9WELCOME 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 financial services manager on £43K living in Britain. This time, an executive assistant living in Buenos Aires on a short-term contract for a few months.
I am living in Argentina, working while taking a three-month career break from my job in the Southwest of Ireland. I have never been to South America before and wanted to come here for a change. My main objectives are to learn Spanish and get to know Buenos Aires, a city that I have wanted to visit for a long time.
I also want to dedicate some time to writing. I worked full-time for a period of five months in 2024 to save for this break. For 2025, my financial goal is to begin to allocate a larger percentage of my income towards my retirement plan.
Occupation: Executive Assistant (Part-time, three days per week)
Age: 53
Location: Buenos Aires
Salary:
Monthly pay (net): €1,420 Euros
Rent: I’m renting an Airbnb for 80 nights in what is considered to be the best area of the city. The cost works out at €25.00 Euros per night. This is for a modern studio apartment measuring approx. 40 square metres, with a balcony, located in a secure building on a nice street.
Transport: I did buy a local transport card and put some credit on it but I have not really used it (I paid €2 Euros for the card and €4 Euros for the credit). Because of the central location of the apartment, I’m able to walk everywhere. I have taken a few taxis if I’m out late at night (I haven’t paid more than €5 Euros for a trip)
Household bills: No household bills while I am here – all is included in the cost of the Airbnb. Also included is the cleaning of the apartment and change of towels/bed linen
Phone bill: I continue to pay my Irish network phone bill while I’m here (€55 Euros per month – this is a package deal for calls and the broadband in my house). The Airbnb has Wifi so I use WhatsApp to make all calls/send messages. I didn’t bother buying a local sim card. I use Whatsapp to contact the few friends that I have met here since I arrived.
Health insurance: I paid €120 Euros for three months travel insurance for this trip.
Groceries: €155 Euros approx a week.
Subscriptions: Amazon Prime: €6.99 Euros per month.
Gym and swimming pool membership (for one month): €84 Euros.
Spanish classes: €625 Euros for 80 hours of classes (paid for prior to my arrival in Argentina).
7.00 am: I get up, shower, have breakfast (tea – yes, of course, I brought a supply of Irish tea bags with me) two slices of toast and a banana). While having breakfast, I check my WhatsApp messages and my emails. I move money from my current account to my credit card account (my credit card bill is due to be paid on Thursday so I usually pay it off in full a few days before the deadline date – I prefer to do this manually as opposed to direct debit).
8.20 am: It takes me 40 minutes to walk from my Airbnb to the school where I’m taking Spanish classes. I’m a total beginner (I’ve never done Spanish before). I do two hours of class per day (9.00am to 11.00am). I notice that the streets are very quiet, there is far less traffic than usual, hardly anyone waiting at the bus stops and the shutters are down on many of the shops which are usually open at this time. The thought occurs to me that it could be a bank holiday (which the school had not mentioned to me). I keep walking (although the further I walk, the more I feel sure that it must be a bank holiday). I finally ask at one of the kiosks that sells sweets and drinks close to the school and the vendor there confirms to me that yes, today is a bank holiday. This means that the school will be closed so there is no point in walking the extra few minutes to the building where the school is located. I decide to go into one of the cafes that I pass on the way back to the apartment and I spend two hours there working on my Spanish. I buy a large café con leche (coffee with milk) and a type of biscuit which is very popular here (Alfajor) for €6.00.
11.00 am: I walk back to the apartment, stopping off at the local supermarket for a few essentials (€17.50 Euros). It’s after midday by the time I arrive back so I make myself lunch (a veggie burger which I have left over from last week, tomato, onion and a dressing). There are so many food options a few steps away from my apartment that I don’t do a big weekly food shop. I just buy as I go along depending on what I feel like eating, although I do try to ensure that I have enough basic essentials to get me through the week (milk, butter, bread, fruit, yoghurts etc.).
1.00 pm-5.00 pm: I spend the next few hours doing a mixture of Spanish and writing for a personal project that I’m working on. I drink coffee, water and eat a few snacks to keep me going.
5.00 pm: I go for a walk around the block. Here, walking in the evenings is a much more pleasant experience than walking during the day (it’s Spring in Argentina and on any day in Buenos Aires, temperatures can vary from as low as 15 degrees Celsius to as high as 30 degrees Celsius with a high level of humidity). En route back from my walk, I buy four empanadas (a type of pastry that can have many different type of fillings). The ones that I buy are filled with chicken (€7.10).
