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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 senior marketing manager on €85K living in Dublin. This week, a fintech worker on €55k living in Dublin.
My ma instilled a saver’s mentality and an awareness of the value of money in me from a very young age. This – along with a frankly ludicrous, and sadly no longer available, overtime offering provided by my employer in 2023 and 2024 – meant I came into 2025 with a large amount (€65k) of savings.
I am also extremely privileged and grateful to currently have a sweet deal in terms of accommodation. I live in a town centre just a few minutes walk from friends, family, transport links, and pretty much every amenity I need. I think I could possibly be able to buy a house now, somewhere, but I love where I am, and anywhere I could afford is miles away. I know, these are enormous ‘First World Problems’ – I’m not actually complaining at all. I hope to continue with my current living situation as long as possible,
But then we come on to the major ‘ick’ about me – I am a 32-year-old man who can’t drive. I never really needed to when I was younger as I lived in a well-connected area, and was always turned off by the expense. However, if I am going to be buying somewhere a bit further out in the future, I will need to learn. So, I have been doing lessons recently (feck me, lads, it’s so expensive!). Still very early days, but I do plan on getting a motor at some stage.
In terms of my savings goals, I’m looking to put away €10,000 this year – €5,000 into my savings account and €5,000 for my pension (I plan to make a ~€8,500 Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) that will max out my pension contributions for the year and I’ll get ~€3,500 paid back to me in January as a tax refund. Free money, basically). I broke the back of this goal in the quieter early months of the year, giving me some leeway for summer splurging.
I wouldn’t say I’m a stingy person, I go on multiple holidays a year and I don’t think I’ve ever said no to a social event, but I am aware of my spending, pay for things annually where possible, and I do look to make my money work. I have my savings lodged across Trade Republic and Trading212 (as uninvested funds, no risk whatsoever), whose interest rates are a lot better (albeit always decreasing) than the Irish banks. This nets me around €1,000 a year. On top of this, I dabble in matched betting (again, no risk), taking advantage of special offers, freebets, and misalignments across a number of bloodsucking bookmakers. This brings in around €2,000 annually. Every little helps.
Occupation: Fintech
Age: 32
Location: Dublin
Salary: €55,260
Monthly pay (net): €3,625
Transport: €0 – depending on the month, I top up my Leap Card by €50-€100, which my employer covers, and, as mentioned above, I am a man-child who does not drive.
Rent: €750 (I’ll never have it this good again)
Gas: €50 – I top up my meter by the same amount every month so I have a few hundred quid built up for the winter months.
Electricity: €0 – my meter is still swimming in electricity from the Electricity Account Credits. Have at least another few months left.
Bins: €12 – I only need to put the bins out once every few months, but this is literally the best deal I could get. Slightly frustrating.
Phone bill: €15 (Tesco pay-as-you-go for life)
Gym: €22.50 – membership of my GAA club, which includes a basic gym. All I really need as I wouldn’t be a big gymgoer.
Health insurance: €0 – I should probably get this. I do take one daily medication, but I was able to buy over a year’s supply without a prescription in Spain recently for a tiny, tiny fraction of the price it is in Ireland. This gave me a frankly embarrassing amount of petty satisfaction.
Pension: €229 – 5% of my salary, which my employer matches (this is the maximum amount they will match) and then I will make the big AVC at the end of the year.
Groceries: €100 – between eating out, eating at the office, and eating in my ma’s, I don’t eat too much at home. I don’t have ideal cooking facilities in my place, so batch cooking isn’t really an option – which means I mainly subsist on a diet of microwavable ready-meals (it’s not sad, they’ve gotten very good recently, Listeria aside) and air-fryer creations.
Subscriptions: Spotify (€11.99), Revolut Premium (€7.50), the42.ie (€3.50), Second Captains (€6.15)
Mammy: €216.67 (€50 per week) – I send my ma fifty quid every Friday. It makes a bit of a difference for her, and it very slightly eases my conscience when I forget to text her for a week.
***
8:45 am: My alarm cruelly wakes me. Everything aches and I reek of stale beer. I swear, this is not a normal Monday morning. I was at Oasis in Croker last night, having snagged a last-minute ticket.
