Would it be enough

Declan1965

Would 500 euro per week be enough for 2 adults to live on. No mortgage as its fully paid off, no outstanding bank loans just small cc balance.

No children as fully grown up and left.

Just 2 adults and 1 dog, 3 bed semi as I said no mortgage left.. Nowhere near retirement age but not working at the moment. Joint income 500 per week

JustJoe7240

Without a doubt.

lordleitrim

It's a how long is a piece of string question. You don't say whether you pay health insurance, like to socialise, go on holidays, go to the gym, have monthly entertainment subscriptions, like to eat out, give gifts to children or grandchildren, whether your house is cheap to heat or how much heat you like, whether you like to shop in Aldi/Lidl or prefer brands, drive one or two cars and their maintenance. All these and countless other factors will decide how much or how little you need. 500 is just a random figure otherwise...

Make a list of all monthly expenditures and divide annual one off expenses like car insurance or annual holiday by 12 to include in your average monthly outgoings. You'll then see how far 500 goes per month.

Buddy Bubs

To live on, yes. To eat enough, dress yourself and pay your bills, yes.

To live lavishly on, have multiple holidays, save, contribute to a pension, have a pot to repair the house as needed, drive a nice car, have the best of clothes, eat out and go to shows regularly, no.

So it depends on what way you want to live. Also, you don't say where you live.

500 buys a lot of some things but very little of others.

Declan1965

OK so both non smokers, rarely go out for meals, occasionally go to the pub.

We have 1 car, shop in aldi and lidl, we live in South kildare.. Don't have gym membership just netflix for subscriptions.

Don't have any grandchildren

We have 1 sunholiday per year Spain or Portugal, cheap budget package.

House is 25 years old so no major maintenance required

Mrs OBumble

What state is the house in? Do you have an emergency fund if the boiler breaks down etc.

Is the house in an estate with a management company, or are you organising and paying for your own insurance and maintenance?

What's the insulation like? Meaning what's the powerbill like.

Etc.

How inflation proof is the €500?

Personally I'd say €500 pw is plenty. But it does depend on all the above.

Declan1965

Hi yes the boiler is 2 years old and just serviced with 10 year guarantee, we live in a estate but no management fees we pay our own insurance and maintenance.

We have 5years ago upgraded the kitchen and bathroom, we have 13k in savings

We have gas central heating and wood stove in the sitting room.

House is in good condition

the_amazing_raisin

Yeah I'd say €500 per month is enough to live on, but there's also very little margin for emergencies

I'm guessing your expenses might break down roughly as follows:

Broadband €50

Netflix €15

Phones €30 total

Electric and gas €75

Petrol €40

Food/shopping €200

Leaves about €90 per month for any fun budget. But you'll also need to build up money for annual bills like house insurance, life insurance, healthcare and road tax/NCT/car service

You'll want to keep a close eye on your bills like energy, phone and broadband. Set a reminder every year to shop around and make sure you're getting the best deals

I'd also recommend setting a level pay on your electricity and gas bills to avoid any shock bills in winter

As I said, I think it's doable but you're one step away from disaster without a good emergency fund and ways to replenish it

Declan1965

500 per week not month, we would have 2k a month to live on

suvigirl

OP said 500 Euro per week.

It would be enough for me, but I don't spend much.

HeidiHeidi

Nobody on here can answer that for definite for you.

Get a spreadsheet, and tally up your spending for the last few months, all the guaranteed and reasonably foreseeable expenses, and see how much of a cushion would be left for unexpected stuff after that.

You won't be long eating into savings if you try to run too fine a line.

But only you can identify your own lifestyle and desired standard of living.

Declan1965

I wasn't looking for a definite yes or no just wanted to get peoples opinions.

Declan1965

We don't have a lavish lifestyle, we live a simple life and don't have any major repayments on debt.

We host foreign student during the winter which is another 200 per week

We don't buy branded food just lidl or aldi brands, we spend about 120 a week on food.

