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 30-year-old accountant on $88K living in the Cayman Islands. This week, a 37-year-old fibre surveyor living at home with parents.
Unfortunately, I’m one of thousands in this country still living at home with the parents. Not a boomerang, just haven’t left yet. Currently, my income is not enough to get a house of my own and I don’t want to waste my money on rent. Also, I do contribute to the mortgage at home as my mam had to restructure due to financial difficulties so now only half is being paid.
In the long term, I hope to be in a position if my wages increase to be able to help pay the full rate of the mortgage and ease the pressure on my mother because she deserves to be in a better financial position at her age, she’s worked so hard all her life.
I am however lucky that my job does have its benefits financially as it involves being away Monday to Friday so when I’m gone there isn’t as much electricity used in the house and it saves on things like groceries. Transport is also provided with a company van and fuel so I’m also lucky I don’t have a car. I use public transport to get me to the office on a Monday and Friday to get back home. I just feel it’s pointless having a car that I might only drive 5% of the time.
My accommodation is covered by work as well as breakfast, dinner and a lunch allowance.
Occupation: Fibre surveyor
Age: 37
Location: Tipperary
Salary: €28,000
Monthly pay (net): €2,027
Rent: €400
Household bills: Electricity – €200 a month top-up, groceries – €100 a month (my contribution) bins – €30 a month, Sky TV and broadband – €75 a month
Transport: €0 all paid for by the company, bus – €15.00 a week return
Hotel accommodation and meals for work: Paid for by the company. They also give us a €15 lunch allowance
Phone bill: €45
Health insurance: Paid for by the company.
Subscriptions: Apple music – €9.99, Spotify – free, Netflix – €11.99
Savings: €25 a month to Credit Union
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6.20 am: New week, up and at it. I head to get the bus to the office headquarters, usually takes about 45 minutes to get there. I don’t mind getting up this early even though I don’t need to be there until around 8.30am. I could sleep in and drive in at a later time, but as I said, the way things are I feel having a car would be too expensive and being away all week I’d only be using it at weekends at the most. I’m not going to put myself through the extra expense. (€15 return trip)
7.05 am: I arrive off the bus and walk to the office. I stop off on the way to get a coffee to wake myself up, there’s a filling station on my walk that has a seating area so on a Monday around that time, I have a sit down and relax before meeting with the team and heading off in the van for the week to the scheduled site. Sometimes I’ll grab a breakfast roll or maybe something small if I feel I won’t have time to get something. I get one today. (€7.50 for coffee and breakfast sandwich)
8.25 am: Arrive at the office and meet with management and team to discuss the week ahead – schedules, site visits, audits, confirmation of hotel bookings, etc. Then I collect the keys for the van and head off to my site for the week. Need to be there asap to meet with other engineers as it’s the start of a new phase for the project.
10.40 am: Arrive at the site and meet with the engineers and discuss the next phase. Then its time to start which involves collecting a lot of data as it’s a large site.
12.55 pm: As the site is isolated, you have to drive to the next village or town for lunch. At this particular site the next town is 25 minutes away, so we’re allowed to add on the time for our lunch hour. We are giving a sheet with information on places to eat from work, so I head to a coffee shop and get a toasted wrap with ham and cheese and a coffee. I also get a bun as I feel I need a sugar rush to get through the rest of the day. (€11.00 from €15 lunch allowance)
2.40 pm: Back at the site for the rest of the afternoon surveying and reports.
5.40 pm: Finish work and head to the hotel and check in.
6.30 pm: I have a shower and head to the hotel bar for dinner.
7.45 pm: I decide to have a drink at the bar. Costs €5.50 for a pint of Guinness.
8.35 pm: I decide to head back up to the room and watch TV for a while. I end up scrolling on my phone too. The one thing I dislike about being away is being stuck in a hotel room every evening on my own but that comes with the job, and I still must remind myself how lucky I am to have the perk.
10.05 pm: I head to bed; Mondays are always a long day due to getting up around 6am for the bus and driving to the site.
