# Looking to save deposit for house



## AmIok (8 Jan 2008)

Age: 32
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 31

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 47K
Annual gross income spouse: 70K

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed. Fulltime employment, spouse in a recognised profession.

Expenditure pattern: In general are you spending more than you earn or are you saving? Not anymore, although we were living beyond our means for a long time.

Rough estimate of value of home: Nil
Mortgage on home: Nil
Mortgage provider:
Type of mortgage: Tracker, interest only, fixed rate
Interest rate

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
Loan: 7000, min payment is 300 p/m. Aiming to pay a lot more off this
Car: 4200 owed, paying 267 p/m (value 4K)
Credit card: 900 (@ 9.9%)

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? 
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 

Savings and investments:
No investments, c.1K in savings that is there for emergencies (car / emergency flights somewhere etc.)

Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, both in employers schemes at c.6%

Do you own any investment or other property? No

Ages of children: None

Life insurance: None

Other outgoings:
Broadband: 20 p/m
Phones: 40 & 50 p/m (bill pay)
Shopping (food): 250 p/m
Petrol: 40 p/m
Lunch / morning coffee: Me 200 p/m, Spouse 100 p/m
Dry cleaning: 40 p/m
Rent: 1250 p/m
Socialising: 200 p/m for meeting friends, cinema, comedy club etc.
Socialising: 100 p/m in unplanned events (friends home from abroad etc. at short notice)
Clothes: 100 p/m
Other expenses: 100 p/m (birthdays etc.)
Employers pay health insurance
Medical bills: 50 p/m

Net income: 
Me: 2,990 p/m
Spouse: 3,900 p/m

We would like to buy a house towards the end of this year or early next year.  Fully aware of the current market so will be aiming for a house we could stay in for at least 20 years / life. This will be in Dublin and be at least a 3 bed.

The current plan is to live off my salary, 2 people renting in Dublin should be able to live of 3K a month with little problems.  Use Spouses salary to pay down debt in the order of credit card, loan and car loan.

Will open a savings account with one of the new deals (probably Postbank) and gain interest on the money as it is saved.  We have no holidays planned this year, although I think we would like to get away if possible to somewhere in Europe, with a couple of weekends away likely too.  Decisions on this are likely to be dictated by how close we are to our target and the destinations involved. 

The figures above do not include annual bonuses of c. 5% paid in April & May.

Really I am looking for confirmation that we have the right plan in place to save a deposit for a house.  I know we could tighten our belts a little more (especially my morning coffee habit and more expensive lunches).  Our food bill is probably high, but it is always fresh food and rarely fast / pre-prepared and usually includes a bottle of wine for the week.


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## theboys (9 Jan 2008)

Do you have an idea how large a mortgage you are aiming for? Is 250 a month on food correct?  Sounds very low.


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## AmIok (9 Jan 2008)

I'd like to get a 92% mortgage but realistically it will probably be 95%.  I'd prefer to avoid the 100%ers.  I suppose the budget is probably 450K or so.  Could probably stretch that for a real keeper of a house.  Talked to a lender a few months ago and they were offering 500K on a 100% mortgage, I'm guessing that will have dropped after the credit squeeze.

€250 p/m on food buys breakfast (OJ & cereal) and dinner for 5/6 nights for 2 adults.  It doesn't include work lunches, that's separate above.  Do you think that's really high?  I don't buy own brand stuff, always buy good quality meat and veg.


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## Carpenter (9 Jan 2008)

I think you underestimate your monthly grocery spend, I don't believe any couple could feed themselves for a month with that small a spend (our monthly spend for 2 adults and 2 young children is about €700- 800).  You spend a lot of your income on "casual" eating out, coffee, socialising etc.  There's certainly room for savings there.


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## AmIok (9 Jan 2008)

€800 a month for groceries?  Seriously? That's way too high.

Below is a sample shop, granted this is just on the spot and not based on receipts per se.

Mon
Whole free range chicken: €15
Potatoes: €4
Peas: €2

Tues & Wed
Curry paste: €3
Rice: €2
Naan: €3
Tomatoes (pack of 6): €2

The chicken can also be used to make a freeze a stock for a soup base later in the month.

