How much do you need to earn?

RED PASSION · 14-09-2012 01:56AM

oldat31 wrote: »

I have 3 kids and a dog....

Food: 10400
Mortage: Dont have one but rent a year: 3640 Council house....
Car payments X1.... we bought outright..... 2000
Creche costs: never used one...
School related expenses: lol I have 3 in school and books alone cost me 355, so I estimate 600
ESB: 1040
Gas/Oil: 1040
10 day foreign holiday.... Cant afford one!
Health insurance X5.. Cancled
Car insurance X1 :600
Petrol (unbelieveably expensive these days): 1600
House insurance: I wish.....
Put aside a few euros for retirement/rainy day: Yeah right....
Travel in Ireland: 500
Christmas/Birthdays: 5000
House maintaince and appliances: 1000
Occasional entertainment costs: 500 est
Clothes:500 est
Computer: 1020 internet....
Kids activities: 500est
Friends weddings/hotel/present: 500 est

There is more but Im not listing them..... I am unemployed and my GF works and between us we get: 28652

But adding up what we spend on the list above comes to: 30440.....

Thank god for HP.......

inexpensive sauce.... love it

oldat31 · 14-09-2012 01:58AM

mishkalucy wrote: »

I have 2 kids who started primary and secondary this year, ordinary not private school and cost me between uniforms books etc the guts of a grand:eek:

Christmas/Birthdays
5000 euro:eek::eek:
We could NEVER be able to spend the colour of that.

Internet
That seems a helluva lot for internet, 40 euro pm x 12 =480 euro

Weddings
Have to swallow the shame and admit we can't afford to attend:(

All the above is est, school costs me more but Im not sure of the exact, my internet was ment to be internet and tv which works out at nearly 20 a week....

As for christmas and stuff.... Think about all the people you spend 10 euro on over the whole year..... then I would easly spen 1k on each of mine for christmas, toys and clothes...... I started buying in august....

The weddings price is an est, because like you we mostly say sorry but someone died.... 500 would be if its family.

You think you dont spend much to you actually ad everything up......

OnTheCounter · 14-09-2012 02:10AM

Sappa wrote: »

Reading through this thread there are a lot of people who are claiming to be struggling but spend over 1000 on the Internet and 5000 on presents,13000 on drink and gambling or the necessity of running two cars supposedly.
What's wrong with car pooling,foreign holidays per year is a massive luxury. Both my parents were full time professionals during my youth and they couldn't afford to take us on a foreign holiday until I was 15 to France camping at the time and there are 2 older than me who never got a holiday abroad,it was off out to Commenara for us. Sky tv and the likes are not necessities,we have good libraries that we can rent books from. If you analyse your life and write down your basic needs a lot of the stiff you think you need you can do without. I went from a massive wage to the dole queue a few yrs back and it was a reality call for us. Since then I have been extra prudent,the reality if a couple on 50k after tax cannot save at least 20 percent of that wage then they have there priorities all wrong.

i went on 1 holiday until i was 27... to galway.

a foreign holiday can be done relatively cheaply and would not seem to be such a luxury if we weren't being robbed with taxes and levies.

I appreciate the access to third level education in this country, if I was in the USA i wouldnt have been able to get to university but everything else here is a shambles and we are paying one of the highest rates of tax per capita in the world when you factor in everything we're taxed on (about 2/3 of the price of petrol is tax i believe) yet they are coming for more blood in the next budget.

Sappa · 14-09-2012 02:15AM

There will be at least four more budgets that will hit us hard,now is the time to plan for these events to soften the blow or look to get out.

OnTheCounter · 14-09-2012 02:21AM

Sappa wrote: »

There will be at least four more budgets that will hit us hard,now is the time to plan for these events to soften the blow or look to get out.

how can people plan when most are already stretched to the limit and have gone one step further by cancelling things like health insurance?

Smidge · 14-09-2012 02:26AM

OnTheCounter wrote: »

how can people plan when most are already stretched to the limit and have gone one step further by cancelling things like health insurance?

Join us............(said in sy-fy movie voice);)

3 year wait for a childs ENT appointment:mad:

14-09-2012 02:28AM

As glib as this may sound, having to think before spending money isn't the same as struggling financially.

I often hear people saying they're broke while spending 50 quid a week on cups of coffee and such needless things. A packed lunch saves a grand a year (assuming a fiver a day) and if that's two people it's two grand a year, that'll send a couple of kids back to school, cover a new washing machine and a few birthday presents.

