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How much do you spend each month and what does your budget look like?

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  • 08-08-2020 11:04am
    #1
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,778 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    As suggested in this thread on how much savings do you have, it might be interesting for those who are willing to share a picture into what their budget or average monthly spend looks like.

    Like many others are was pretty shocked to see how little some people can apparently live on, despite being on a relatively low income some can save the majority of it. Serious hats of to you but I have no idea how it's done. So I'm very curious to see what a typical budget / monthly spend looks for the low earners, but also the medium and high earners also.

    Suggested Formatr:
    • Rent:
    • Bills:
    • Food & Household:
    • Transport & Travel:
    • Shopping & Clothes:
    • Entertainment & Eating Out:
    • Savings

    Feel free to alter the above to your needs - I did not add in kids but if you have them they are always a significant expense. If you are happy to share your earnings vs savings that might be useful.


«13

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    #2
    HamSarris
    Registered Users Posts: 109 ✭✭HamSarris


    A data engineer on 100k tells us how he saves 5k a month by not buying branded dishwasher tablets.

    The Journal has plenty of these already.

    https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/money-diaries-10-5098244-May2020/


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    #3
    antimatterx
    Registered Users Posts: 2,679 ✭✭✭antimatterx


    I live at home, and I'm saving for a mortgage. This is my usual (pre covid, I spent nothing really now).

    Rent: 0
    Bills: 0
    Food & Household: 100
    Transport & Travel: 80
    Shopping & Clothes: 50
    Entertainment & Eating Out: 100
    Savings: 2K


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    #4
    Canyon86
    Registered Users Posts: 1,223 ✭✭✭Canyon86


    Software engineer on 50k plus company car

    Rent: 0- I am living with parents saving for mortgage and I am sale agreed on a property and going through legalities at the mo
    Bills: 50 household bills , gym 29 spotify 20 netflix 15
    Food & Household: 200
    Transport & Travel: 0 I have a company car
    Shopping & Clothes: 150
    Entertainment & Eating Out: 200
    Savings: 900
    BIK:80
    Loan: 188


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    #5
    vikings2012
    Registered Users Posts: 152 ✭✭vikings2012


    Rent: 0
    Car insurance; €53
    Phone and subs: €32
    Gym: €23
    Food €100
    Diesel: €75
    Shopping & Clothes: €100
    Entertainment & Eating Out: €200
    Holiday fund - €100
    Car maintenance - €25
    Sport fees/equipment - 80
    Adverts/eBay random stuff - €50
    Savings -,€1,900

    Above is per month


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    #6
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 10,026 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    Zascar wrote: »
    As suggested in this thread on how much savings do you have, it might be interesting for those who are willing to share a picture into what their budget or average monthly spend looks like.

    Like many others are was pretty shocked to see how little some people can apparently live on, despite being on a relatively low income some can save the majority of it. Serious hats of to you but I have no idea how it's done. So I'm very curious to see what a typical budget / monthly spend looks for the low earners, but also the medium and high earners also.

    Suggested Formatr:
    • Rent:
    • Bills:
    • Food & Household:
    • Transport & Travel:
    • Shopping & Clothes:
    • Entertainment & Eating Out:
    • Savings

    Feel free to alter the above to your needs - I did not add in kids but if you have them they are always a significant expense. If you are happy to share your earnings vs savings that might be useful.

    For people that own their own home, substitute the average of ownership: insurance, maintenance, a provision for upkeep etc..


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    #7
    Febreeze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 190 ✭✭Febreeze


    Income - I get paid weekly but I'm going to use a monthly over view of this - €2,000 (that's minus overtime so some months I can do overtime and other months I don't get it) so this is more of a "real" wage


    Rent: €280 a month (I live at home to save for the time being).

    Bills: Included in the rent so it gets split between the members of the house.

    Food & Household: €120 a month (I shop once a week so I can batch cook so some weeks I can spend less than others) so this is more of a guesstimate. That's also including food and toiletries in different shops.

    Transport & Travel: €25 for petrol every 2 weeks. I live close to my job which is the only time I use my car. Most times I walk to places if needed. Friends and family live close so again I usually walk or we meet up locally.

    Shopping & Clothes: I don't buy clothes as my wardrope is full to the brim so I can get away with buying something new for now (except for Christmas when I treat myself to christmas day clothes). I'm not a huge spender on clothes as I hate shopping.

