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 architect on €67K. This week, a business owner is earning €36K in Dublin.
I worked my whole life in corporate jobs and absolutely loved it. The last few years I have been with big tech companies that we all have on our phones. I got to the top of my line of work and thought, ‘What next?’. I didn’t particularly want to manage teams with silly politics. The work I had was rinse and repeat, albeit at a less significant level due to company priorities, so I thought the time was finally right to change my side hustle into a full-time role. I’ve been a full-time entrepreneur for the past two months and it’s an absolute joy. Sales are growing and work-life balance is perfect. I’m planning to take three months off in the winter (when work is super quiet) to go travelling to different continents.
I bought my apartment five years ago through a council scheme when I had a low base and high commission. I got a 30-year fixed mortgage – the best thing I ever did on investment. Friends and family all live on the southside of Dublin but I made the move to the northside. Great area, lots of parks, shops and transport links. Property increased by 20% in my estimation due to area improvement and market uplift. Have to be flexible on locations with the current crisis in my opinion.
I had a big deposit saved from commissions and starting work at 21 so used this to get my first property. At the time the prices felt elevated but it’s only grown. I expect prices to stagnate but not fall as our population is growing so fast and there’s a dearth of supply. In my last role, they had big cash commissions so I paid off a large lump sum in March so don’t have much left on the mortgage now. I restructured it to keep the term but decrease the mortgage amount, same level of interest being paid.
I have two housemates, one is a Ukrainian refugee, such a lovely guy and brings in €800 tax-free. He started in service jobs, but after encouragement, is now doing an IT conversion course for data analytics. Working his way up is an inspiration and his stories are a daily lesson in humility and gratitude for our lives in Ireland. I rent out the other room through a rent a room with €14,000 a year tax-free. This works if you own and live in the house. I also rent out my parking space for €55 a month as none of us have cars.
For anyone looking to buy, especially in their 20s, forget the forever home. Buy a three-bed apartment and rent out the two other rooms. The income it brings in covers the mortgage and personally, all my living costs and bills. The money I take out of my business, I put into savings and use it for paying off the next lump sum of the mortgage.
I’m big into tennis. I now work solo so love the social aspect, always easier when your friends play. It’s such an adrenaline rush when you hit a winner down the line. The tennis club is a 15-minute cycle from my house near nature, so it’s just lovely.
A big saving on electricity is to get rid of all the phantom uses, e.g. TV red lights, chargers left in but not being used. Also made a plan with the housemates that we heat the water once very early in the morning e.g. 5 am and then not touch it again for the day.
Another tip, use EBS current bank account for your salary and then Revolut for your day-to-day banking, no fees for both and get all the services you need.
Occupation: Business owner
Age: 32
Location: Dublin
Salary: €36,260 – €12,000 from the business, €24,260 from room rentals and parking spot
Monthly pay (net): €1,000
Transport: €30 on the Leap card. Cycle everywhere else.
Mortgage: €206
Household bills: €100 electricity average, Wifi – €50, TV license – €13, local property tax – €29, management service fee for area – €184.
Phone bill: €10 (GoMo)
Health insurance: €0
Groceries: €200
Subscriptions: Irish Times – €16, political party membership – €7, on a family account for Netflix and Spotify.
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6.15 am: Woken up by my girlfriend to get a kiss goodbye as she flies out the door. I settle back to sleep to catch up after a busy weekend.
9.30 am: Wake up in her empty house. Go downstairs, drink some water, have an apple, brush my teeth after and then leave the house to catch the bus back to my house. €2 off my Leap card.
10.45 am: Settle down to start some work. Get through admin tasks on my couch with The 2 Johnnies podcast. It’s easy listening when wading through sales and tasks. We’re hiring employees at the moment for new cities so go through the applications. Some good ones in there so schedule them for later in the week. Also, get through customer queries that piled up over the weekend. Mostly copying and pasting stock FAQ from our website.
12.00 pm: Start work on creating content. Love some reels and enjoy learning more skills on this topic. Small business Instagram tips pages are especially helpful. Many, many takes happen! But sure that’s all part of the fun. Still, cringe watching them back but definitely getting better.
1.00 pm: Lunch. Fry some eggs that I bought last week and put on top of toast. The dream when cooked right. Love having a hot lunch when working from home. I stick on tennis highlight YouTube videos from Tennis TV while eating. Hoping for an Alcaraz vs Djokovic final for Wimbledon. Their last game was cut short by Alcaraz’s injury from the nerves of playing Djokovic. Have some bananas and finish off a crisp packet (bought in weekly shop last week) while skimming the news.
2.00 pm: Quick walk around the block with another podcast of Money Talks. The heavy-hitting podcasts work well during the nature break. City death spirals are not easy listening topics!
2.30 pm: Come into things going wrong with a client, jump on the phone after text from the employee and quickly resolved. It’s amazing the power of the words “You’re speaking to the manager…”. But genuinely, it’s such a nice business to help people with the business, they come ready to have a good time with our business. I was at my friend’s choir recital at the weekend and loved some of the songs, stick it on for background for next tasks.
4.00 pm: Head up from sales planning to have a call about social media scheduling and calendar with one of the employees. It’s always nice to chat to someone else who is interested in what you’re doing! Working solo, collaboration is rare and breaks up the day nicely.
4.30 pm: Done for the day – the benefit of being your own boss! Grab my book and hit the balcony with some tea. Wanted to cut down on my expenses so I started going to the library. Currently reading Setting the Table by Danny Meyer. It’s an easy read, learning about hospitality and the origin story of some famous great restaurants.
5.45 pm: Chat with my housemates and find out about their day. Figure out hotel options for an upcoming wedding and then pull out my cookbooks to try out a new recipe. Settle on a mushroom pasta from Jamie Oliver. List with me, I head off to the Aldi 100 metres away with a podcast powering my way through.
6.30 pm: Make dinner and sit in front of Netflix with Break Point for a while, really liking the Wimbledon episodes on Kyrgios. Fascinating character. Have an avocado smoothie for dessert. I love chocolate and sugar too much so I try only to have natural sugars on weekdays. Dinner ingredients, lunch bits and snack came to €28.76.
10.00 pm: Retire to bed and back to the book, finding out which restaurant he’s opening next!
Today’s total: €30.76
8.00 am: Wake up with a bit more energy than the previous day. Breakfast of porridge, yoghurt and apple. I make my lunch of sandwiches for the day. As usual, podcast on. I decided 2023 would be my year of self-care so taking the time in the morning to get this right.
9.00 am: Cycle into a free shared office space for startups. We have a new intern starting remotely today so jump on a call with her at 10 am to introduce her to the wonderful world of Sales CRM which is the project she’ll be working on.
10.30 am: Get onto admin and email tasks, following up on correspondence.
11. 30am: Meant to go to a client meeting but was rescheduled. Check in instead on the intern through WhatsApp, few guides and tips given. I then work on outreach to new sales prospects, check through new applicants for our open jobs also. Post scheduled content and send sales emails directly to customers.
12.30 pm: Lunch. Open up my favourite news website while munching on the sandwiches. Lots happening with Tubridy, hard to see how he’s going to survive, I’m sure he’ll get a good number with the BBC. Quick walk and back to the desk at 1.45pm.
2.00 pm: Prepare for an upcoming interview with notes and questions.
3.00 pm: Interview was great, candidate was strong. I get a buzz from things like that, feel excited about getting them going. I have another interview for this role on Thursday so tell them I’ll come back on Friday. Go back to our client and they’re excited also when I share details of the person I interviewed. Happy days.
4.30 pm: After tidying up work around logistics and checking in again on the intern, I jump on the bike and head home, get there for 5 pm.
6.00 pm: Wake up from a nap and have the pasta I cooked the night before. Stick on tennis highlights again followed by Netflix.
7.30 pm: Head off for tennis game for 8 pm on my trusty bike. 20 mins cycle beside a beautiful canal with no cars, the dream. Love the amount of green I see on this cycle and the serenity.
8.00 pm: Start the tennis match, it’s a league game so we’re both playing to win. End of match, I had a disputed match point winner. We replayed it and I ended up losing. They need to invest in some hawk eye in my club!
9.45 pm: Back home, shaken off the game and out of the shower. Settle down with Netflix interspersed with texting friends and girlfriend. Need to go down to Cork for a day for work and seeing if any friends want to go for the fun, to see our other friend there.
11.00 pm: 10 minutes of the book before lights off.
Today’s total: €0.00
8.30 am: Feeling a bit sluggish today so wake up at 8.30 am. Get up for porridge and yoghurt, no fruit left. Sling myself on the couch for admin, answering questions about gift cards and booking in sales that came in through email.
10.00 am: Do a video call with the intern. She’s coming out of her shell more. I want her to work on a blog post as well as the data entry so we go through the requirements and research she’ll need to do in her location.
10.30 am: Chasing unpaid invoices by clients – the least favourite part of my job! That and filling out forms for supplier lists. One of our job offers was rejected. It annoys me a bit but Ireland is at full employment, these things happen. They write a lovely decline email so we agree to stay in touch if they’re open to future work on the side. Go back through job applications and arrange more interviews. It’s raining outside so I check the weather, luckily will clear up, message all the employees to say it’s going ahead and the client that we’re still good to go. Everyone loves clarity and early communication!
12.00 pm: Grab my tennis bag and bike. The rain has gotten better so my lunchtime game is still going ahead, just a friendly this time. Love this time to get out, one of the reasons I wanted to run my own business is to take advantage of things like this, better work-life balance and enjoy more of the good summer weather.
2.30 pm: Back from tennis as we stayed for a chat after. They have a big league game coming up so we talked tactics. Put on some more eggs and toast for lunch while I check all my mails/messages. Setting up one of our new employees on their payroll so stick on some country music playlists to make it more interesting. Had a great idea on market research questions this morning so I put the word out that I wanted to interview someone about it. Luckily someone I knew in college is in exactly the right role for this and responds.
4.30 pm: Done for the day. Take out the book and sit on the balcony. Never underestimate a south-facing balcony! Head out to the shop after a while to pick up some lunch bits and snacks (€5.88). On the way back, I picked up some apartment fobs from the management office. My housemate lost his and I picked up a spare to help future situations like this. He Revoluts me €20 so my cost is €20 for the spare.
6.00 pm: Make an avocado smoothie and get my tennis bag repacked. I rarely play twice in a day but this time it makes sense as the evening is more social at a lower level. Grab my bike and on the court for 7 pm.
8.00 pm: Some good shots. Catch up as I haven’t seen this friend in a few weeks. We each grab a drink in the club bar. €5.57 for alcohol-free Erdinger.
9.30 pm: Home and put on Netflix to chill out. Last of the pasta dinner to see off any lingering hunger. My old college friend has a donation request on Instagram for a swimming challenge across a channel. I donate €10 and €1 cost to the donation platform.
Today’s total: €42.45
8.00 am: Alarm goes off – up and at them. Sandwiches made for the day and head for the bus into town, podcast on as always. Today’s treat is Revisionist History. I just love his takedown of American College tuition nonsense, he’s so right. €2 on the Leap card.
10.00 am: Client meeting in their office goes quite well. They ask for prices at the end, which is always a good sign. I sit in their reception and work out the maths to send across for their specific purposes. With a spring in my step, I get a bus to the free shared office space. Check in with the intern, getting closer and closer to full-on chats every day now on our daily video call. She’s clear on what she has to do, even says she’s enjoying it! Great to hear. I give her some tourism advice for weekends where she is. She’s also shadowing this afternoon’s interview so give her prep work and what to look for, we’ll chat after about the feedback. Next up is negotiating a new contract about content with a provider. Always get everything in writing and sign it before any work begins. The key to harmonious working together. I like it when someone called it a “disagreement contract”, as in you only refer to it when there’s a disagreement. If everyone knows the rules going in, can’t quibble.
12.30 pm: Take out my packed lunch. Tuna sandwiches with fruit. Scroll through football transfer updates and news sites. I have another client meeting at 2 pm so get my notes ready for that.
2.30 pm: Out of the meeting. Different setup to the previous client and could be our biggest sale yet. Everyone is feeling very positive about the collaboration. Now we play the waiting game as it goes upstairs for them to decide.
4.00 pm: Take a nice long walk back to the remote work hub, enjoying the fresh air and getting time to think about business strategy. Sometimes I find just doing nothing gives the brain time to breathe and finally get through the important bits. Feeling refreshed, I prepare again for another interview with an employee. This one has a strong profile match so I’m hoping they’re good. Check in on the intern, progressing on the day’s tasks.
5.15 pm: Wrap up work and settle down to read my book in the shared office space on their couch. I’m meeting the lads in Bunsen Burger for catch ups at 7 pm, pre-pints.
10.30 pm: Bunsen Burger and rounds of Guinnesses ensue, shite talk and catch ups, the best of times. It’s amazing how many of our college friends now have babies, houses and weddings as their main news. We’ve come a long way. Bunsen with a beer costs €21.10 and the round of drinks is €19.20. My girlfriend kindly picks me up. She’s had a bad day at work so I do my best while drunk to comfort, not easy!
Today’s total: €42.30
8.00 am: Wake up at my girlfriend’s house, she gives me a kiss as she runs out the door for work. I snoozed till 9 am.
9.10 am: I flick on Instagram and see one of my favourite artists Cian Ducrot is playing a surprise gig at HMV at 1 pm in the city centre. I text my other freelance friend – he’s in! This is the beauty of being your own boss, taking advantage of these opportunities and embracing spontaneity. Trying to live my best life. I only had to change one meeting in my schedule also, perfect.
10.00 am: I settle down to work with Cian Ducrot playing on my Spotify playlist. Get organised on payroll due to month end, updating contract for content creation, going through job applications and I decide to offer one of the interviewees to see if they accept. Intern is set up for the day at 10am, chats about weekend plans and how her blog post is doing.
11.30 am: Head off for the bus to go into town to meet my friend. €2 on the Leap card.
12.15 pm: Meet my friend at Subway right beside the HMV store. We grab a bite and catch up. We’re going travelling together later in the year so talk through a few plans. Subway is €5.60. Really brought back teenage memories with the product names and smell of the place. Eat Fresh!
12.45 pm: We arrive early for the gig, wanting to get a good spot. We are by far the oldest fans there, mostly teenagers and their parents. Not many people gathered which is surprising. Cian Ducrot is due to go onstage at 1pm but turns out at 1.30 pm, plenty of chats in between. He does a stormer of a set, three songs only though before his next gig. Get a good video of the performance but only realise after that I was singing along badly to the songs – that’s not going anywhere online! There were people buying bits in the shop while he was playing and only 60 people watching him, the dream. Feel so privileged to get that opportunity.
4.00 pm: Jump back on the bus home (€2 again on the Leap card). I have three interviews back to back. One is excellent, one unfortunately doesn’t have the communication skills required and the last one I’m unsure about, will have a think. The one offered that morning accepts – great news! My brother calls and we have a catch up about life and then I tidy up my work.
6.00 pm: Log off work, open up my mail and my tax refund comes through. Four figures coming back at me! Would recommend everyone to check this. Apparently, a lot of people are owed money by Revenue. TGIF! Nothing big planned for the evening, was thinking a sea swim but after the midday surprise gig, I’m going to take it easy. Text my Mum a few updates about life.
7.00 pm: Run round to the shop as I feel like chicken burgers for dinner. Bunsen gave me the taste. While there I realise I owe some money for being put on my girlfriend’s insurance. I send her €26.12. I also receive money for renting out my parking spot – €55. I get a few treats also, shop run is €5.16.
9.00 pm: I settle down to begin my new Netflix addiction of Dark. It’s German language, a mix of Stranger Things and Lost. Three episodes fly by and I go to bed thinking of how the storyline fits together. It’s well worth a watch.
Today’s total: €36.88
8.00 am: Wake up and have nothing to rush off to, love that feeling. I’m due to go to the library to bring back my books, which will be overdue by Monday. I get a cup of green tea and sit back into bed to finish Setting The Table by Danny Meyer. My favourite quote is: “the road to success is paved with mistakes well handled”. Something to pin up on the wall.