Smidge · 14-09-2012 02:36AM

Deleted User wrote: »

As glib as this may sound, having to think before spending money isn't the same as struggling financially.

I often hear people saying they're broke while spending 50 quid a week on cups of coffee and such needless things. A packed lunch saves a grand a year (assuming a fiver a day) and if that's two people it's two grand a year, that'll send a couple of kids back to school, cover a new washing machine and a few birthday presents.

:eek:
Seriously?

Is there whiskey in that??

augustus gloop · 14-09-2012 02:44AM

mishkalucy wrote: »

Your total utilities are 60 euro pm??????
You may have waaayyyyyy underestimated that:D

by utilities i mean gas and esb.....

i also left out phones @ 40e pm

RED PASSION · 14-09-2012 02:46AM

€2500-3000 per year on petrol, 660 tax, 500 insurance,2 tyres 300, service oil etc 250:eek:

Seriously?

hate this country- rip off

our people don't deserve this

augustus gloop · 14-09-2012 02:48AM

Deleted User wrote: »

As glib as this may sound, having to think before spending money isn't the same as struggling financially.

I often hear people saying they're broke while spending 50 quid a week on cups of coffee and such needless things. A packed lunch saves a grand a year (assuming a fiver a day) and if that's two people it's two grand a year, that'll send a couple of kids back to school, cover a new washing machine and a few birthday presents.

thats something i cant understand, where I worked last i could get something like soup and a salad roll for round 5.50. when i buy provisions at the start of the week i dont think i could get a weeks worth of lunch stuff for less than 20e. and it would have to be 20e or its not really worth your while?

Smidge · 14-09-2012 02:51AM

augustus gloop wrote: »

by utilities i mean gas and esb.....

i also left out phones @ 40e pm

What about bins, tv licence, life insurance, etc?

Also 60 quid a month for both ESB and GAS??

You are either living in a verrrrry small place or both your meters are fecked;):D

14-09-2012 02:54AM

augustus gloop wrote: »

thats something i cant understand, where I worked last i could get something like soup and a salad roll for round 5.50. when i buy provisions at the start of the week i dont think i could get a weeks worth of lunch stuff for less than 20e. and it would have to be 20e or its not really worth your while?

Depends from case to case obviously but enough for 5 days' sandwiches and a few pieces of fruit would still save about 13 a week compared to the soup and salad roll. Obviously it varies massively, when there's 2euro chicken rolls you'd be mental not to take advantage of it. :pac:

Smidge · 14-09-2012 02:57AM

Are you saying that your 2 monthly ESB is 60 Euro???

Either your meter is fecked(for the good).

Or mine and (every one else I know)meters are fecked

I don't know anyone who's who has an ESB bill that is this(standing charge, vat etc would take up most of that)

carrick79 · 14-09-2012 03:06AM

OnTheCounter wrote: »

to be honest it is not a slight at minimum wage workers but i did purposefully single out "middle class" as i am asking about people who may have struggled through college on beans and toast, college during the day and working part time evenings and weekends to pay the rent and bills while studying in between or some young lad who went off to work on the sites and froze his bollox off during the winter on apprentice wages learning the building trade so that they would earn more than minimum wage down the line to have an expectation of not struggling from month to month.

Minimum wage workers obviously never went to college. Or worked hard. Or struggled. Useless, uneducated, lazy ****ers.

I'm earning a good wage, and I'm more than comfortable. Thank God. I couldn't be a prick and look down my nose at the "lower class" if I didn't...

OnTheCounter · 14-09-2012 03:06AM

mishkalucy wrote: »

Are you saying that your 2 monthly ESB is 60 Euro???

Either your meter is fecked(for the good).

Or mine and (every one else I know)meters are fecked

I don't know anyone who's who has an ESB bill that is this(standing charge, vat etc would take up most of that)

that was a monthly figure so e120 esb bill im assuming.

Smidge · 14-09-2012 03:09AM

augustus gloop wrote: »

by utilities i mean gas and esb.....

i also left out phones @ 40e pm

mishkalucy wrote: »

Your total utilities are 60 euro pm??????
You may have waaayyyyyy underestimated that:D

OnTheCounter wrote: »

that was a monthly figure so e120 esb bill im assuming.

the way it was presented as above was a monthly bill, hence my curiosity .

