WELCOME TO HOW I Spend My Money, a series on The Journal that looks at how people in Ireland really handle their finances.
Are you a spender, a saver or a splurger? 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. 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 student on €21K in their final year of college who is planning to emigrate. This week, a self-employed engineering consultant on €120K living in Co Galway.
I am a married father of two living in Galway. My role is currently hybrid, with three days in the office and two days working from home each week. My wife’s role is fully remote since Covid, so this has really worked in our favour with raising the kids. I manage to save €1,000 per month in savings and also invest €500 per month in passive investments. I have managed to be fairly consistent with these for the last two or three years.
Having two sports-mad boys means my hobbies and spare time revolve around taxiing them to training and matches, but I find some time each week to pursue my own sporting interests, such as golf, gym and attending sporting events (GAA and rugby).
My wife and I both contribute monthly amounts (based on our earnings) into the joint account, which we use to cover mortgage, car repayments, groceries, household bills, incidentals for kids, etc. We use shared Revolut pockets to save for things like holidays and weekends away.
Occupation: Self-employed engineering consultant
Age: 30s
Location: Galway
Salary: €120,000+
Monthly pay (net): Around €6,200
Monthly expenses
Transport: €90 per month on average for petrol, €285 per month for car PCP, car insurance + tax = €750 per annum
Mortgage: €1,200
Household bills: €300 for electricity and gas (average), €70 for broadband and TV
Phone bill: €35
Health insurance: €320 per month
Groceries: €1,000 on average per month
Subscriptions: Netflix, Spotify, Audible – €45, Prime and Ring – €12, Apple iCloud – €3, NY Times – €2
Golf membership: €1,600 per year
Gym membership: €40 per month (€10 pay-as-you-go)
Coffee subscription: €25 per month
Pension: Pension contributions are made by my company to personal pension fund – €25,000 per annum
Savings: €1,000 per month saved in credit union
Investments: €500 per month invested in passive investment (ETFs) and low risk, long term funds
***
Monday
6.35am: Get up, have a shower and get ready for work. I normally WFH on Mondays but I have an update presentation to give to senior leadership, so need to go to the office today. I start the lunch preparation for the boy’s lunch boxes, pack my own breakfast, have a glass of water and out the door.
7.00am: Leave the house for my usual commute, which consists of a five-minute drive and a 25-minute walk to work.
7.30am: Arrive at work, get set up at my desk, read some emails and go for breakfast: overnight oats which my wife prepared and a free Americano from the coffee machine in the canteen.
8.00am: Start work by catching up on the rest of the emails and planning the day and week ahead.
10.00am: Second breakfast just consists of fruit I brought from home.
11.00am: Presentation is complete, and I am free to head home again.
11.30am: Arrive home, set up PC at desk and go do some training with the gym equipment we have at home.
12.30pm: Lunch at home consists of omelette and brown soda bread.
2.20pm: Go for a light 5km run to complete training for the day.
3.00pm: Boys arrive from school, so prepare them a small snack as they start their homework. My wife takes care of the homework.
4.30pm: Finish off work and power down the PC before I start the dinner. It’s chicken and chorizo pasta today.
5.00pm: The four of us sit down for dinner, we tend to have it around half five on weekdays as the evening is always full of kids’ activities.
6.00pm: Both the boys have hurling training, and I give a hand with the coaching.
7.30pm: Arrive home from training. Have a cup of tea and some Greek yoghurt while watching some TV.
8.30pm: Play some hurling out the back with the boys.
9.30pm: Call it a night
Today’s total: €0.00
Tuesday
6.35am: Get up, have a shower and get ready for work. Same routine – pack my lunch, start the kids’ lunch, glass of water and out the door.
7.30am: Arrive at work, get set up at my desk, read some emails and go for breakfast. It’s overnight oats and a free Americano in the work canteen again.
8.00am: Back to the desk. I have a busy day with meetings today, starting at 8.30am.
10.30am: Second breakfast just consists of fruit I brought from home.
1.00pm: Lunch in the office consists of leftovers from last night’s dinner.
4.30pm: Finish off work and power down the PC before heading home.
5.00pm: Arrive home and start the dinner. My mother is coming over for dinner tonight, so going to do some roast chicken breasts, mash and veg.
5.45pm: Eldest lad comes in from football training, and we all sit down for dinner.
7.00pm: Head out to the gym to do a Hyrox session. (€10)
9.00pm: Arrive home from gym, grab some Greek yoghurt, a cup of tea and watch a TV series with my wife.
10.15pm: Call it a night.
Today’s total: €10.00
Wednesday
6.35am: Get up and do the same morning routine.
7.30am: Arrive at work, rinse and repeat with breakfast in the canteen.
8.00am: Start work, catching up on the rest of the emails and planning the day and week ahead.
10.30am: Second breakfast is fruit.
12.30pm: Go for a walk myself before lunch, take the usual route.
1.00pm: Lunch in the office consists of leftovers from last night’s dinner.
4.30pm: Finish off work and power down the PC before heading home.
