Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
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 eCommerce agent on €44K living outside of Dublin due to house prices. This week, a company secretary on €81K living in Dublin shares their diary.
I’m a 32-year-old man working as a company secretary and I moved to Dublin from Co Antrim nine years ago. Since my boyfriend and I started living together during the summer, my financial goals have been to save as much money as possible per month towards things like trips away with either him or friends or for nice evenings out. I’m also trying to build up enough savings in order to apply for a mortgage within the next few years or at least as a ‘rainy day’ fund.
Generally, I can get through a typical month with no major issues, but I still prepare myself for unexpected expenses/eventualities which can crop up.
Occupation: Company Secretary
Age: 32
Location: Dublin 8
Salary: €81,500, plus yearly bonus
Monthly pay (net): €4,421
Transport: €40 on TFI Leap card
Rent: €1,175 (my half, which makes our total €2,350. Not the worst, considering that it’s our own flat with my own separate home office in Dublin 8!)
Household bills: WiFi is €31 each. On average, the electric bill is €90 – €120 every two months
Phone bill: €55
Gym membership: €44
Health insurance: Covered by employer
Groceries: €200 (my share)
Savings: €750 – possibly more on a very good month
Trading 212 account: €50 – €100
Revolut Metal plan: €13.99
Subscriptions: €96 in total, covering different newspapers, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Deliveroo Plus
Holiday payments: €150 a week up until January 2024
The balance not included above is often spent on things like ‘last-minute’ takeaways, evenings out, lunches during my office days and the odd ‘impulse buy’ either online or in town. However, I try to keep these to a minimum in order to maximise the amount I can save per month.
***
8.00 am: We wake up after a disrupted night’s sleep due to the storm that hit the country during the night. Our apartment is on the top floor of our building, so our windows and balcony are very exposed to the elements. Thankfully, I’m working from home today, but I don’t envy my boyfriend who is off work as he has an appointment in town this morning and all the public transport has been disrupted!
9.00 am: I pour a coffee from the percolator my boyfriend prepared and I log into my work computer. Thankfully nothing major came in over the weekend, so I can start by reviewing a set of board meeting minutes which my junior colleague sent me. I also have breakfast al desco and then spend most of the morning responding to emails.
11.00 am: Quick tea break.
1.30 pm: I finish up a weekly team call with my colleagues, and then my boyfriend comes home from town. We decide on a lunch of steaks in pepper sauce and leftover potatoes while we chat about our upcoming holiday to Mexico in February – a nice distraction to the stormy weather still raging outside!
2.30 pm: Back to the desk, with a few more conference calls scheduled for the afternoon. I look at my phone banking app to find an alert that one of my monthly newspaper subscriptions of €8.99 has come out.
5.10 pm: I log off work and I chill on the sofa for a bit and flick through the daily newspapers on my iPad.
7.30 pm: To the gym, which thankfully, is only a 15-20 minute walk from where we live. I prefer to go later in the evening in order to avoid the ‘after work’ crowd who tend to HOG the place on weekdays.
8.30 pm: Gym session done (chest, shoulders and triceps) and I pop into the SPAR on my way home to get some eggs and a bottle of Coke (€6.88). My boyfriend decides on a Spanish omelette for dinner, which goes down a treat after that gym session. We also polish off some Spanish hams and cheeses which we brought back from our recent trip to his hometown there.
9.30 pm: Netflix and chill before going to bed at 11 pm.
Today’s total: €15.87
6.00 am: We both wake up as my boyfriend always goes out to work early in the morning. Once he goes, I pour a coffee from the percolator and lie reading for a bit. I’m currently reading ‘’Tis’ by Frank McCourt (I’m a huge fan of memoirs/biographies). After two hours of that, I check my bank account and note that my phone bill (€55) has been paid. I also check my Revolut account and see that my Metal Plan fee of €13.99 has also come out. The latter may seem a lot for what Revolut is, but I feel I can justify it due to the fact that I often have to exchange between EUR and GBP for my trips home and that I can get discounted subscriptions from it.
8.30 am: Shower, and then a cup of tea before I log into my work computer in my home office.
