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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.
I am a 33-year-old living in Wicklow and working in HR. I currently rent a one-bed granny flat from my partner’s parents which includes bills.
I drive an electric car that I get to charge at work, so I only pay for any charging I do at home.
I’m saving €1,500 a month in a Bank of Ireland mortgage savings account; savings are where the majority of my money goes.
My main goal is to spend as little money as possible this week, but that is my dream every week. We’ll see how we go!
Occupation: HR administrator
Age: 33
Location: Co Wicklow
Salary: €43,000
Monthly pay (net): €2,648
Transport: About €40 for charging my car at home
Rent: €500 (includes bills, other than charging my car)
Phone bill: €45
Health insurance: €79
Groceries: €200
Subscriptions: €11.44 for Audible and Google
Savings: €1,500
***
6.30 am: Alarm goes off, get ready and get breakfast. I did a lot of meal prep yesterday, so this week’s breakfast is congee. I put together a salad to bring with me for lunch, read some news articles and try to remember to bring my gym bag when I leave. I am so bad at this that sometimes, I have to put it right in the way of the front door so I would need to move it to leave. I did not have to do that this morning because I already had the rubbish bin in prime position at the front door so I wouldn’t forget to put it out, which is much more urgent in nature than going to the gym.
7.10 am: Drive to work with my gym bag in the car and the rubbish in the bin; this is a good morning. It’s a beautiful drive and I listen to my audiobook on the way (Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins).
7.50 am: Arrive at work, get a coffee from the machine and get down to it.
1.00 pm: Lunch is the salad I made this morning and water. Getting 2 litres of water in a day is almost a full-time job in itself. A good friend from work is on maternity leave and I am giving her office updates. Before heading back to my desk, I plug in my car to charge.
5.00 pm: Work is finished, and I head to the gym. I normally go with a friend but she’s not with me today. Normally we would focus on weights but, in her absence, I am doing cardio instead. My membership will be up at the end of the summer, and I will have to factor this expense in.
7.00 pm: I get home and yep, you guessed it, another meal-prepped meal. I know it sounds boring, but to try to manage my money and my diet, I eat pretty much the exact same things every day. This week’s dinners are roasted vegetables and grilled prawns, and then later in the week I’ll have stuffed peppers and rice. I am trying to prep one meal for Monday through Thursday and then prep a different meal for Fri/Sat/Sun (the ingredients for which I already have). The less time I can spend cooking, the better.
8.00 pm: I do the dishes, lay out my clothes for tomorrow, water my plants, have a shower, feed my fish, and then play a video game (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) with my partner. Sometimes it feels like the chores and the work and the routines and the savings will swallow me up and I have no time to live, but then I look into my lovely fish tank or pick a flower from my garden or beat a difficult boss in a game and remember it’s all living.
10.30 pm: Bedtime!
Today’s total: €0.00 Let’s keep it up!
6.30 am: Another morning, get up and get breakfast. Having breakfast and dinner prepared on a Sunday evening really saves me a whole lot of time during the week. I make up my salad for lunch and watch a few TikToks before driving to work. It’s raining, which means I won’t have to worry about watering my flowers today! Gym bag is also in hand, but it was touch-and-go this morning.
7.50 am: Arrive at work, make a coffee and head to the desk. There was a time when I would stop at the café near work most days and get a coffee, and I do miss this, but the coffee at work is really good.
1.00 pm: Chicken salad for lunch, plug the car in, play some Stardew Valley. My friend on maternity leave had her baby this morning. Everyone is delighted for her!
5.00 pm: Finish work, head to the gym. Working on arms today. It’s so much better to have a workout buddy with you; we get loads of talking done.
7.00 pm: Get home, reheat my dinner which is the same as yesterday. I know many people can’t get behind the same meal every day, but I look forward to it, and as long as I continue to feel this way, I will continue to eat this way. Family texts asking if my partner and I are free on Friday evening for pizza – which is always a yes! A friend texts asking if I want to see the new Lilo and Stitch movie – that’s a maybe. It’s quite a long drive for me to any cinema, so while I would love to see them, it depends on a number of factors.
9.00 pm: Why is it I will watch an hour-long silent video on YouTube of some guy building a deck but when I go on to Netflix, I cannot choose a single show or movie to watch? Anyway, watch nothing on YouTube for a bit and then play a bit of our game.
11.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €0.00. This is all going swimmingly.
6.30 am: Alarm goes off and I contemplate life for a bit before I remind myself, I didn’t actually schedule a time to lie here contemplating life this morning, and I must get up. Brush hair and teeth and get ready. Heat up my breakfast and wipe down the counters.
7.10 am: Driving to work, new audiobook today – Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. You might be noticing a theme in my book choices at the moment; I’m going through all The Hunger Games before reading Sunrise on the Reaping. I’ve set myself a goal of reading 25 books this year and I’m 11 books down now, going well. No gym bag this morning – no gym this afternoon.
