Money Diaries: A civil servant on €95K living in the Midlands

WELCOME TO HOW I Spend My Money, a series on The Journal that looks at how people in Ireland really handle their finances.

Are you a spender, a saver or a splurger? 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. 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 technical program manager on €85K living in Dublin. This week, a civil servant on €95K living in the Midlands.

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I’m a 33-year-old accountant working in the civil service. I live in the Midlands with my wife and our six-month-old baby. Financially, at the moment, we are trying to rebuild our savings after a few very expensive years in which we finished a house build, got married and had our first child. I put €550 a month into savings, but regularly, I will have to dip into this amount for certain annual expenses and any unexpected costs that crop up.

My wife is still on maternity leave so we don’t have any ongoing childcare costs yet, but this will likely change in the near future when she goes back to work. We are fortunate to have good jobs that pay well, but over the past year, we have really noticed the increase in all of our bills. Groceries especially seem to have increased a lot and our money in general just doesn’t go near as far as it used to.

In my spare time, I love to stay active. I try and go to the gym or run three times a week and golf once a week. It’s the GAA club championship season now, and I like to get down to see my local club’s matches when I can. I finished playing the sport two years ago, but still like to see how the lads are getting on.

Occupation: Civil servant

Age: 33

Location: Midlands

Salary: €95,500

Monthly pay (net): €4,371 after pension contributions

Monthly expenses split with my wife

Mortgage: €1,099

Transport: €85 (charging two EVs, mostly charged at home)

TV and broadband: €140

Bins: €32

Electricity bill: €220 (approx – it varies depending on time of year)

Phone bill: €30 (two mobile phones)

Health insurance: €84 (policy for myself, wife and baby)

Groceries and household items: €800

Subscriptions: €52 (Netflix, Apple Music, Apple Cloud Storage)

Other miscellaneous expenses: €100

Personal monthly expenses

Car loan repayment: €452

Road tolls: €100

Gym membership: €85

Other subscriptions: €22

Other expenses paid annually from savings

Car insurance: €390

Car tax: €120

Golf membership: €1,500

***

Monday

6.50am: Our baby is awake and wants to start the day, so I get up and take him downstairs while my wife gets some more sleep. I give him a bottle and play with him for an hour or so and have my own breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast and a coffee. It’s then time to try and get the little man off to sleep for a nap before I start work. I am working from home today and will clock in around 9am.

9.00am: Success! Baby is down for a nap. My wife takes over the child duties and I clock into work. I check my calendar and I have no meetings today, just what you want to see on a Monday. I have a couple of tasks from Friday that need to be done first, so I get stuck into them.

1.00pm: The morning goes by fairly quickly and the lack of meetings has allowed me to plan out my work for the rest of the week, as well as get all my own tasks done. Time for lunch now. The fridge is fairly bare as we get our shopping delivered on a Tuesday, so it’s slim pickings today. I opt to go to the local shop for a roll. It costs €5.90.

1.30pm: Back to work. The pace of work slows a bit, but I get enough done to feel like I’ve accomplished something today.

4.30pm: Finish work for the day. I head to the kitchen to plan out the dinner for this evening. We have prawns and a load of bits of vegetables from throughout the week, so I decide I’ll make a prawn stir-fry with some peppers, onions and carrots and rice with it. I take some time to complete our online groceries order for tomorrow, adding any items we are low on in the fridge and pantry.

5.30pm: My wife gives our baby a bottle while I get the dinner ready. Once he’s fed and happy, we sit down to eat our stir-fry.

6.30pm: I get dinner cleaned up and the house in order while my wife gives the baby a bath and gets him ready for bed. I also take some time to get my clothes ready for work tomorrow. Tuesday is my anchor day in the office, so I have to be somewhat presentable. Then I put the car on charge, so I have a full battery for the commute in the morning.

9.30pm: Baby asleep, we sit down with a cup of tea and a bowl of cereal to watch The Traitors Ireland, our favourite show on TV at the moment.