Today’s total: €28.00
7.15 am: Wake up, head downstairs for breakfast.
8.00 am: Leave hotel and head to site. I stop off and get diesel for the van, have a company fuel card. I also grab a coffee on the way (€3.20 – pricey).
8.40 am: Arrive at the site and have a teams call with rest of the team and management with update on all the sites and the schedule for the day.
11.00 am: The engineering company have organised a catering van to come to the site for the morning break. This is convenient as I didn’t buy or bring anything. They have a good selection of stuff also from sandwiches to chicken fillet rolls, teas, coffee water minerals (€5.50 for chicken fillet roll and a water).
11.20 am: Back to work.
1.00 pm: Finish up for lunch. After having the chicken fillet roll at break I decide on just a banana and a coffee. (€4.70)
2.40 pm: Back to work for the afternoon.
4.40 pm: It starts raining so we tidy up the site and finish for the day and I head back to the hotel.
5.20 pm: There’s still reports to type up and email on to management, so I head to the room and finish the day’s work.
6.10 pm: A later finish than expected, then head to the bar for dinner.
7.30 pm: I head back up to the room and watch a bit of tv while also scrolling through the phone.
8.30 pm: I’m so bored in the room so yes, I decide to head back down to the bar and have a drink which turns into three as I get talking to a few people at the bar. The three pints of Guinness comes to €16.50.
11.15 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €29.90
7.30 am: I wake up and head down for breakfast. So many options from full Irish to continental so I decide to have a bit of scrambled egg and brown bread and I also grab a few pastries to take with me for the eleven o’clock break.
8.00 am: Leave the hotel and head to the site.
8.45 am: Arrive at the site and first one there so I call my mam before work. She tells me that the electricity is running low so I Revolut her €50 for the weekly top-up.
9.00 am: Start work. A very busy morning as the rest of the site needs to be measured and analysed so that if any interference occurs, we can make changes if necessary.
11.00 am: Break time and I have the pastries from the hotel. The catering van is also back on site, so I grab a coffee and a bottle of water. (€4.70)
11.20 am: Back to work until lunch.
1.00 pm: I head to the next town and go to the filling station for lunch. I get two jambons, a portion of wedges and a bottle of Coke which comes to €10.80 from the lunch allowance.
2.15 pm: Head back to work. I finished my lunch break early due to an issue at work that needs to be addressed.
5.00 pm: Finish up for the day again. I decide to head back to the hotel room and do any reports and calls back to the main office. We usually have a midweek meeting online to provide updates on all the sites.
5.55 pm: Finished work and I’m a bit tired and decide to sleep for half an hour.
6.30 pm: I wake up and head down to the bar for dinner. I decide to head out instead and try somewhere else for a change. I’ll have to pay for it myself because the free meal only applies for the hotel, but I don’t mind paying now and again. I end up getting a takeaway pizza meal, chips, and drink for €15.
7.15 pm: As I’m walking back to the hotel, I come across a pub and I decide to head on in. I really do feel bored and a bit lonely during the evenings when I’m away hence the reason I probably go to the hotel bar or venture out just for a bit of a social life really. There’s also trad music in the bar and I end up talking to a few people and before I know it, turns into a round which ends up between two on my own and a round of three at €27.50.
10.15 pm: I head back to the hotel and to cap off the night, I have another pint in the hotel bar. I really should try and curtail this habit of going for drinks every night and try being more productive when I finish work, maybe go for a walk or the gym because it’s not good for the bank balance and not good for the health. (€5.50)
11.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €113.50
7.45 am: I wake up later than usual and not feeling the best. Also running late so I head out straight away to the site, get fuel for the van on the way and a breakfast roll and a coffee which comes to €7.50.
8.45 am: Arrive at the site and the head engineer is calling to the site for an update so the morning will be spent walking him through the current stage of the project before all the boxes are ticked.
11.00 am: The catering van is on site again today and after the alcohol consumed the night before I have the munchies bad, so I get a portion of chicken goujons and a bottle of Coke which comes to €6.00.