7.00 pm: I have an early dinner of two empanadas accompanied by some vegetables. After dinner, I make a few calls and send some messages to family and friends. I do 30 minutes of Duolingo and I watch a series on Amazon Prime.
Today’s total: €30.60 Euros
7.00 am: I get up, shower, have breakfast (tea, a banana and a yoghurt). As usual, while having breakfast, I check my WhatsApp messages and my emails.
8.20 am: I leave the apartment at the usual time. The Spanish class sizes vary from week to week – usually, there are three or four students in the class. This week, there are just two of us (myself and a guy from the US who is travelling around South America for six months). This means that we get a lot covered in the two hours and it’s easier to ask questions etc.
11.00 am: After class, I go to a nearby café for brunch/early lunch. I have discovered that they do a nice breakfast deal of freshly squeezed orange juice, four slices of toast, scrambled egg, sliced avocado, cherry tomatoes and a café con leche (coffee with milk) for €8.00. I stay there until 1pm (going over what we did in class and trying to get to grips with the verbs).
1.40 pm: I arrive back at the apartment and I spend the next few hours, reading, writing and doing a few administrative tasks. I drink coffee, water and eat a few snacks to keep me going.
5.00 pm: I leave the apartment and walk fifteen minutes to the gym/swimming pool which I have joined for the month. I do an hour in the swimming pool and walk back to the apartment.
7.00 pm: For dinner, I have the same as yesterday (boring, I know, but if I don’t finish it today, it will go to waste and I really try not to waste food).
Today’s total: €8.00
7.00 am: I get up, shower, have breakfast (tea, a banana and a yoghurt). While having breakfast, I open the Western Union app on my phone and send myself €300 using my Irish debit card details. This means that I will be able to collect €300 worth of Argentinian pesos at any Western Union office in Argentina (I will collect it at the Western Union office which is a few minutes’ walk from the school). There are Western Union offices dotted all over Buenos Aires. Some of them are stand-alone offices and others are in small shops.
The reason that I’m using Western Union rather than just taking out cash at an ATM is that the exchange rate is usually better. I can confirm that this is still the case (although the difference is not as much these days). Apparently, in the past, there was a huge difference.
8.20 am: I leave the apartment at the usual time and I arrive at the school to find that both students and teachers are locked out. The class coordinator is on a few days off and none of the teachers have a key to get in. After hanging around for 10 minutes, our teacher decides to take our small class of two to a local café where we have our class. We all order coffees – mine is €4.00 for a café con leche (coffee with milk).
The teacher receives a text message to say that a key to the school has been found but we decide to finish the class at the café.
On my way home, I call into the Western Union office to collect the cash. There’s a small queue so I don’t have to wait for too long. I give the cashier the Western Union transaction number and my passport. She produces 1,000 peso notes (equivalent of 93 cents) and puts them into a money counter in front of me (so that I can see that I’m getting the correct amount). I sign for it and she hands over the cash and my passport. The transaction takes less than 10 minutes.
Note re. the Exchange Rate The rate that I get this time is: 1 EUR = 1,164.0344 ARS. Western Union charge me €12.99 for the transaction.
From when I arrived in Argentina at the beginning of October, the exchange rate has fluctuated quite a bit. The best rate that I have gotten was 1,253 and the lowest rate was 1,053 (when I exchanged money at the airport, which it is generally advised not to do but I needed cash to pay the taxi driver and to buy some essentials for the apartment on my arrival). I brought a small amount of cash with me (in 100 Euro bills). I wish that I had brought a bit more cash as it would have saved me from paying the Western Union fees. However, Western Union is efficient and is definitely a good solution (particularly if you’re travelling around).
12.30 pm: I need to buy some essentials including toiletries so I call into my local supermarket on my way home and spend €14.00. I arrive back at the apartment at around 12.30pm, and have lunch (I just make a cheese and tomato sandwich).
1.30 pm: I’m trying to balance learning Spanish, getting some writing done and exploring as much of the city as possible. Therefore, this afternoon, I decide to check out one of the museums on my list – the Evita Museum. (At this stage, I’ve already seen most of the main tourist sights). This museum is only a 40-minute walk from my apartment. It’s a small museum in a beautiful building and is situated in a really lovely area of the city (close to the botanical gardens). As is the case with quite a few of the museums here, entry is free. The museum is nicely laid out with some interesting items, including some of the clothes worn by Eva Peron. One room is devoted to the Juegos Nacional Evita (National Evita Games) which take place every year. There are some photographs of a young Diego Maradona.