9:00 am: Coffee in hand, I log in for work. Mondays are from home anyway, and my very sound boss, who was also at Oasis last night, isn’t expecting any miracles today. Regardless of the Gallaghers, I always schedule all my monotonous, mindless, admin-y work for Mondays so it will be a nice, slow start to the week.
11:00 am: Bad planning on my part, the coffee jar is empty, so I nip to SuperValu for a new one (€6.99). I also pick up some cans of Monster (€8.30) because it’s going to be one of those days, and a chicken arrabiata (€2.45) for dinner from the reduced section. The thrifty person in me loves the discounts and you end up trying lots of different, new stuff.
3:00 pm: The afternoon is full of caffeine and calls before an ungodly stomach grumble alerts me to the fact that I have not yet eaten today. The temptation for lots of junk food is strong… but I want to get the week off to a decent start, so it’s some very boring prawns and rice.
5:00 pm: Finish up in work and manage to drag myself out for a run. Muhammad Ali famously did his training runs in heavy hobnail boots so that his feet would feel even lighter when he put his boxing boots on. I am exactly the same, except substitute heavy hobnail boots with a heavy hangover and a belly full of coffee and prawns.
6:15 pm: Sorry to disappoint anyone who was predicting disaster. Bit of a slog but a refreshing 10k in the bag. I discovered ‘Zone 2’ running last year, and it has genuinely changed my life. I’m able to run further and more frequently, burning off all the bad decisions and listening to all the podcasts. I’m not training for anything in particular currently, but the thought of another marathon is always floating around in the background somewhere.
7:30 pm: After lazing around for a while, I heat up the chicken arrabiata – very tasty – then take a shower. I feel great after the run, but there will be no more movement for me today.
8:00 pm: I am a committee member for my local GAA team. We’ve our monthly meeting on Wednesday, so I do some admin work in preparation for this.
9:00 pm: While I do have a television in the sitting room, I am an awful man for just watching things on my laptop in bed instead. Tonight it’s the second season of Platonic with Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen. It’s a nice, easy watch.
1:30 am: Three episodes (broken up by a lot of texting and scrolling) later and I nod off.
Today’s total: €17.74
8:45 am: Up and at them. We’ve a colleague from one of the European offices visiting from tomorrow onwards so it’s another work from home day today, thankfully. Body battery is somewhat approaching normal following a heavy weekend.
9:00 am: I’ve a lot of head-down, solo project work to do today so it’s definitely preferable to bash it out away from distractions, and I make a good start to the day.
12:30 pm: Time for a break and some food. I pop down to the shops and stock up on dinners for the rest of the week (€14) and pick up some frozen berries (€2.09) to go with a warm chocolate protein brownie for breakfast (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!). The shopping is offset by some returned cans and bottles (-€5.05). I try to make a face that says ‘don’t judge me, they’re not all mine, I had friends over,’ but I don’t think I’m successful.
1:30 pm: Back to work after a long debate with myself over whether to get a last-minute ticket to Queens of the Stone Age tomorrow. Having been at Oasis on Sunday and with another concert pencilled in for this Saturday – not to mention a GAA committee meeting tomorrow – I provisionally decide against it. I’ll make do by blaring them on the speakers for the rest of the afternoon in a move that will definitely not make me want to make an irresponsible decision.
6:00 pm: Log off. Got a lot of stuff done today, which keeps the imposter syndrome at bay for a little bit. Sure, we all have no idea what we’re doing, yeah? Yeah? Anybody? Please say yeah.
6:30 pm: It’s chicken jalfrezi for dinner today. Really hits the spot. Love Indian food, the spicier the better.
7:45 pm: Head off to GAA training. A quintessential Junior B outfit, ranging from lads in their late teens to gnarly men in their 50s. Sitting in the middle, I try to compensate for my complete lack of footballing talent by being semi-fit and enthusiastic (I’m an incredible decoy runner for the opening 10 minutes of a match before the other team cops on and realises they can just leave me alone). It’s the lead-in to Championship, so numbers are higher than usual and there’s a nice buzz.