1.00 pm: Every other Wednesday, our office supplies platters of sandwiches in the canteen and we have an Uno league. It is very competitive. I am currently top of the leaderboard, but my luck appears to be waning!
5.00 pm: Head home and get my dinner and shower done very quickly as I’m back out again at 6.30 pm.
7.00 pm: For me sins, I am the president of a local ICA (Irish Countrywoman’s Association) guild, and we meet for a Bitch n’ Stitch every week. On my way there, I pick up biscuits and milk for tea. For each member that attends on the night it costs €5.00, so I pay my dues but get the money back for the milk and biscuits. I am working on learning embroidery; we have women knitting, crocheting, doing patchwork, making soft toys and the craic is 90.
9.00 pm: Head home again and spend some time with my partner.
11.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €5.00
5.30 am: Dear reader, please know I did not plan to get up at 5.30 am. But I was awake and so I did get up at that time. Since I was up earlier than expected, I used this time to prepare my dinner for the next few days: stuffed red peppers. Love to get a boring chore out of the way where I can. I eat my breakfast and, since it’s also my anniversary with my partner, I make a card for him. Before I leave, I make a salad for lunch and grab an orange.
7.50 am: Arrive at work. It’s a glorious morning and I saw two deer on the drive. Where I live, I see deer pretty much every single day and it never gets old, they are so beautiful. I’m also keeping an eye out on the hedgerows for lilac I could pick at the weekend; I love the smell of lilac. I make a coffee and head to the desk.
1.00 pm: I pop to the shop to get my partner his favourite snacks (€10.50) and give a lift to two colleagues, saving them the walk in the heat. When I get back, I plug my car in to charge and eat my salad.
5.00 pm: Drive home, still listening to my audiobook in the car. Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is pretty good! I obviously have a soft spot for the original Hunger Games series, but it is refreshing to have a new story to go along with it.
6.00 pm: My partner’s parents have prepared a roast chicken dinner so it’s a whole family affair, very enjoyable. We exchange anniversary gifts and spend the evening playing our game; we’re a very low-key couple.
11.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €10.50 for snackies
6.30 am: Thank F it’s Friday. It’s actually been a pretty good week; I’m in a great mood this morning. I get up, get ready, get my breakfast and read the news on my new tablet my partner gifted me last night.
7.50 am: Get to work and make a coffee. I very nearly bought a coffee this morning; the sun was shining, and I just felt the desire for a treat. It was really hard to fight that feeling, but I stuck to my guns and got coffee at the office.
1.00 pm: Have my salad and take a walk in the sunshine.
4.00 pm: Finish work for the weekend! I drive home pretty quickly to collect my partner and then drive us both to a restaurant to meet my family for pizza and (non-alcoholic) beer (€63 for the two of us). I live in the same village as my partner’s family but quite far from my own, so it’s really nice to see them.
10.00 pm: We’re watching Clarkson’s Farm season 4, and we are locked in. What a time to be alive. Reader, if you haven’t watched Clarkson’s Farm, I highly recommend it.
12.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €63 for pizza for two
8.00 am: Slow start to the day, the sun is shining, and I do a little gardening and then make breakfast. Because I am saving for a house, I try to do as little as possible at the weekends to avoid situations for spending money. This goes against my natural extraverted instincts but calm and relaxing weekends at home can also be nice.
12.00 pm: Head to our closest Lidl to do my shopping for the week, it’s Greek Week and I have just returned from a beautiful holiday in Greece, so I went a little bit overboard with the snacks and did not stick to my €50 budget (€71.50). I would have gone yesterday after work, but we were going out for dinner, and I didn’t have the time. There is some form of race in and around our village, so the traffic is dismal. This is life in this village for six months of the year and it takes all my inner strength not to shout profanities out the window. There are pros and cons to living in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
3.00 pm: Time for chores! I do my laundry and tidy my little flat. I do have to trick myself into doing this by putting on medieval tavern music and pretending I’m some form of bar wench who must clean the tavern or be put out onto the streets. Don’t judge me, it works for a high-calibre procrastinator like myself.
6.00 pm: My partner and I make chicken kebabs and garlic flatbreads together and have a lovely meal.
10.00 pm: Watching some more Clarkson’s Farm, it really is brilliant.
12.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €71.50 for groceries
10.00 am: Lazy, hazy summer Sunday. Get up and make some bacon sandwiches for myself and himself. We read the news and have some coffee in the garden.
12.00 pm: I make a peach tart, and it turns out lovely!
3.00 pm: I’m knitting a jumper for a friend so I do that for a while, but it’s a little bit too warm to be handling such thick wool, so I opt for a little walk by a nearby river instead.
6.00 pm: I prep my breakfasts and dinners for the first half of next week, it is a chore and a bore but the time saved midweek is worth more than gold.
8.00 pm: After dinner, we begin watching Harlots on Netflix. Excellent show!
11.00 pm: Bedtime.
Today’s total: €0.00
***
What I learned –
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