    Entertainment & Eating Out: I use my family Netflix account so that's free. I treat myself to a take away once a week so €120 a month which is probably the only exciting thing I do. €9.99 for Spotify.

    Savings: €1,000 a month

    Health Insurance: €45 a month

    I also put money to the side for my car insurance and tax (€80) that I pay at the end of the year so I can pay them off straight away rather than going into savings or scrimping to pay nearer the time. Usually if the money is there way before they are due then I stop putting that money to the side and put it in my rainy day.

    The usual few bob I have left over the day before payday usually goes into a "rainy day" savings so I can use that towards maintance of the car (which is due soon) or if I want to treat myself to something which again is rare.

    I've plenty saved in my savings that I do not touch as that's for a reason and then I've my rainy day savings which I can go weeks without touching or I can dip in from time to time if something is needed.


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    #8
    Kerry25x
    Registered Users Posts: 554 ✭✭✭Kerry25x


    Married couple, no kids, joint income and expenses.

    Mortgage: €522
    Bills: €250
    Food & Household: €300
    Transport & Travel: €10-€20 per week on fuel now with my husband working from home, usually €40 a week.
    Shopping & Clothes: carries a lot from month to month but could be €100-€300
    Entertainment & Eating Out: honestly have no idea, we eat out a lot.
    Savings: Aim for around 2.5k-€3k month.

    Find it hard to break down expenses because they change from month to month and I don't track them closely enough. Mortgage and fixed bills are €770 a month, try to keep all other expenses (food, fuel, shopping, misc) to €550 a week - manage this by transferring that amount on to our Revolut card every Friday.

    Deal with yearly bills (car tax & insurance, house insurance, property tax etc) as they come up, out of savings usually. We like to go on big holidays, to Africa or Asia mostly, a few times a year so that really eats in to our savings. We save a lot but spend it pretty easily too.


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    #9
    GazzaL
    Registered Users Posts: 1,395 ✭✭✭GazzaL


    HamSarris wrote: »
    A data engineer on 100k tells us how he saves 5k a month by not buying branded dishwasher tablets.

    The Journal has plenty of these already.

    https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/money-diaries-10-5098244-May2020/

    Jaysus, that's depressing reading how anal some people are about money. The fella is most likely earning more than his partner yet is splitting bills 50:50 down to the cent. And renting out a room instead of enjoying having their own space together which they can well afford... Having seen stuff like this before, I'd advise his partner to run a mile.


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    #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    GazzaL wrote: »
    Jaysus, that's depressing reading how anal some people are about money. The fella is most likely earning more than his partner yet is splitting bills 50:50 down to the cent. And renting out a room instead of enjoying having their own space together which they can well afford... Having seen stuff like this before, I'd advise his partner to run a mile.

    I’d have thought most people split bills 50:50? Certainly how I have always one things with my wife. Separate accounts and split everything 50:50.


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    #11
    Kerry25x
    Registered Users Posts: 554 ✭✭✭Kerry25x


    Blair Glamorous Tendinitis wrote: »
    I’d have thought most people split bills 50:50? Certainly how I have always one things with my wife. Separate accounts and split everything 50:50.

    I don't know what most people do but for us we were together about 18 months when it began to feel a bit rediculous to be owing each other money so we switched everything to a joint account and pooled our savings together. You'd want to have similar attitudes to money of course, we're both pretty relaxed so it works out well.


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    #12
    Febreeze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 190 ✭✭Febreeze


    Myself and partner split 50:50 just because it works out cheaper. We used to just pool it all together and when we sat down and done the maths, one wage was bigger than the other and one was left pretty much paying and the other had some left over. Now I will admit, I won't ask anyone for a a cent. I could be left with €1 with everything paid for, food bought and bills and rent paid for and I still won't ask for money if I fancied something. That's just the way I am. When I would see there was money left over, I refused to spend it. "Just in case" I would say and my partner said it wasn't right to just feel like I couldn't ask for money. He would give it too me if I needed it but I'm just too stubborn. Maybe it was my upbringing, I'm not sure but I point blank refuse to ask for money when I've nothing left over.

    Mind you I wouldn't agree or disagree with it. Every couple is different but personally our wages are our own. For now anyways until we do eventually get a mortage then things could change but it works out when split that we have our own set amount for ourselves and its up to us what we do with it. Don't worry we aren't that scabby, we help each other when help is needed but I don't feel the need to wounder who owes what or who paid more. When it's split, it's split and no one can give out or have an issue.

