Liveable Salary for Dublin?

LMellows · 20-03-2014 03:03AM #1

What sort of range are we talking here, for a single person with no dependants? I see graduate jobs starting at €23,000. That's €442 a week gross, I don't know how much after tax. How much are we talking for a year's rent in Dublin South, say a house share with 1-3 other people?

Is it doable? I'm guessing it would be quite a struggle.

Would be good to have a thread detailing the basic salary requirements to live in various places in the country.

Ann Landers · 20-03-2014 03:20AM

LMellows wrote: »

What sort of range are we talking here, for a single person with no dependants? I see graduate jobs starting at €23,000. That's €442 a week gross, I don't know how much after tax. How much are we talking for a year's rent in Dublin South, say a house share with 1-3 other people?

Is it doable? I'm guessing it would be quite a struggle.

Would be good to have a thread detailing the basic salary requirements to live in various places in the country.

Ample. Really don't know how someone with no dependents couldn't live well on that, even in Dublin.

CatFromHue · 20-03-2014 03:39AM

do a search on daft.ie and you'll get up to date info on rental prices in dublin. the other costs with living in dublin would be similar, abit higher but still similar, to the rest of the country.

Ann Landers · 20-03-2014 03:46AM

CatFromHue wrote: »

do a search on daft.ie and you'll get up to date info on rental prices in dublin. the other costs with living in dublin would be similar, abit higher but still similar, to the rest of the country.

This. Outside of rental expenses, cost of living is the same in Dublin as elsewhere in the country, in my experience.

LMellows · 20-03-2014 03:48AM

How much would a 23k salary be net? Roughly 20k?

Ann Landers · 20-03-2014 04:11AM

LMellows wrote: »

How much would a 23k salary be net? Roughly 20k?

Approximately 19.8k, according to this: http://www.deloitte.ie/tc/

Ray Palmer · 20-03-2014 12:15PM

You would be living a pretty lowly existence on that but that is part of being young and starting out. Expect to struggle for a brighter future

Tar.Aldarion · 20-03-2014 04:31PM

If you have no dependents, and are sharing that is easily a lot of money starting out for you as a graduate. 1654 pm with what 400 in rent and 50 in bills. Leaving 1200 for anything else, per month.

danthefan · 20-03-2014 05:52PM

Ann Landers wrote: »

This. Outside of rental expenses, cost of living is the same in Dublin as elsewhere in the country, in my experience.

Would agree with that, have lived in Donegal and lived in Dublin. Groceries and electricity and heat are the same price everywhere. When I was in Donegal I found myself spending huge amounts on diesel compared to Dublin, but you can rent for probably half of what you'd pay in Dublin.

Was looking on Daft earlier and you can share somewhere reasonable in south Dublin for €500pm, maybe less. So if you're somewhat reasonable with your money you should certainly be able to get by on €23k.

Larbre34 · 20-03-2014 06:36PM

Really wish I hadnt read this now. That salary is roughly 33% of mine, yet the take home pay is 46% of it. I do understand how the tax system works but it still pi55e5 me off!

You wont have any Wolf of Wallstreet parties on that rate but youll be fine to live in Dublin if youre savvy with your personal bills, charges and travel.

Oh and, start a pension with the 1200 you have left over

Gael23 · 20-03-2014 10:44PM

As an upcoming graduate I have been thinking about this a little. I dont think that in Dublin I could live off less than €20k gross and I dont drink very often so dont have huge socialising expenses

Ann Landers · 20-03-2014 11:06PM

ryanf1 wrote: »

As an upcoming graduate I have been thinking about this a little. I dont think that in Dublin I could live off less than €20k gross and I dont drink very often so dont have huge socialising expenses

Yeah, come to think of it, for a regular, moderate to heavy drinker (of which Ireland has many), 23k would be difficult to live on and save. I didn't consider that because I don't drink too often.

melekalikimaka · 20-03-2014 11:11PM

400 for rent is extremely cheap... you're looking at squats at that price, closer to 550 for a nice room in a reasonable area

MagicMarker · 20-03-2014 11:17PM

If you're sharing in the 'burbs 23k is plenty assuming you have no debts.

