to put herself in such a position for 25 maybe 35 years ?
Is this girl nuts !! Just sign on have a few kids and get the rest for free .Happy Days
This article makes no sense! Ye need to find someone and be realistic! What about people who have rent and bills to pay and not share the cooking with Mammy and Daddy!
Her take home pay is wrong. On 30k a year monthly take home is €2,116. Hmmm
@Marty Murphy: you’re wrong. How the hell do you know what tax credits she has etc.
@John Murphy: A where to start? She is does not say she is married and if she is the credits are too low if not and too high if she is married. Wow try to help someone…. Also its pretty simply tax law on credits and cut off.
These articles are a decent idea but too much irrelevant info. We don’t need to hear about make up in the car etc. Kinda written in a way outlining how to save time etc. That’s not what the article is meant to be about
Sadly these people seem to accept that this is the way it is and at the next election they will vote for the very people who have them where they are. But sure anyone else bar the usual suspects would ruin the country now wouldn’t they?
Lets call him Joe. Joe started with a salary of ca 20000 and saved everything what was left at the end of the month. Joe had a car, health 8insurance, broadband and oaid rent of between 450 for a room sharing in a house w8th 5 other people. Joe changed places over the years but always kept sharing with others to keep costs low and increase savings. Joe did not go to fancy restaurants or cinema etc but d8d the odd holiday once a year. Long story short, joe saved his ass off and was able to save between 500 and 1000 eur every month over the course of around 14 years. Joe started looking for apartments and finally found one sold by the bank in a price range which didn’t require mortgage. So there you have it. Real world example.
@Soeren Kuehling: great, sounds like Joe had a really interesting and fulfilling 14 years there. When did Joe make friends or find a partner? Or did he knuckle down again to save for the next 28 years to afford a house? What a stupid suggestion. I’d rather be broke and happy. You only get 1 shot at this like
I gave up at Wednesday where she splashed out & got her nails done and bought a pizza , was kinda boring to be honest, nice of her family to allow them to live rent free whilst saving for a house.
have your say