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 a supply-chain manager in Leinster. This week, a 32-year-old architect living and looking for a home in Dublin.
I’m 32 years old, living in Dublin and sharing a house with two other people. I’m currently saving for a house and am actively looking to buy. I’m fortunate that my salary is high enough to be able to pay rent while putting money aside for a house deposit. I haven’t always been great with money but I’ve made a serious effort over the last few years as buying a house became my number one priority. I’ve moved seven times in the last six years, so it’s safe to say I’ve had enough of renting!
Three years ago, I was nearly €10K in debt due to a student and car loan. Today, I’m debt-free and have saved up a deposit for a property in Dublin. I have made some sacrifices over the last few years and I also moved jobs which increased my salary and has allowed me to rent and save money. Some months it’s easier than others to stick to my budget, but I am finding it easier to cut back now that I’m actively viewing properties. It really focuses the mind. I’m trying to find a balance between cutting back and still living a decent life. Given the housing crisis, there isn’t an abundance of properties on the market so I have no clear idea of how long this process will take and I don’t want to live like a complete hermit.
I’ve been keeping a monthly budget on my phone for years now and it really helps me keep an eye on things. At the start of each month when I get paid, I transfer a set amount of money into my house savings account and as well as another chunk of change into my Revolut which I divide into various vaults for upcoming expenses – holiday fund, car tax, wedding guest fund, etc.
Occupation: Architect
Age: 32
Location: Dublin
Salary: €67,000 plus 12.5% annual bonus
Monthly pay (net): €3,901
Rent: €700
House savings: €1,000
Holiday savings: €370
Gym: €192 (including credits for gym in town)
Phone: €45
Health insurance: €98
Car insurance: €48
Motor tax fund: €25
Wedding guest fund: €75
Subscriptions: Netflix, Spotify, Apple and Microsoft – €24
House bills: €90 (varies month-to-month but I put this amount aside in case of a large
energy bill)
Groceries: €300
Transport: €75 (petrol, tolls & leap card)
Pension: €167 (contribution matched by employer)
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10.00 am: A later start than usual in my parents’ house thanks to the bank holiday weekend. I grab a cup of tea and some toast and head back to bed for an hour to watch some Vanderpump Rules before starting my day. I only started watching on Sunday night and I fear I am entirely sucked in.
11.00 am: My second attempt at getting out of bed goes a little bit better and I begin to get ready for the day.
11.45 am: I’m a little early to meet some friends so I have a look around the shops. Always a dangerous activity – I spot some Aeropress filters that I’m running low on and have been meaning to replace. (€7.50)
12.00 pm: I meet my friends for brunch at a lovely local cafe and have a great catch up. I pay (€93) and my friends Revolut me, so my portion comes to €21.
2.00 pm: I walk back up to my parent’s house for a little bit and hang out there before heading home.
5.00 pm: Once I’m home, I grab a few bags (somehow, always forget to keep them in the car) and go down to Tesco to do a grocery shop. I thought it would be a smaller one as I’m not home many nights this week, but somehow it just keeps getting more expensive. (€42.69).
6.30 pm: I make a stir-fried noodle and cabbage salad bowl with steak while catching up with a friend on the phone. I also prep a giant fruit salad to do me for the week.
8.30 pm: I have a shower and tidy my room up before the start of the next week.
9.30 pm: I spend the rest of the evening watching Vanderpump Rules and researching an upcoming holiday in June. I book a nerdy architecture tour while I’m there. (€29.99)
11.00 pm: Lights out.
Today’s total: €101.18
8.00 am: I get up, hang out some clothes and go for a walk. I’m usually in the office on a Tuesday but given the short week, I work from home today.
9.00 am: I check my emails and eat a bowl of bran flakes at my desk. I contemplate switching the heat on but I hold out – for now.
11.15 am: Time for a coffee break and I marinate a steak for dinner tonight. I cave and flick the heating on for half an hour because it is baltic. Back to the desk and I check in on a work colleague to see how she’s getting on and to make sure we’re on track for hitting our deadlines this week.
1.00 pm: Break for lunch. It’s been a quiet morning, free of meetings so I’ve been able to knuckle down and get stuck into some work which largely consists of marking up structural drawings and pointing out mistakes for the 17th time – deep breaths. I check up on the houses (or lack of them in this housing market) on Daft.ie for sale and order the catering for my friend’s hen party – this has probably been one of the most stressful experiences of my life and I would say I work in a fairly high-pressure environment! Lunch is some scrambled eggs and leftover sourdough bread from the weekend.
2.00 pm: Back to the desk for the afternoon. I take a brief break to send recent payslips across to my mortgage broker who is sussing out an exception from the bank for me.
4.30 pm: I break for a cup of tea after having a rant at the engineer. Back to the desk and issue some drawings for construction, not that this project will be built any time soon.
