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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 medical student on €20K living in Munster. This week, an accountant living in Leinster earning €45K.
I’m currently living in our new house with my soon-to-be husband. We will be married on our fifth anniversary this year! We saved and looked from 2022 and finally got somewhere just in time for Christmas 2023. A three-bed, three-bath house is barely more expensive to run than the one-bed new build apartment we trialled for a year. Housing is a joke here. We decided three months later to finally get married (for love and also tax purposes with the new house).
Being an accountant and leaving home at 17, doing part-time work with full-time college in rentals, I learned to survive on little and still put away to get here. I’m currently saving around €1,000 a month due to a raise and having no pension yet with my new job.
Realistically, I’m dipping in every now and again so probably actually saving between €700-€900 depending on the month. I’m hoping to buy my first car this year and finish my two exams, which are €250 a go with €800-€1,500 a course each – so it disappears as quickly as it comes in!
Occupation: Finalist financial accountant
Age: 25
Location: Leinster
Salary: €45,000
Monthly pay (net): €3,100 – no pension, no health and get paid WFH allowance for higher net
Household pay: €700 – we have a student lodger (he works full-time and studies part-time, hence the higher rate) and it comes under the €14,000 Rent a Room cut-off, so tax free to help pay for the wedding costs. It goes wholly into joint savings. We might do it again next year to get rid of the loan quicker, we’ll see.
Transport: I WFH four days a week and I have a young adult Leap card (which expires next month), so €18.28 a month now but will go back to €25.56 (I am truly blessed).
Rent and household bills: I put €2,100 a month into our joint account to cover my half of the mortgage, bills, loan etc. I earn slightly more but put down less for the house and I also don’t drive, so he keeps more than me a month to cover driving and his contribution.
We budget the rest after expenses on our sheet. We divide it so we have random spending money each week/month for household bits as we’re still buying décor and gardening stuff. Anything leftover on the 24th of each month is put into the wedding fund for now and will be used to clear the loan after that.
Then a mortgage overpayment fund as 4.1% on that saving is better than 0.25% interest being earned. Our mortgage is 25 years as we could happily afford a higher fixed rate, and hopefully, even less time when we get to overpayments.
Phone bill: €10.99 with 48
Health insurance: I have it through his work as of January as I’m in a waiting period; €60 a month.
Subscriptions: I’m still on my family’s Netflix and Spotify plans so I pay nothing. He pays for Prime for his family and we can use their Sky login on the PlayStation, and Paramount comes with it.
Future pension/car loan: Putting it in as I might be buying a car when the student renting with us leaves for the summer. It will take up the pay rise I’m due after passing my probation period. €300 a month to one of those so will affect my savings. Might do both if I need to get matched contributions as well.
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6.00 am: Early start as it’s an office day. Up, changed, let the dog out to pee, have a yoghurt before going out the door.
6.25 am: Use my Leap card for the bus (€1.82) and sleep for another 30-40 mins. Sometimes – if I go to bed early the night before – I will use this time to read notes or watch lectures.
7.30 am: Arrive at Connolly. Buy an office day treat of hot chocolate from Insomnia. €4.95 for a medium is ridiculous, but I have the loyalty, so I get a few cents back and a punch on my card. Spend €0.75 on the Dart (one stop) and free shuttle bus to office.
8.15 am: Reach the office. Usually, there are free porridge pots but it’s only the strawberry ones today. Yuck. No thanks. I get a coffee and go to my desk to work.
1.00 pm: Lunch is free in the office. We got Boojum today and I buy a bottle of Coke as my other one-day-a-week office treat. (€2.65 not including Deposit Return as will get back).
2.00 pm: Back to work.
4.15 pm: Leave the office and walk to the station about 10 mins away. I like to get a stretch in the evening. €2 for the Dart to Connolly and then get the train home. Watch lectures on my phone to kill some time on the way. My partner works from home the day I’m in the office, and collects me from the train as it’s 45 mins + a 5-minute trip from the house vs 1.5+ hours on the bus usually due to traffic.
6.00 pm: Dinner is leftovers (chicken and rice) so no spend. We bring the dog for a walk afterwards and do more wedding planning. Only a few months left!
10.30 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €7.22
8.45 am: Slept in today as I’m recovering from a very bad flu. Himself makes breakfast so I eat while my laptop turns on at the table. Before I forget, himself walks the dog every morning before work, about 30 minutes. He’s a three-year-old Jack Russell mix that we rescued and he’s an absolute headcase, so he needs the walk.
11.00 am: Get a snack from the kitchen and let the dog out, won’t pee.
