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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 executive assistant living in Buenos Aires on a short-term contract for a few months. This week, an architectural graduate on €35K living in Dublin.
I am an architectural graduate working with a practice in Dublin city centre. The company works in residential, commercial and conservation projects. I’ve studied in Dublin since 2016. After completing three years of architecture school, I took a year out to get work experience. I returned and completed my final year as an undergraduate and subsequently completed my Master’s in architecture. I have just begun studying for my professional practice exams part-time which I hope to complete this time next year. After completing this, I can register as an architect after seven years of studying. It has been a long haul but I am lucky because I enjoy my job and have met great people.
I currently rent a house with two young professionals. At the minute I am busy with college assignments but I enjoy socialising with my friends in bars and exploring the city, cycling, hiking and playing golf on the weekends. I often travel home to visit my family and friends. I have just completed my first half marathon and I hope to compete in a triathlon in the new year.
I love sports, music, art, food and travelling. I would not consider myself to be materialistic, I don’t spend lots of money on clothes. I am struggling to save at the moment and have been working now for almost two years post-graduation. I owned a car for about six months before having to sell it. I just couldn’t afford it and I was in the red every month. I think it’s about time to start to put money away and not live paycheck to paycheck, but I’m finding this very difficult and often end up in an overdraft at the end of the month (I have a €500 overdraft). I would like to be stricter on spending and hope this exercise will help.
Occupation: Architectural Graduate
Age: 20s
Location: Dublin
Salary: €35,000
Monthly pay: €2,470
Transport: €21
Rent: €700
Household bill: €60
Health insurance: €46
Groceries: €200
Subscriptions: €30 (Spotify, Patreon, Irish Times)
Gym membership: €49
Phone bill: €44
Savings: €370
***
7.30 am: I had great intentions of going to the gym before work, but snoozed the alarm and now it’s time to get a shower, have breakfast and get on the bike to work. It’s a fresh morning and cold for the first time in a while but bright.
9.00 am: I get to my desk, switch on my computer and quickly head for the coffee machine. After some small talk with colleagues, I sit down at my desk.
10.00 am: I’m working on an office development in the city. I am on a team of six people and work closely with one of the project architects. She checks in with me and we discuss what it is that the builders are demanding this week. For the first half of the day, I am setting out electrical devices on drawings. This consists of co-ordinating what the subcontractor has specified and building codes requirements.
1.00 pm: It’s lunch time and I’m delighted I made the effort to make lunch. There not much conversation from the others on Mondays so after eating I take a stroll and try to get some Vitamin D.
2.00 pm: Next task is to set out the sanitaryware for the toilets. It’s not the most glamorous job in the world but someone has to do it!
4.30 pm: Every Monday, I leave early and head to college. I have two and a half hours on a Monday evening from 5.30pm to 8pm. During the break I buy a protein bar to get me through to dinner. (€3.50)
8.30 pm: I manage to narrowly avoid the post-lecture pints and I head home. I don’t feel like cooking so I have two soft boiled eggs and some quick ravioli from Lidl. Not the most nutritious meal but its quick and easy.
9.00 pm: Clean my room and read a book.
11.00 pm: Time for bed.
Today’s total: €3.50
8.30 am: I’m up later than usual and have to rush to get to work on time. I’m lucky that my commute only takes 15 minutes on the bike. This means I spend hardly any money on transport every month.
9.20 am: I make it to work a little later than normal and have no time for breakfast so I get some fruit and a coffee from the kitchen and make do.
1.00 pm: I didn’t make a large dinner last night – usually, midweek I make a dinner and save the leftovers for work the next day, but there’s always a day a week that doesn’t work out for one reason or another. Today is one of those days and I head to Spar to get a chicken roll for lunch as well as a packet of crisps. (€7)
2.00 pm: We’re back at the desk and drawing some internal elevations.
