Cost of living in Dublin 2008

Gone West

Some really good friends of mine are living on €600 a month rent in the west (for a lovely 4 bed house, so €150 pm each), 5 of them share bills and food shopping costs etc. Afaik they would spend about 150 a week on shopping between all of them, and they eat really well. Theres always a huge, well balanced and delicious dinner cooked in turns, and someone else will make lunches for each day. Brekfast is lidl cereal and fruit/yoghurt. Internet, esb bills are negligible really when divided by 4. 2 of the 4 drive, and the other share cost of insurance/petrol as they only really drive to work or out on free leisure activities (surfing, swimming, hill walking, diving, camping, learning languages etc)
They're all saving up by working fulltime and getting themselves ready to leave the country. Its not in/near Dublin though, just thought I'd throw in the example.

Theres a whole house of people literally living on around 3 grand a year, all enough money to be in the higher end of the tax bracket, and all saving their asses off. In about 1 more year(3 years in total), they will be able to afford to buy a fantastic hotel in a stunning and up and coming part of the world. They live life really well, are active, enjoy being outdoors, and are having a ball while spending about 20% tops of what they each earn.

In 1 year they will have semi retired to all run and live in a big enough hotel, with a few local staff. They will be making plenty of money locally, have lots of savings invested from Ireland, own their own property (the hotel they want to buy has some small guest houses on the grounds), etc.

Its all how you play the hand you're dealt.
Take care

bangersandmash

Meathlass wrote: »

Do most people not just eat sandwiches for lunch, I think i'd be sick if I'd a full meal and then had to go back to work.

Sorry, I meant a sandwich as opposed to a hot meal. I wouldn't be interested in having a large meal for lunch either. But surely adding meat and fruit considerably pushes the price up? Unless you've found a butchers/grocers that's 50% cheaper than Tesco, which itself is hardly a luxury food store. I've found that veg and fruit are extremely expensive in their Dublin stores - they seem to charge a premium for anything that could be remotely construed as healthy. I suppose it could be worse, I know some people who still do their weekly shop in Supervalue :eek:

Meathlass

bangersandmash wrote: »

Sorry, I meant a sandwich as opposed to a hot meal. I wouldn't be interested in having a large meal for lunch either. But surely adding meat and fruit considerably pushes the price up? Unless you've found a butchers/grocers that's 50% cheaper than Tesco, which itself is hardly a luxury food store. I've found that veg and fruit are extremely expensive in their Dublin stores - they seem to charge a premium for anything that could be remotely construed as healthy. I suppose it could be worse, I know some people who still do their weekly shop in Supervalue :eek:

I buy all fruit and veg in a green grocer. I probably don't buy the really expensive fruit like grapes, usually have kiwi, melons, potatoes, carrots, oranges, pears etc. I can still get it all for a tenner. I never buy meat in tesco. I dont' eat much during the day as my job is very physical so don't like having a full stomach, some days for lunch i'd just have soup and brown bread. Plus we only have 30 mins for lunch so there's a limited amout of food you can eat in that time. I can't believe people do their weekly shop in Supervalue! I found that buying fruit and veg in Tesco meant that I was buying more than I could eat in a week and then throwing it all out due to their bogof and prepackaged deals so now I buy everything loose in a greengrocers and just buy what I need for that week.

ionapaul

bangersandmash wrote: »

Sorry, I meant a sandwich as opposed to a hot meal. I wouldn't be interested in having a large meal for lunch either. But surely adding meat and fruit considerably pushes the price up? Unless you've found a butchers/grocers that's 50% cheaper than Tesco, which itself is hardly a luxury food store. I've found that veg and fruit are extremely expensive in their Dublin stores - they seem to charge a premium for anything that could be remotely construed as healthy. I suppose it could be worse, I know some people who still do their weekly shop in Supervalue :eek:

I wonder do we all shop in different cities? In Dublin, you can enjoy a tasty, hearty lunch (if you make it yourself at home!!! much tastier and probably better for you than something from one of those sandwich places or the local Spar) every day at work as part of that €50 budget. I will admit that I don't drink coffee and have always done packed lunches at work so maybe I find it easier than others. Oh yeah, in addition to the fillet steak, I'm addicted to asparagus and it ain't particularly cheap compared to other veggies!