I hadn’t known very much about the story of Eva Peron so it was interesting to find out what her background was, how she met her husband and that she was only 33 years old when she died from cervical cancer in 1952.
5.30 pm: I arrive back at the apartment, gather my swimming gear and walk the 15 minutes to the pool where I do an hour.
7.15 pm: I have dinner when I arrive back home (tuna pasta salad with tomato, onion and corn) after which I go over my Spanish notes, do approx. 30 minutes of Duolingo and watch a documentary about the Argentinian economy on YouTube.
It’s interesting to learn as much as possible about the country while I’m here so I’ve been watching a few Argentinian films and I’ve bought a few books, including a very interesting one about the Kavanagh building (an iconic building in Buenos Aires built by a woman of Irish heritage – Cora Kavanagh – in 1936).
Today’s total: €18.00
7.00 am: I get up, shower, have breakfast (tea, 2 slices of toast and an orange). While having breakfast, I check my WhatsApp messages/emails.
8.20 am: I leave the apartment at the usual time. I enjoy my daily walk to the school and I try to learn some vocabulary en route by looking at the signs in all the shop windows.
Today after class, I decide to try a McDonalds here as there is a big one (including drive-through) on my way home. I get a chicken burger meal for €7.37. It’s ok but in my opinion, it’s not as nice as McDonalds at home (not that I’m a regular customer).
2.00 pm-5.00 pm: I do some study and some writing.
5.00 pm: I eat a salad – I definitely am eating a bit less here than at home (probably because of the heat).
6.40 pm: I leave the apartment and walk 20 minutes to a bar/restaurant where I meet up with a writing group that I have joined. They meet upstairs at this location every two weeks. Some people order food, others just have drinks. I order a Coke (I pay about €4.00). The group is made up of a very diverse group of people of all backgrounds and nationalities. The two hours include a discussion as to what everyone is writing about and reading and a 30-minute writing exercise. At the end of the session, a few of us go to an Irish bar a few blocks away for a couple of hours. I just have one beer for which I pay around €5.00 for.
11.00 pm: I leave the bar and walk the 20 minutes home.
Today’s total: €16.37
7.00 am: I get up, shower, have breakfast (tea, 2 slices of toast and a banana). While having breakfast, I watch some news on YouTube.
8.20 am: I leave the apartment at the usual time. As I’m the only student today, we do a conversation class. I chose the topics and the teacher helps me with the vocabulary. The two hours go by fast.
12.00 pm: I drop off my Spanish books at the apartment and I have a quick sandwich for lunch (cheese and tomato).
2.00 pm: I always try to do some kind of sightseeing on Friday afternoons so today I do the 30 minute walk to one of the large parks for a wander around and to see the famous giant flower statue made from steel (Floralis Generica).
This stretch of park is really popular with cyclists, joggers and walkers – there are hundreds of people here.
5.30 pm: I arrive back at the apartment, have a shower and get changed.
7.00 pm: I have arranged to meet a few people for dinner. I do the 20-minute walk from my apartment to the dinner location – a local bar/restaurant where everyone is sitting outside. All four of us order the same thing – a meal deal of a really good quality burger, fries and two glasses of Argentinian beer for €14.00. We stay there until about 9 pm and I walk home. I should add that the usual dinner time here is about 10 pm but I couldn’t cope with eating that late – from what I gather, it’s something that many foreigners living in Buenos Aires struggle with.
Today’s total: €14.00
8.00 am: I get up, have a shower and over breakfast (tea, 2 slices of toast and an orange), I make a plan for the day ahead. I decide to check out one of the more interesting, historic (and very upmarket) shopping centres in Buenos Aires (the Galerias Pacifico). I check on Google Maps and discover that it’s a walkable distance from my apartment (40 minutes) so I set off at 10.00 am. It takes me slightly longer than 40 minutes to get there as temperatures are getting high and it’s humid. The building itself is impressive. It was first built in 1889 and was modelled on a famous department store in Paris (Le Bon Marche). After that, it was an art gallery for a while and part of it was used as offices by the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Company. It was re-opened as a shopping centre in 1992. It really is a beautiful shopping centre with lots of high-end shops and a giant Christmas tree in the centre. I don’t buy anything but I do have lunch in a very nice restaurant located at the foot of the Christmas tree.