10.30pm: Time for bed.

Today’s total: €5.90

Tuesday

7.00am: Wake up and get straight into the shower. I’m tired this morning as we were both up a couple of times during the night with a teething baby, such is life at the moment! I get dressed and am out the door by 7.30am. I drive to the office as we have free parking.

8.30am: I pull into a service station on the motorway to get something to eat. Overnight oats and a cappuccino, my usual order on the way to the office. €9.55 in total.

9.30am: I arrive at work. The commute is long, but thankfully I only have to do it once a week. I head up to my desk on the second floor. It’s an open-plan office, so the rest of the team are all sitting around me. I clock in and catch up with the rest of the team.

11.00am: Myself and a few of my colleagues head to the coffee shop next door to the office for a coffee. I get a cappuccino. (€4.10)

11.30am: Back to work. I have a meeting with my manager to go through the progress of some projects we have on.

1.00pm: Lunchtime. I head to a new café that one of my colleagues recommended. I get a chicken ranch sandwich and a bottle of water. The sandwich was worth the hype, I’ll definitely be back. The price came to €14.25. I check my online banking and see that our grocery shopping payment has been taken (€105.85). This is fairly typical for a normal week. I will still need to go to the butcher’s to get our meat and chicken for the week.

1.45pm: Back to work. I have a few things to close off before the end of the day, so I get stuck into them.

4.00pm: I clock out and make a dash for the car. I like to get out of the city as soon as I can to beat the traffic. I’m on the road in 10 minutes, traffic is moving but still slow enough.

6.00pm: I arrive home starving, but thankfully my wife has dinner made. Homemade chicken curry. We sit down and tuck into it, then it’s time to get the little man off to bed. I’m on bedtime duties tonight so I take him upstairs and get him ready for bed.

9.00pm: Baby is asleep, and it’s time to wind down. I make two cups of tea and we sit down to watch the news and The Traitors Ireland. Another great episode.

10.45pm: Time for bed.

Today’s total: €133.75

Wednesday

8.50am: Wake up wrecked. We had a rough night with the baby. Both of us were up with him for a couple of hours during the night. My wife is on the early shift this morning, letting me get a bit more sleep before work. I crawl out of the bed and get dressed. Thankfully, it’s a work-from-home day today. I head to the kitchen and make the quickest scrambled egg and toast ever and take it into the office with me.

9.15am: I clock into work and go through my emails while eating my breakfast at my desk. I have a few emails to respond to from yesterday evening, so I do them first before making a to-do list for the day.

11.00am: Coffee is needed!! I head to the kitchen and make a coffee and have a banana while I’m on the phone. I’ve saved a beauty product my wife has been looking at. It’s her birthday later this month, so I decide to buy it. I move money from savings to my current account to pay for it. €189 in total.

11.15am: Back to work. I have a call after lunch, so I get my notes prepared for it.

1.00pm: Lunchtime. I head to the kitchen. My wife is away into town with the baby, so I whip something up for myself. I defrost some tomato sauce from last week and cook some pasta to go with it.

1.30pm: Back to work. My call is at 2pm, so I do some last-minute preparation for it before I log into it. It’ll be a long one, expect to be on the call for a couple of hours.

4.00pm: Call finished. It went well, but I’m tired talking. I finish up and clock out around 4.30pm, another work day done.

4.45pm: I head to the gym. I’m lucky that my gym is only five minutes from my house so I’m able to get in and get my workout started before 5pm. Really needed this workout today just to clear the head. I finish up the session before 6pm and head home. I stop at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up my monthly prescription and some infant Calpol. (€25.30)

6.30pm: I’m home and it’s dinner time. Thankfully we had taken some leftover bolognese from last week out of the freezer last night to defrost. I cook some spaghetti, heat the bolognese and we have dinner ready to go in 15 minutes.

7.00pm: I’m on baby duties now while my wife cleans up after dinner. I take the little man upstairs for a bath and get him ready for bed.