Thurs & Fri (cottage pie)
Mince: €5
Puree €0.50
Potatoes: (from pack above) €Nil
Tomatoes (from pack above): €Nil
Other veg: €5

Sat
Breakfast
Rashers: €5
Bread: €2

Lunch:
Soup & bread or similar: €8

Dinner: 
from socialising budget

Sun
Breakfast
Fruit: €5
Bagels: €4
Cream cheese: €3

Lunch:
Soup & bread or similar: €8

Dinner:
Pizza base: €3
Puree €0.50
Mozzarella: €3
Tomatoes (from pack above): €Nil
Some other topping: €4

All days
Breakfast cereal: (€4 lasts 3 weeks) €1.25
OJ: €6
Milk: €3
Wine: €12
Coffee: €4
Tea: €4


Once monthly buys:
Olive oil: €5
Washing powder: €5
Toilet roll: €10 (Guessing!)
Dishwasher tablets: €5
Sugar, herbs and others €20


Over a month the above comes in closer to €400.  That's interesting, I'll pay much closer attention to that.  The dinners above are just a sample, we often have other dinners, but regularly cook something that lasts 2 nights - pasta bolognese,  beef stew, lasagne , cous cous to name a couple,


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## ClubMan (9 Jan 2008)

Just glancing at some of the item prices above (you don't specify weight or size for some so it's difficult to judge accurately) but I wonder if you could economise even further by buying from the likes of _Lidl/Aldi _or even own brand ranges from _Dunnes, Tesco, Supervalu _etc.?


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## AmIok (9 Jan 2008)

Agreed it might be difficult for someone to visualise.  Don't tend to buy own brand stuff other than toilet roll.  

The chicken above is free range, but it is fully used.  All meats tend to be higher quality too, same with Veg.  

The food listed above is enough for 2 people to live on for a week with little left over.  I think some economies could be made here, listing it out has pointed out that it's a higher cost than I thought.


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## ClubMan (9 Jan 2008)

AmIok said:


> listing it out has pointed out that it's a higher cost than I thought.


Interesting - that probably goes for other stuff for most people too. Listing things out concentrates the mind and serves as a reality check versus what we might like to believe! I guess this is why a standard budgeting/debt management mantra is to keep a spending diary and then review it to see what the facts rather than assumptions are.


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## deedee80 (10 Jan 2008)

Hi AmIok,

I recently traded up from an apartment to a house, the mortgage on our apartment was the same as the rent you are paying at the moment so we were also saving while paying out the same amount as you.  I will try to offer some good advice with regard to your monthly outgoings and where you can save. 

Phones: 40 & 50 p/m (bill pay) - _could you change over to pay as you go._ _My boyfriend and I both changed to meteor and got free texts for life once we top up 20 euro a month, alot of my friends are on meteor too which I didn't realise, so saved even more money.  My phone never costs me more than the 20 euro.  Do you need the bill pay phone for work?_

Shopping (food): 250 p/m - _this sounds about right to me but I would try to knock the lunch money on the head and make your own luch and bring it to work, the money for lunches should be incorporated into the 250 per month you are spending on food.  Make out lists of what you will have for dinner each day of the week so that you only buy what you need and have no waste.  When my boyfriend and I started doing this we noticed a massive saving at the end of each week._

Petrol: 40 p/m - _probably nothing you can do to reduce this_

Lunch / morning coffee: Me 200 p/m, Spouse 100 p/m - _try and reduce both of these while you are saving.  Make your own lunch.  A slice pan and a packet of ham and cheese is a lot cheaper than spending say 5 euro a day or thereabouts on lunch. Shop bought coffee is a big unnecessary expense - bring a jar of a brand that you like to work and make your own._

Dry cleaning: 40 p/m

Rent: 1250 p/m

Socialising: 200 p/m for meeting friends, cinema, comedy club etc.- _while it is important to still maintain a social life, you will really need to reduce this amount while saving.  If friends are going for drinks drive in to meet them and have a few soft drinks (this is what I did) - saves on the money you would spend on alcohol and taxis, and if you have the car you can't be swayed into a long night out on the town drinking.  Don't feel the need to attend every outing, people will understand that you are saving.  Rent dvd's instead of trips to the cinema._