9:15 pm: Arrive home, shower, and get my stuff ready for the morning.
10:00 pm: Into bed, body isn’t feeling great after training – never does – but you can’t beat the craic. TV for tonight is Chief of War, a violent Hawaiian historical drama with Jason Momoa. It’s a period of history I wouldn’t be particularly familiar with, but the show is really good and apparently very authentic. It also features a lot of Jason Momoa’s arse if that’s something you enjoy.
2:30 am: After a lot of tossing and turning – yes, I know, screentime before bed messes you up, I don’t need the lecture – I finally fall asleep.
Today’s total: €11.04
7:45 am: Up early, for me, for work. Down a coffee in one or two gulps and am out the door.
8:00 am: I’ve a train and a chunky enough walk to get to the office. The aforementioned sound boss and that sweet, sweet fintech flexibility means I don’t need to be in for 9am sharp, so I go for a later train where I’m guaranteed a seat. Fire up my laptop to plan my day and check and respond to some emails and Slacks.
9:30 am: Arrive to the office where I meet up with my European colleague. Have another quick cup of coffee and a protein bar from the kitchen (free) while we catch-up.
10:00 am: While I’m not looking to buy in the immediate future, I actually have a meeting with a mortgage advisor today. Feeling very grown-up (while still aware that my parents had a house and children by my age). Run across to the bank and have a nice chat with a lovely advisor. I need to tidy up my finances from a presentation point of view (and potentially may have to stop the matched betting side hustle) but he believes I could get a €221,000 mortgage by myself. Won’t go far in Dublin, unfortunately, but good to know I’m not unmortgageable.
11:00 am: Get a phone call from my mate. Queens of the Stone Age ticket on offer for €40, less than half price, can’t say no. I’ll sleep when I’m dead, you only live once, etc. Send my apologies to the GAA committee, I’ll catch up at a subcommittee tomorrow. Semi-impromptu plans are the absolute best kind.
12:45 pm: Quite busy in the office, lots of meetings. Wolf down a Sprout salad (free) which has been ordered in and back to work. More meetings on the agenda, we have a lot of work to do over the next few months.
5:00 pm: Afternoon rattles along and now it’s across to Kilmainham for the gig. Hopefully a Boost bar (free) from the kitchen will sustain me for the rest of the day.
8:00 pm: A few drinks in the pub – well, the street, the area is rammed – beforehand and we’re into the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. A responsible-ish amount of pints are drunk throughout the night (€43.60). The gig itself is incredible, I won’t have a voice tomorrow but I will have all my teeth and all my bones intact despite reliving my youth and bouncing around a mosh-pit – all whilst wearing my respectable office wear… I really was not planning on this.
1:00 am: Having made the last train home, I collapse into bed. Left my laptop in the office so no screentime tonight and I fall straight asleep, imagine that?
Today’s total: €83.60
8:00 am: Bruised, I gingerly get out of bed and shower. My voice sounds like I’ve been gargling gravel but I’m pretty sure it was just Guinness and some very watery Murphy’s in the venue.
8:45 am: Hop on the train. Will thankfully be a nice day in the office as we’ve a workshop followed by a team lunch.
10:00 pm: Arrive to work and devour a protein bar to end my accidental intermittent fast and it’s straight into the session.
12:30 pm: The workshop ends up being a bigger task than predicted so we will finish the second half tomorrow. For now, it’s (free) lunch and we head to a lovely Nepalese restaurant. We all go for a two-course lunch special – I get a prawn pakora followed by a mutton curry. Everyone is getting beers (how European of us,), but I have training tonight and know from experience that pints (however few) and exercise do not mix well for me so I reluctantly refuse. Personal growth moment.
2:30 pm: Back to the office. I am part of a presentation tomorrow morning so we are putting the finishing touches on that to round off the day.
5:00 pm: Clock out but am still tipping away on a few bits on the train home. I look like employee of the year to my fellow commuters – if only they knew about my late start and two-hour lunch.
6:45 pm: Home but still stuffed from my khasi ko masu, so dinner today is three triangles of an airport Toblerone.