Have a read back and correct me if I'm wrong

OnTheCounter · 14-09-2012 03:10AM

carrick79 wrote: »

Minimum wage workers obviously never went to college. Or worked hard. Or struggled. Useless, uneducated, lazy ****ers.

I'm earning a good wage, and I'm more than comfortable. Thank God. I couldn't be a prick and look down my nose at the "lower class" if I didn't...

how am i looking down my nose? im pointing out that some people made sacrafices early in life to earn more in later life and now are having this extra amount taxed extremely heavily and are not getting the benefits of going to college/learning a trade.

fair point?

later12 · 14-09-2012 03:14AM

mishkalucy wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

As glib as this may sound, having to think before spending money isn't the same as struggling financially.

I often hear people saying they're broke while spending 50 quid a week on cups of coffee and such needless things. A packed lunch saves a grand a year (assuming a fiver a day) and if that's two people it's two grand a year, that'll send a couple of kids back to school, cover a new washing machine and a few birthday presents.

:eek:
Seriously?

Is there whiskey in that??

Say you pay about €2.80 for a cup of coffee.
That's only 2.5 cups per day @ 7 days.
Easily done, or more, if you are buying more expensive caffeine drinks like lattes.

Salaries have falled in the order of 3-5% over 2008-12, and of course tax has increased, whilst some expenses (energy, mortgage repayments) remain stubbornly high.
But salaries were so generous before the crash that I do wonder whether, in many cases, individuals might actually be able to adjust quite well simply by adjusting their how they manage their consumption (as opposed to necessarily reducing their living standards); the afore-mentioned packed lunches and less caffeine and generally 'cleverer' expenditure to reap the same outcome.

Of course, this doesn't actually apply if you have been misfortunate enough to have been laid off from your previous employment. That's another issue entirely.

Smidge · 14-09-2012 03:17AM

later12 wrote: »

Say you pay about €2.80 for a cup of coffee.
That's only 2.5 cups per day @ 7 days.
Easily done, or more, if you are buying more expensive caffeine drinks like lattes.

Salaries have falled in the order of 3-5% over 2008-12, and of course tax has increased, whilst some expenses (energy, mortgage repayments) remain stubbornly high.
But salaries were so generous before the crash that I do wonder whether, in many cases, individuals might actually be able to adjust quite well simply by adjusting their how they manage their consumption (as opposed to necessarily reducing their living standards); the afore-mentioned packed lunches and less caffeine and generally 'cleverer' expenditure to reap the same outcome.

Of course, this doesn't actually apply if you have been misfortunate enough to have been laid off from your previous employment. That's another issue entirely.

I am WAY out of touch so.

I would have hoped there was a sandwich with that

But seriously though, 50 quid a week for coffee?

Christ, how far removed have the classes become?

14-09-2012 03:18AM

mishkalucy wrote: »

I am WAY out of touch so.

I would have hoped there was a sandwich with that

Nah I'd get lectures about wasting money on smoking (fair enough) when spending about 15 quid a week on it from people easily spending 50 a week on coffee just in the weekdays.

OnTheCounter · 14-09-2012 03:22AM

later12 wrote: »

Say you pay about ?2.80 for a cup of coffee. That's only 2.5 cups per day @ 7 days. Easily done, or more, if you are buying more expensive caffeine drinks like lattes. Salaries have falled in the order of 3-5% over 2008-12, and of course tax has increased, whilst some expenses (energy, mortgage repayments) remain stubbornly high. But salaries were so generous before the crash that I do wonder whether, in many cases, individuals might actually be able to adjust quite well simply by adjusting their how they manage their consumption (as opposed to necessarily reducing their living standards); the afore-mentioned packed lunches and less caffeine and generally 'cleverer' expenditure to reap the same outcome. Of course, this doesn't actually apply if you have been misfortunate enough to have been laid off from your previous employment. That's another issue entirely.

2006-2008 salaries are not being offered to new entrants these days or to people who change jobs. Also there are a lot fewer of those jobs available these days. Relatively few people are in the boat of old.

asherbassad · 14-09-2012 03:23AM

OnTheCounter wrote: »

Firstly I'm not talking about a 22 year old single person whose biggest expense after rent is Saturday night.

These days how much does a young middle class family (2 adults, 2 children and a dog) need to earn annually after tax to get by?