Socialising: 100 p/m in unplanned events (friends home from abroad etc. at short notice) _as above_

Clothes: 100 p/m - _do you really need new clothes every month? you'd probably be amazed by the amount of clothes you have in your wardrobe that you forgot about._
Other expenses: 100 p/m (birthdays etc.) - _is this for presents? or attending outings?  If presents then just give a token, like I said people will always understand if you are saving for your house.  1200 a year on other expenses like birthdays is a lot of money._
Employers pay health insurance
Medical bills: 50 p/m

Also, when you find yourself with money left over at the end of the month put it straight into your savings account, it can be easy to say oh I'll just have one treat but every little helps when you are saving for your house deposit.

You are both earning good money and have a nice lifestyle, you should be able to make the cutbacks to save without too much of a struggle, just keep thinking of the final goal and having your own house and it will all be worth it!  Best of luck!


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## Carpenter (10 Jan 2008)

It's interesting that your actual grocery spend is nearly double your original estimate!  I know our own grocery spend is high (and believe me, I'd love to be able to reduce it!) but we both bring lunches to work (with rare exceptions) and we have other expenses that you wouldn't have (nappies, babycare essentials etc).  Have you factored in the occasional "top up" shop during the week for fresh bread, milk etc.  I think a lot of people fail to factor in those little extras and mistakenly believe their once a week trip to the supermarket is the cost of their weekly grocery spend, discounting the €5 or so spent here and there on incidentals.


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## MrMan (10 Jan 2008)

> Socialising: 200 p/m for meeting friends, cinema, comedy club etc.- while it is important to still maintain a social life, you will really need to reduce this amount while saving. If friends are going for drinks drive in to meet them and have a few soft drinks (this is what I did) - saves on the money you would spend on alcohol and taxis, and if you have the car you can't be swayed into a long night out on the town drinking. Don't feel the need to attend every outing, people will understand that you are saving. Rent dvd's instead of trips to the cinema.



To be honest €200p/m for socialising is quite low I would have thought. Even if you are saving you do need a little bit of a release so I wouldn't go cutting this, but like your grocery spend I would make a list and see how much is actually spent on socialising. Most of your list points to little relative outgoings to your combined income so I think you may have under estimated your spending habits across the board. 

When you start looking for a house don't just look at prices, because if people have a budget of say €450,000, they tend to spend €450,000 and then some. Identify areas and styles and then go look and you might pick up something inside your budget that allows a little more to spend on yourselves.


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## AmIok (10 Jan 2008)

When it comes to the house I think we’ll probably still aim for the max of our budget.  If that means we have the option of a 4 bed instead of a 3 bed in one area or the opportunity to buy a 3 bed house in an area we’d prefer over one where we were thinking then I’ll opt for the bigger house or other area.  The house we end up with I’d like to be a keeper, it will not be an ‘investment’ it will be a home.

The €200 p/m socialising covers Friday or Saturday night drinks in the pub once a week and a nightlink home for 2 people, will be avoiding rounds*.  I’ve also got an extra €100 for other social events or the occasional taxi home (€20).  

TBH, I’d prefer not to switch to pay as you go phones.  I’ve never had one and I don’t want the hassle of monitoring my credit.  

€1200 a year on presents sounds a lot when it’s put on paper like that, but it covers birthdays, weddings (3 this coming year) and tokens for births.  So €1200 is probably reasonable, although I agree for this year it could be reduced.

€100 on clothes I think is fair, it’s not €100 every month but there are some things that have to be bought every couple of months. Work shirts (tend to renew every 6 months or so). Warm coats for the winter, new shoes all have to be bought through the year.

The original target is to pay off loans and then save €4,000 a month, although I think this might be optimistic having started this thread.  That said the extra costs for food can be compensated from the high costs of coffee & lunch.

*I was saving for something a few years ago and the biggest saving I made was by getting out of rounds, subsidising those spirit and mixer drinks that others were having halved the cost of a night out.


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## bacchus (11 Jan 2008)

Carpenter said:


> (our monthly spend for 2 adults and 2 young children is about €700- 800).



Few comments were made about the grocery expenditure above.