6.00 pm: I got invited to an open mic by a friend of mine. His girlfriend is playing her first open mic at a bar in town so I go along to support and get a pint of Guinness (€6.40). I manage to get out by 8 pm and stop in the shop to pick up some chorizo, mozzarella and some salad (€9). It’s unexpectedly cold this week and I’m leaning to comfort food. I make a chorizo tomato gnocchi bake for dinner. I’ve only made this dish twice and have yet to perfect it, but it hits the spot.
10.00 pm: After cleaning up, I sit down at my desk in my room and do some essential reading from my course and I’m in bed by 11 pm.
Today’s total: €22.40
6.30 am: I successfully make it to an early morning gym session and I remember why it’s worth that extra effort, it’s so quiet in the mornings. I buy a protein shake from the vending machine afterwards and skip breakfast. (€3.50)
8.30 am: I was invited to a charity dinner in two weeks so I drop my suit to a dry cleaner on the way to work. (€20)
9.00 am: Werk!
2.00 pm: I read a personal finance article at lunch that explains how saving deposits are much better in European banks, and that Irish banks aren’t great for saving money in comparison. I realise I have two savings accounts on my online banking. One is a seven-day notice account and the other for a rainy day fund. After a call with the bank, I decide to close one and focus my attention on the account offering the better interest rate. I wasn’t aware of this stuff at all. I need to find out more. I would suggest that the subscription just paid for itself though. For lunch, I had the leftover gnocchi.
6.00 pm: After work, I run to the shops and pick up some bits for dinner and lunch for the next couple of days. (€18.50) I also bought two lines in the national lottery and one line in the EuroMillions. I don’t always play the lottery unless there is a large jackpot (I realise it’s a total waste of money and there’s no hope of winning, but I have a good feeling about this one!).
7.00 pm: I organised a game of five-a-side locally with some friends – €5 each for the hour. Really nice way to socialise and exercise.
9.00 pm: Cook food. Egg fried rice. Then bed.
Today’s total: €43.50
7.30 am: Get up, shower and breakfast and hop on the bike. My room is a mess but it will have to wait until this evening. I never have time in the morning it seems. I am always in a rush. I do not feel very motivated for today so I get to work a little bit early and head to the nearest and dearest coffee shop around to ease myself into the day. (€4)
9.00 am: The sanitaryware schedule needs updating to send to the quantity surveyors for a cost comparison, so my first task to make sure it is all in order.
1.00 pm: Lunchtime. I have leftover egg fried rice from last night. I go for a stroll in the misty rain before getting back to work.
2.00 pm: I begin a new task updating drawings from the latest change in the design. This time a pergola has been removed from the roof terrace. It was a value engineering decision but I am not involved in these decisions I simply update the drawings.
5.30 pm: It’s been a long day and I decide to go for a cycle after work to change things up. This turns out to be a terrible idea. I bought a new bike recently, I’m not familiar with, it was raining, dark and rush hour traffic. I almost died three times. Would not recommend it.
7.15 pm: I get home and begin to make some dinner. Chilli con carne is on tonight’s menu. I’ve been eating so well this week and decide tonight I deserve a treat so I walk to the shops while the food is cooking and buy a bag of Doritos and two bottles of beer (€7.50).
10.30 pm: After some Netflix, I get into bed a try to get an early night.
Today’s total: €11.50
9.00 am: I arrive at work and get some coffee from the kitchen.
10.00 am: I’m asked to prepare drawings for a client meeting for a potential new project. It’s a large extension and remodelling of a house in south county Dublin. It’s a welcomed change of pace and I work on presentation drawings for the first half of the day.
1.00 pm: Lunchtime and I have some chilli from the previous night’s meal. Three of us go to a local coffee shop and I get a flat white. (€3.80)
2.00 pm: Back to my desk and to continue to work on the presentation drawings which is a nice task for a Friday evening!
5.00 pm: After work, I get the train home (€5). I’m lucky that my family home is only 40km from Dublin. I’m on the way home because a friend from school is back from the Netherlands where he has been living for two years now. Before going to the pub, I stop in to the local pitch the watch my younger brother play a match. It’s a good game and he scored a goal, but I have to leave at half time to get to the pub – I’m already late.
