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WELCOME TO HOW I Spend My Money, a series on TheJournal.ie that runs weekly and 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? If you do, send us an email to money@thejournal.ie. We’d love to hear your story.
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.
Last week, we heard from a 26-year-old chef in Co. Kildare, earning €35,000. This week a primary school teacher is hoping to save a deposit for a home with her new husband. In order to manage this, they’re living in a mobile home.
I am a 30-year-old primary school teacher living in a town in the Midlands. My husband and I are currently living in a mobile home on his parent’s property to try to gather money for a house deposit.
We were renting a house in the town for €800. When our lease was due for renewal, they told us their son wanted to move in (I have my doubts). Rents had then raised to €1,000 per month for a house in the same estate one year later. We made the decision to invest in a decent mobile for €10,000 and hopefully sell it on to get some money back when the time comes. We are in it a year and a half now.
The current mortgage repayment average for this area is €1,000 per month, so we both transfer €500 each per month to our joint savings account. We are also recently married so a portion of this is paying off our wedding loan, therefore it will take longer to reach our savings goal.
Occupation: Primary school teacher
Age: 30
Location: Co. Offaly
Salary: €37,804
Monthly pay (net): €2,304
Monthly expenses
Rent: €0 (husband is paying off a loan we took out to purchase the mobile)
Savings/Wedding Loan: €500
Household bills: €70 (€25 refuse and €50 gas, in-laws cover ESB)
Phone bill: €85 phone and broadband
Education Loan: €260
Car loan: €160
Subscriptions: Netflix, €16; Contact lenses, €16
***
7.30 am Get up, get ready for work and make lunch. This is one of the upsides (and sometimes downsides) about being a teacher, you have to pack your lunch every day. So I’m saving money here. I make tea and bring it in the car; it keeps me warm on my 30-minute drive to school.
4.00 pm After work I go to pay for my car that needed work done over the weekend. The mechanic is a relative so he charges me just €65, score!
Today’s total: €65
7.30 am Wake up, make lunch, brew tea, and head to school.
4.00 pm Go for a walk after school with a friend. Stop at the shop to pick up some veg and other bits I need at home. This comes to €6.96.
6.00 pm I get home, make dinner and chill for the evening.
Today’s total: €6.96
7.30 am Up for work, but this morning I stop in at the petrol station to fill up my car. I put €40 in it and grab a 2L bottle of water for €2.
4.00 pm Head for a run after work and home then for the evening.
Today’s total: €42
Today is payday. This is the day I can lose the run of myself. I get paid fortnightly so I can feel like I have loads of cash to spend before it all leaves my account for loans and savings tomorrow.
4.30 pm I stop into Mr Price to pick up a few bits for school, costing €24. I pick up a bottle of wine for €9 and head out to my sisters for the night!
Today’s total: €33
8.00 am Have a bit of a head so stop at the shop and pick up a bottle of Lucozade and noodles for lunch (don’t judge me). It costs €3.40.
12.30 pm At work, I get €20 back from the Principal for school items yesterday. Getting money back all depends on what I buy. Yesterday’s items were for art so I could hand that in.
4.00 pm After work, I pay €75 off an upcoming hen party. The total is €150 and it’s abroad for two nights.
6.30 pm No cooking this evening, it’s Friday! We get a Thai takeaway (€20) and head home for the evening.
Today’s total: €78.40
8.00 am I get up and do some jobs around the mobile. We then spend the morning clearing out the shed and make two trips to the dump (electrics were free and the second load was €23 which my husband paid).
12.30 pm I pick up some groceries to make soup with ham and cheese rolls, mmm… hearty! Total cost is €14.80
4.00 pm I call to visit my parents for a while in the afternoon and on the way home I get more groceries in Lidl for dinner and nighttime snacks, total cost €25.48.
9.00 pm I have a quiet Saturday night in with a movie on Netflix and in bed by 12. What a rebel.
Today’s total: €40.28
8.00 am The weather is awful today so I have a lazy morning around the mobile.
1.30 pm We then head into town and go for a gym and swim in the leisure centre. I have leftover coupons I purchased a few weeks ago which are 5 visits for €25.
2.30 pm After this, we head to Dunnes Stores to pick up the weekly groceries. I have just changed from Aldi in the last few weeks, as I feel that with the €10 off vouchers, it’s better value for money, and the food is better quality. I usually buy loads in Aldi then I have a lot of waste at the end of the week. This week’s shop comes to €85 and I have a €10 voucher so €75. I have €50 in my wallet and my husband pays the rest. This will usually get us our lunches and dinners until Friday. I might have to restock on milk and small bits during the week, but that’s it.
4.00 pm We then go and meet my family for a carvery dinner in the town. My husband picks up the bill for this and I get the desserts €9.95
Today’s total: €59.95
What I’ve learned:
All pilots should be breathalyzed before boarding.
@Larry Doyle: Why is that now?
@Ger Healy: read the story and google it to find lots of other cases
@Ger Healy: To ensure they’re in a fit condition to fly the aeroplane.
@Larry Doyle:
Should the same be applied to all bus, train and taxi drivers too? They are probably a higher risk as they have no backup to take over
@Nick Allen: Pilots are alot less likely to encounter a checkpoint while working……
@Darren Norris:
Think of the thousands of flights taking off every day and the amount of pilots who are caught with drink on them. A miniscule proportion.
You want a professional pilot breathalysed before every flight.
How would you like to be breathalysed on the way to work?