    We've got separate savings for the deposit that will be joined together when we have enough and then our own savings for whatever we want or as my mam calls it a "secret savings". That we use for ourselves or for birthdays and Christmas etc. Anything that we have left over when all is paid and done for, it's our own.


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    #13
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Kerry25x wrote: »
    I don't know what most people do but for us we were together about 18 months when it began to feel a bit rediculous to be owing each other money so we switched everything to a joint account and pooled our savings together. You'd want to have similar attitudes to money of course, we're both pretty relaxed so it works out well.

    Wouldn’t be a fan of pooling at all, prefer to get paid into our own accounts and keep savings separate. We have a joint account which we used to put a fixed amount of money into each month for common bills but now with Revolut making sending and receiving money so easy we just transfer money back and fourth depending on who pays a bill or pays for the shopping etc.

    Anything outside of common bills is our own to save/spend as we want (I.e. our salary is our own and not a shared resource). I think a joint account makes this very unfair as one person could be spending more than the other and end up using the other persons money etc.


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    #14
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,513 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    Yeah I've a lot of hobbies that cost money and it would be weird paying for any of it out of a pooled resource. Doesn't seem fair!


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    #15
    Kerry25x
    Registered Users Posts: 554 ✭✭✭Kerry25x


    Blair Glamorous Tendinitis wrote: »
    I think a joint account makes this very unfair as one person could be spending more than the other and end up using the other persons money etc.

    I guess we just have a different mindset, there is no other person's money, it's all our money. We were both 23 and on low incomes when we decided we wanted to share everything but I had a lot more in savings, then I supported him for a couple years while he was studying. Now 9 years later he earns a lot more than me but it doesn't matter to us.


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    #16
    theteal
    Registered Users Posts: 7,593 ✭✭✭theteal


    I suppose every case will vary but theres not a chance we could split bills 50:50. MrsTeal insists on paying half the mortgage so I'm not going to argue - although when maternity leave kicks in in a couple of months I'll be on the hook for the full amount. But ordinarily I pay council tax, gas+electricity, water, virgin media, house + pet insurance, netflix - I'm sure I'm forgetting some. She pays her own car insurance and rather randomly the contents insurance is on that policy also. I work fulltime in IT, she's a nurse working less the 30hrs so to split dòwn the middle makes zero sense. Either way, I see it as the familys money so that's just what things cost.

    Edit: I may as well contribute to the OP
    Mortgage £840 /2
    Council Tax £1800pa
    Childcare £200
    Gas+electricity £42 (goes up to £110 in winter months)
    Water £17, waste £13
    Car insurance £240pa, Tax £180pa
    Netflix <£5
    Virgin Media £43


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    #17
    fits
    Registered Users Posts: 13,267 ✭✭✭✭fits


    Wow some of you have very low expenses. For our house it’s like this b

    Mortgage 1200
    Childcare 1200
    Car insurance; €60 ( 2 cars)
    Electricity 150
    Phone and subs: €50
    Food €600
    Diesel: €150
    Shopping & Clothes: €100
    Entertainment & Eating Out: €50
    Car maintenance - €25
    Health insurance €200
    Life assurance/mortgage protection € 150
    Savings 700
    I’d like to save more but not really possible at moment. We are doing well enough not to have any other loans.

    We pay majority of our salaries into joint account and everything comes out of that. Keep a bit back for ourselves.


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    #18
    messy tessy
    Registered Users Posts: 889 ✭✭✭messy tessy


    Rent: 0- I am living with parents since lockdown. Previously paying €1,200 a month on rent.
    Bills: €40 phone, spotify €10
    Food & Household: €300 - €400 (under protest from my mother. I feel I have to contribute something though)
    Transport & Travel: €50. Not including tax/ insurance in this.
    Shopping & Clothes: €20 / €50. Can't remember the last time I bought clothes... so this is likely overstated.
    Entertainment & Eating Out: €50. Odd coffee and takeaway here and there.
    Savings: €3,000

    Savings now would be twice as much as before lockdown. Bought a new car a few months ago, but no interest in getting more stuff just because I have more cash now. Parents won't take money off me but do try to sneakily pay for things and help out as much as I can.


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    #19
    Creamy Goodness
    Registered Users Posts: 26,556 ✭✭✭✭Creamy Goodness


    Essentials:
    - Mortgage: 1100
    - Car loan: 350 (this was a silly mistake buying 1 week before C19 hit Ireland, over paying this to get it gone quicker).
    - Savings: 1000
    - Pension: 500 (with match).