1.00 pm: Lunchbreak after a busy morning, so I nip down to the SPAR for a microwaveable soup (€3.49) to have with some leftover sourdough bread.
2.00 pm: Back to the desk for a busy afternoon.
5.00 pm: I log off work for the day and then chill around the house for a bit.
6.00 pm: I decide to go out for a 5km run in my local neighbourhood. I’m slowly getting back into running after I completed the Dublin marathon a few weeks back, so I decide to take this one at an easy pace.
7.30 pm: After a quick shower, my boyfriend makes another Spanish omelette along with the leftover steaks for our dinner, which we sit down to eat at 8 pm.
8.30 pm: Once I’ve done the washing up we then chill for the rest of the evening as I have an early start to my day in the office tomorrow morning.
10.30 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €72.48
7.00 am: I wake up and get showered as I have to be in for an early client board meeting this morning and I want to avoid a crowded Luas. Unfortunately, most of them ARE crowded, but I still manage to get on one at 8.10 am (Leap card fee of €1.20).
8.30 am: The Luas thankfully gets me to the office just as my clients are arriving for the board meeting.
9.00 am: Board meeting starts which takes up the whole morning.
12.15 pm: Board meeting is thankfully over, and I go out for lunch to a sushi restaurant near my office, which costs me €16.99 in total. I feel this is justified after such a busy morning. I prefer to go out for my lunch during my office days as I can go for a walk along the Quays afterwards, and/or buy things in town if needed. Not that I’m antisocial in the office but doing it this way helps me recharge for the afternoon ahead!
1.15 pm: Back into the office, where I have a quick debrief with my manager about matters which have arisen from the board meeting. The rest of the day is then taken up by calls with internal colleagues about a new client we are taking on and work plans for the rest of 2023, so I’m left with little time to get through the ‘To Do’ list I’d had planned out for the day.
5.10 pm: I finish up in the office and then go into town for some groceries, as I promised my boyfriend that I would make tonight’s dinner. I head to a Lidl near my office for a salmon Wellington we both like (€6.99) and then I head over to M&S, where I give into the temptation of their €16.99 Meal Deal for Two, and a ready meal and a few other snacks which will do me through tomorrow.
5.45 pm: After sorting out the groceries, I head to get some toiletries I’m short on: hair paste from Grafton Barber (€12) and moisturiser and shaving foam from Boots (€8.78).
6.30 pm: I finally manage to get on a Luas that isn’t so crowded (€1.20 on Leap card again) and then head home to start the dinner (salmon Wellington with mashed potatoes) while my boyfriend does a few errands in town after work.
7.00 pm: Dinner on and then myself and my boyfriend chill and catch up on our days over a ‘hump day’ whiskey and ginger ale, which I feel is justified!
8.00 pm: We sit down to dinner, and the whiskey and ginger ale is still flowing nicely.
9.00 pm: Same evening routine as usual, Netflix and chill before bed at 11pm.
Today’s total: €81.08
6.00 am: Same routine as Tuesday morning. I then transfer money to my boyfriend via Revolut (€150) for my share of this week’s payment for our holiday to Mexico (€300 a week in total for us both.) I’m a believer in paying for large purchases like this in instalments, without resorting to a credit card or the like.
8.30 am: Shower and I log into my work desk for what turns out to be a very busy morning.
10.00 am: Breakfast of leftover croissants al desco while working away and responding to emails.
1.30 pm: Lunchtime, which is the sweet and sour chicken ready meal I got from M&S yesterday.
2.30 pm: Back to work, which thankfully, is one of my quieter afternoons this week, so I can finally get to the work I’d had planned for yesterday afternoon, which cheers me up a bit!
3.30 pm: I give into a sudden craving and decide to head down to a nearby Natural Bakery for coffee and a chocolate éclair (€7.69). While waiting for that, I then get an alert on my phone telling me that my subscription to The Times newspaper has come out (€25.99).
5.30 pm: Log off work and then I start tonight’s dinner (M&S Macaroni cheese balls as a starter and Lamb Moussaka as a main) with some leftover breads on the side.
6.30 pm: Dinner time.
