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 lawyer on the west coast on €130K. This week, an IT customer support worker on €19K living in Co Mayo.
I’m currently living in rural County Mayo, working from home in my parent’s house. Since the pandemic, I have put away €200 per month in long-term savings.
After being unemployed for some of the pandemic, I have just completed a one-year conversation course in Computer Science. Now, I am back living with my mother and adult sibling. I don’t pay rent directly to my mother. Instead, I pay for household items and seasonal gifts. This is the only form of rent my mother will accept!
Now that I am working remotely from home, I can also claim Remote Working Relief via Revenue for a certain amount of the cost of internet, heating, and electricity. In this way, I pay for some of these household bills. I appreciate this balance we have agreed upon in the house, as three adults working full-time and living together naturally have disagreements sometimes!
Occupation: IT customer support
Age: 28
Location: County Mayo
Salary: €19,463 (minimum wage)
Monthly pay (net): €1,622
Transport: Approx €30
Rent: €0
Household bills: €0
Phone bill: €20 prepay
Health insurance: €0
Groceries: Approx €50
Subscriptions: €8.99 for Disney+, €5 for NowTV Entertainment with discount code, €17.49 Codeacademy.com, €16.20 Noom App Plan, €8.99 Kindle Unlimited, €7.99 Audible
Banking maintenance fee: €5
Savings: €200
Savings on rent to put towards paying rent in the future: €500
Savings for holiday: €100
Investments: €25
Four sports club classes: €72
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7.00 am: My alarm sounds. I get up for work, dress, and take my daily vitamins. My porridge breakfast is free and so is my commute to work – a whole six metres! I feed the dog – a stubborn and grumbly bulldog. After that, I take him for a 2km walk. When we get back, I put on the fire on the stove. The house is heated first by a stove, then by oil if needed, so it is extra important not to let the fire go out THIS winter.
9.00 am: I sit down at my desk and log into work. First two hours of work in the morning are always the busiest.
11.00 am: I take my break and grab a cup of tea. The next two hours are the weekly team meeting, with lots of supervisor feedback.
1.00 pm: Another break and I can’t resist ordering posters (€82 in total) for my office from desenio.ie. I justify this purchase to myself because the office room is also half family sitting room. I also save money by buying frames for the posters (€27 in total) on a separate website. I put the phone down and push it slowly away from me before I see something else to buy.
3.30 am: After two hours of work, I take another break and walk out in the garden with the dog.
6.00 pm: Finally finished work. With the clocks going back, it’s already dark outside. The dog looks outside, looking for ghosts and banshees I’d guess.
7.00 pm: I buy this month’s prepay credit with eir mobile (€20) before I eat dinner. Today, chickpea dhal and brown rice. I try not to eat meat and fish every day because meat is far more expensive than chickpeas and I don’t pay for the majority of the groceries. Satiated, I relish the free time I have in the evening.
10.00 pm: Bedtime!
Today’s total: €129.00
7.00 am: Doggy wakes me up and I let him outside.
10.30 am: On my break, I read another article about Elon Musk and Twitter. I feel grateful that the company I work for allows its employees to work remotely!
3.00 pm: On my break in the garden, I buy my monthly grocery shop (€49.87) from Evergreen.ie. I have a dietary allergy, so I buy some items from this health food shop and my mother pays for the rest of the food for the house.
6.30 pm: I follow along with a Yoga with Adriene video. Adriene is such a calm and understanding instructor. As this is simply a video on YouTube, this yoga class is free. Just like Adriene’s loveable dog Benji, my dog is asleep on the floor beside me.
Today’s total: €49.87
6.43 am: The birds outside wake me up before my alarm.
3.00 pm: My posters for the office/sitting room have been delivered. I put them up on the wall and ask the dog what he thinks. A small woof!
7.30 pm – It’s time for my weekly Tai Chi class (€18). I made a note when I started working from home to sign up for a group class of some kind. Sometimes sitting at a desk can feel lonely. That is why this class is so important to me. I also stopped drinking alcohol, so going to the pub to socialise isn’t my favourite thing to do at the moment! Because I don’t commute to work, I don’t have a car and the expenses that come with it. Instead, today I asked for a lift and payed for the fuel (€15). The hour and a half goes by quickly in our small group. It is so wholesome to spend some of the Wednesday evening with people of all ages. I leave the building feeling calm and connected.
10.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €33.00
7.00 am: Fourth day of the week. It’s nearly the weekend!
1.00 pm: I stir fry liver and vegetables. We have been buying liver more now because it is affordable and nutritious for this winter.
7.00 pm: I spend an hour practising coding on Codeacademy. I like to keep learning and updating my skills so this is an accessible way for me to do so in my own time.
8.00 pm: Sitting down with my mam, I help her book a weekend away with her friends. She deserves it!
9.00 pm: Watch The Kardashians on Disney Plus.
Today’s total: €0.00
7.00 am: I prepare myself for the last weekday.
1.00 pm: To celebrate Friday, I buy €35 worth of Tulip bulbs on Farmergracy.com’s winter sale. Might seem like a lot of money for some bulbs right now, but in Spring I know that I’ll appreciate every cent of my purchase.
6.00 pm: So happy to see the end of the work week. Friday is usually the busiest day, trying to get everything wrapped up and no loose strings before the weekend hits. I truly enjoy my job and the banter I have with my team. We are all particularly happy to have the break of the weekend this week.
7.00 pm: While letting the dog outside, he and the cat get into a staredown. It’s also very noticeably dark now and the winter is really in the air. Time to get inside to the fire!
8.00 pm: I sit down with him and order an outfit for a friend’s wedding (€123). I have many friends either close to or already married. I have gotten into the habit lately of buying my wedding outfit on sites like Depop.com. That way, I am helping someone else in the country by buying their second hand wedding outfit and the items are often less than half the original price. I also sell the outfits to someone else on the site after I wear them to the wedding.
Today’s total: €158
7.00 am: I wake up and realise it’s the weekend and I’m off work!! I cheer and the migrating geese outside cheer back at me.
10.00 am: I go with two friends to a four-hour fitness workshop (€75) which is a mixture of coaching, breathing, yoga, and pilates. During the pandemic, I gained so much weight. I became so critical of myself while unemployed and needed help to take a step back and realise I am worth more than my salary and how hard I work. Now that I have regained some balance in my health, it’s become my top priority to maintain that balance. That definitely is reflected in how much I budget for health and wellness. Afterwards, we grab a coffee (€5.50) in a local café and catch up.
5.00 pm: I get a Chinese takeaway (€21.50) on my way home. It’s all about balance.. And General Tso Chicken!
8.00 pm: I sit down with my chicken and watch a new series on NowTV about an expensive Italian holiday resort.
Today’s total: €102.00
7.00 am: The dog wakes me up and I go on the usual morning walk. In the garden, I take some time to cut back some of the perennial flowers and prepare the garden to rest over winter.
10.00 pm: I am spending all day cleaning in preparation for the Christmas decorations.
1.00 pm: I help my mother prepare dinner and we all sit around the table, the one day of the week where we are all in the same room together! Each of us work and have our own busy and full lives. Sunday is the day to catch up and share stories of the week.
3.00 pm: I bring doggy on a very long walk. It’s pouring raining. When we get inside two hours later, we’re both happy to sit beside the fire.
9.00 pm: Off to bed, ready for the next week!
Today’s total: €0.00
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What I learned –
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