9.00 pm: There are five of us in the pub and thankfully I have missed the rounds, but I still buy three pints before calling it a night around 12 am. I get a lift home from one of the lads who wasn’t drinking. (€18)
Today’s total: €26.80
10.00 am: I am back in my family home and have a lie-in before getting out of bed. My brother is frying some bacon so I have some eggs and bacon for breakfast.
10.30 pm: I take a short 3k stroll in the morning while the sun is out. I had arranged to meet a friend from school for coffee but I have to cancel because I have college work to do. I also planned to go to the cinema later with my mother.
11.30 am: I’m at the kitchen table to study for college. I have a draft assignment due in ten days so I want to get some work done over the weekend as I have limited time during the week.
2.00 pm: I go to the local barber’s to get a haircut. I always get my hair cut when I’m at home – I know the barber, and it’s a better value (€26). I make sure to get in early because there’s usually a queue and there’s an extra charge after 5 pm. I’m not seen to until 3 pm because I am waiting for my usual barber.
4.00 pm: I get home and make myself a snack from the fridge before going back to study.
4.30 pm: I sit back down at my desk to get in a couple more hours of studying.
7.00 pm: The family sit down for a meal that my mam has prepared which is lovely.
8.00 pm: We go out to the cinema to see a movie (€15) and I buy some pick-n-mix (€5).
Today’s total: €41.00
10.30 am: Wake up and have some breakfast, take care of some life admin. This consists of checking the register, the election was announced the previous week. I need to head back to Dublin this evening and my younger brother kindly agrees to drive to the rented house.
3.00 pm: We stop in to a pub to watch a cup final. I buy two pints (€12.40). I put a bet on the match on the Paddy Power app – but don’t win. (€10)
5.00 pm: After the game, we head to another place to get some food, I pay for my brother since he drove. (€28)
6.00 pm: We get back to the car and the parking costs a whopping €16, so we split it (€8) and he gives me a lift back to my rented house. When I get back, the fridge is empty.
7.00 pm: Reluctantly, I drag myself to Lidl to do a decent shop (€27). I prepare some lunches for the next three days. Chicken, peppers, couscous and kale salad.
8.00 pm: I bought some frames a week ago. Adding some pictures or art might help the starkly white walls, so I put a postcard of a Picasso painting in one and hang it on the bedroom wall.
9.00 pm: Sunday is the worst day of the week. I doomscroll on social media for an hour before trying to get an early night.
11.00 pm: I struggle to get to sleep after staying up late over the weekend, so I listen to an audiobook – it’s Paul Goldberger’s book Why Architecture Matters on Spotify. That does the trick and I nod off around midnight.
Today’s total: €85.00
***
What I learned -
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Nothing will probably change, he’s advocating these things but the reality of the world we live in means he’ll back down eventually when he realises how bad it is for him – but he’ll swing it to say that fought for Americans and everyone else backed down and he did a good thing against those bad nations that hurt America.
Literally be his words ‘bad people’, ‘make america great’, ‘I did this’, ‘I’m great’, ‘look no hands (as he cycles around Camp David on a tricycle’.
His words are vague, his threats are vague, and it’s all postering childish antics that don’t work when adults are talking.
The amount of things he tried to do last term in charge didn’t get through. Lets not forget this is the man that said you could inject UV light into peoples vains to kill COVID – which led to at least 1 death, I believe, if not more, with other dangerous comments.
American people, so gullible. Well they voted for him. Have at it.
@Rafa C:… And now with JFK Jnr being appointed Health Official they’ll all be knocking back pints of bleach like Sunny D.
@Rafa C: Agree, he is taking a bargaining position, just like Gaza comments. His base will this as validation.
@Rafa C: Thats what populism is. Whole load of huff and puff with very little provision for the future needs of society. We’re still children in psychological terms tho.. addicted to shiny things, crave the neanderthals bat, etc.
@Rafa C: I reckon you’re right. American is run by corporations. The American pharma corporations in Ireland will have their lobbys working flat out to stop anything too damaging.