7:45 pm: GAA training again. I missed out on a gym session yesterday evening (although I really didn’t need too much convincing) so it’s good to get some exercise in to stay sane. Much like the concert last night, I find myself beaten from pillar to post by older, stronger, sweaty men but again I come out largely unscathed.
9:00 pm: No post-training chats as I’ve to speed to the clubhouse for some committee work having missed the main meeting.
9:45 pm: Trudge home, shower, set myself up for the morning, and start another episode of Chief of War. Jason’s arse is looking well.
1:30 am: Sleep finally extracts me from a Wikipedia hole on Polynesian history.
Today’s total: €0.00
7:55 am: Another early-ish start for work. Am out the door less than 10 minutes after waking which I’m quite proud of.
8:20 am: On the train I put the finishing touches on the presentation and shoot my ma across her weekly money (€50) and a little extra (€20) because she’ll be hosting us all for a big dinner on Sunday.
9:30 am: Arrive just in time for the presentation, which thankfully goes well. We then roll into the second half of our workshop as I think longingly of the protein bar that I have not yet had time to eat.
12:30 pm: Quick break for lunch, I’ve brought a meal in from home and this is inhaled in double-quick time. The end is in sight and I’ve booked next Monday off so I definitely have that Crunchie Friday Feeling.
4:30 pm: We finish up a little early as it’s Friday and we’re out to the pub for some (free) pints and finger food. The company card is putting in a heroic performance this week.
9:30 pm: Our after-work pints wind down but my girlfriend (yes, reader, I know that may come as something of a surprise twist considering I have been living the most ‘single man in his 30s’ existence this week. Rest assured, I have been texting her throughout) is out in town with her friend, so I head over to meet them. She’s been away with work for the past few weeks so I’m so happy to see her again. Buy a round of drinks (€19.80) and catch up.
1:00 am: Having caught the last train home yet again, I fall into bed and straight to sleep.
Today’s total: €89.80
8:00 am: No Saturday morning lie-in as I’m up early to get a coffee and breakfast bap (€10.90) with my dad and a mate’s rates before-hours cut in the barbers (€10). I am back in bed immediately after.
11:00 am: My girlfriend is coming over today for a couple of nights. I get the house ready and run to the shops for milk and some bits (€9.80).
2:00 pm: Girlfriend arrives, I pay for her parking (€4.43) – because I am a classy gentleman. We are going back into the city for dinner and a concert in Whelan’s with some friends, so I pick up a couple of cans (€7.30) for the train in – because I am not a classy gentleman.
4:00 pm: Head for the train, which runs quite late due to the mania of town with Robbie Williams in Croker and the College Football game on at the Aviva, meaning it’s a dash across the city to make our reservation at a fancy and delicious Chinese place. Many, many small dishes later, I cover the bill (€100) for us and we make moves for a pre-show drink.
8:30 pm: Despite being eight months pregnant, Róisín O takes the roof off the place and there’s guest appearances from Mary Black and Danny O’Reilly. Great gig – I’ve been lucky this past week!
10:30 pm: Extremely irresponsibly, we forgo the last train and stay at the venue for a silent disco and party like it’s 2010. Total spent on drinks is €26.60, total number of awful photos is about 266.
1:30 am: My girlfriend covers the taxi as I got the dinner and we shakily make our way home and into a very spinny bed. Will need to get that checked out.
Today’s total: €159.03
12:30 pm: Rise from a much-needed hibernation and get coffees and pastries (€16.10) to bring us back to life.
2:00 pm: All the family are up in my ma’s for the Sunday roast to end all Sunday roasts. Lovely wholesome afternoon. Extremely grateful that my hangover is the kind of one that makes you want to eat everything in sight rather than one of those ones where even the thought of food turns your stomach.
7:00 pm: Waddle back home with plans for a refreshing walk and a nice pint to round off the week. Not sure if we even believe ourselves.
9:00 pm: Find myself dashing across to the shops to buy some junk food (€9.85) to go with some junk TV in bed.
11:00 pm: Asleep nice and early, snug in the knowledge that I’ve booked tomorrow off. This was a Carlsberg Sunday.
Today’s total: €25.95
***
What I learned –
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