    Bills:
    - Electricity: 80
    - Income protection: 30
    - Home insurance: 25
    - Car insurance: 46
    - Bins: 22
    - Motor Tax: 23
    - Petrol: 60

    Entertainment:
    - Netflix/Apple Music/Disney+: 21
    - Mobile: 10
    - TV & Broadband: 90

    Food:
    - Wine subscription: 80
    - Takeaway: 30 (once a month)
    - Food: 300 (roughly 75 per shop for two people).

    Misc:
    - Clothing: 100 (I tend to buy as I need so this would be a guess, for example I've lost 2 stone this year, this month I spent roughly 500 on new clothes this will be spread over the entire year with maybe a few bits and bobs at Christmas).

    I really should start some holiday fund, I tend to lash it on the credit card at the right time and spread the cost over two pay cheques.


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    #20
    Creamy Goodness
    Registered Users Posts: 26,556 ✭✭✭✭Creamy Goodness


    Mr.S wrote: »
    Same, or take it from our rainy day fund. I'd setup separate accounts on AIB and do it neatly but seems you can only have 2 savings accounts with them? I'd love some sort of Vaults feature like Revolut.

    Also...Wine Subscription...which do you use? Trying to find a decent one :D

    Was thinking of using vaults for car insurance/tax/holiday fund going to set them this week.

    This is the one I used https://www.winelab.ie/firstlookclub . I like it because each month one bottle is a special buy only for the subscribers. If they get good feedback they look to stock it.


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    #21
    GazzaL
    Registered Users Posts: 1,395 ✭✭✭GazzaL


    Blair Glamorous Tendinitis wrote: »
    I’d have thought most people split bills 50:50? Certainly how I have always one things with my wife. Separate accounts and split everything 50:50.

    I've always earned more than my partners and always saw it as my responsibility to pay more because of that.

    Kerry25x wrote: »
    I don't know what most people do but for us we were together about 18 months when it began to feel a bit rediculous to be owing each other money so we switched everything to a joint account and pooled our savings together. You'd want to have similar attitudes to money of course, we're both pretty relaxed so it works out well.

    That sounds ideal. It's also not good if one person owes the other person in the relationship money, particularly if it's a significant amount. It can become a real problem.

    Kerry25x wrote: »
    I guess we just have a different mindset, there is no other person's money, it's all our money. We were both 23 and on low incomes when we decided we wanted to share everything but I had a lot more in savings, then I supported him for a couple years while he was studying. Now 9 years later he earns a lot more than me but it doesn't matter to us.

    For me, sharing funds is the sign of a serious, committed relationship. It's a sign of trust, particularly if one person earns (significantly) more than the other. Otherwise it's almost like you're just housemates that ride each other.


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    #22
    Irish_rat
    Registered Users Posts: 2,554 ✭✭✭Irish_rat


    Monthly net 2500

    Mortgage:650
    Bills: 120(gas, esb, TV, broadband, phone)
    Food & Household: 250
    Transport & Travel: 80
    Shopping & Clothes:40
    Entertainment & Eating Out: 280
    Savings: 1000

    Roughly.


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    #23
    Febreeze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 190 ✭✭Febreeze


    I had to make a few changes as I previously messed up and change in rent....

    Income (I get paid weekly so I've just rounded it up to monthly with overtime. Some weeks are different) - €2100 a month

    Rent (Rent is split between family members) - €480 a month

    Savings (that I don't touch) - €800 a month

    Rainy day (for car maintenance and just overall if I want to treat myself which is rare) - €200 a month

    Tax/Insurance - €80 a month (a pay yearly so I spend most of the year saving this then towards the end when I have it all saved the €80 goes into my Rainy day funds and I start back again when all is paid)

    Health Insurance - €44.58 a month

    Spotify - €9.99 (I use my families Netflix so that's free)

    Counselling - €30 a month (some months I don't get to go because of changes of roster but it's the majority of times)

    Food shopping - €120 a month (usually varies each week but near enough the same amount which usually includes Aldi and Dealz for the toiletries and cleaning)

    Petrol - €20 (every two weeks. I live close enough to the job and rarely use my car for a lot of the times after that)

    Take aways - €30 (once a week. It's the only thing I look forward too these days since we can't get out much and I'm honestly not in the humour for booking places just so I can eat)

    Phone credit - €20 a month which is all you can eat date and free text and calls to the same network so I use WiFi mostly so I don't really buy that much credit

    That's pretty much it. I get paid weekly so whatever I have left on the Wednesday evening I put that into my Rainy day funds and let that build up a little bit and start all over again on payday. It works out pretty well.