8.00 pm: Head to the gym, which thankfully isn’t too crowded this evening, so I manage to get a good back, shoulder and bicep session in. This always is my favourite session of the week.
9.20 pm: Gym finished and I head to the nearby supermarket for some last-minute essentials before it closed. (€21.95)
10.00 pm: Netflix and chill with popcorn with my boyfriend before bed at 11.30 pm.
Today’s total: €205.63
8.30 am: Same routine as yesterday and breakfast of boiled egg and toast at the desk.
11.00 am: Tea break and I resist the urge to look at Black Friday deals on Amazon Prime. I’ve promised myself to do most of my Christmas shopping in the Black Friday sales this year, but we’ll see how that turns out.
1.00 pm: Lunchbreak, and I decide to use up some bacon, pesto, pasta and spinach.
2.00 pm: Back to the desk and I manage to work on the minutes of the board meeting I had in work on Wednesday, which takes me a few hours of solid work.
5.00 pm: Work is done for the day and then my boyfriend comes home from his work.
5.30 pm: We head down to the SPAR to get some beer, wine and a few other essentials for the weekend (€15.00 my share).
7.00 pm: Dinnertime and we then have a few beers to unwind for the evening with Netflix and talk a little about our holiday plans.
10.00 pm: We get hungry again and decide to make some popcorn in the microwave which we have while watching Netflix.
11.30 am: Bedtime
Today’s total: €15.00
7.00 am: My boyfriend is working this morning, so we both wake up early and I chill in bed for a bit while reading and sipping coffee.
9.30 am: Shower and then breakfast of boiled egg and sourdough bread while scrolling through social media and the newspapers.
10.30 am: I then clean the kitchen area a little and hoover all the floors in the apartment. Thankfully we tend to clean and clear as we go along, so we never let messes pile up, or squabble about whose turn it is to do what around the house. It’s as well I did so, because as soon as I finish, my boyfriend texts me to say that he’s bringing his mate over after work for us to make lunch together!
11.00 am: Head to the gym for a session (legs and core), which sets me up well for the day ahead.
12.00 pm: I call into the supermarket to get some ingredients for lunch, beer and wine for the day (€41.70 in total) while my boyfriend gets the rest from ‘A Taste of Spain’ on Capel Street.
12.30 pm: Arrive back home, get a few things ready in the kitchen for the lunch and have a quick call with my Mum before my boyfriend gets home.
1.15 pm: My boyfriend and his mate arrive, and they start making a chicken paella and various Spanish tapas for us all. The beer also begins to flow as well, so that’s the weekend officially started.
3.00 pm: We sit down to eat, and there’s enough paella left over to do lunch for either tomorrow or the week ahead. Me and my boyfriend always try to ‘meal prep’ where possible.
4.00 pm: More beer and Spanish music, so I guess it’ll be a night in for us!
7.30 pm: Boyfriend goes down to the shop to get more beer.
10.30 pm: We decide to call it a night, I can tell we’re both going to suffer tomorrow morning!
Today’s total: €41.70
8.00 am: We both wake up feeling a bit rough, but we still promise each other that we’ll go to Lidl to do our weekly big grocery shop.
9.00 am: My boyfriend goes down to the SPAR to get some sausage rolls for us to have for breakfast. After that, I go back and lie down for a bit.
1.00 pm: I put some laundry on and then we both go to Lidl, as we promised (€51.00 my share of the bill), which should keep us going until at least the middle of next week.
2.30 pm: We get home and my boyfriend decides to make a fresh pizza for our lunch, which does a great job in helping to cure this hangover!
4.00 pm: Lunch over and I do the washing up and then sit down to chill with a ‘hair of the dog’ beer which survived last night, while doomscrolling through Instagram.
10.00 pm: We decide on chicken fajitas for a late dinner, which goes down really well.
11.00 pm: Laundry is done and I also replace the covers on our bed. Once done, we decide to call it a night as I know I’m going to be busy with work tomorrow.
Today’s total: €51.00
***
What I learned –
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What a backward country Pakistan is in so many ways, nothing honourable in what this murderer did.
My comment was taken down for saying the same thing.
Gus
It’s not that long ago Irish families were sending young girls to Magdalene laundries for honour of the family.
