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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 an accountant living in Leinster earning €45K. This week, a project manager living in Munster earns €48K.
I’m a project manager in my late 30s currently living with my partner on the South West coast. We’re really lucky to live by the sea. I’m currently saving up to buy a replacement car. We enjoy reading and swimming.
Occupation: Project manager
Age: Late 30s
Location: Munster
Salary: €48,000
Monthly pay (net): €2,900 (pension comes out before net)
Transport: €200 (petrol, parking and Leap card)
Mortgage: €600
Household bills: Bins – €12 (monthly dump trip), heating oil – €70 (approx. €800 yearly). Electricity’s only about €40 because we have solar panels, less in the summer, sometimes we end up in credit from selling back to the grid.
Broadband: €30
Phone bill: €40
Health insurance: €80
Groceries: €400
Subscriptions: Netflix – €8.99, Disney+ – €9.99, Audible – €7.99
Savings: €500 minimum – more whenever we can spare it
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7.00 am: Feeling positive this morning. I’m glad I picked a not too complicated week for the diary. Depending on meetings, some weeks I might have to go to head office in Dublin or to a client meeting, but this week will be purely working from home down here at the seaside.
7.30 am: Up and get some stretches done before work.
8.00 am: Breakfast of tea and toast.
8.30 am: Log on and tackle my inbox. Mondays are thankfully pretty quiet and mostly meeting-free, so I chip away at some planning work till morning break.
10.30 am: Virtual cuppa with my work bestie. We have a motivational catch-up every Monday to help keep each other on track!
1.00 pm: Lunch hour. Time to get out and walk – this time of year, I’m trying to get the most sunshine I can, so at least half an hour to get some steps in. We’re luckily only a short way away from a gorgeous sandy beach so that’s the favourite spot. Grab a quick tuna sandwich for lunch.
2.00 pm: Back to the grind.
5.00 pm: Finish up work. Pop out to the shops for the newspaper, some fresh bread and yogurt. (€9.90)
6.00 pm: Dinner’s already sorted – leftovers from yesterday’s chicken and broccoli bake.
7.00 pm: Chill out evening. Watching a series together on Netflix (Black Doves), then reading in bed to try and catch up in time for book group later this week.
10.00 pm: Bed.
Today’s total: €9.90
7.00 am: Pre-work walk. It’s finally light enough and the weather is nice enough to head out. Forget to do the stretches I’m supposed to do every morning though!
8.00 am: Breakfast of cheesy scrambled eggs and juice. Possibly undoing the good work of the walk, but I’m sure the calcium’s good for me at least.
8.30 am: Meeting-heavy morning at work, pretty much stuck solidly to the desk till lunch.
1.00 pm: As I got a walk in before work today decide to tackle some housework – listen to an audiobook as I whirl around. As I’m in the house for all of it I’ve time to cook some spaghetti to have with onion and courgette for lunch. Get a text to confirm a book I’ve ordered in the bookshop has arrived so that changes our evening plans a little.
2.00 pm: A quieter afternoon than morning, even have time to do some overdue invoice processing (the least favourite side of things).
5.30 pm: Get caught up in work and work a bit late. Head to town to pick up the book (€12.50) and as we’re in town and running a bit behind, I decide to get a takeaway rather than cooking. It’s half-price night in the pizza place so only €14.
7.30 pm: Finish up some more housework.
8.30 pm: There’s some live sport on that I’m not interested in, so my partner commandeers the telly for that and I watch some Bridgerton on Netflix on my laptop instead.
10.30 pm: Bed.
Today’s total: €26.50
7.30 am: Stretches achieved, but it’s blowing a hooley outside so no walk this morning.
8.00 am: Breakfast – tea and toast.
8.30 am: The reverse of a Tuesday, I’ve a quiet morning and busy afternoon today. Couple of extra cups of tea needed to get me through the morning, feeling more tired today even though I don’t think I slept badly. Hope I’m not coming down with something.