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    #24
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,778 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    Fair play to all the people who can live in half nothing and save the other half, I wish I was able to do that. I do however get the impression these are mostly aspirational numbers. No one seems to pay right rent, or have significant car payments etc. What I don't understand is for me almost every month there is some/several non-bugeted expenses, that are often significant.

    For example, just off the top of my head, in the last few months alone I've had 3 birthdays, wife, mother and close friend, all of which have meant I had to splash out - flowers, present and or dinner/drinks out. I've had to put 4 tyres on the car and replace some suspension. I had to buy my wife a new phone. I bought a new desk setup so I can properly work from home. I had to buy some home/kitchenwear like a food processor, and some stuff for the house in Ikea. Then I have a new baby so I also had to buy a cot, car seat, playpen and so much other stuff I cannot tell you. Normally I would travel at this time of year but we did a very short staycation instead. Also, very few here have put down eating out or boozing - yet (pre covid) restaurants and pubs are packed across the country.

    Am I alone in these expenses?


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    #25
    The Mighty Quinn
    Registered Users Posts: 1,228 ✭✭✭The Mighty Quinn


    Zascar wrote: »
    Fair play to all the people who can live in half nothing and save the other half, I wish I was able to do that. I do however get the impression these are mostly aspirational numbers. No one seems to pay right rent, or have significant car payments etc. What I don't understand is for me almost every month there is some/several non-bugeted expenses, that are often significant.

    For example, just off the top of my head, in the last few months alone I've had 3 birthdays, wife, mother and close friend, all of which have meant I had to splash out - flowers, present and or dinner/drinks out. I've had to put 4 tyres on the car and replace some suspension. I had to buy my wife a new phone. I bought a new desk setup so I can properly work from home. I had to buy some home/kitchenwear like a food processor, and some stuff for the house in Ikea. Then I have a new baby so I also had to buy a cot, car seat, playpen and so much other stuff I cannot tell you. Normally I would travel at this time of year but we did a very short staycation instead. Also, very few here have put down eating out or boozing - yet (pre covid) restaurants and pubs are packed across the country.

    Am I alone in these expenses?

    You're not alone on those expenses, no. Every faaaacking month I seem to have some sh*t I can't get out of. This month was 4 new tyres also. However, I think some people genuinely don't have those expenses. The prime candidates for having large money saved in my opinion would be people in mid late 20s, qualified in something, living at home, not in a relationship, no children, live in city so don't own and run a car. Easy save money then if you're that way inclined.


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    #26
    cefh17
    Registered Users Posts: 990 ✭✭✭cefh17


    I (27) have been keeping track of expenses/budgeting since 2017 so know these values are mostly right (have used average over the last 12 months, some months higher/lower). For the likes of car tax/insurance/gifts I have a monthly amount for each so by the time the bill is due it's there ready to go

    Max pension AVC for my age (15%) with employer match (8%). Had been putting 10% net into ESPP and saved roughly 500 into a savings acc. Originally putting it towards house deposit but buying's been put on hold another while.

    Necessities:
    Rent - 588.50 (Shared 2 bed in the West with the GF)
    Groceries - 150
    Electricity/Broadband - 69
    Medical - 30
    Barber - 10

    Transport:
    Diesel - 50
    Upkeep (Service/maintenance) - 80
    Tax - 23
    Insurance - 60

    Personal:
    Socialising - 135
    Canteen/Takeaway -130
    Clothes - 15
    Vape - 30
    Random purchases (Games etc) - 85
    Charity - 45
    Holidays - 100

    Subscriptions:
    Google Drive / Netflix / Phone / Gym - 45

    Gifts:
    Christmas/Birthdays/Other - 190


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    #27
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Zascar wrote: »
    Fair play to all the people who can live in half nothing and save the other half, I wish I was able to do that. I do however get the impression these are mostly aspirational numbers. No one seems to pay right rent, or have significant car payments etc. What I don't understand is for me almost every month there is some/several non-bugeted expenses, that are often significant.