12.00 pm: Get a coffee, let the dog out but he still won’t pee. I give him his Lickimat – they encourage slow feeding and reduce anxiety. Bits of frozen porridge oats with water and peanut butter today. He’s learned he can bite off chunks rather than lick it so he’s back annoying me in ten minutes. I watch some YouTube on the TV and check the weekly planner we both update. I somehow forgot we were going to Pitbull tomorrow. I CAN’T WAIT! Let the dog out again and he finally pees.
4.30 pm: I haven’t done much other than work for the rest of the afternoon. Finish up and go down to preheat the oven. Try to get dinner done before the peak electric rates between 5-7pm kick in. It’s a ‘random day’ as we call it where I don’t batch cook, and we eat the one meal for the one day. Just some fish and veg! I call my dad while I wait for himself to come home. He lives abroad so I call him every other day, and we usually chat for an hour. Mostly about politics.
6.00 pm: Feed the dog by throwing food up and down the hall to the kitchen so he gets more energy out. We feed him this way most days or throw it in a cardboard box with a towel, so he has to dig it out. Once he’s fed, I discover there are no sweets (didn’t buy any in the weekly shop) and I’m a bit bored, so I head to Tesco/Aldi for a wander and end up spending €13.50.
7.15 pm: Back home. Play with the dog and watch some Prime for a while.
9.00 pm: Head up for a bit of studying before going to sleep.
10.00 pm: I ended up falling asleep at the desk, flu still beating me up. Head to bed.
Today’s total: €13.50 from the joint account
8.15 am: Up to see himself and the dog. Stick the immersion on and have a shower.
9.00 am: At my laptop with breakfast also made – again – by himself (this is not usual, it’s just while I’m sick). I’m starting to feel run down after I was feeling better over the weekend, so I’m trying to get as much sleep as possible to fight it off, but also, we have Pitbull tonight!
1.00 pm: Finish on a half day today. Prep some spaghetti bol for later/tomorrow and do some more studying. I watch some TV and play with the dog when I’ve had enough of studying.
5.00 pm: He’s finished work. We eat quickly and head to the in-laws. We drop the car off at theirs and my MIL brings us and his sister to Red Cow to get the Luas in. We wouldn’t leave the car parked there. €2 fare and we arrive 7.30 pm. We get a bottle of Coke each (€7 for two).
8.00 pm: MIL pops to ours to check on the dog and feeds him. She sends us some pictures. (He’s the favourite grandchild for now)
12.00 am: We had the TIME OF OUR LIVES. €2 fare again and MIL picks us up from Red Cow and brings us to their house. We chat for a bit as I don’t see them as often as himself and catch up on wedding plans before he drives us home.
12.30 am: Play with the dog a bit as he was alone for a few hours then off to bed.
Today’s total: €11.00 (€4 from me, €7 from the joint)
9.00 am: I take today off for some more study time and to do some bits around the house. I make a bit of porridge for us both. He usually works at home until 10 am and then goes to office to avoid traffic. I stay chilling, watch a few episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale.
1.00 pm: Let the dog out. I put the immersion on for a shower and do a few chores. Put clothes away and clean out the main bathroom, silicone around the edges to avoid water damage. We bought second-hand and there was a load of lovely “it’ll do for now” jobs from the previous owners that we’re still finding. Wedding first though!
3.00 pm: I watch some lectures online while he finishes work. Dad calls to ask how the concert was while he’s out – only a 15 min call this time.
6.00 pm: We were going to have the leftovers, but we’re both feeling wrecked from last night, so to perk up, we decide to change up our takeaway to tonight and have the spag bol leftovers tomorrow instead.
6.15 pm: €24.30 to try the local Chinese for the first time as it’s not usual on our rotating list. We normally spend between €20-30 and usually don’t end up eating it all so that we have leftovers for the next day. We’re also planning on going to Aldi/Lidl once a month to get a cheap meal deal oven pizza and side to cut the takeaway budget a bit more. We want this home loan paid off ASAP after the wedding. We had to get new doors and windows immediately after buying as they were not maintained at all. At least the house retains heat now after €15,000 extra pain of cash out, but the BER will be good after our fixed rate is up for Eco rates.
6.30 pm: We sit and chat while eating.
7.00 pm: Spend the rest of the evening playing with the dog and sit down to watch a couple of things on TV before bed.
Today’s total: €24.30 from joint
8.50 am: Late start again. Not feeling great again. Have two yoghurts for breakfast, but I feel wrecked. I was in hospital last week for this flu and chest infection and it’s not letting up. Our three-hour straight disco of Pitbull probably didn’t help the rest I should have been getting either. Himself works from home on Fridays as his other WFH day.
10.00 am: Felt the need for a coffee so I got one. The weather’s awful so no walk for the dog today, meaning he’s hyper. Bit of work to catch up on and I have to prep for our payment run next week, so head down.
3.30 pm: Spend all day at this after losing a day and a half this week. I maybe got up once or twice to go to the bathroom.