11.00 am: Take a longer tea break than usual as my neighbour calls over to chat – will work a shorter lunch break to make up for it.
1.30 pm: Lunch half hour just have crackers and hummus – promise myself to get out after work instead.
2.00 pm: Jump straight into a meeting – manager update. Swiftly followed by a weekly team meeting followed by a briefing on our next project. Hectic but at least they all finish on time.
5.00 pm: Leg it out the door and down to the beach – hop in for a dip and then a brisk walk to warm back up.
6.30 pm: Glad we did the ‘big shop’ over the weekend and have plenty in to make a veggie pasta bake. I’m starving after the swim and walk though so do have a banana and bag of crisps as the food takes a while in the oven. Did a load extra so it’ll last two nights-worth. I often find the slightly longer prep/more chopping and cooking really pays off when you don’t have to worry about food prep time the next day.
8.00 pm: Read, read and more read – it’s book club tomorrow and I have, of course, not finished the book. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy book but I started late. Thankfully I’m a fast reader. Promise myself I’ll start the next one earlier.
11.00 pm: Bed.
Today’s total: Nada – nice to have a no spend day!
8.15 am: Slept in! The infamous ‘off’ instead of ‘snooze’ error on the morning’s alarm. Thankfully some loud seagulls were going past so I’m not horribly late. No walk or stretches today, tumble out of bed just in time to shower and shove some toast and juice in my face before starting work.
1.00 pm: Despite the bad start, it hasn’t been a bad morning. Did finish my book in bed last night before midnight and was a bit groggy this morning because of it, but that has all faded. Sun is shining for the lunchtime walk. Cheese and tomato sandwich today.
2.00 pm: Dragged into an unexpected meeting. I realise my hair’s a bit windswept from the walk and subtly try to fix it on the call (I am unsuccessful). But at least it was all internal colleagues and not client-facing. Have some fun new tasks assigned for next week, so I’ll need to add some research time to tomorrow’s work day to ensure I’m up to speed.
5.00 pm: Head out to town, realise I’m down to less than half a tank of petrol so fill back up to full (€44.80). One of the things we’re saving for is a hybrid or electric car to take better advantage of the solar panels.
6.00 pm: Book club goes well. Most people turn up and most people have finished it. Good chats all around. We meet in the local bookshop and they always give us tea and biscuits. We decide to go for something a bit less surreal and whimsical next time (well I say we, I’d be happy to do fantasy again but joining book club was about expanding my reading options!). There are a couple of copies so I get one now (€18) in the hopes I can make a start early and not have another late night of ‘homework’ next month.
8.00 pm: Very glad of the leftovers from last night. See that I’ve an email confirming the loo roll delivery – we found this brilliant place that does sustainable and plastic-free loo roll – they’re called Who Gives A Crap and it always makes me smile when I get the delivery email (€30).
9.30 pm: Early night!
Today’s total: €92.80
7.00 am: Time for stretches and the walk this morning. Swing by the corner shop en route home. Already out of milk (all that tea with the neighbour on Wednesday) and pick up some biscuits and the paper as well (€11.35). TGIF!
8.30 am: Get right into the research I promised myself yesterday I’d do. If I leave it till the afternoon, something more urgent or important will toddle along and I’ll never manage to get my head around it.
10.00 am: It’s a gorgeous day unexpectedly – I put some washing on a quick cycle in the hopes of actually using the line! One of the really great advantages of days working from home, fitting laundry in between meetings instead of leaving it all pile up till the weekend. Get it hung out before lunch.
1.00 pm: Swap the beach walk for a town trip (still plenty of steps) – there’s a lovely butcher that does pre-prepared meals. As we already had a takeaway mid-week, this is a great compromise between doing the cooking and having a treat. We get their beef stew and a side of mash to have tonight and mince for the Sunday lasagne (€16.99). Also pop into the off licence and nab a bottle of wine for us for tonight, and a slightly nicer bottle as a gift for friends who are having us round tomorrow (€27).