If the issue of drunk pilots ever became so bad that all pilots needed to be brresthalysed, the problem would sort itself. ….No one would want to fly.
@Nick Allen: Not great at the old lateral thinking, eh Nick?
@Ger Healy: why do passengers have to take their shoes off before boarding a plane. How many instances of shoe bombs caused that to happen?
@Darren Norris: Havnt got time, you seem to be the expert. You tell us.
@Brendan Hughes: Oh so now we’re talking about terrorism? This is about pilots and the fact that someone thinks that they all should be treated as potential drunks. Try and keep up.
@Ger Healy: But it wouldn’t bother me at all if I had to take a breathalyser test before starting work, or before driving. Why would it? If anyone’s had too much to drink, they usually do believe that they’re safe to drive. That’s what the test is for. Do you not think that pilot drove to work drunk?
@Larry Doyle: pilots can fly 6 sectors in a working day. Should they be breathalyzed before each sector?
@Ger Healy: Many construction projects worldwide require a D&A test first thing in the morning, or at random spot checks. Professionals and tradespeople included.
Someone who is operating heavy machinery has the potential to cause great injury or death is under the influence.
I don’t mind being tested on the way to work as you put it. If it means that there’s someone less likely to harm others through their alcohol or drug habits that’s fine by me.
What’s your case for not having the pilots breathalysed?
@EillieEs: Just at start of each working day would suffice as I assume on the job drinking would be noticed.
@Larry Doyle: I would say as they debrief before leaving airport
@Larry Doyle: Tw*t
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Maybe we should all be breathalysed before we are allowed to comment on here.
@Jointheclubtoo: Not that it takes any special skills to comment. Be grand if we were being paid to post, though.
@Larry Doyle: Why not do the same to every bus/train/car driver. Fit a breathalyser to the starting mechanism.
@Jonathan Morgan: I agree with you.
@Larry Doyle: sure Danny Healy-Rea would see nothing wrong with that
Have to say I do like a pint in the airport……then again I don’t fly the plane though
@Peter Browne: if you were as drunk as it sounds this guy was, you probably wouldn’t be allowed to even be a passenger on a plane.
Cousin’s a pilot, said there is a huge alcohol problem in the job so not very surprised at this..
@ianglen: That’s all the proof I need
@ianglen: Tell me, is so called problem higher or lower than say truck drivers, bus drivers train drivers etc?
What are the statistics? Or do just want to malign a group of workers based on anecdotal evidence?
@Ger Healy: Very high unfortunately. Cousin is now working in Air traffic Control but has a lot of stories about the stresses of the job
@ianglen: Im not sure what your point is. Flying is still statistically safer than ever. If you open up Flight Radar 24, it is just amazing to see the amount of aircraft in the sky at any one moment flying safely across the globe. There are very well know crashes where pilot error was blamed but put in context, the problem is miniscule.
@Ger Healy: The amount of road accidents is minuscule if you look at all the traffic on the M50 but there are still checkpoints out there somewhere catching those who are guilty of being intoxicated while in charge of a vehicle and more importantly deterring those who would otherwise put the lives of others in great danger. Where is the same deterrence for pilots?
@ianglen: Shift work and higher than average alcohol intake go hand in hand
The worrying thing here is that the pilot seemed happy to fly with him
@John Fahy: How did you work that out? The Captain wasnt even mentioned in the article.
@Ger Healy: Maybe he’s one of those weirdos who reads more than one news source.
Denzel’s at it again
He should be jailed.Putting people’s lives at risk.
And also banned from flying and driving by the way.
12 hours bottle to throttle minimum
Sounds like you might also need to lay off the drugs, mike.
@Gary Donkerty: Get The Party Started https://g.co/kgs/7mCLR9 ( it might be a bit early, though its never too late..!
@Michael Kelly: SOZ TO ALL… THEY JUST GET AWAY WITH SO MUCH CRAP THAT WOULD HAVE ANY OF US BEHIND BARS…. RIDE THE WAVES EH…?
Another member of the high as a kite club.
Tell him to eat a dinner, he will be able to fly in no time.
@SlinkyDog: eating a big dinner is just as dangerous
@Mark Kavanagh: not if hes from kerry…
If every person ‘responsible’ for the Transit of people from here to there, were DRINK & DRUG tested, before & “AFTER” their Specified times/hours on the ‘JOB’,.. THERE WOULD BE, for most, A RED ( TO ‘PURPLISH BLACK ) STATUS ‘ROAD & RAIL’ ALERT PUT OUT ON SAID PERSONS, & their respective ‘JOBS’ The Country would come to a stand – still..! It would be like a constant Ophelia vs The Beast, up & down the Country….& That Goes For Gardai Also..! AS “SOME” OF THEM, HAVE ACCESS TO THE PURIST FORMS OF ILLEGAL DRUGS,.. & THE CUSTOMS OFFICERS ALSO BASICALLY HAVE A LICENCE ( along with the Gardai ) TO HAVE ON, & IN, THEIR PERSON, any amount of Cash, Alcohol, & Drugs..Along with whatever ‘fancy’ munchies’ they want to confiscate from unsuspecting “TARGETS”…!
SORRY, I might have gone a bit ‘off’ track there but, I would really love to see the proper people & readings of these ‘finds’ destroyed in full PUBLIC VIEW…
After spending all that money and time getting a fantastic career and he pisses it down the toilet.
Be grand. Autopilot. What’s the fuss.
Foster Brooks and Dean Martin on YouTube comes to mind
Lmao
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