10.30 am: I get up and do some life admin, sorting out washing, hoovering, all the fun bits. Head off to the library with a podcast and pick up four new books and drop off the ones I’ve read. On the way home, I do the big shop for the week. Veggie curry will be the main meal made so get the ingredients. (€30.25)
1.30 pm: Have lunch of beans on toast and settle down for more self employed work. The benefit of being your own boss is that you work at your own pace. Honestly, I never see it as work, just something interesting to do. I do project scheduling, send out more offers for interviewees and content creation. I had a good meme idea on the way to the library so stick that in the scheduler. More country music mixed with Cian Ducrot in the background.
3.30 pm: Time flies by, don’t see the clock. I grab my tennis bag and head off for the courts. In my league, I’m playing the top seed. He’s unbeaten so I’m expecting a tough match.
5.45 pm: I won! Can’t believe it, epic game. We were due to start at 4 pm and play for an hour but it was so good, we ended up playing for an hour and 45 minutes. The courts were empty. A great mental and physical endurance test. My opponent is a lovely guy, we have such banter and slagging while playing, turns out we have a few things in common. I took up tennis a year ago and this is the best I’ve ever played, equivalent in our tennis league of Monaghan beating Kerry. I’ll have to wait for the Monday rankings to be released to see if I can go top of the 10-person league now, it’s so exciting. We had one game at deuce for 15 minutes, just back and forward. I was reading about how to recover from bad serves, apparently relaxing the body by thinking of a nice childhood memory after the missed serve works. I tried it during this match, it really helped reset when things were going wrong.
6.30 pm: Out of the shower, I was meant to cook the curry but too tired after the long tennis match so put on leftover chicken burger. I try to stick on GAA quarter finals on RTÉ but find out they’re only on GAA GO. Ridiculous farce when I’m paying a license fee while witnessing the latest RTÉ payment scandals. We move on.
7.30 pm: I had a great thought on the cycle home also of going to a comedy gig for a date night out. For anyone wanting to impress a date, this always worked out well. Craic Den has the dates that suit us. €24 for two tickets. In this country, we are so good at storytelling which means we have some of the best stand up comedy in the world. We leave the visual culture to the Italians and Brazilians! Anyway, so lucky to have this available, always want to take advantage of it in Dublin.
8.00 pm: Settle down for three more episodes of Dark while using the foam roller. Needed after all the tennis sprints!
11.00 pm: No answers, only more questions from this TV show. What the hell is going on? I google some explainers after the episodes and am glad I made some connections, but there was a few illuminating bits I missed. I’m well steeled for the next few episodes now.
Today’s total: €54.25
8.00 am: Another slow wake up. Have breakfast on the balcony. The usual of porridge, yoghurt and fruit with tea. Scroll through the phone and news headlines.
10.15 am: Head off to mass. I find it so relaxing. If you look at the similarities between meditation and prayer, it’s the same. Nice to have a weekly gratitude and helping others reminder. On the way home, I grab a newspaper and bacon – €6.05 in the shop.
Go home and start reading the paper, stick on the bacon and just feel so chill and living my best life while munching bacon sambos.
1.00 pm: Girlfriend texts me that she’s on the way to Dublin now and will be there for 2.30 pm. She was home for the weekend. I get my bits organised, sea swim togs for planned swim, few bits in Aldi and flowers. I saw a great Instagram video about flowers for partners so it is a good reminder again. (€6.28)
2.00 pm: I get the bus to her house. €2 euro on the Leap Card. When I arrive, everyone is wrecked so we settle down for GAA quarter finals. In between games, I make a shop run for dinner ingredients and treats. (€21.57)
6.00 pm: Another day, another Mayo loss. What’s new? Smashed broccoli and mozzarella for starters before prawn wraps, really nice.
7.30 pm: Put on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Good movie, fast paced, suits the TikTok generation.
10.00 pm: Head to bed and get ready for Monday.
Today’s total: €33.90
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What I learned –
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