*** I live in Dublin with two housemates. We’ve been renting our current place for about eight months, but I’ve been living in Dublin since I moved up for college about six years ago. I work full time, two days in the office and three at home.
I probably spend most of my money on food, either on nice groceries to make good dinners or on nice meals out – maybe once a week or so. I’m definitely making a conscious effort to cut back on takeaways etc, but my admitted shortfall is a takeaway coffee. I probably have one once a day in the office or from a coffee shop near home.
It’s the first thing I would cut back on if I had serious savings goals in mind, but I earn a decent salary and am pretty good with saving small amounts very regularly so I’m not too stressed. I can be pretty spontaneous with certain purchases, casually dropping a few hundred euro on concert tickets or a holiday, but I’m trying to be more definite now. I’m not depriving myself of things I want, I’m just making sure I really want them before buying.
It’s a cliché but I won’t be able to afford a house in Dublin/Ireland the way things are so I’m not getting caught up on savings just now. I generally know each month what bills or expenses I’ll have and plan around that. Every so often, I sit down and track all my expenses to the cent in a big spreadsheet to see where it’s all going so that keeps me on track most of the time.
I’m lucky to have some good benefits through work that gi.