@Meh Meh: point of correction, it’s RFK jnr., JFK jnr. died in 1999
@Rafa C: but when there’s a loose cannon, everyone has to duck
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: Thanks for clearing that one up.
@Rafa C:
The new Deputy Dawg,and his sidekick muskrat Muskie.
Why are Paracetamol/ibuprofen way more expensive here than in the UK? Can our people not do a deal that reduced costs for Irish people WHILE allowing these multinationals to make billions in tax savings? Baffles me that in every direction the only deal they managed to ever scrape up was an endless supply of aspiration-less people to work in these places.
@Thesaltyurchin: That’s because lots of medicine is cover by the NHS so you can buy paracetamol in pharmacy’s for a third of the price in Ireland.
@Daratheprofessional 1: You can by either in Boots for under £1… ?
@J B: Do the same when coming back from London. Stock up on medicines, plus some that are over the counter kin the UK but require a prescription here. Melatonin etc,. Ireland eh? just have to lower your standards and empty you pockets. Bunch of jokers.
Wouldn’t be worrying about it, the way things are going the orange fella and the real POTUS is going to spark off an actual war or civil war, buckle up folks.
@J B: That may prove to be more difficult for the Chinese, they risk getting a bloody nose, if they try to take Taiwan, since it’s an island with only a few places suitable to land troops, and just bombing them back to the stone age won’t do China any favours
@Dave C: Quick! Hide under the bed! Typical far-left woke comment. MAGA
Lads, I’m living in Dublin nearly 20 years. I can pop into Tesco when I’m back visiting friends and family in Belfast, and pick up a large box of tesco brand paracetamol for 26p….. same size box down here cost near €7.00 I have never once paid for otc medication is this end of the country. Why would you allow yourself be robbed like that.
@Nigel McAtamney: Agreed. Absolute rip off by Irish pharmacies.
@Billy Joe: Yet these companies see bumper tax breaks? Its sort of sickening how terrible our elected officials are at doing a deal.
@Nigel McAtamney: that’s the VAT. Let’s get rid of it
The Juggernaut of Peace waging Trade Wars with his allies. This could have very serious consequences for Ireland and the 35,000+ people employed in the pharma sector here. It could be big Tech next!
@Iano C: It will have no effect. Pharmaceutical plants are extremely difficult to relocate due to the registration requirements of their medicines. Also, Ireland is the choice to US corporations due to our common language, political stability, excellent support to our big US employers, excellent pharmaceutical compliance and regulatory adherence and relative proximity to markets.
Wouldn’t worry about it.
@Kieran Woods: agree. Besides the US locals aren’t educated enough to fill the jobs the man child wants brought into America. And that ain’t going to change seeing as they are going to gut the dept of education too
@Kieran Woods: If you’re being realistic the only reason any multinationals are here is because we were allowing them to run their revenues through ireland for as low corporate tax as possible. Manufacturing is just operators running machines to a very specific procedure. Any skilled personnel would be offered relocation packages to get plants up and running elsewhere. It can be done anywhere if it makes financial sense. Irelands main advantage was our low corporation tax, but that’s out of our hands now. Hopefully we get another few years out of it but the global hierarchy is Changing and we are extremely exposed.
@Temp Stuff: ‘Man child’ – very childish comment…
@Kieran Woods: the tax is the bigger issue. The way they do transfer pricing. Like Apple. It’s their accounting practices he will attack.
He’s doing what’s best for the USA. Pity the Dail crowd dont do the same for Ireland. The Irish economy totally reliant on US companies. Can understand Martin beginning to panic.
@Billy Joe: as every head of state should have the right to. Put your own people first before worrying about the rest.
The boom times are over. Most never noticed the boom, but we will all notice the recession.
You reap what you sow.
Someone just needs to bribe Musk, you know the real president of murica and he will just distract grandpa donnie and maga with more cool videos of ice raids with doctor phil and other washed up maga celebs on tv…..be grand
Trumpy just signed an order disabling anti-bribery laws.