4.30 pm: Finish early as I didn’t have lunch. Dad calls for an hour, politics hour (yay), and then we sit down for leftover spag bol for dinner. I check the joint account to see what we should have tomorrow to move to savings as the loan payment came out this morning. I won’t count it towards the weekly spend as it’s a monthly bill.
6.30 pm: We chill out for the evening and plan the weekend. He’s going out with his lads for suit shopping tomorrow while I prep my free uninterrupted day at home. We watch some more Handmaid’s Tale. It’s honestly an insane show. I head upstairs for a bit.
10.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €0.00
8.00 am: Up early (like every Saturday). Let the dog out to pee and head straight to Dunnes afterwards for the weekly shop. The queue for the car park is already huge by 8.30 am. We sit in queue for 20 minutes waiting to go in, planning the meals for the week ahead as we wait. I usually cook, so I grab what we need and he adds it up on his phone as we go. Keeps us to our Dunnes vouchers spend. The €75 shop was €60.02 this week. That’s what we usually spend since we started paying attention vs the €100+ to €80+ before Christmas. Extra money regardless! We also nip to the local florist. We got a quote for flowers for the wedding, but she hasn’t replied to my emails, so we pop in and pay the deposit. (€100)
10.30 am: Home and time to make some breakfast. I remove everything left in our joint account as we shouldn’t need to spend anything until I get paid on Tuesday, so €310.03 goes into the wedding fund. We were good this month! Usually, it’s about €100-ish but we added a few more bits to the wedding so the budget has gone up to total approx. €15,000. Half of it is already paid, and we have most of the rest in savings/projected savings, so no more loans.
11.00 am: Himself heads for town. I sit and watch another episode of The Handmaid’s Tale before I start cleaning. Decide to bag up a donation bag of clothes and donation bag of duvets, curtains and towels for the local dog shelter. I call and arrange about my dress fitting as I missed the email saying it arrived. I end up scrolling on Pinterest for a bit too for more ideas.
1.00 pm: I continue cleaning the house a bit – taps, sink, bedding changed, fish tanks cleaned. Play with the dog for a while and then do some more lectures online.
4.00 pm: Take a break and make some dinner, as he’ll be eating out today for dinner, and then head up to play something on my PC.
6.00 pm: Himself is home, showing me pictures of the suits from him and the lads. Yikes. Why do men not double check things? Photos came out badly, so colours were not accurate for me to give approval for. We decide we will have a look at local places tomorrow so I can see what is more accurate in person.
7.00 pm: We decide to bring the dog for a walk as he didn’t get one this morning.
8.00 pm: Sit down for more shows. We were starting running together three times a week before I got really sick last week, so I’m waiting for it to be over to go back. Three weeks of training out the window!
10.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €160.02 from joint
8.00 am: Sunday reset. We have free electric from 9-5 on a Sunday so we do all our cleaning then. Let dog out to pee and then breakfast.
9.00 am: Immersion on, vacuum on, laundry on, dishwasher on, steamer on. We do this every week. We’ll do the odd extra laundry during the week, but mostly it’s three or four loads on Sunday. Very busy but nice, deep clean to start the next week.
12.00 pm: I sit down to do a bit of study, but ultimately get distracted by games.
2.30 pm: Arrive at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and go see the sister-in-law at work and see if she has any discounts for us. See the queue for the New Look sale INSANE! SIL’s friend has been in there for three hours waiting to PAY. Mad what the hype will do to someone.
3.30 pm: We have a look in the suit shops and agree on colours. Now to find a place that does grey… Why is grey so difficult apparently? Go into Penneys and I get two tops and two pairs of jeans. I’ve lost some weight so some are a bit too loose on me (€47). Realise we skipped lunch and we’re going to get something, but decide to head home in the end.
6.00 pm: Home and I start dinner. Duck and veg today for something different. We try varying so we don’t have something for multiple meals in a row beyond leftovers.
7.00 pm: I decide to head for a shower, but our lodger is home. He was off for the week and has arrived back, so I have to find out the goss. Catch up with him for a bit. Dad then calls so delayed again.
8.15 pm: Finally showered and in the PJs. I go play games while himself plays his own on the PS5 downstairs. We try to also have time apart sometimes after spending all day together.
10.30 pm: Late bedtime for a Monday office day tomorrow, but I’ll sleep on the bus.
Today’s total: €47.00
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What I learned –
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Seems the spag bol that was cooked was never eating. Now im no housing expert, but jesus a emersion to heat the water for a shower, surely that would be changed to an proper electric shower omce you move in. But sure its more made up crap from the Journal
This pattern of feeling ok after the weekend and then being wrecked in the mornings / exhausted sounds a bit like early stage long covid. Might have to consider taking it easy for a while to get over it. As otherwise it can become chronic. Hope I’m wrong as I wouldn’t wish it on anyone
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