5.00pm: Arrive home and have dinner of fajitas that my wife has prepared. The boys have already eaten their dinner when they came in from school.
5.45pm: Both the boys have hurling training, so bring them to that.
7.30pm: Arrive home from training, grab a cup of tea and biscuits and watch some TV with my wife.
9.45pm: Call it a night.
Today’s total: €0.00
Thursday
6.35am: Get up and do the usual.
7.30am: Arrive at work, rinse and repeat with breakfast in the canteen
8.00am: Start work. I catch up on some emails and plan the day and week ahead.
10.30am: Second breakfast is fruit again.
12.30pm: Go for a walk myself before lunch – usual route.
1.00pm: Lunch in the office is leftovers again.
4.30pm: Finish off work and head home.
5.00pm: Arrive home, cook and have dinner with the family, chicken and chorizo quesadillas, homemade salsa and salad tonight.
6.20pm: Youngest son has a hurling blitz, so all of us head out for the evening.
8.50pm: Arrive home, have a cup of tea and Greek yoghurt, watch a TV series with my wife.
10.00pm: Call it a night.
Today’s total: €0.00
Friday
7.00am: Wake up. I’m working from home today, so I get up a little later, take a shower and get ready.
7.20am: Overnight oats and an Americano for breakfast again. I prepare the school lunches too.
7.55am: Leave the house and head to local supermarket to do the weekly shop – it costs €240 today. This shop covers us for most of the week except for the odd few bits and pieces during the week that my wife picks up.
8.45am: Arrive back to the house and unpack shopping.
9.00am: Make first work call. I tend to have less calls on a Friday, but I have a few scheduled ones spread over the day today.
10.30am: Second breakfast is coffee and fruit.
11.00am: Break up some meetings by going for a light jog.
1.00pm: Lunch today is an omelette, toast and a Greek yogurt.
2.00pm: Do a weights’ session at home.
3.00pm: Take my last work call and finish up for the day. I head out to play in the garden with the kids for a while.
5.00pm: Order pizza delivery for the kids as my wife and I are going out for dinner (€28). We get the bus into town at 6pm (€4).
8.30pm: Have a nice meal, cocktails and share bottle of wine (€178) and decide to go to the bar next door for another drink.
9.45pm: Finish two gin and tonics each (€44) and we get a lift home from a relative.
Today’s total: €494.00
Saturday
7.15am: Wake up, shower and get ready for the day. My youngest lad has an away soccer match and eldest lad has a home soccer match.
7.40am: Gets the kids up, and we all have breakfast – overnight oats and coffee for me and my wife, cereals and toast for the boys.
8.40am: The four of us leave the house, and we head off in different directions.
11.30am: The boys finish their soccer matches. We stop on the way home to pick them up some chicken rolls from the local deli for their lunch. (€12)
1.00pm: Have lunch with my wife at home using some sandwich fillings that we picked up from the shop yesterday.
2.00pm: Do a weights session at home
4.00pm: Go for a walk with the wife – just the usual loop.
5.00pm: Start the dinner. It’s homemade chicken burgers and homemade chips today – a crowd pleaser.
8.30pm: After putting the kids to bed, we sit down to watch some TV and share a bottle of wine we had saved for a couple of weeks. I do some online clothes shopping for the upcoming holidays. (€115)
10.30pm: Call it a night.
Today’s total: €127.00
Sunday
6.30am: Wake up early for a Sunday as I’m playing golf today.
7.00am: Overnight oats and an Americano for breakfast again before I leave the house to head to the golf course for a 7.40am tee off.
7.30am: Enter the weekend competition when I reach the golf club. (€8)
12.00pm: Finish the round and head home. No risk of me winning any medals today!
1.00pm: Lunch today is a toasted wrap.
2.00pm: Watch some sport on the TV with the boys.
5.00pm: Start making dinner and have my father-in-law coming over for dinner. Chicken curry on the menu today.
6.00pm: Five of us sit down for dinner, my father-in-law brings dessert.
8.00pm: Sit down on the couch and continue to watch the TV series my wife and have been following on Netflix.
9.45pm: Call it a night and head to bed.
Today’s total: €8.00
Weekly subtotal: €639.00
(€133 spent from my personal current account on golf comp, holiday clothes and Hyrox, €506 from joint account on the weekly shop, night out, kids lunch and pizza for the kids)
***
What I learned –
- I have learnt after recording the Money Diary for the week that my spending is generally very little day-to-day as I don’t buy lunches, coffee, etc. out. The one night we did go out cost us a lot and is not something we do or could manage every week.
- I had noticed my shopping behaviours change in recent years, but it is striking how little I spend in local shops or businesses. Coffee and clothes are bought online, and then our food spending is nearly entirely in big supermarkets.
- I would say both my wife and I are quite disciplined financially; we enjoy spending money on holidays and trips away, so we keep the budgets tight week-to-week, which enables us to afford those.
- I appreciate that we are in a very fortunate position considering our incomings and outgoings, and hope that the housing market eases in the coming years so that our kids can be afforded the same opportunities to own a home and have a decent lifestyle without paying exorbitant amounts on mortgage or rent.