2.00 pm: Get back on track at work and wrangle any emails that need tackling before the week ends.
4.00 pm: Nab the washing off the line. Still needs to finish drying off on the rack by the radiator but fab to have an Irish cliché of a day – great drying and a grand stretch this evening!
5.00 pm: Another day I’m super grateful nothing ran late – jump out the door to get into the sea as fast as I can. This time of year, you’re only really in for 10-15 minutes unless you’re in a wetsuit but the buzz is worth the cold! Can take longer to get re-dressed than you’re in the sea for. See a few other brave souls and we share a wry smile.
6.00 pm: Home to dinner on the table – partner took charge of the butcher’s meal prep. They do food Friday/Saturday/Sunday and I do midweek.
7.00 pm: Bottle of wine, pack of biscuits, and back to catching up on Black Doves. A tame but relaxing end to the work week.
11.00 pm: Bed.
Today’s total: €53.34
9.00 am: Do remember to do my stretches after the lie-in.
10.00 am: End of the month yesterday, so time to tackle the finances. I double check there were no unexpected bills/see what the savings and bank balances look like and what’s not yet paid. Some months that means dipping into savings to make sure we’re covered ahead of next payday, but thankfully these days we’re mostly on top of things and it’s adding to the savings instead. A friend recommended having separate savings accounts with a purpose – so we’ve one with the bank where we’ve got car savings, which we started last year, and one new one on Revolut for holidays. I put an extra €250 into the car savings and €100 into the Revolut holiday fund. It makes a nice change from last month, where an overspend at Christmas meant no extra savings and having to take money out to cover paying for the house insurance in January!
12.00 pm: Do a bit of research on cars on DoneDeal – dream about a brand new all-electric with infinite range, but concede that we’re still a few months away from even a secondhand one unless we go on finance/get a loan. Our current car is coming up on 15 years and I’m worried about it not passing the NCT later this year.
1.00 pm: Leisurely lunch – omelette with cheese, peppers, courgettes and onions.
3.00 pm: Get sorted out for an overnight visit to friends – grab the bags and the wine we bought and head for the bus. Realise as we try to board the bus that the Leap card’s running low. Thankfully both us and the driver are there early, time to top up (€20).
Have a lovely afternoon, stay at theirs for dinner (Chinese, their treat), watch a film – Wicked – it’s alright. I saw the musical in person a few years ago and thought that was better. But the company and the chat is good, and not having to run for the last bus home or splash out on a taxi back is the cherry on top.
12.00 am(-ish?): Head to bed.
Today’s total: €20.00
10.00 am: Proper lie in. Up and amble around by our friend’s place.
11.00 am: Treat them to brunch out to thank them for dinner the previous night. Great toasties and some fancy coffees for the others (I stick to tea). €50.55, but my partner covers that as it’s a weekend meal.
12.30 pm: Grab the bus home.
1.00 pm: Get the weekly shop in. No big ticket items, just some veg, pasta, rice, sauces, cheese, eggs and hummus. Still manages to come to €46.32. Fresh bread I’ll get tomorrow as our local shop gets a bakery delivery and we already got meat for tonight at the butchers. Might pop back again midweek.
3.00 pm: Tide’s not fantastic, but swim group have arranged that around now suits most of us (after Sunday lunch for some, pre-Sunday dinner for others).
4.00 pm: A nap with my hot water bottle!
5.00 pm: Meander for a short walk and watch the start of the sunset solo while dinner gets prepped.
6.30 pm: Delicious lasagne and a debate about whether we want to watch another movie or continue our series or do something else. End up scrolling through things and finding old Taskmaster on Netflix. Nice bit of comedy to switch things up.
10.00 pm: Head to bed, look at the book club book but I can’t face starting it tonight (there’s still plenty of time to not leave it to the last night!), so I pick up a fantasy novel I want to re-read instead.
Today’s total: €36.32
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What I learned -
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