Dole in Galway manageable?

It depends on whether you get rent-allowance or not. With RA, it's live-on-able, without it's not.

Whether you get it depends on whether you and your landlord are willing to do a deal and tell the CWO that your rent is below the threshold for RA. In many cases, this sort of deal also involves the tenant making an extra, under-the-table, payment to the landlord of the difference between the threshold and the real rent.

Hi very interesting column on rent allowance from the Journal. Rent allowance in its present form is just unsubstainable.

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-rent-supplement-is-supporting-squalor-%e2%80%93-and-keeping-prices-high/

empacher wrote: »

i make 120€ a week as a student. I can do a 60€ shop that last me three week. pay my rent 250€ and bills. and still afford to go out once a week.Before someone suggest it no i don't get handouts from my parents as i am from galway so me renting is for my benefit and its as convenient to stay at home. I think there shouldn't be rent allowance except for people with kids and the likes.

Empacher, I lived on something (relative to the economy) similar for a while when I was a student. I think it's way easier to do this when one is younger and at college (not saying it's a bed of roses though, mind!). I do think this changes completely if you are in your 30's, 40's or older and suddenly find yourself laid off.

Some things that I see have changed for someone older:
Rents - It gets harder to find house shares as you get older, and perhaps have kids, even part time. Not sure how easy a 1 room apt would be to find for 250 at the moment in Galway.

Food is cheaper when you share with people. See above.

I often ate rubbish as a student. No one to give you nutritious meals at the weekend, you simply have to mind yourself a bit better at weekends.

Free social interaction - A million things to do for free (if you put your mind to it) on a wet winter's night in college if you are broke. Not as many as you get older.

Dental bills - again, less covered on medical card, teeth get older, more dentists visits needed. Same for doc.

Car payments - if you get laid off you can either sell your car (depending on where you live) or continue to pay for it. Buses cost money and rents are more expensive closer to the city.

Basically, as the article mentioned quoted, this system leaves little haggle room for a place for those on RA. The whole system is quite demeaning too it seems

empacher wrote: »

i make 120€ a week as a student. I can do a 60€ shop that last me three week. pay my rent 250€ and bills. and still afford to go out once a week.Before someone suggest it no i don't get handouts from my parents as i am from galway so me renting is for my benefit and its as convenient to stay at home. I think there shouldn't be rent allowance except for people with kids and the likes.

Congrats for shopping so well - I could feed an adult for E22/week (provided I was shopping for 2+ people), never took it down that last bit.

But looking at your figures per week, you mention:
rent of 75
food / cleaning / personal hygiene is 20.

Bills .. you don't say, but lets's guess 5 for a cellphone + internet. That rounds the total so far nicely to 100. Then allow an average of 10/week for heat.

That gives E10 per week for going out - and for clothes, footware, job-hunting costs (printing CVs, bus fare to interviews), doctors bills, birthday & Christmas presents, contents insurance etc. Not sure that even I could make it stretch that far.

And you're lucky to have such cheap accommodation too.

I don't think it's so much that dole money is low, it's really connected to rent - whether or not you get rent allowance. People who are older and have been laid off,have a really hard time finding suitable accommodation or for a couple. I know some would say 'beggars can't be choosers' and people might have to share houses with partying students, but sometimes the younger people living there may not be open to sharing. Heating in the cheaper small granny flats is often horrendous and an electric bar heater the only source. These cost a fortune to run!
The examples I am drawing on are from 2 people I know. They are not dossers by a long shot.

Yes - some people do take advantage of the system, but not everyone!

I shop just for myself so for the 60€ I get porridge, cornflakes, bread, Yogurt, Granola bars, milk, apple juice. 15€ that covers breakfast for 3 weeks.

Ham, cheese, chicken, and a bag of mixed salad, Bananas, apples, beans, spaghetti hoops, that covers lunch and snacks. about 15€. Lunch and snacks covered.

Pork, Chicken fillets, mince. Pasta, rice, sweetcorn, carrots. Sauces. 20€ Dinner covered.

Toiletries, Spray, gel, toilet paper, shampoo. 10€

As you can see I eat quite healthy, don't waste money on biscuits, taytos, sweets fizzy, drinks, I don't tend to buy brand names. example nature valley granola bars are 3 something a pack. tesco granola bars are 3 packs for 2€.


Internet and tv (sky) is 20€ a month, I spend 20€ on credit a month, free calls and texts. spent 100€ on oil the last day. esb works out at 37€ bi monthly.

so per week I've got 20€ on groceries, 57€ on rent, 10€ on tv,bb,phone, 5€ esb. so that's 92€ per week. some weeks i'll only have 90 euro in wages, some weeks 150€. So I've to budget accordingly.