Tell him will withdaw his blue pills. Indeed we will withdraw them for all American men. That will take “him down “a peg
@Helena Camella Cummins: not sure American women would be too happy about that situation….
Poor old Donny will be paying a higher price for his Viagra when this kicks in
According to BBC and CNN, last night. ”It is internationally illegal to place tariffs on ‘medication’ ” If that is the case the media are taking us for a ride.
Tariffs are the soft edge bringing job losses before A.I. kicks in. The world is on the brink of revolutionary change not seen since the printing press or have automated loom.
@Keth 417: Been hearing this for 20+ years. You’ll understand if I reserve my shock for a later date.
Obama promised something similar and before him and so on.
Surly we should be trading with China/russia/ middle and far east / India / Africa in relation to pharma
Previous news article stated that medicines and medical devices were exempt under WTO rules.
@Colm Dillon: Yes, but this is trump they’re dealing with. Rules mean nothing
@Colm Dillon: Unilateral tariffs are also against WTO rules. Didn’t stop him yet.
@Colm Dillon: Don’t be interrupting a good anti Trump story.
Trump is just being Trump. The clown is convinced he us the ring master.
@Sun Rise: Unfortunately he is the ringmaster for now. I like the slogan MAGA – Mexicans always get across.
This is what we deserve for suckling upon the teet of multinational corporations, the USA and the EU.
@Ross: Sounds good but meaningless. We did well from the EU and the American corporations. It is difficult to protect economies or predict the effects of the likes of Putin or Trump coming to power.
Trump is clearly a narcissist who only accepts the narrative in his own mind whatever narrative he comes up with, it seems he believes that all other countries should just accept and be grateful that he’s made these decisions, he imposes tariffs on imported goods but you are bad to America if you place tariffs on American goods in response, I think these are dangerous times for the world and the world economies, what Trump doesn’t see because he as a narcissist believes he’s right no matter what and no one can change that mind set, that the damage Trump can implement on other countries economies can also have a knock on effect on the American economy and his MAGA followers are to blind and to stupid to see it until it’s too late.
Could the EU not scramble a few shackles together and pay someone to take another pop at him? Sorted.
@Barry Murphy: that’s not very nice to suggest someone be killed regardless of who they are
Lefties losing it I love it best president ever imagine a politician not lying and doing what he promised to do
As usual all the eggs in one basket. All it takes in one domino to fall and our economy will not recover. With amount of depth we have the bond markets will kill us. The signs are there on the horizon but nothing will be done to change trajectory.
The EU have only brought this on themselves. They had plenty of time before Trump came back into office to reduce and eventually abolish the high tariffs that they place on American goods. These include a 10% tariff on cars, a 50% tariff on dairy products, a 20% tariff on cereal grains, a 25% tariff on alcoholic beverages and a 20% tariff on steel among others. You reap what you sow. Tariffs are so stupid and are just another tax consumers. However, did the EU really think that Trump was just going to accept the various high tariffs that were in place on American goods? He literally ran his re-election campaign on what he saw as unbalanced tariff rates and unfair trade deals just like his first term. The EU really needs to start accepting that tariffs don’t work if they want to avoid this.
In Robert Kennedy, we have a proud son of Ireland in the regime. Surely we can take advantage of this very special bond we share with the Kennedy dynasty to increase our pharmaceutical exports. It’s good business.
@Argus Romsworth: Problem is the other members of the dynasty have disowned him and I don’t think many Irish people are proud of him.
Surely it can’t be purely coincidental that it’s April 1st…..FOOLS day
@Róisín Flemping Bunt-Himmler: perhaps read the article, report to be ready April 1st?
@Róisín Flemping Bunt-Himmler: prescription or description?
@Tom Newell: The IDA should give him his own data centre for Valentine’s Day!
Forgot it was the America’s job to look after the poor little Irish.
Dole mentality as usual from Irelands hard left losers
A simple solution would be to remove VAT on US imports. This would benefit consumers.
Let’s get it done.
His getting things done though.
have your say