We are also 2 adults + 2 young children, and our monthly grocery expenditure is also €750..and we are also careful enough about what we buy, trying to avail of specials. But we do not cut corners on quality and buy loads of fresh products (no frozen ready to go stuff which actually would may be turn out to be more pricey).


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## tiger (11 Jan 2008)

Hi AmIOk.  Just to clarify, are the figures in your original post what you're actually doing each month, or what you plan to start doing?
It seems to me you have a relatively high joint income, relatively low debts & monthly expenses and yet have zero savings.  Where's the money going?


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## ClubMan (11 Jan 2008)

As ever in situations such as this the original poster needs to do up an accurate and details income and expenditure diary/budget to see where the money is going and where savings might be made.


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## AmIok (11 Jan 2008)

tiger said:


> Hi AmIOk. Just to clarify, are the figures in your original post what you're actually doing each month, or what you plan to start doing?
> It seems to me you have a relatively high joint income, relatively low debts & monthly expenses and yet have zero savings. Where's the money going?


 
The figures above are what we are actually doing, although when I put on paper a sample weekly diet it worked out much higher.

The money is going to pay off old lifestyle loans, about 12K in 8 months has been knocked off them.  But we also took one 2 week holiday last year and between us 11 weekends away.  The lifestyle has been knocked on the head, starting last month and I think there is more fat to be trimmed.


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## AmIok (15 Apr 2008)

Update on the above, 4 months later.

Age: 32
   Spouse’s/Partner's age: 31

   Annual gross income from employment or profession: €50,000
   Annual gross income of spouse: €70,000

   Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant,  self-employed: As above fulltime employment in both jobs, partner in a recognised profession 

In general are you spending more than you earn or are you saving? No

   Rough estimate of value of home: Nil
   Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 
*What interest rate    are you paying? *

   Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: €3,500 car, nil other loans.  We have managed to payoff 20K in lifestyle loans in 1 year without making too many sacrifices.

   Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
   If not, what is the balance on your credit card? Curent balance, c.€750

   Savings and investments: €1,500 in emergency cash. Nothing else, all other income has been directed at paying down old lifestyle loans

   Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, as above c. 6%

   Do you own any investment or other property? No

   Ages of children: No

   Life insurance: No

Have paid close attention to spending over the past 4 months and it breaks down as follows p/m;

 Broadband: €20 p/m
Amnesty: €20 p/m
 Phones: €40 & 5€0 p/m (bill pay)
 Shopping (food): €450 p/m
 Petrol: 40 p/m
 Weekly expenses (Lunch, morning coffee, bus fare, dry cleaning etc): Me 320 p/m (80 p/w), Spouse €100 p/m (highly subsidised workplace)
 Rent: €1250 p/m 
Socialising: €400 p/m for meeting friends, cinema, comedy club etc.

 Clothes: €100 p/m
 Other expenses: €100 p/m (birthdays etc.)
 Employers pay health insurance
 Medical bills: €125 p/m (Recent ongoing work that will go on for another year, would be considered cosmetic so no threat to job / income)
Other bill (ESB or NTL): €150 p/m 
Misc. €200 p/m (pretty much always use this)
 
Net income: 
 Me: 3,000 p/m
 Spouse: 3,900 p/m

I should point out that a 2.5K bonus was also received during this period that paid a lot off the 7K loan, that is not likely to happen again in the next 12 months.
What's the best way for us to save for a house deposit and associated costs?


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## annR (15 Apr 2008)

My tuppence worth



> Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
> If not, what is the balance on your credit card? Curent balance, c.€750


 
Does this mean you have 750 on your card but you will pay it off in full?  Or is it 750 you haven't paid off?



> Phones: €40 & 5€0 p/m (bill pay)


 
 I think this seems very high (to me) - are you also paying Eircom landline or just use your mobiles?  Is there some way you can get a better deal?



> Socialising: €400 p/m for meeting friends, cinema, comedy club etc.


 
This has gone up from E300 in your original post.  If you are serious about saving can you not cut down on this?  

A


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## AmIok (15 Apr 2008)

Thanks for the reply, to get to your questions;

1) There is €750 owed on the credit card at the moment, this will be paid off at the end of this month.  It is a combination of some online purchases, minor shopping and concert tickets (which €250 will be repaid by others going to the concert)

2) Phones are mobiles and I don't think there is much more to be gained by reviewing these further, other than going pay as you go - and I don't really see that as an option.