8.30pm: Time to wind down, we watch some TV and have a cup of tea. No Traitors episode on tonight so we head to bed a bit earlier.

10.00pm: Time for bed.

Today’s total: €214.30

Thursday

7.05am: Wake up. Baby has slept through the night and we both feel refreshed. Getting a full night’s sleep at the moment is an amazing feeling. I’m on the early baby duties this morning. I take the little man downstairs for his bottle and a bit of playtime. I have my own breakfast too, overnight oats with some fruit and a coffee. It’s a work-from-home day today again so I get the baby off for his first before I clock into work.

9.00am: Clock into work. We have an online training course to complete this morning at 9.30am. It’s fairly boring if I’m honest, but it has to be done. There’s a quiz at the end of each section, so I have to pay attention. The course lasts an hour and a half and I manage to pass all the quizzes.

11.00am: I head to the kitchen and make myself a cup of tea and have a wee scroll on my phone.

11.20am: Back to work. I try to clear off a few things from the to-do list before lunch.

1.00pm: I quickly get changed and head to the gym. I often use my lunch break to get a quick session in when the week is busy. This is the real benefit of having a gym close to the house.

1.45pm: I get back home, quick shower and change. I head to the kitchen and make a sandwich for lunch and bring it with me to the office.

2.00pm: Clock back into work for a call with some of my team. It’s an informal call just to catch up on things, so no prep needed for it.

4.40pm: Another work day done! I clock out and head down to the local butcher’s to pick up some meat and chicken. I pick up our usual bits, chicken breasts, beef mince, steak pieces and a couple of ready-to-cook beef stir-fries. (€33)

5.45pm: I take over the baby-minding duties as my wife goes to a gym class on a Thursday evening. It will be bedtime for the little man soon so let him play on his playmat while I get a bottle and other things ready for him.

7.00pm: I give the baby his bottle and get him into bed. He takes a little longer to settle tonight, but we get there in the end.

7.30pm: My wife comes home from her class and I get started on dinner. I use a ready-to-cook stir-fry that I bought earlier for handiness. I put on some rice to go with it, and we have dinner ready to go in 15 minutes.

8.30pm: Time to wind down for the night. We watch some TV before heading up to bed.

10.30pm: Bedtime.

Today’s total: €33.00

Friday

6.15am: Wake up. I do a fitness class in the gym every Friday at 7am so I get up, get the gear on and get some breakfast into me before I head out the door for the class. Overnight oats and fruit for breakfast.

8.15am: Back home after the fitness class, and I am shattered! It was a really tough class. I enjoy getting at least one group class done a week as I reckon I work harder in the group environment than I do when I’m in the gym by myself. I head for a shower and make a coffee before clocking into work.

8.45am: Clocked into work. It’s a work-from-home day again. No meetings or calls in my calendar for today, which is nice. I get going on a few tasks which I’d like to have closed off before the end of the week.

10.50am: I’m starving. I’m always hungrier on the days I go to the gym in the morning. I go to the kitchen and grab another coffee and a Square cereal bar to keep me going until lunch.

1.00pm: I have a haircut booked for my lunch break, so I drive into town to my barbers. He has me in and out in 30 minutes and the cost is €25.

1.45pm: I make a quick sandwich (chicken and salad) for my lunch and take it to my office as I need to clock back in.

2.00pm: I clock back into work. I have a few days of annual leave booked off next week, so I want to finish off a couple of things before I take the days off so I get stuck into them.

4.30pm: All tasks complete, so I clock out for the weekend.

5.30pm: It’s a nice evening so we go for a quick walk with the baby.

7.00pm: Baby’s bedtime. My wife is on bedtime duties tonight so she takes him up to his bedroom. It’s Friday, and it’s takeaway night, so I get our order phoned in and head into town to pick it up. We decided to get a chipper this week: fresh cod and chips for me and cheeseburger and chips for my wife and a side of onion rings to share. (€23.65)

8.00pm: I’m back with the food and the baby is asleep, time to get everything onto plates and tuck in! We crack open a couple of cans of coke to go with the takeaway and get ourselves comfy in front of the TV. We try our best to eat well during the week so we can really enjoy a takeaway at the end of the week.