Why is it that when someone does something despicable in another country,someone always wants to bring up what happened in our past. It’s almost like,don’t criticize anyone,we are as bad as them ourselves.
It’s today or yesterday either, Nick.
This delightful cultural practice, however, is going on right now.
*not today etc.
Not quite on the same level
S**t did happen in our past but we overcame it because it was abhorrent to most of us. This is not the case in Pakistan or India or other countries like Afghanistan. Women are treated as objects and not humans. It’s a disgrace. They talk about honour but I’ve yet to see a man take his sister’s or mother’s side in disputes. They are cowards. Pure and simple.
I guess the implication is, we hope in 50 years the people of India, Pakistan et al can look back from a more progressive future, as we look back now with disgust at our own past when women were treated very badly.
Jaysus nick that was one time, I’d like to think this country has moved on especially after last years vote for gay marriage, which won’t happen in Pakistan any time soon.
Eamon it was probably deleted for what they call in sport ‘persistent fouling’,you have up to 8 troll accounts on The Journal flooding every and any article to do with Muslims,spouting Islamophobic bile,I’ve listed them before and am happy to do so again.
Tariq. Pakistan is a dump of a country because it is filled with people who believe in and live by the nonsense you espouse every day on the journal. Only difference is you’re not there unfortunately.
This coming from the troll who had at least the same number of accounts on politics.ie over the years and who kept getting banned for spouting Islamo bollox. And pretending to be an Iraqi business man and a moslem from England. well played Liam you sad loser.
Moslem?
You obviously do a lot of reading about the topic.
How is it “trolling” if it’s the truth?
@nick thankfully we have come a long way since then but with small mindedness like yours our nation will be doomed to stay in the past, what happened here should never happen especially in modern society. Peoples rights need to come before peoples culture.
Cop yourself on Nick Allen and grow a brain. Stupid stupid comment to make
We had Brehon law for a lot longer than that! Never a death penalty. This murder is sick – he slaughtered his own sister, because he didn’t like how she dressed? I hope his parents don’t seek a pardon for him. What are they going to tell their grandchild if he’s set free?
Let’s hope so. RIP to that poor woman. No one should have to live like that. Her own brother.
Very quiet there tarik ,whats ur view on this type of thing
What’s ur point Nick?
So you want sharia fir all and have no respect for other religion or lifestyles
sure we give sharia a spin, it might be a bit of craic
I think you’ll find Moslem is a valid alternative to Muslim, Jim..
How tapped in the head do you have to be to think that drugging a woman and then strangling her to death is somehow an ‘honourable’ act. What a deplorable sh!thole of a country.
And it seems 1000′s of Pakistani men are making their way in to Ireland for asylum.
It’s fear, jealousy, pure rage .. A male dominated country .. they want to stay stuck in old ways that allow males control everything .. sad sad animals .. R.I.P. that beautiful girl and all others murdered over there in for ‘honour’
Is there any way journalists can agree on a new term to describe these unfortunately named “honour” killings.
The same should apply to the term “child bride” – Paedophilia.
What a kip
Pakistan is the second worst country in the world when it comes to the treatment of women,Yemen is the worst. I read on a separate site that this poor girl had her nose and mouth pinned shut before being strangled by one brother, he then fled with another brother. If it’s seen as an honor killing, they can get away with it under Pakistani laws. Appalling. RIP.
Grow up Pakistan
@Paul Furey,
Talk about a mild reprimand.
There was a documentary on Ch 4 a couple of months ago about how gay/lady-boy prostitution is thriving there. Its banned under Muslim law but lots of so called ‘straight’ men go to and use the services of these brothels.
Nothing is said about it, they just ignore it and the authorities pretend that its not happening. Then you have these sc**b*gs performing honor killings , most of the men doing those honor killings probably went to those gay brothels to get his jollies in the past.
Disgu*ting, misogynistic, backward hypocritical country, devoid of honor and respect for its women.
Saw the one about the street kids,truck drivers picking up young boys
A lot of eastern cultures actually conflate the separate notions of sexuality and gender identity. Iran has openly trans people, whereas homosexuality whilst identifying as a man is seriously frowned upon. Same in Thailand where being trans is far more socially acceptable than being gay.