So really €188 + rent supplement, benefits. Is to me quite comfortable to live on. Taking into accountant its for someone, whose renting without kids. Not someone who has a mortgage and kids in school.


€188 a week for me would be a life of extreme comfort

empacher wrote: »

I shop just for myself so for the 60€ I get porridge, cornflakes, bread, Yogurt, Granola bars, milk, apple juice. 15€ that covers breakfast for 3 weeks.

Ham, cheese, chicken, and a bag of mixed salad, Bananas, apples, beans, spaghetti hoops, that covers lunch and snacks. about 15€. Lunch and snacks covered.

Pork, Chicken fillets, mince. Pasta, rice, sweetcorn, carrots. Sauces. 20€ Dinner covered.

Toiletries, Spray, gel, toilet paper, shampoo. 10€

As you can see I eat quite healthy, don't waste money on biscuits, taytos, sweets fizzy, drinks, I don't tend to buy brand names. example nature valley granola bars are 3 something a pack. tesco granola bars are 3 packs for 2€.


Internet and tv (sky) is 20€ a month, I spend 20€ on credit a month, free calls and texts. spent 100€ on oil the last day. esb works out at 37€ bi monthly.

so per week I've got 20€ on groceries, 57€ on rent, 10€ on tv,bb,phone, 5€ esb. so that's 92€ per week. some weeks i'll only have 90 euro in wages, some weeks 150€. So I've to budget accordingly.

So really €188 + rent supplement, benefits. Is to me quite comfortable to live on. Taking into accountant its for someone, whose renting without kids. Not someone who has a mortgage and kids in school.


€188 a week for me would be a life of extreme comfort

Sorry to pick it apart, empacher, but I still don't quite get it with the breakdown you gave.. while this might work for you, It would not work for everyone. As I mentioned your ESB would skyrocket if you had a bar heater as your source. You must live in town, no busfare or bike expenses? Your place is very cheap. And you are cooking for one, so I assume you don't share? That rent is very low.

So if I understand you correctly, per week:

You spend 20 on groceries, 5 on bb 5 on phone, 57 on rent, 2.50 on toiletries, 25 on oil, 9 on esb and 10 per week going out - am I getting something wrong? To me, that is 133.50?

Now you mentioned that 10 of that is going out and your wage fluctuates, so I see you could remove that tenner, but where does the rest get cut from when you have low paid weeks.

TV license, how do you work that out? Lightbulbs?

Clothes, bedding?

Dentist/doctor?

Tea/Coffee? Do you drink them. Surely you can't have them out

One bag of salad budgeted into your lunch for three weeks?

I see not one green vegetable in your dinner list for those 3 too. I am a bit of a veg pusher tbh, I've seen my housemates in college get sick from not eating enough.

Tampons/Pads? You must be a guy?

What do you do for going out - again I am not trying to get at you, just asking? Obviously your tenner per week would be the first thing you'd cut, but what would you do? Have tea in a pub? Please don't take this the wrong way, I have a friend who is really struggling, and cutting corners would help, I am just trying to see it.

d-gal wrote: »

Just taking a quick look at galway advertiser.
SuperValu:
Bag of carrots 50c
500g of steak mince 2.50

Joyces:
Bag (10kg) spuds 3.49
12 pack of walkers crisps 2.00
50 sausage rolls 1.49

Divilly butchers:
10chicken fillets 7.99

That's 18euro randomly. I suppose if u added some oats, beans, quick soups and noodles you would be well under 25 still. Nothing amazingly healthy but still plenty to eat with some left over and majority of students eat worse than this!

You'd be amazed how many people get a care package from Mammy for the week, and a decent meal or 5 at the weekend. Not to mention having their laundry done, and the odd bottle of multivitamins!;)

Little things like 'coming back to the flat' with a 'present' of block of cheese, a pound of butter, sugar for tea, heck, a tub of curry powder used to make a hell of a difference with how I ate in a week back in the prehistoric days :P

I remember having a little too many colds as a student, in the times when my food consumption was, well, the last thing on my mind!

There'll be no buying jars of honey and lemons regularly, and soft tissues, on the budgets we're mentioning above!

d-gal wrote: »

No there would not but in terms of dole, it isn't about living in luxury, it should be bare minimum.
Being honest tho if you go into terryland fruit and beg, everything is ridiculously cheap. Same with late evenin shopping in Tesco, plenty of things reduced down 80/90% less, just to get rid of it. My uncle is on SW at the moment and gets a lot of his stuff later in the evening in Tesco. Freezes a lot of it and saves a bundle

Yeah, stuff like tescos and terryland are great tips, but again, if you are walking distance from them ( carting 10 kilos of spuds won't work for everyone).