11.20 am: Back to work.
1.15 pm: Head for lunch and after consuming a load of calories during the morning, I grab an apple, a banana and a bottle of water which comes to €5.00.
2.15 pm: Back to work for the afternoon.
5.30 pm: Finished up at the site for the day and head back to the hotel.
6.05 pm: I’m in the room and I’m so tired from the night before, I head to bed for an hour.
7.05 pm: Wake up, have a shower and head to hotel bar for dinner and I’m adamant they’ll be no booze tonight.
7.30 pm: It’s a steak night in the bar every Thursday but also, they do an offer which also includes a drink so even though I said I wasn’t drinking, I end up having the meal.
8.30 pm: I decide to head out and go for a walk after the dinner. No stopping at pubs this time.
9.00 pm: Back in the hotel room and I’m tired so I just watch TV for the rest of the night.
10.30 pm: Time for bed.
Today’s total: €18.50
7.30 am: Wake up fresh and ready for the end of the week. I head down for breakfast and am in the mood for some poached eggs, bacon, and toast.
8.15 am: I check out of the hotel and head to the site. There’s a lot to get through today as we usually finish around 3 pm on Fridays so it’s a busy day with final briefings and online meetings with the team to wrap up the week.
8.40 am: Arrive at the site.
11.00 am: Break time and I get a chicken fillet roll, a can of Coke and a bar to see me through the rest of the morning and afternoon as there’s no lunch hour. It comes to €7.60.
11.30 am: Back to work.
2.30 pm: We finish earlier than expected so we close the site for the weekend, and I drive back to the head office to drop back the company van.
4.00 pm: Back at the office, park up the van and head for the bus home.
5.00 pm: Need a sugar rush so I head to a coffee shop for a hot chocolate and a Dairy Milk bar. (€5.10)
5.30 pm: Home time and I head to the shop and pick up a few bits on the way home – some milk, coconut milk and curry sauce to use for a chicken curry that’s cooking away for Friday evening dinner. (€5.80)
6.30 pm: Dinner over and I just relax for the rest of the evening and night. I get a notification from the company that provides our bins that the next payment is due on Monday so that the bins can be collected on Wednesday, so I log on to their website and pay for the next month which is €30.
10.30 pm: It’s been a long week, time for bed.
Today’s total: €48.50
9.00 am: Up out of bed and head out for a walk and I pick up a dozen of eggs in the shop for breakfast. (€2.50)
11.30 am: After breakfast I head down town to get a wedding card for my cousin who got married abroad last week. He and his wife are having a party later this evening. I head home and relax for the afternoon. Can’t get over the price – €5.50.
5.00 pm: I have a shower and get ready for the party. It starts at 6 pm with a barbecue. I order a taxi to the pub and to pick us up later which is €15 return (€30) and I give my half of the wedding gift, which is €100. Open bar for the first hour then I just buy myself and my mam drinks for the night, no rounds. (€76)
12.30 am: Taxi home and off to bed.
Today’s total: €214.00
9.45 am: Wake up. I’m feeling a bit hungover from last night, so I head to the local Centra and get a breakfast roll. I ponder whether to get a coffee but then I remind myself there’s a kettle at home. (€4.50)
12.30 pm: Running low on milk so pop back up to the shop and get two cartons, they’ve gone up in price again (€3.70). Also, get some garlic bread to have with the lasagne for dinner. €2.00 for two baguettes.
2.30 pm: Dinner over and I start packing the bag again after washing and drying clothes and getting ready for the week ahead.
5.00 pm: I head out for a walk; I find this time of year boring at weekends with no soccer or rugby on TV and with the weather being so miserable, the summer hasn’t been great. I often find myself longing for a car to go for a drive but with the cost, it just isn’t feasible now.
6.00 pm: Decide to get a bag of chips on the way home (€3.00). Home to finish off packing and watch TV for the evening and night.
10.00 pm: Bedtime, up at 6 am ready to do it all over again.
Today’s total: €13.20
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What I’ve learned
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