Is an ability to live well on a modest budget a cause or a symptom of Ireland's credit binge over the last decade? Life is no fun if you are always scrimping and saving but when you hear about people eating take away every night (I know one or two like that!), the opposite is even worse I think! I just hate to see people burn money like that...

deaddonkey

fruit and veg: don't plan what you're buying, buy what's cheap and available on moore street, you can save a lot that way.

tibor

ionapaul wrote: »

I wonder do we all shop in different cities? In Dublin, you can enjoy a tasty, hearty lunch (if you make it yourself at home!!! much tastier and probably better for you than something from one of those sandwich places or the local Spar) every day at work as part of that €50 budget. I will admit that I don't drink coffee and have always done packed lunches at work so maybe I find it easier than others. Oh yeah, in addition to the fillet steak, I'm addicted to asparagus and it ain't particularly cheap compared to other veggies!

Is an ability to live well on a modest budget a cause or a symptom of Ireland's credit binge over the last decade? Life is no fun if you are always scrimping and saving but when you hear about people eating take away every night (I know one or two like that!), the opposite is even worse I think! I just hate to see people burn money like that...

Still waiting on the details of your 50euro 7 day diet that constitues eating "very, very well" with fillet steaks aplenty, and "tasty, hearty" lunches that justify your condescension...


As most seem to agree, 70-80euro would be somewhat more realistic for a decent weeks food with a bit of variety.

delija_sever029

Sheesh it seems theres opened some big disscussion:D
So for me who like to buy candies and eating food out,like bakehouses,fast food and things is it 400 monthly enough?

ionapaul

Yep, €400 a month will be enough for that sort of thing It is also more than possible to spend €200 on a night out in Dublin, so sticking to a weekly food budget may be the least of your worries.

ionapaul

tibor wrote: »

Still waiting on the details of your 50euro 7 day diet that constitues eating "very, very well" with fillet steaks aplenty, and "tasty, hearty" lunches that justify your condescension...


As most seem to agree, 70-80euro would be somewhat more realistic for a decent weeks food with a bit of variety.

I'm not going to continue to derail the thread on this, but for anyone interested:

Three days fillet steak: €15
Four days chicken fillet: €8 (at most, if organic)
Staples (rice / pasta / potato): €5 (again, if you enjoy paying top price)
Bread: €2
Milk: €3
Cereal: €5 (at most)
Cheese: €2
Veg & salad: €5 (asparagus, lettuce, cucumber and prob sugar snap peas)
Sundries: €5 (God knows what you want here...soy sauce maybe?)

I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for here - I only buy for myself and have a very healthy diet, enough to fuel 3 days intense exercise a week in the gym - I will conceed it may be boring compared to other's diets I bet a 'professional' could deliver a perfectly nutritious and varied diet on €25 a week in Ireland...anyone willing to try? Bottom line is most people cannot budget, cannot cook, cannot manage money and this is why Irish people have one of the highest levels of private debt in the world...we'll reap what we've sown.

delija_sever029

Thanks for your answer:)

Raskolnikov

It's all well and good talking about doing a food budget of €50, but what about the other necessities of life? Bog roll, washing powder, toothpaste, soap, cleaning products, etc, do not come that cheap. If you smoke or have a few beers once a week, that's also going to make a dent.

ionapaul

Also, the cost of running a car can be prohibitive, most of us greatly underestimate the annual running costs. I only drive about 5k miles annually (mainly the 20 minute spin to and from work), but I'm sure I spend €1,500+ on the damn thing between petrol, insurance, tax and servicing. Plus it is a depreciating asset

Dublin probably compares unfavourably to other similar sized cities in Europe in terms of living costs.

How Strange

Raskolnikov wrote: »

It's all well and good talking about doing a food budget of €50, but what about the other necessities of life? Bog roll, washing powder, toothpaste, soap, cleaning products, etc, do not come that cheap.

IMO, these are the things that send your food shopping bill through the roof especially toiletries. Don't get me started on why a shower gel which is double the size costs half as much in Spain compared paying twice the price for half the volume here. Grrr.

I get all my household stuff in Lidl. Miles cheaper than other supermarkets. I also try to buy toiletries in boots on 3 for 2 offers.