Assuming these days both parents are working these are the costs faced by most assuming 1 kid in primary school and another in a creche:

Food
Mortage
Car payments X2
Creche costs
School related expenses
ESB
Gas/Oil
10 day foreign holiday
Health insurance X4
Car insurance X2
Petrol (unbelieveably expensive these days)
House insurance
Put aside a few euros for retirement/rainy day
Travel in Ireland
Christmas/Birthdays
House maintaince and appliances
Occasional entertainment costs
Clothes
Computer
Kids activities
Friends weddings/hotel/present
Ect

Basically to have a reasonable standard of living (not mtv cribs standard) but comfortable enough for a husband and wife who both have decent jobs how much do you need to earn? It might be good to give a breakdown of each individual cost to see where the expenses lie.

In an era of decreasing salaries, increasing costs and getting the bejaysus taxed out of us can an average family hope to be reasonably comfortable?

After tax I take home between 70 and 80 thousand a year. I don't do drugs, I wear jeans and have no "expensive" habit....I'm still strangely broke....not in debt...just **** with money.....maybe me mot is robbing me.

Smidge · 14-09-2012 03:23AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Nah I'd get lectures about wasting money on smoking (fair enough) when spending about 15 quid a week on it from people easily spending 50 a week on coffee just in the weekdays.

Smoking, I could understand 50 quid a week.................

But Coffee??????????????

Jebus, do some folk still have more money that sense?

While others are counting the very last shillings???

Btw I love coffee, but not enough for 50 quid a week, I am not a coffee racist:P

Smidge · 14-09-2012 03:24AM

asherbassad wrote: »

After tax I take home between 70 and 80 thousand a year. I don't do drugs, I wear jeans and have no "expensive" habit....I'm still strangely broke....not in debt...just **** with money.....maybe me mot is robbing me.

Did you just come here to rub it in?????:pac:

OnTheCounter · 14-09-2012 03:25AM

mishkalucy wrote: »

I am WAY out of touch so.

I would have hoped there was a sandwich with that

But seriously though, 50 quid a week for coffee?

Christ, how far removed have the classes become?

that would be a common figure on coffee especially among twenty something females. Coffee shops are thriving. I find that one very strange myself especially as most are takeaway coffees so people are not paying the price to socalise there most of the time.

carrick79 · 14-09-2012 03:31AM

OnTheCounter wrote: »

how am i looking down my nose?

im pointing out that some people made sacrafices early in life to earn more in later life.

fair point?

Believe it or not but other people have made sacrifices too and things have not gone their way. Your post where you said you deliberately left out the minimum wage workers and aimed it solely at the "middle class" smacked of snobbery. The "middle class" worked hard. The "middle class" struggled!! Are you suggesting that all those earning a minimum wage have not worked hard, have not struggled, and have now reached their level and should be grateful?

OnTheCounter · 14-09-2012 03:31AM

asherbassad wrote: »

After tax I take home between 70 and 80 thousand a year. I don't do drugs, I wear jeans and have no "expensive" habit....I'm still strangely broke....not in debt...just **** with money.....maybe me mot is robbing me.

better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

OnTheCounter · 14-09-2012 03:47AM

carrick79 wrote: »

Believe it or not but other people have made sacrifices too and things have not gone their way. Your post where you said you deliberately left out the minimum wage workers and aimed it solely at the "middle class" smacked of snobbery. The "middle class" worked hard. The "middle class" struggled!! Are you suggesting that all those earning a minimum wage have not worked hard, have not struggled, and have now reached their level and should be grateful?

grateful? Where are you getting that from?

i dont see why you are trying to start an argument with a stranger on the internet but im not going to bother argueing with you the various life choices or misfortunes that resulted in a person earning below a certain amount.

Im pointing out that the cost of living in this country is ridiculously high where even the "middle class" are struggling to get by.

This thread is about how much money you need a year to be reasonably comfortable whether that means working 80 hours a week on minimum wage or 40 hours a week at a higher salary.

people on minimum wage in the vast majority of countries will usually be tight, thats why its called minimum wage, its the basic amount to be just above the economic poverty line. A civilised economically strong country is judged by its "middle class" rather than GDP per capita best imo as it shows what standard of living the regular person can reasonably aspire to have.

fair enough?

asherbassad · 14-09-2012 03:48AM

mishkalucy wrote: »

Did you just come here to rub it in?????:pac:

Not at all...I had more when I was unemployed. Dunno where it goes.
the question was "what do you earn", ...that's what I earn....and I'm still penniless.

How much do you need to earn?

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