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 technical program manager on €85K living in Dublin. This week, a civil servant on €95K living in the Midlands.

I’m a 33-year-old accountant working in the civil service. I live in the Midlands with my wife and our six-month-old baby. Financially, at the moment, we are trying to rebuild our savings after a few very expensive years in which we finished a house build, got married and had our first child. I put €550 a month into savings, but regularly, I will have to dip into this amount for certain annual expenses and any unexpected costs that crop up.

My wife is still on maternity leave so we don’t have any ongoing childcare costs yet, but this will likely change in the near future when she goes back to work. We are fortunate to have good jobs that pay well, but over the past year, we have really noticed the increase in all of our bills. Groceries especially seem to have increased a lot and our money in general just doesn’t go near as far as it used to.

In my spare time, I love to stay active. I try and go to the gym or run three times a week and golf once a week. It’s the GAA club championship season now, and I like to get down to see my local club’s matches when I can. I finished playing the sport two years ago, but still like to see how the lads are getting on.

Occupation: Civil servant

Monthly pay (net): €4,371 after pension contributions

Monthly expenses split with my wife

Transport: €85 (charging two EVs, mostly charged at home)

TV and broadband: €140

Electricity bill: €220 (approx – it varies depending on time of year)

Phone bill: €30 (two mobile phones)

Health insurance: €84 (policy for myself, wife and baby)

Groceries and household items: €800

Subscriptions: €52 (Netflix, Apple Music, Apple Cloud Storage)

Other miscellaneous expenses: €100

Personal monthly expenses

Car loan repayment: €452

Other subscriptions: €22

Other expenses paid annually from savings

Golf membership: €1,500

6.50am: Our baby is awake and wants to start the day, so I get up and take him downstairs while my wife gets some more sleep. I give him a bottle and play with him for an hour or so and have my own breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast and a coffee. It’s then time to try and get the little man off to sleep for a nap before I start work. I am working from home today and will clock in around 9am.

9.00am: Success! Baby is down for a nap. My wife takes over the child duties and I clock into work. I check my calendar and I have no meetings today, just what you want to see on a Monday. I have a couple of tasks from Friday that need to be done first, so I get stuck into them.

1.00pm: The morning goes by fairly quickly and the lack of meetings has allowed me to plan out my work for the rest of the week, as well as get all my own tasks done. Time for lunch now. The fridge is fairly bare as we get our shopping delivered on a Tuesday, so it’s slim pickings today. I opt to go to the local shop for a roll. It costs €5.90.

1.30pm: Back to work. The pace of work slows a bit, but I get enough done to feel like I’ve accomplished something today.

4.30pm: Finish work for the day. I head to the kitchen to plan out the dinner for this evening. We have prawns and a load of bits of vegetables from throughout the week, so I decide I’ll make a prawn stir-fry with some peppers, onions and carrots and rice with it. I take some time to complete our online groceries order for tomorrow, adding any items we are low on in the fridge and pantry.

5.30pm: My wife gives our baby a bottle while I get the dinner ready. Once he’s fed and happy, we sit down to eat our stir-fry.

6.30pm: I get dinner cleaned up and the house in order while my wife gives the baby a bath and gets him ready for bed. I also take some time to get my clothes ready for work tomorrow. Tuesday is my anchor day in the office, so I have to be somewhat presentable. Then I put the car on charge, so I have a full battery for the........

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