How Strange

ionapaul wrote: »

Also, the cost of running a car can be prohibitive, most of us greatly underestimate the annual running costs. I only drive about 5k miles annually (mainly the 20 minute spin to and from work), but I'm sure I spend €1,500+ on the damn thing between petrol, insurance, tax and servicing. Plus it is a depreciating asset.

I recently gave up driving during the week to work. I take 4 buses everyday and have still saved over €30 a week, am half as stressed as I used to be and am reading a book a week. Highly recommend it.

tibor

ionapaul wrote: »

I'm not going to continue to derail the thread on this, but for anyone interested:

Three days fillet steak: €15
Four days chicken fillet: €8 (at most, if organic)
Staples (rice / pasta / potato): €5 (again, if you enjoy paying top price)
Bread: €2
Milk: €3
Cereal: €5 (at most)
Cheese: €2
Veg & salad: €5 (asparagus, lettuce, cucumber and prob sugar snap peas)
Sundries: €5 (God knows what you want here...soy sauce maybe?)

Don't like breakfast or lunch, no?

Bottom line is most people cannot budget, cannot cook, cannot manage money and this is why Irish people have one of the highest levels of private debt in the world...we'll reap what we've sown.

Irish people have one of the highest levels of private debt because we're just coming out of what was one of the largest asset bubbles in financial history.
I think you'll find that spending on food is pretty insignificant in that regard.

Meathlass

I presume he eats the cereal at breakfast time.

dizzydiesel

Victor wrote: »

It really depends on how you live.

Miserable. €1,000 per month
Cheap. €1,500 per month
Good. €2,000 per month
Wah-hey! €X,000 per month

I like your simple guide......accurate too!

mikemac

ionapaul wrote: »

Also, the cost of running a car can be prohibitive, most of us greatly underestimate the annual running costs. I only drive about 5k miles annually (mainly the 20 minute spin to and from work), but I'm sure I spend €1,500+ on the damn thing between petrol, insurance, tax and servicing. Plus it is a depreciating asset

Since the OP is looking for advice on how to live cheap, I’d strongly advise against getting a car. You don’t need one and every single day you own it you’ll be losing money.

Need to get around but public transport doesn’t suit?
Get a scooter, cheap as chips to run!
ionapaul, you'd be spending maybe €8 weekly on fuel and €50 annually on tax if you sold the car and got a scooter.

ntlbell

tibor wrote: »

Don't like breakfast or lunch, no?



Irish people have one of the highest levels of private debt because we're just coming out of what was one of the largest asset bubbles in financial history.
I think you'll find that spending on food is pretty insignificant in that regard.

He wasn't blaming the high levels of debt on food, he was stating because they simply can't manage their money.

Irish people are too quick to throw things on the credit card get loans to pay of loans..

I know someone who wait for it

re-mortgaged, so they could pay their mortgage...with the re-mortgage?

They're on very high wages but can't "manage" their money be it food, car's holidays etc....

it's the overall bad management that has people up **** creek and in for a bit of a shock

ionapaul

tibor wrote: »

Don't like breakfast or lunch, no?

What? Combine the milk and cereal in a bowl, add a spoon and that is breakfast I think It's also what I usually eat last thing in the evening too, I love cereal! Combine the bread, cheese and salad in sandwich format and that's my lunch!

I'm trying to think of other 'hidden' and not so hidden costs associated with living in Dublin - drinking out is very expensive, an increasing amount of people drink at home before going out, practically all my friends do so. There is a widening gap between things being 'affordable' and percieved as 'good value' - most of us can afford to pay €6 a pint, we could even afford €20 a pint if we had to, but see it as bad value.

Rent is something else that a lot of people are too hasty with - there are always 'bargains' out there if you look hard enough. I read with disbelief about people paying €700 / mo for a room outside the immediate city centre, as there are enough sub-€600 double rooms in D2 / D4 / D6 if you look hard enough. I think some of us are too quick to see a nice room and pay whatever is being asked, with a HUGE amount of rooms and properties available at the moment and with the graphs climbing ever skyward (and rents being pressured accordingly), it is easier to find value and even drive a bargain. What do you think?

delija_sever029

Well this thread went in different way,i didnt mention to buy cheap things or those things,just to ask is it 400 per month enough for eating normally,fast food sometimes,candies and other things,with not much of cooking,or thats too much or too little money