11.00pm: Time for bed.

Today’s total: €48.65

Saturday

7.20am: Wake up. Not a great night’s sleep. The little man was up a couple of times during the night, the teething continues. I’m sure other parents of very young children can relate to this unpredictable sleeping. Thankfully it’s the weekend and there’s no work today so we bring the little man into the bed with us and relax for a bit.

8.30am: We get ourselves up and go downstairs. I make us some poached eggs on toast for breakfast and a coffee each. We like to take it easier on the weekends. My local club is playing today in the club championship at 2pm, so I go online and get two tickets (€30 in total). It’s a nice day, so the three of us are going to go to the match. We spend the rest of the morning relaxing and playing with the little man on the floor.

1.00pm: We get the car packed up and head off to the game. The pitch is only 20 minutes away, but we want to get there early so we can get into the stand. We get there around 1.20pm and get great seats on the halfway line.

2.30pm: It’s half-time in the match. My team are losing by a point, but there’s a wind that we will have in the second half, so I’m still hopeful. I go to the shop and get us two coffees. (€9)

3.20pm: Match is over – and we’ve won! Tight game all the way through, but we managed to win by three points in the end and are through to the next round. Time to get back home. Traffic getting out after these games is always hectic so we race to the car to try and get ahead of it.

4.00pm: We get back home. The baby has slept in the car on the way home, which is a great help. My wife’s American relatives are in Ireland at the moment and all her family are heading out to dinner with them tonight, so she starts to get herself ready for the meal. I’m going to stay home and mind the baby, we just want to keep him in a good routine at the moment and keep his bedtime fairly consistent.

6.00pm: My wife heads off with her family into town for the meal. I can’t be bothered cooking now, so I order a Domino’s Pizza and get it delivered (€25). I eat my pizza and scroll on my phone for a while before it’s time to do bedtime with the little man.

7.00pm: I take the little man upstairs for a bath and get him ready for bed. He must be tired after the day out at the game today because he goes straight off to sleep after his bottle. Success!! I head back downstairs with the baby monitor and watch some TV.

9.30pm: My wife is back from the meal. We have a cup of tea together, and I hear all the craic from the night.

10.30pm: Time for bed. I’m up early for golf in the morning.

Today’s total: €64.00

Sunday

6.00am: Wake up. I like to golf early in the morning to get it out of the way, so I still have most of the day to do other things. I grab a quick bowl of cereal and head out the door at 6.15am. My tee time is 7.20am, but I want to get there a little early to warm up.

6.30am: I get to the golf club and head into the pro shop to check in. It’s a competition day, so it’s €7.50 to enter the competition. I pay my fee and head to the range to warm up.

11.15am: I finish my round. I haven’t been playing well this year, but had a decent round that I could be happy with this morning. I pick up a coffee from the restaurant after my round. (€3.90)

11.40am: I get home – time to unload the car of the golf clubs and load it back up with a child’s buggy. We are heading out to my parents’ house this afternoon to see them. We get all packed up and ready to go and get on the road by 12.30pm.

1.00pm: My parents only live 30 minutes away so we get there by 1pm. We are lucky to have family close by, and we try and visit them most weekends. My mum has lunch made for us all so we sit down and have something to eat and catch up on the craic. We hang around after lunch for a few hours and let my parents look after the baby.

5.00pm: We arrive home after the afternoon in my parents’. It’s nice to be able to go out to their house and relax for a few hours and get some lunch handed to us.

7.00pm: Time to get the little man ready for bed. I give him a bath and my wife gives him a bottle and gets him off to sleep.

8.00pm: We’re both not very hungry after the big lunch we had, so we just make some beans on toast and a cup of tea for our dinner. Then we wind down in front of the TV to end the week.