It’s a mixed up homophobic viewpoint which basically says: ‘ah you’re not gay you’re just really a straight woman’.
Gus, you are correct ! The problem in Pakistan is there is no progress and in fact this is getting worse. The practice is extending way beyond their own borders into families in the UK and elsewhere and people have to be put under protection for fear of their own family members. there seems to be a lot more to radicalisation than ” joining up”. I stand open to response because my knowledge of this is only based on media reports, like this one.
“Radicalisation”…a politically correct term that absolves the Jihadi/murderer of personal responsibility.
The thing I don’t understand is why do Muslims leave their festering kips of countries and when they arrive in the west they try to emulate those same slums
Homesickness.
Those savages would cut your throat for a fiver
Or for “honour” what a sick place.
Obviously it isn’t anything to do with honour. I’ve often wondered whether the brothers receive a commission for marrying some random man to their sisters. Is part of it about money, would you think? If so, it might be that they see only a deal, a bonus for them, something to be enforced.
This is what islam brings to the world. It is time for the west to stand up and outlaw this terrorist organisation. No such thing as peace in islam. They love hatred and death
Well at least you’re looking at actual rape cultures and patriarchy and misogyny and not complaining about how lads sit on the bus/train.
Wow Aifric ! That’s put us in our place ! Glad I qualified my comment with the fact that I only know what I read in the media. I’m sure people in Pakistan wouldn’t dare comment on our barbaric “traditions” and I’m just as sure that they would be more up to speed about us than we are about them. They usually are very well up about places they can only dream about living in and having a life beyond their wildest dreams in ! Unfortunately our immigration regulations don’t allow it , but their one time colonial masters across the water had a dilemma for a very long time and could not stop their far flung subjects from seeking to be closer to the motherland , not, of course , because life is or was difficult in Pakistan, not at all ! I stand corrected now however Aifric, and when I think about it I actually only know one Pakistani gentleman , and he is very nice with the exception that he is very rude to his wife at times and treats her quite subserviently ! But I’m sure he is an exception , although I really did want to , how shall I put it… give him a jolly bloody nose for it the last time I witnessed it !
I wasn’t specifically directing my comment at you. I realise youre full of sarcasm but at least you did qualify it. I never said life wasn’t difficult in Pakistan. Of course it’s difficult. I guess you can be thankful and smug that by some roll of the cosmic dice you happened to be born in Ireland and not Pakistan?
Wow so many knowledgeable comments here from Irish people who have obviously learned all about Pakistani culture and Pakistani people from their extensive time spent in Pakistan! Oh no wait! None of you have ever been to Pakistan! You’re just a bunch of ignorant Muslim hating bigots who think you know something but you’re actually just talking out of your bums. I’ve actually spent considerable time IN PAKISTAN, in both the cities and more conservative rural areas and I can tell you that like any country, the people and the culture is far more complicated than can be summed up in one article about a murdered celebrity. Pakistan has a vibrant youth culture, a large part of the population are young, educated and progressive. For the most part, women are being educated. I met a girl living up the top of a mountain with almost no electricity supply, mostly living of the land, with a psychology degree. And she wouldn’t be unusual. There are many many problems there stemming from poverty, war and the legacy of British colonialism (you would think the Irish would have some insight into that…) but people are literally fighting for change every day. It’s not a country on the way down, it’s getting better every time I go there. The mere fact that Qandeel Baloch had thousands of fans should show you that Pakistan is not as 2 dimensional is not the 2 dimensional place portrayed in Western media. And remember that only the most shocking and disturbing stories about Pakistan are ever going to reach the Irish news. Of course posting here is about as effective as banging my head against a brick wall, not sure why I bother.
I love your post, check out this new social media where you can share your blog and have great traffic back to your website: faceadventure.com
Pakistan lost a great man this week Abhdul-Sattor -Edhi’s funeral is expected to be one of the biggest in Pakistan’s history. The last time Pakistan held a state funeral was for military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq in 1988. He will be missed , but his legacy will live on I hope . May he rest in Peace and get his due reward for all the good he has done. There are great people everywhere !
have your say