I pay €17.00 for lunch (fish, potatoes, vegetables and a small bottle of sparkling water). Considering the location of the restaurant and the excellent service, I feel that it’s good value for money. I spend another hour taking in the atmosphere, the shops etc. before returning to the apartment.
I spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the rooftop of my building where there is a communal area (consisting of a small swimming pool, sun loungers, barbecue and seating area). This area just opened this week (as renovation works have been going on for the past six weeks). It’s a lovely amenity and I will definitely have to try to make the most of it during the rest of my time here.
6.30 pm: I leave my apartment and walk 30 minutes to a local popular historic bar where I have arranged to meet a friend for drinks. My friend had arrived a few minutes before me and had secured a good table outside. As I walk towards the bar, I pass by hundreds of people of all ages sitting outside all the bars/restaurants along that street. It is one those perfect spring evenings in Buenos Aires – temperatures in the early 20s – no need for a jacket and a warm breeze blowing gently every now and again. We stay there for a few hours people watching. We order a platter of food (cocktail sausages, chicken salad mix, olives, crackers etc.). I pay €19.00 for two large Argentinian beers (served in ale mugs) and my half of the platter.
Today’s total: €36.00
8.00 am: Ever since arriving in Buenos Aires, I have been wanting to visit the Mercado San Telmo (San Telmo market). I had been putting it off as I’m obsessed with vintage shops and was afraid as to how much money I would end up spending! The market is just over a one hour walk from my apartment so I stopped off for breakfast at a small local café when I was halfway there. They have a breakfast deal for €9.00 (two fried eggs, two slices of toast, a coffee with milk, orange juice and a fruit cup – sliced fresh strawberries, kiwi fruit and plums).
12.00 pm: By the time I get there, I’m regretting not waiting to eat while there. In addition to all the small shops selling anything and everything, there are so many food choices and the smell of food is divine. I wander around, buy a few gifts – they have some great prints of old Tango posters (€3.30 each – I buy three and will probably go back for more). I also find a vintage piece of jewellery for €19.00. I sit in one of the quieter coffee areas and pay €9.00 for a café con leche and a strawberry tart.
4.00 pm: I walk back home, have dinner (vegetarian empanadas which I bought in a local shop that sells only empanadas and bread – €1.50 for two), do some preparation for my Spanish class, make a few calls/send a few messages and watch a series on Amazon Prime.
Today’s Total: €48.40
(Note: I added in a few Euros to take account of tips in cafes/restaurants)
***
What I have learned:
About Buenos Aires
Firstly, in this city, Cash is King.
Paying for items in cash is rewarded here. For example, some cafes offer a discount (sometimes up to 20%) if you pay in cash.
The same applies to some clothes shops and shoe shops. Many shop windows advertise both the cash (effectivo) price and the card (tarjeta) price. Many shops are offering interest-free instalment payment plans (even for shoes and clothes).
Secondly, accommodation here is much more reasonably priced than in Ireland (this includes Airbnbs, hotels and local rentals).
However, young Argentinians are experiencing the exact same financial problems as young Irish people.
Although the rents here are reasonable (when comparing them to Irish rents), the average salaries are low so it’s still difficult for some people to be able to afford them.
I spoke to one 24-year-old Argentinian who told me that many of her friends and relations are moving abroad for better opportunities.
Thirdly, the price of everything in Argentina has increased hugely in the space of a year. From speaking to people who were living in Buenos Aires this time last year, the cost of living was at least 40% less than it is today. How are ordinary Argentinians on normal wages managing? I don’t really know. One person told me that many people are working more than one job (this includes professionals).
About myself
Since arriving in Buenos Aires, I buy most things with cash. I use my credit card for the odd larger purchase/day trip or for entry to some of the tourist attractions where cash is not accepted.
As a result, I now prefer using cash for everyday expenses and will do the same when I return to Ireland. Operating in cash requires a bit more thought and planning but I definitely spend less.
As a society, we have gotten so used to using cards and “tapping” for every purchase that I think we have become detached from the money that we work so hard to earn.
I need to use the pool/gym more (to get the full value from it).
I probably spend too much money on coffee – I do this in Ireland also (at least it’s cheaper here). I will make an effort to cut down on my coffee intake in 2025.
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