    For example, just off the top of my head, in the last few months alone I've had 3 birthdays, wife, mother and close friend, all of which have meant I had to splash out - flowers, present and or dinner/drinks out. I've had to put 4 tyres on the car and replace some suspension. I had to buy my wife a new phone. I bought a new desk setup so I can properly work from home. I had to buy some home/kitchenwear like a food processor, and some stuff for the house in Ikea. Then I have a new baby so I also had to buy a cot, car seat, playpen and so much other stuff I cannot tell you. Normally I would travel at this time of year but we did a very short staycation instead. Also, very few here have put down eating out or boozing - yet (pre covid) restaurants and pubs are packed across the country.

    Am I alone in these expenses?


    Yes, we have have expenses, but I try my damnedest to plan them.
    I find it easiest to do by grouping the expenses in buckets using google sheets, or an excel file.

    For example, I have a list of costs that I KNOW are associated with a car and I put them in a car budget on one page. That includes tyres, tax, insurance, servicing, cleaning.

    For babies / children, I put a list together of Childcare, clothes, shoes, activities (sports etc).

    For housing, there's the mortgage, insurance, alarm servicing,repairs, gutter and drain clearance, garden expenses

    Then I have other buckets for food, sports.
    Item : Annual cost : Monthly cost

    What;s left over then is discretionary for social life, sports, birthdays etc

    Front sheet has a very simple list then of the totals, so I know what my leftover discretionary budget actually is, accounting for all those one offs. That way if I've a birthday cost coming up, I know I can't afford flowers from a florist, fancy dinner and an expensive gift all for one person.





    When I was under pressure financially with baby costs, I took a good hard look at the top three most expensive things in our lives, to see what we could do to reduce cost. One was the car, divided annually, it was nearly as expensive as our house. We had a heap of 'unexpected' maintenance costs on the car in the previous 3 years. The car was oldish, tax was high etc. So we did a comparison on paper with a new car, for the total cost of ownership. Buying a new car (electric) fit our commuting needs and reduced the cost of ownership so much (no petrol, lower maintenance, lower tax), that the cost of the new car paid for itself in 3 years.




    It's finding the right tool for you sometmes, and writing it all down in a way that makes sense.


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    #28
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Some people are putting an awful lot of time in doing spreadsheets etc I wouldn’t have the patience for it. I just do most of the in my head.


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    #29
    Bubbaclaus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,461 ✭✭✭Bubbaclaus


    Blair Glamorous Tendinitis wrote: »
    Some people are putting an awful lot of time in doing spreadsheets etc I wouldn’t have the patience for it. I just do most of the in my head.

    Why would spreadsheets take an awful lot of time?


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    #30
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Bubbaclaus wrote: »
    Why would spreadsheets take an awful lot of time?

    Some of the level of detail some people go into it would certainly take time. I personally just don't see the need for that level of detail. I know my account balances at all times and I know my major expenses and just work out in my head as I go after that.

    For example I will think about my car insurance the month its due - look at my balance on that month and see can I (a) want to/can pay it in one go, (b) pay with credit card and spread over two months, (c) pay from savings or (d) pay with instalments. Make decision almost instantly and forget about it until next year (its usually option (b) or (c) or a combination of the two)


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    #31
    Creamy Goodness
    Registered Users Posts: 26,556 ✭✭✭✭Creamy Goodness


    Blair Glamorous Tendinitis wrote: »
    Some of the level of detail some people go into it would certainly take time. I personally just don't see the need for that level of detail. I know my account balances at all times and I know my major expenses and just work out in my head as I go after that.

    For example I will think about my car insurance the month its due - look at my balance on that month and see can I (a) want to/can pay it in one go, (b) pay with credit card and spread over two months, (c) pay from savings or (d) pay with instalments. Make decision almost instantly and forget about it until next year (its usually option (b) or (c) or a combination of the two)

    There’s no right or wrong way to do this sort of stuff. If it helps the person “spending hours” on a spreadsheet plan their spending then that’s all that matters.

    Also you’re in a great position to think of your car insurance just in the month in comes up in. Some people’s insurance is €400 some is €2000. It really depends on your circumstances but I’m sure people who can just absorb that cost in the month it falls is very low. Some people can have credit cards, some can’t both for personal or bad credit reasons.

    Paying in instalments for car insurance is awful as they apply interest on it, home insurance doesn’t do this which I found odd.

    Not saying you’re wrong, I’m kinda more like yourself doing things in my head but can totally understand how others may not be able to do this and I’m incredibly lucky that I can.


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