6.15 pm: Finish up for the day and I head to the gym for a class. Squat day! Unfortunately, my knee was not happy today so had to substitute for some glute bridges. My gym membership is expensive but the quality of programming and coaches is worth it to me. I’ve been paying a similar figure for a number of years now so it’s just built into my monthly budget at this point.
7.45 pm: Get home, catch up with my other housemate and have the same dinner as last night. I make my lunch for the next two days and attempt a quick tidy up of the kitchen.
9.30 pm: Shower and pack bags for the next couple of days as I’ll be heading into the office and then staying out at my parents’ house.
11.00 pm: Lights out.
Today’s total: €0.00
7.15 am: My alarm goes off and I wrench myself from my very warm bed. Bran flakes again for breakfast and make a cup of tea to go.
8.00 am: I leave the house to make my way into the office. It’s an earlier start today as I need to leave work a little earlier to view a house. I don’t understand how people manage a 9-5 job while viewing houses. I use my Leap card which I load up after payday at the start of the month. Hmmm, €6.40 left… I’m running close to the end and will need to top up before the next payday.
8.30 am: Arrive into the office and get stuck in. I have another quiet enough morning planned so get some minutes from a meeting finished off, check in with some colleagues and hold a coordination meeting with some other consultants. This project is the most complex and largest one I’ve worked on to date and has a whole host of other separate consultants. The client isn’t on the call so it’s a bit more relaxed and we progress some items.
1.00 pm: I head to a gym class at lunchtime with some colleagues. I prepay for a batch of credits with work supplementing the price of these. It works out around €4 a class for me which is excellent value.
2.15 pm: Back at the desk with a pasta salad while I question my life choices after that brutal class.
5.00 pm: That afternoon has flown by and it’s time to leave a bit earlier than usual to make it to this viewing. This is the second time I’m viewing this property. While I’m looking forward to seeing it again, I’m quite nervous as there are now two separate bidders already and I haven’t heard back from my mortgage broker on the exception. While on my way out to the viewing, I request an updated salary cert from work in case I need it for this property. The mortgage broker has been great so far, advising on what to expect next. The whole process has been quite daunting on my own.
6.00 pm: After viewing the property, I’m on my way to my parents’ house for the evening to mull over my thoughts. I really like it and am considering submitting a bid. Nervous times ahead while I wait to hear back from the mortgage broker.
6.45 pm: After many delayed and cancelled DARTs, I arrive at my parents’ house. My dad has prepared some stir-fried cabbage and there is leftover brisket from a BBQ. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten steak and cabbage three days in a row in my life but it’s quite tasty so I’m happy out.
8.15 pm: After finishing dinner and cleaning up, I settle in to watch an episode of Succession on my friend’s NowTV account. It’s been tough dodging spoilers this far. I think I saw a pretty mind-blowing headline but it probably serves me right for reading the Daily Mail.
9.15 pm: What an episode! I’ll say no more. I check the online bidding portal for the property I viewed earlier and I see a third bidder has now entered the mix. Superb news. I check the Airbnb details for my friend’s upcoming hen party and notice the second half payment is due – €654 comes out of my account. Thankfully almost everyone has transferred me the money so I’m not out of pocket. My portion comes to €65.40 which I had set aside at the beginning of the month.
10.45 pm: I spend the rest of my evening watching TV with my dad and then head to bed.
Today’s total: €65.40
7.15 am: Alarm goes off.
7.20 am: Second alarm goes off and I drag myself out of bed and start to get ready for the day.
8.00 am: My dad insists on getting out of bed and dropping me to the DART station despite it being an eight-minute walk away. I have breakfast on the go this morning – a blueberry breakfast bar that I had stashed in the freezer and a cup of tea. A month or so ago, I would have treated myself to a fancy pastry for breakfast but I’m making an effort to cut back on treats at the minute. There’s no motivation like the thought of someone examining your bank statements to focus the mind!
8.40 am: Arrive at work, catch up with a colleague and grab a coffee. I definitely miss the chats when I work from home.
11.00 am: I get another cup of tea and manage to restrain myself from taking a doughnut at the coffee station. Fruit salad for me instead. It was supposed to be a quiet morning for me but I got roped into helping a colleague on a different project so I’ve lost a good hour to that. I check up on the online bidding portal and notice that a fourth bidder has now joined the gang and this one feels like it’s going to slip away from me. Still no word back from the mortgage broker.
1.00 pm: That morning has flown by thankfully, and I head out for a walk with a colleague to get some air.
1.30 pm: Back to the desk with the same pasta salad as yesterday.
5.15 pm: Bit of a scramble to leave as we discovered an error on our project so have asked the engineer to look into it and come back with an answer tomorrow.