As Tar.Aldarion said you'll be coming out with over a grand a month after rent and bills, if you can't manage to feed yourself and socialise with that kind of money then you're doing something seriously wrong, in no way should it be a struggle.

MagicMarker · 20-03-2014 11:19PM

melekalikimaka wrote: »

400 for rent is extremely cheap... you're looking at squats at that price, closer to 550 for a nice room in a reasonable area

Squats? Maybe if you're looking to live in the City Centre, but if you're looking at South Co. Dublin then you can find something perfectly reasonable between 350-450 per month.

Ann Landers · 20-03-2014 11:20PM

melekalikimaka wrote: »

400 for rent is extremely cheap... you're looking at squats at that price, closer to 550 for a nice room in a reasonable area

In a house share, it's not cheap, you can get a very nice one for that. Maybe not in D4 but many perfectly nice areas, even on the southside.

Tar.Aldarion · 20-03-2014 11:32PM

melekalikimaka wrote: »

400 for rent is extremely cheap... you're looking at squats at that price, closer to 550 for a nice room in a reasonable area

That's not accurate, I've never even paid as much as 400 for a house share and my whole one bed apartment is 700pm a few minutes walk from O'Connell street.
Can easily go to a nice north or south side place for it.

Ann Landers · 20-03-2014 11:37PM

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

and my whole one bed apartment is 700pm a few minutes walk from O'Connell street.
Can easily go to a nice north or south side place for it.

In fairness, you are very lucky here. For 700 per month in the CC, you're generally talking crappy bedsit. Actually you won't get a nice one bed for 700pm anywhere in the city or suburbs right now. I'm looking for one at the moment. You're talking at least 900pm and usually a lot more.

Tar.Aldarion · 20-03-2014 11:40PM

Yeah i suppose it is as the rent hasnt increased, a few minutes meant 10-15 anyway

Ann Landers · 20-03-2014 11:44PM

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Yeah i suppose it is as the rent hasnt increased, a few minutes meant 10-15 anyway

No seriously, you won't be a decent one-bed anywhere in Dublin except for maybe Balbriggan or somewhere for 700pm. Rent is skyrocketing at the moment. Lucky you!

Gael23 · 21-03-2014 10:08AM

€400 a month would be fairly average in my experience. In fact I would suggest you would need to budget that as a minimum for a decent place

danthefan · 21-03-2014 10:25AM

Just slapped house share, max €400 p/m into Daft, and got 259 results. I'm sure some of them aren't great but there's sure to be a few livable places too.

La_Gordy · 21-03-2014 10:36AM

I think 23,000e a year is not very livable, but would hopefully only be a short term thing. I live in the a 3 person flat share in the city centre (Temple Bar) and my rent is 550. If you live in the suburbs your rent is potentially slightly cheaper, but commuting isn't cheap. I was paying 100e a month for Dublin bus, although, you might be able to avail of the taxsaver scheme.

ImDave · 21-03-2014 10:48AM

I was on €1,550 net per month for two years in Dublin whilst on a graduate programme. It was tight, but I was sharing a two bedroom apartment with only one other, so rent was €550 per month, and another €80 per month on bills on average.

If you are careful with your money, you will be fine. Try the usual budgeting like shopping for groceries carefully etc. and you should have disposable income left for yourself.

Tar.Aldarion · 21-03-2014 11:26AM

danthefan wrote: »

Just slapped house share, max €400 p/m into Daft, and got 259 results. I'm sure some of them aren't great but there's sure to be a few livable places too.

There are always good places and there are places constantly put up. Most myself or gf were paying when we were sharing was 350. 400 would get you intoa lot of nice places.