The point I am making is that it is easy to get *stuck* on survival mode. There is NO money for extras like having a cup of tea in town, where perhaps you might meet a friend and get a job lead. NO extras for posting CVs to a job in Dublin, and definitely NO extras to get a gobus up for an interview. What if your freezer breaks? Who fixes it? When your cr*ppy landlord takes 4 days to get back to you and you lose a month's food? Or you can't ring him back as you have no credit?

Laundry to look neat for a job? Nope, have to wait until you can afford it. There IS no room for an emergency. If you get sick you are f*cked. It's depressing, and much more so for anyone who has just lost a job, and is not in college. Sit at home, no money for a cup of tea in town, and too cold to put the fire on.

My point is this system can *also force* people to stay in poverty. Hand to mouth is doable, but it is very hard to get out of.

empacher wrote: »

sorry the oil isn't a monthly expense, its what i payed, and i'll make it last till the spring so as not to have to top it up again. tv licence is covered under the rent and bins, had to negotiate that before moving in.

two sets of bed clothes on a weekly rotate. Haven't bought clothes for myself since last may. I walk every I need to. I'm living in newcastle which is 10mins to college. Walk everywhere I need to, walk 40mins to work on lough atalia road, 10 mins to college, 30mins to training. 30mins to town if i want a few bevies, and home after. dont wast money on supermacs after a night out. Thats an easy saving of 10€.

Haven't being to the doctor or dentist in years, but am blessed not to have needed to,

Salad just adds come crunch to a ham and cheese sandwich

As for veg not my thing i don't like it. I eat fruit instead, and raw carrots and sweetcorn.


~ Compromises have to be made, I think it was September last time i went to the cinema , don't eat in restraunts, If i need to save up for something, i go out sober. Personally i don't see it as living in squalor more as lying in my means. where as i have friends on the dole, who are out 3 nights a week, and can manage to drop 50€ in the casino and not really be to bothered.

Well fair play to you - I still don't know how you do it with oil. Buying 100 quid a time jacks up the price.

Lordy! Can you pm me the name of your landlord so I can pass it on help out a mate!? Living alone in Newcastle, rent includes bins and tv license for 250 a month?? You have angels minding you - never mind never catching a cold!

I get the dentist though, as there'd be no jammie dogers for you on that budget!
A few bevvies??? Explain that one to me! I was hard pressed seeing how you could manage a cuppa tea!!!

Again, lucky you not getting sick on your diet - fair play to you if you can make it work, but it wouldn't work for everyone at all, even on a health level.


We could go back and forth on here with people saying how many people can live on a turnip, but fact is - most people find it hard. College can lift the spirits too, and depression can set in if there is nothing to do. Yes we can cut corners, yes, people *can* take the p*ss, but an awful lot don't. The stress of worrying about how to afford a box of panadol or go to a dentist if you got a toothache? My point is that how this breaks down would vary wildly depending on your skill set, strength, age, circumstance and health. And an emergency/birthday/bus to a funeral in another county? Can't happen!

empacher wrote: »

well not to be promoting alcohol but you can get slabs (24 cans for 24€).

So normally I'll invite the lads over drink 4 cans prior to leaving we'd normally aim to be in town for 12:30 which saves alot on spending money in pubs. Drink to cheap pints in town, normally can get two bavaria for less then 7€.

So i'd be far from drunk but still have a good night

I'll have to leave it at that so. Honestly, given the figures you mention, and what you say you pay for food (can't imagine how good that salad will be on your sambo in week 3), I can't tally the budget you give the same way as you do. (Assuming you butter your sandwiches and drink a cup of tea the odd time and save for your twice yearly clothes buy) too!

....But then again, when I was a student, I had no idea how I afforded to drink either!;)

Again, I don't see how drinking at all is doable, if you can't afford to buy clothes/tea/butter/cheese/alka seltzer any emergency items!


And more to the point. No chips on the way home, or an egg for breakfast after a pint or two? What's the point of alcohol with no money for chips (or condoms *ahem*:p

Maybe its the fountain of youth syndrome, As a student and a youth i think i developed a decent immune system, a miraculous ability to extract all the nutrients from food, and a immunity to a want for many consumer goods that some people are accustomed to.

I know if i got used to having money it would be hard to get used to leaving in a survilaist student environment.