Is 40k a year enough for one to live comfortably and even save money in Dublin

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I am wondering if 40k a year is enough for a single person to live on in Dublin and even save cash but also have a good social life?

Well if you are renting your own place that's not a dump and you run a car it would be tight and you wouldn't save much at all.

if you don't want to live in luxury and aren't out all the time you might manage to scrape something together but don't expect a lot of savings

If it's 40k net and not 40k gross then yes.

I used to earn 20k a year and lived in Dublin. It all depends on what you want. I rented a room and budgeted 150 euro a week spending. Good healthy food was 35 a week, bus 20, then 100 for socialising. This might be a midweek film, then going out at weekend. Or I could just have one night out, good few drinks, food and taxi and had 6k a year savings.

Granted that was at a time of lower rents, and I was younger and had less actual needs/wants.

But now-say 40k gross-

accomm-(1 bed apartment) 12k a year

transport-2080 euro a year (leap card unlimited everything @40 euro a week)

Food-50 a week (good products, fresh fruit and veg, meat, treats)- 2600 a year.

Bills,insurance, misc-100 a week-5200 a year.

bare minimum to live, not going out etc- 22,000 a year.

left over- 18 k a year.

Take whatever you want to save from this and divide by 52, thats your leftover expenditure for nights out, treats, clothing, holidays etc.

say you prefer "living" over saving and want to save 5 k, you have circa 13k left to spend above your "bare minimum"

thats 250 euro a week disposable after food, bills, accom and transport.

Now if you want a car, that'd affect savings etc. You'd have to give somewhere. And I believe my estimates are quite realistic, apart from maybe rent.

Now that I earn more than 20k a year, I've increased my expenditure on accom, socialising etc. But transport and food (at home, not eating out) have remained same, so its doable with the above figures, and to still have savings.

Unless on a night out your idea of socialising is spending 2-300 rather than 60 or 70. Basically in same boat as you and am single and living comfortably but different strokes for different folks

It's not far off my situation. I share a room in a house, albeit in a decent location. I run a car, but it's not worth much and has a smallish engine so that's just 700 a year plus petrol + maintenance (nothing has ever gone wrong with it). I have an annual taxsaver ticket for the luas, definitely get something like this if you're commuting. I like to socialise but not all weekend, every weekend, I'm also a bit of a lightweight and would rarely spend more than 60-70 on a night out. I live extremely comfortably and save 500 a month, more currently. I even started a pension this year. Other people I know in my salary range complain about being broke and I really don't know what they're spending their money on. I suspect they're hiding it away somewhere and not being entirely truthful about their situation.

I have always found nights out in Dublin more expensive.never have seen buy 1 get 1 free on alcohol,thought it was illegal to serve free alcohol?

40K is very decent money, i earn less and live well in Dublin, I rent a nice place close to town i share with my gf, I keep a nice car on the road, go out every weekend, save 550pm, have been on two week holiday abroad and have visited 2 other European cities for weekend breaks this year...in fairness i dont have an iphone:pac: