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Investigates Investigates Money Diaries The Journal TV Climate Crisis Cost of Living Road Safety Newsletters Temperature Check Inside the Newsroom The Journal Investigates Daft.ie Property Allianz Home The 42 Sport TG4 Entertainment The Explainer A deep dive into one big news story Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture have your say Or create a free account to join the discussion Advertisement More Stories spending and saving Money Diaries A PR manager on €44K living in Co Cork This week, our reader is getting back into the swing of things at work after getting married and meticulous in saving towards a house. 8.01pm, 26 Oct 2025 Share options WELCOME TO HOW I Spend My Money, a series on The Journal that looks at how people in Ireland really handle their finances. Are you a spender, a saver or a splurger? We’re looking for readers who will keep a money diary for a week. If you’re interested send a mail to money@thejournal.ie. We would love to hear from you. Each money diary is submitted by readers just like you. When reading and commenting, bear in mind that their situation will not be relatable for everyone, it is simply an account of a week in their shoes, so let’s be kind. Last time around, we heard from a governance assistant manager on €71K living in Munster. This week, a PR manager on €44K living in Co Cork. I’m currently living in County Cork with my partner. We live in a tiny home on my parents’ land, which we built for around €16,000 three years ago. This was an amazing investment as we are able to save most of our income towards a mortgage, vs how much we were paying in rent in Dublin. We got married a few weeks ago (a majorly budget-friendly, entirely DIY day!) after spending the last two years planning and organising that. We put in two years’ work, crafting and thrifting to have a two-day wedding for 100 people that cost us only €7,000. We’ve worked hard throughout our 20s to set us up really well so that we have financial security going into our 30s. Our plan for the next few years is to save hard, but not have the reins so tight that we don’t have fun. We have a secure living situation, we’re married and we both have degrees. Our plan for the last two years of our 20s is to continue to work full-time and save, but also travel, spend time with friends and take a break from big life commitments that we’ve been working on since we were 22 before starting to look for a property. We are in the process of approval in principle just in case something perfect for us comes up in the meantime! Occupation: PR/media manager Location: Cork County Salary: €44,500 Monthly pay (net): €3,071 Monthly expenses Transport: €70 per month on our car, including my insurance/tax cost split across 12 months Household bills: For my share, it’s €25 for electric, €10 for heating (pellets for pellet stove) and €6.25 for internet. We split bills with my parents and invested in good insulation, triple glazing and low emissions electronics when we built our place, so our bills are mercifully low Phone bill: €9.99 Health insurance: €0 – for the first time in my life I’m in a financial position where I can afford this, so I plan to invest in this for the start of 2026 Groceries: Approx. €125 for my half. We are vegetarian and cook everything from scratch so we save huge amounts this way Subscriptions: €0 – I believe subscriptions are one of the quickest ways to waste money, it’s so easy for a monthly payment to be taken out for something you’re not getting value out of! Savings: €2,000 – I’m putting away two-thirds of my monthly income currently to try and buy a house Total monthly expenses: €2,246.24 Total monthly disposable income: €828, or €207 per week. This is often slightly higher as I also “side hustle” through selling things on Vinted, as well as taking on photography jobs 6.30 am: I get up for work, do my skincare and make myself a cup of tea. I work Thursday-Monday so it’s my last day of the week. Today is my first full week back since getting married. I’m only back from our short four-day honeymoon last Monday and I had to attend meetings in Dublin last Thursday/Friday, so I’m pretty tired and ready for a few days off! 7.00 am: The work day begins. I work from home, so I usually do the first hour on the sofa with my tea in my pyjamas and then get up, stretch and move to a desk. I try to be fairly focused for the morning so I can be super productive and allow myself to taper off mentally in the afternoon. 12.00 pm: I take my lunch hour and use it to go on a walk with my mum and catch up. 1.00 pm: I make lunch – we usually grocery shop on a Tuesday, so Monday is always a leftover/back of the freezer raid day. This helps us save money, prevent food waste and stops us forgetting about stuff! A typical Monday lunch is chopped fruit and veggies, rice crackers, nuts, any random snacks I have around. My partner works in a café so gets fed at work which also saves us costs. I answer a few messages from friends and get back to work. 2.00 pm: My partner was away yesterday and last night for an end-of-busy-hospitality-season team getaway. They come home and bring a barmbrack (October essential in our house), so we have a slice and a cup of tea whilst catching up about our respective weekends. 4.00 pm: I finish work wrecked and feeling a little under the weather, and my partner is tired after their party, so we go for what’s meant to be a short lie down but it turns into an accidental two-hour nap with our cat. 6.00 pm: My partner cooks dinner, and it’s a further freezer raid/leftovers theme. We have loads of spicy bean burgers leftover from our wedding’s day two barbecue, so we cook them up with the last of the salad and cheese we have. It’s freezing today so we also defrost a bread and butter pudding we made using leftover bread from the wedding day. 7.00 pm: We play a board game while we digest dinner and then do a core strength and balance yoga workout on YouTube. 8.30 pm: I get into pyjamas and read my book with a herbal tea. I try to read 50 pages every day and start to stop using my phone/wind down fully. I’m reading Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, which is a really beautiful novel that I’m enjoying. 9.30 pm: I put a wash in the machine and set a timer so it washes overnight when the electricity is cheapest, and so it finishes in the morning and we can line dry it. Advertisement 9.45 pm: We get into bed and watch the most recent episode of Taskmaster and fall asleep with no alarm set for the morning so we can get as much rest as possible! Today’s total: €0.00 9.30 am: Wake up after a lie-in with a touch of a cold. My partner makes me a honey and lemon and I have a slow start drinking it in bed and making a meal plan and grocery list for the week. Meal plans are a pain, but they’re my #1 tip for preventing food waste – they make life so much easier when you can just check what you’re cooking for dinner that way and tailor it to your plans for the week. 10.30 am: I get up, do a morning stretch yoga and have a shower in the hope that it makes me feel a bit more human and able for the day. 11.30 am: It’s raining (shocker) so we hang our laundry in the part of our house where there’s the least air circulation/it gets the dampest and put on the dehumidifier. It doubles by both drying our washing and preventing mould in that space! We’ll leave this on for the day until peak electricity prices at 5pm. 12.00 pm: Before we head out to run errands, we have a smoothie and a bagel each to really, truly clear the fridge out. 12.15 pm: Our friends call to see if we want to have dinner tonight as they need to go grocery shopping, so we decide to carpool and go together. 1.00 pm: We head to our nearest town and get a coffee, which my friend pays for. We go charity shopping and I pick up some cutlery as we’re short on spoons for some reason, and a vintage ice bucket for cocktails for €8. I also pick up some kimchi in the health food shop for €4.95. 3.00 pm: We go grocery shopping. We usually do our full shop in Lidl. It’s a slightly lighter shop this week as we are eating out this weekend. The total for my half comes to €16.11. After this, we fill up the car all the way from empty, and I pay half which costs €31. 4.00 pm: I unload the shopping and do a bit of admin, going through our wedding cards and taking notes of everyone who gave us a gift and/or card so I can write the thank you cards I ordered last week. 5.30 pm: We head over to our friends’ place to cook dinner and spend an evening together. We’re once again raiding the leftover wedding freezer to make braised vegetarian sausages in apple gravy, with mashed potatoes and crispy brussel sprouts. 10.30 pm: We head home and I read in bed before going to sleep. Today’s total: €60.06 10.00 am: Wake up even later this morning, but today is technically my ‘Sunday’ so I’ll take it. Start the day by reading for an hour. 11.00 am: I get up, get ready for the day and make a list of everything I’d like to get done today. 12.00 pm: My partner makes us chia seed porridge – I intermittently fast so eat from 12pm-8pm. We then play a round of a board game to stave off getting productive for another hour! 1.00 pm: We head out for a long walk to get some exercise and get blood flowing so we can kick the slow morning lethargy. We have a small fruit snack and tea when we’re back. 3.00 pm: We haven’t really touched the marquee for the wedding since before we went away, so we spend the rest of the afternoon tackling it, organising everything to sell on and give away. We also put away a few bits we’re holding on to into the attic, so it’s more organised for when people come to have a look to buy. Someone comes to buy some dried flower arrangements I made for €20. 5.30 pm: We put on one of our favourite podcasts and cook dinner together. We make a tortellini and white bean soup that’ll be for tomorrow’s dinner too, so we don’t have to cook when we’ve both been at work all day. 6.30 pm: My partner books tickets to an artist we both like in a local music venue, so I give them the €20 I got from making and selling the arrangements, so it kinda cancels out! 7.00 pm: We pop out to drop some outdoor lights we borrowed back to our friend, recycle glass at the glass bank and drop some chairs from our wedding reception to some friends who had their eye on them. 8.00 pm: We do a full body stretch yoga workout and a bit of phone time. I also list a camera I haven’t been using much in the last few years on Vinted. 9.00 pm: We go to my parents to watch the UK Celebrity Traitors, a show we all love and always watch together. 10.00 pm: We head to bed. Today’s total: €0.00 (€20 additionally earned, €20 spent) 6.30 am: Up for work, tea and skincare. 7.00 am: Start work, the usual routine of starting slowly on the couch while I wake up and getting stuck in for the morning. 11.00 am: It’s quieter than usual today, so I take a 10-minute movement break to run a hoover over the floor. One of my favourite things about working from home is taking concentration breaks and getting a chore done for the day. 12.00 pm: I make my lunch – a salad bagel, fruit and some rice crackers. 12.30 pm: I head for a walk for an hour. The weather is bleak and spitting a little bit, but I’d rather get the fresh air and be rained on than stay inside all day. 1.30 pm: Back to work for the afternoon. I make an oat chai latte to warm myself up. 4.00 pm: I take half an hour to switch my brain from work mode, which is sorely needed when your living room is also your office! I empty the dishwasher and do some stretches. 4.30 pm: I head outside to continue organising everything from our wedding. We’re hoping to have a “yard sale” next weekend to get rid of as much as we can, and give away the rest in a local Freecycle group. Cutting down hundreds of cable ties for lights, drapes, etc. is very tedious, but it’s the reality of DIY and it saved us thousands. 6.00 pm: I hop in the shower and reheat yesterday’s soup, feeling very grateful to not be cooking today. 7.00 pm: It’s my birthday tomorrow, and my family and partner kindly give me some gifts and we have some cake. Usually I’m pretty low-key for birthdays but have a nice weekend planned, so I’m looking forward to it! 9.00 pm: Settle in to chill and watch some TV. Related Reads Money Diaries: A governance assistant manager on €71K living in Munster Money Diaries: A chemist on €52K living in Cork Money Diaries: A banker on €92K living in Dublin 11.00 pm: We head to bed. Today’s total: €0.00 8.00 am: Had a minor lie in this morning as have taken the day off for my 28th birthday! Having tea and doing my makeup as I’m heading to the city for a day of nice activities. 9.00 am: We head off as it’s a bit of the drive. 10.00 am: We stop in a larger town and I pop into one of my favourite charity shops. We have some friends staying with us for Christmas this year and we’re doing thrifted/cheap Secret Santa stockings on a budget, so I pick up a few bits for that for €4. We then go to a bakery for some nice breakfast pastries, which my partner insists on buying as a birthday treat. 12.00 pm: Arrive in the city and go straight to a long hair appointment. I get most of my hair cut off, it’s a very luxurious experience kindly gifted by my parents. I don’t really need ‘things’ so love to give and receive experiences as gifts. 1.30 pm: Meet my partner after they got their wedding ring tattooed on, and we grab some sushi for lunch (once again, birthday treat from them!) before having a look at the Cork city charity shops and picking up some miso in the Asian supermarket for €5.50. 4.30 pm: We head to a cocktail bar before dinner. This is, yet again, a birthday gift! So I enjoy a pre-dinner tequila cocktail. 5.30 pm: We head for a vegetarian tasting menu in a lovely restaurant. As evidenced in this diary, we usually eat pretty frugally and cook at home, but love food and love to treat ourselves to good restaurants for special occasions. We pay with some cash we got as wedding presents so it doesn’t sting as much. My half, with a martini, dinner, wine and a tip comes to €110. 7.30 pm: We head to a show in the Opera House. We actually booked this over a year ago so it very much feels free at this point! 10.00 pm: We head for home and arrive around midnight. I just about manage to take off my makeup and brush my teeth before collapsing. Today’s total: €119.50 6.45 am: Up for work this morning. I finish the time sensitive stuff by 9am and go back to bed for an extra hour because we were back so late – I cover weekends for work which means I work about 30 hours a week instead of 40, for the same pay. I love this system as it means I get much more time for things I enjoy and some additional freelance work. 10.00 am: I get up and reply to some birthday messages from yesterday and get a call from a family member. A camera I listed sold on Vinted late last night for €36, so I package that up to ship using some recycled packaging. I also defrost some food for dinner tonight. I reply to an email asking me for a quote to photograph an event in two weeks. 11.00 am: I decide to get most of my weekend work done today, so I can have a more relaxed day tomorrow. Another advantage of the weekend work is flexibility around my own plans. 3.00 pm: I begin to feel a little unwell and have some pain as well as some other symptoms. I have endometriosis so this isn’t unusual but it can be quite debilitating, so I take painkillers and just rest/watch something to try and distract myself. 5.00 pm: I start to feel a little better, so I use my walking pad to do some gentle exercise and listen to a podcast. I invested in my walking pad two years ago so I could still get movement in when it’s biblically raining, and it was worth every penny. 6.30 pm: My parents have brought a young family member of ours camping for the first time at a nearby pod camping site, so we go and join them to cook dinner (veggie salad hot dogs) and play in the games room for a while, and she’s delighted. 9.00 pm: We head home and shower, put the fire on for a bit and head to bed with a chamomile tea and a documentary we’ve been looking forward to. Today’s total: €0.00 spent, €36.00 additionally earned 6.45 am: Up for work again with a peppermint tea. Only a little bit to do today thanks to me getting ahead yesterday. 9.30 am: I finish up and have a look on my phone at some travel options. We took a short honeymoon directly after the wedding as we’d rather do lots of budget breaks and see more places than an extortionate trip. I price up a budget trip to London in February to discuss with my partner later. 10.30 am: I do a few little chores around the house, a light tidy up and cleaning. We try to keep on top of the house generally and then do a deep clean every six weeks or so. 12.00 pm: I have a pretty basic lunch – soda bread, cheese, fruit, kimchi and tea. 12.30 pm: I go out to the marquee for the final wedding organise! I finish cutting down all the lights and sorting them into boxes. Everything is now “taken down” and ready to sell, so hopefully will all be gone by this time next week. 2.15 pm: Finally finished the takedown! I hop in the shower and prep to head out for the afternoon/evening. 3.30 pm: I walk from our house to the town, which takes about 30 mins. I head to the café my partner and a few friends work at to have a scone, a chai and read my book for the afternoon ‘til they finish. This comes to €7. 5.00 pm: Heading for a low-key evening out with friends using my birthday as an excuse for a get together. I pay for our sauna booking, my portion of which comes to €15. 8.00 pm: After the sauna, we go to grab some pizza and catch up. My portion of this comes to €11. We are all tired so skip the pints. 10.00 pm: We have a quick cup of peppermint tea when dropping some of our friends home, then go to bed. Today’s total: €26.00 Weekly subtotal: €232.56 Additionally earned side income: €56.00 Net ‘loss’: €176.56 What I learned – I’m glad I kept the diary this week as while it wasn’t a typical week for me with treating ourselves due to a special occasion, I think it well exemplifies that we’re very frugal and careful with money most of the time, but don’t let that get in the way of enjoying our lives. I think our unbelievably privileged living situation affords us a quality of life that’s very high. Lack of rent means our disposable income is much higher, so we are very strict with saving, but can still enjoy nice things without stress. I also think my remote work with lower hours is a huge money-saver, as I’m not time poor. I have time to scratch cook meals, take advantage of cheap electricity times, make things, repair things and take on additional freelance work. I’m really comfortable with our financial situation and am hoping that we will be able to buy a home in the next few years thanks to some very smart decisions throughout our 20s. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. 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