Eglinton

Living in Milltown (very nice), on the Luas (middle stop), work in Sandyford (on luas but I drive). Share with 2 others in 3 bed apartment.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/

delija_sever029

Nice one,from this i can get some conclusions about living costs,thats what i want to see for Dublin expenses

Eglinton

I've just read through a few of the other posts. €50 is insanely low for a week's grocery shop in Dublin. I did a sample shop on Tesco.ie and tried to buy a realistic amount of food to sustain someone sane while also choosing the cheaper options (Tesco Value)

Menu

Monday - Steak + Potatoes, Corn Flakes, Beans on Toast, Yogurt, Fruit
Tuesday - Steak + Potatoes, Corn Flakes, Beans on Toast, Yogurt, Fruit
Wednesday - Lasagne + Chips, Corn Flakes, Beans on Toast, Yogurt Fruit
Thursday - Lasagne + Chips, Corn Flakes, Beans on Toast, Yogurt Fruit
Friday - Sauage and Tomato Pasta, Corn Flakes, Beans on Toast, Yogurt, Fruit
Saturday - Sauage and Tomato Pasta, Corn Flakes, Beans on Toast, Yogurt, Fruit
Sunday - Chicken, Chips, Veg, Gravy, Corn Flakes, Yogurt, Fruit, Beans on Toast

Beverages for the week - Mi Wadi 1 litre, Milk 2 litres.

I only bought enough to sustain one person (bare minimum like 1 apple a day) and I've probably left a few things out such as some of the basics required like cooking oil etc.

Total came to 67 euro.

I can't see how anyone could live on less food than this and to get to this you have to stretch your meals over two days which would get pretty painful.

ionapaul

Eglinton wrote: »

Living in Milltown (very nice), on the Luas (middle stop), work in Sandyford (on luas but I drive). Share with 2 others in 3 bed apartment.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/

Wow, good work listing it all out. I spend a lot less than you a month, living with only one person in the centre of Rathmines, but I think my bills, etc are much lower. Makes you wonder how single people earning €25k or less a year do it, doesn't it?

delija_sever029

List your cost of living than:)

Eglinton

ionapaul wrote: »

Wow, good work listing it all out. I spend a lot less than you a month, living with only one person in the centre of Rathmines, but I think my bills, etc are much lower. Makes you wonder how single people earning €25k or less a year do it, doesn't it?

It also makes you wonder how anyone can pay a mortgage in Dublin at all. My lifestyle would be destoyed by a mortgage. That is not the way it should be. A little give and take, yes - but a complete life alteration, no thanks.

ionapaul

I more than agree with you about the mortgage! We are still at the top of the bubble, it is funny to hear people say 'prices have fallen 15%, how can they fall any more...!' - prices are going to fall for years to get back to the historical mean and a level supported by 'the fundamentals' - it is hard to convince people that waiting and saving is the best policy, so many are still brainwashed by our national property mania...

astrofool

Eglinton wrote: »

It also makes you wonder how anyone can pay a mortgage in Dublin at all. My lifestyle would be destoyed by a mortgage. That is not the way it should be. A little give and take, yes - but a complete life alteration, no thanks.

Mortgages have always required a complete alteration of lifestyle, your parents were hit by it, their parents and so on, unless you happen upon a large inheritance, or something else drastic, however, as time goes on, the hit becomes relatively less and less, and eventually you will wonder what the big deal about it was. For the first few years, it is always hard.

Eglinton

astrofool wrote: »

Mortgages have always required a complete alteration of lifestyle, your parents were hit by it, their parents and so on, unless you happen upon a large inheritance, or something else drastic, however, as time goes on, the hit becomes relatively less and less, and eventually you will wonder what the big deal about it was. For the first few years, it is always hard.

Oh I don't know about that. Mortgages are now a bigger multiple of ones' salary and therefore the burden is greater. The market needs to normalise, which it appears to be doing, so hopefully in a year or two a mortgage repayment will only be a little more than what I'm capable of saving right now. Of course this depends on the individual's salary, where they intend buying and proof that they're prudent savers. It is now possible to buy a place in Dublin 6 for the same price as a place in Tallaght two years ago. Hopefully this will continue.