La_Gordy wrote: »

I think 23,000e a year is not very livable, but would hopefully only be a short term thing. I live in the a 3 person flat share in the city centre (Temple Bar) and my rent is 550. If you live in the suburbs your rent is potentially slightly cheaper, but commuting isn't cheap. I was paying 100e a month for Dublin bus, although, you might be able to avail of the taxsaver scheme.

That's more the problem with paying that much rent on that salary, than it having to be tight in dublin. That's just choosing to have less money every month. As for travel, you can get a bike tax free and pay 0 to travel to work like I do. Commuting on a bus for 100pm is insane, as I quickly decided.

La_Gordy · 21-03-2014 01:52PM

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

There are always good places and there are places constantly put up. Most myself or gf were paying when we were sharing was 350. 400 would get you intoa lot of nice places.

That's more the problem with paying that much rent on that salary, than it having to be tight in dublin. That's just choosing to have less money every month. As for travel, you can get a bike tax free and pay 0 to travel to work like I do. Commuting on a bus for 100pm is insane, as I quickly decided.

You could live ok if you weren't big into going out (bag a cans in the gaff), but unlikely to be able make any savings!

LMellows · 21-03-2014 02:46PM

I think worrying about putting money away in the first year of your first proper job is both naive and a small bit sad tbh.

I spend about 60-70 a week on food and go out a lot, although it would obviously be curtailed by a proper job and real life(!) so we're talking around 120 a week on living, plus rent and bills.

Gael23 · 21-03-2014 04:22PM

LMellows wrote: »

I think worrying about putting money away in the first year of your first proper job is both naive and a small bit sad tbh.

I spend about 60-70 a week on food and go out a lot, although it would obviously be curtailed by a proper job and real life(!) so we're talking around 120 a week on living, plus rent and bills.

I agree with this. For the first year or two of your career you should just be concerned about having enough to live and not be worried about saving too much with the exception of a little for Christmas,Holidays etc

danthefan · 21-03-2014 04:25PM

ryanf1 wrote: »

I agree with this. For the first year or two of your career you should just be concerned about having enough to live and not be worried about saving too much with the exception of a little for Christmas,Holidays etc

I don't. You're always going to have unexpected expenses. If you can afford to put a little aside then it's a prudent thing to do. If you can't then you can't, fair enough.

Mrs OBumble · 21-03-2014 04:53PM

LMellows wrote: »

I think worrying about putting money away in the first year of your first proper job is both naive and a small bit sad tbh.

I spend about 60-70 a week on food and go out a lot, although it would obviously be curtailed by a proper job and real life(!) so we're talking around 120 a week on living, plus rent and bills.

And I think that not getting into a savings habit right at the start of your working life is mind-bogglingly stupid.

Among other things, if you get sick and cannot work , then it can take months for benefits to start coming through (assuming you're even eligible). So really the first savings goal is to set aside enough money to live on for 12 weeks or so, as a rainy day fund.

And the miracles of compounding interest means that if you start a pension fund very early in your working life, it will be a lot less painful if you wait until later.

Fair play to you if you want to keep retailers happy by spending E60 pwer week on food, and can afford to do so. But someone earning E23k isn't going to be living that kind of lifestyle.

LMellows · 21-03-2014 05:08PM

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

And I think that not getting into a savings habit right at the start of your working life is mind-bogglingly stupid.

Among other things, if you get sick and cannot work , then it can take months for benefits to start coming through (assuming you're even eligible). So really the first savings goal is to set aside enough money to live on for 12 weeks or so, as a rainy day fund.

And the miracles of compounding interest means that if you start a pension fund very early in your working life, it will be a lot less painful if you wait until later.

Fair play to you if you want to keep retailers happy by spending E60 pwer week on food, and can afford to do so. But someone earning E23k isn't going to be living that kind of lifestyle.

It's not about keeping retailers happy, it's about having a keen interest in cooking and good food. Believe it or not some of us prefer enjoying the present than constantly worrying about the future.

I'm not saying anyone should live recklessly, but if your income isn't high enough to support both saving and living, I'd rather sacrifice the former.

Liveable Salary for Dublin?

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