There is a company-sponsored social event this evening. We each contribute €10 towards the wine fund and to say our table got our money’s worth.
8.00 pm: We finish up dinner and head to a nearby pub for a few drinks – I’m feeling pretty tipsy after all that wine so I take it easy. (€10.60)
10.30 pm: I bail before it gets too messy and head home on the Luas. I grab a packet of crisps on my way home. (€1.80)
11.15 pm: Arrive home and into bed.
Today’s total: €22.40
8.00 am: The alarm goes off. I’m working from home today so it’s a later start. I nip across the road for a loaf of bread so I can have toast for breakfast (€2.40). I check through my emails while I eat my breakfast. My housemate comes down for a coffee and we end up chatting for a bit. She is being made redundant by a large international firm and it is a pretty grim conversation.
9.00 am: I get to my desk a bit later than planned but there was no good way to exit that conversation.
10.00 am: My team lead calls me for a catch up and we run through some issues.
11.30 am: I stop for a coffee and some nuts and then hop on a call with a colleague about an issue but discover that we can’t resolve it without input from another consultant.
12.15 pm: I get an update from the broker to say he hasn’t heard back from the bank yet. I have a mini meltdown as I feel like I can’t even enter the bidding war without the go ahead from the bank but I’m also not even 100% sure if I want to enter a bid at the current price. I send my friend a rambling voice note stressing out. I do find it quite hard going through this process alone but thankfully my friends and family are very supportive and my mortgage broker has been very helpful with the technical side of it.
1.25 pm: I stop for a lunch break and walk down to the library to drop a book back. It’s a lovely day out so the walk is quite pleasant and I listen to a podcast. I don’t use the library very often but must make more of an effort to.
2.05 pm: Back at the desk with a sandwich for the afternoon.
4.30 pm: It’s an early finish on a Friday which I take advantage of. I don’t always get to finish at this time due to deadlines, meetings, etc but when I can, I do. I head to the gym for a class and to sweat out the rest of the wine from last night.
5.40 pm: Back home and I quickly check my email and there has been a flurry of activity… typical! I make a note of a few things to check through on Monday morning and shut down my computer properly.
6.45 pm: After a quick shower and outfit change, I leave the house to head into town for dinner. I grab an apple on the way out the door to tide me over until dinner as I’m pretty hungry after the gym. I tag onto the Luas with my Leap card and decide to bite the bullet and top up by €10. I stop off in Zara to collect a pair of trousers I ordered a couple of weeks ago and manage to escape without getting distracted by more shiny, pretty things in the shop.
11.30 pm: I head for the Luas home after a lovely evening with some friends. Dinner and drinks cost €60 each. Unfortunately, more layoffs with a different group of friends. It’s hard to not be mildly concerned at this point while I’m considering making a very large financial transaction.
Today’s total: €72.40
9.30 am: I wake up, get a cup of tea and go back to bed and watch a little bit of the new season of Love is Blind.
10.30 am: I get up, eat a bowl of bran flakes and head down to the gym for a class.
12.00 pm: I finish up feeling pretty smug with myself for a Saturday morning. I stop off in the shop on the way home and top up on a few groceries. I also pick up a bag of compost and some flowers to plant in a flower box I bought last summer. (€16.11)
1.00 pm: I make a bacon sandwich and listen to a podcast while I do a spot of cleaning around the kitchen AKA unblock the kitchen sink for the 75th time.
3.00 pm: I head out to do a bit of shopping. I pick up a present for my nephew (€10), some various bits for my friend’s hen party (€33), two new tops and a pair of tights (€48) and pick up a few bits for dinner as I have a friend calling around (€13.40).
5.30 pm: I get home and I’m absolutely shattered. I think the week is catching up on me. Is this life in your 30s? I start prepping dinner – burger, homemade chips and some green beans.
7.00 pm: My friend calls over for a bite to eat and we catch up over a bottle of wine.
11.30 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €120.51
10.30 am: Wake up, get a cup of tea and some toast. I’m absolutely shattered and head back to bed and chill for another hour or two.
1.00 pm: There’s not much left in the fridge so I head to the shop and get a chicken fillet wrap for lunch. It’s a pretty poor effort and the price reflects it: €2.50. After that miserable wrap, I drive down to Tesco to do a grocery shop for the week. I’m quite impressed with myself and manage to keep it under €30 for the first time in a really long time. (€28.35)
2.00 pm: I come home, plant those flowers and catch up with my housemate out in the sunshine.
5.00 pm: I book into a yoga class (€22). The individual passes are expensive but I only go once or twice a month.
6.30 pm: I make some dinner – Thai red curry with chicken, which should do me for a few days.
8.30 pm: I tidy up, put a wash on and shower before I watch a little bit of TV before bed.
Today’s total: €52.85
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What I learned –
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