13k in reserve

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122351593#Comment_122351593

Whoops, yeah I apparently can't read 😂

Yeah €2k per month sounds a lot more realistic, but you still want to make sure there's emergency funds there

As Heidi said, start tracking your expenses closely. Very often there's unplanned expenses which have a habit of building up and blowing out budgets

You'll need to get a handle on them and decide which you're willing to cut out and what you need to make life worth living

For the annual expenses, I've found it's very helpful to work out an annual budget and set aside money every month. A lot of online banking now has a money jar or pocket feature for this kind of thing. For example if your house insurance was €300 last year then save €25 per month into the insurance jar per month and it should cover it

Annoyingly things like insurance have a habit to go up every year so be sure to shop around and have some extra savings if possible to cover an overrun

I had a pocket for every annual expense, which admittedly got a bit head wrecking when there was around 20 of them. Now I've got a few instant access savings accounts for housing, car, occasions, holiday, etc.

SCOOP 64

€500 would be enough,in the same boat myself.

Now depends what you want out of life you won't be going on expensive holidays every year or driving around in Nearly new cars.

Declan1965

Just to live a simple and happy life, not having a Mortage is hugh as we paid it off in full in January, I have spent my life working and raising a family. I am too young to retire and don't have any plans to.

Older cars are the best and I don't mind driving one, I have missed so much of life due work and travelling.

I have paid off most of the debt just 1k on cc.

SCOOP 64

As it sounds like you have the right attitude it will work.

Buddy Bubs

A typical mortgage of 1000 to 1500, which you don't have, would mean you'll have same spending power as a couple with more like 700/800 per week. You can definitely make it work.

Factor in vet bills for that dog too.

rolling boh

Things like house maintenance or repairs as time goes on can be expensive, you can exist cheap enough but over time costs can accrue.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122351918#Comment_122351918

I think you've the right attitude, life is for living, not working. One thing to consider if you need some extra money is taking on some part time work

Dunno what your trade is, maybe it's something you can do on a part time basis or perhaps you'd like to branch out and do something different

One other thing, if the €500 per week is from social welfare then you need to check if any of it is means tested or will run out. For example, when you quit you're on Job seekers benefit for a while and then you get downgraded to job seekers allowance. Things like savings factor into the means test, so that needs to be considered as well

zell12

Well above the minimum standard of living required according to Social Justice people

https://www.budgeting.ie/download/pdf/wa_core_mesl_r_2024.pdf

JoeCat

I would say that for the time being you are ok, for the simple life you mentioned. For the future, just consider how sustainable these 500 eur a week are and also whether they are inflation proof (I don't think we are at the end of inflation) + what others have mentioned about big expenditures: car issues, house repairs, etc.

Declan1965

Obsolutly will take on part time work, but recently made redundant and trying to assess my life.

As I say we don't have high debt just 1k on cc, everything else has been paid.

I don't need a new car I drive an older car, cut my own firewood, handy enough at DIY, so really trying to establish do I go back to being a slave to the system or work part time. At the moment we have 500 a week for 2 adults, nó kids,

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122352357#Comment_122352357

Ha, this sounds like my life, I'm under threat of redundancy and I reckon I've around a 1% chance of keeping my job

I'm not quite in the position to stop working yet, so I'm on the job hunt

In your situation it sounds like you've the luxury of some time to think, so I'd definitely recommend sitting back and taking stock of your situation

If you go back full time, then it's worth asking yourself what the goal is. Maybe you want to bolster the pension before retirement or pay for a house refurb or have some money around to help the kids with the house deposit

Maybe that'll help by giving you something to work towards, rather than the meaningless grind

I would try to go part time if possible, gives you something to do and a bit of spare cash without taking your entire week

Just try to keep in mind that chopping your own firewood might be a bit harder in 20 years time, make sure there's enough there to live comfortably all the way to the end of you can

tayto lover

400 euro should do and you could save the other 100. You'd manage it quite easily. OP.

Declan1965

Basically our situation is as follows 2 adults no mortgage we own the house, no major debt to service.

Both kids grown up and no grandkids, both have their own house one living in the UK.

Weekly household income 500 euro, we both have medical cards, house is 25 years old and new gas boiler and kitchen and bathroom recently upgraded. We don't pay maintenance fees etc

We don't go out that often to restaurants maybe a very special occasion

I have occasionally a trip to the pub

So recently made redundant and trying to reevaluate my life, having spent years slaving away. I would prefer part time work as I never had a work life balance.

I am enjoying my time off and getting jobs done around the house, we don't need much in terms of luxurious things.

As I said I'm not old enough to retire and will go back to work but part time.

This content has been removed.

rolling boh

Think you would need some income ,depends a bit on your age as you don't want to have nothing aside when it comes to retirement age when you may well need money for health matters etc .Will be too late to try and earn money then in all likelihood.

Declan1965

I am using my time constructively, I am studying for my bus licence, I have always wanted to be a tour bus driver but never had the time to learn.

Donald Trump

Would it be an option to work for say 2 years while living frugally. That way you can see how well it works for you (as well as having a safety net) and if it goes well, you should have increased the savings pot up a bit (or max out what you can throw in to a pension if you get tax savings at the high rate on it)

rolling boh

If you got some work driving a bus that would make a difference I would think. It would also cut down on household overheads a bit if you were out earning some money and not being home all day .

Jellybaby_1

Just some notes from us pensioners:

“If you retire early, make sure you continue paying PRSI contributions, or that you are getting credited contributions (if you are eligible). This can help you get a contributory pension when you reach pension age.”

Vets fees can be enormous.

Human dentist fees can be enormous

Back injury? Chiropractor’s fees can be a shock, especially as its weekly visits for as long as they say.

At the end of each month I check our bank balance and hope the balance is higher than the previous month’s, sometimes I am disappointed, especially those months when the house insurance comes up or the car insurance or NCT comes up.

Invitations to weddings, birthday parties, all cost a bit too.

We recently had to have necessary work done on the house, another disappointing balance at the end of the month.

So much to weigh up. Do the sums, really only you can judge.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social-welfare/older-and-retired-people/state-pension-contributory/#4062a5

Mrs OBumble

That's a good point someone just made: are your kids married? If not but they might - will they expect ye to foot the bill?

I think the income side is probably fine.

But the low savings would worry me: 13k is a very small buffer.

That said, if you can wangle part time work, and keep taking your foreign student in winter, you could be a a good spot.

Declan1965

Children are not married but both would not expect us to pay for it, actual savings 18k not 13

Both are working and said if try get married would do so without much cost weddings are massive waste of money

JoChervil

I will never understand people having cc debts, when they have savings to pay it off…

Sono

how many years to retirement? 500 doesn’t sound like a lot to me with less than 20k savings. All depends on what you want to experience in life I guess.

Declan1965

I'm not going to retire, I am out of work at the moment.

rolling boh

Think with respect 20 k savings is not a lot in this day and age with the potential outlays you might have .Of course nobody knows how long we will live ,living in old age in near poverty would be very tough .A couple of unexpected bills would wipe out those savings with little chance of making that money back .The post from the pensioner above has pretty valid points .

Irish_rat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122360393#Comment_122360393

I don't understand why people have credit cards to start with

Irish_rat

Anyone could die tomorrow, simple as that. OP you want to live life and fair play. 500 a week is plenty for 2 people.

I'm planning to get mortgage paid off and hope to live on 1k a month easily.

The only thing I wouldn't cheap out on is organic food, health insurance and life insurance.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122435777#Comment_122435777

Credit cards are great …… for people who are reasonably good at managing their money and don't need them (for credit purposes I mean).