3) The socialising figure has gone up, but it's actually more realistic now.  It also includes hobby activities.


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## AmIok (15 Apr 2008)

annR said:


> This has gone up from E300 in your original post.  If you are serious about saving can you not cut down on this?



Also €400 represents under 6% of our monthly income.  I don't think that is an excessive figure to spend on socialising.  People need to socialise, both with your partner mid week dinners etc. and with friends at the weekends.


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## annR (15 Apr 2008)

Hi
Didn't mean to sound crabby, posted in a bit of a hurry


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## shoppergal (15 Apr 2008)

AmIok said:


> Weekly expenses (Lunch, morning coffee, bus fare, dry cleaning etc): Me 320 p/m (80 p/w),
> Spouse €100 p/m (highly subsidised workplace)
> 
> Socialising: €400 p/m for meeting friends, cinema, comedy club etc.
> ...


To be honest I think unless you make a lot of changes to the above figures in particular it's going to take you a long time to save 22k(5% of 450k). None of the above are essential and you could easily be putting away €1,220 a month if you just changed your lifestyle for a while. It's not going to be forever. It's just a case of deciding what's most important. Best of luck with it.


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## AmIok (15 Apr 2008)

I can see some savings from my morning coffee habit, but very little of the rest I think can be trimmed.

Dry Cleaning, essential.  I work in a formal environment and am required to wear trousers and a jacket occasionally.
Clothes, this isn't fashion following spending.  This is mostly for work, setting aside money for trousers and shirts.  We also buy some clothes, but have not done too much recently.


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## birdy (15 Apr 2008)

Are you availing of bus tickets, monthly tickets work out much cheaper than looking for change everyday, your employer might also have the tax saver scheme in place www.dublinbus.ie some of these tickets also include nightlink too. 

If you are serious for saving for a deposit, you will have to curtail and change the socalising. rent DVDs instead of going to the cineama, have friends over to watch. For about a year when I made the decision to buy, I only went about on a Saturday night about once every 3 months, worth it in the end.


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## deedee80 (16 Apr 2008)

Hi AmIok,

this is just my tuppence worth but didn't like to not reply. I think if you are realistically trying to save the deposit for a house then you need to tighten the purse strings and I can't really see where you have done this. When myself and my partner were saving (plus lots of friends and relatives when you had to have the 8% deposit and things seem to be heading this way again) we literally had no life. We were paying a mortgage on an apartment the same as your rent and as soon as we got paid we each saved 1k, bought very little new clothes (my partner works in the same environment as yourself and found he had plenty of clothes to do him which I am sure you have if you have been buying them every month) brought our luches to work, nights out were usually socialising in friends houses with one of us driving, ready to go phone where we get free texts and cost us max 20 euro a month each. Then at the end of the month if there was anything left over that went straight into the savings aswell. Plus we weren't earning as much as you and your partner. It sounds bleak but it really wasn't and we could see the savings growing so much each month so that was the incentive. As soon as we got into our house we had the socialising and regular spending back as the mortgage was nothing compared to what we had been saving. I note that your outgoings amount to 3365 per month (unless I have added incorrectly) one thing you could do is save the entire 3000 wage and work off the other one and anything left over at the end of the month could go into savings also.  You would have a great deposit in no time!


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## AmIok (16 Apr 2008)

birdy said:


> Are you availing of bus tickets, monthly tickets work out much cheaper than looking for change everyday, your employer might also have the tax saver scheme in place www.dublinbus.ie some of these tickets also include nightlink too.
> 
> If you are serious for saving for a deposit, you will have to curtail and change the socalising. rent DVDs instead of going to the cineama, have friends over to watch. For about a year when I made the decision to buy, I only went about on a Saturday night about once every 3 months, worth it in the end.



Actually the monthly / weekly tickets work out more expensive.  My fare is €1.50 each way, so that's €3 a day.  Equals €60 per month.  I only use the bus for work commutes and those tickets are not valid on Nightlink services.


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## Newbie! (16 Apr 2008)

AmIok said:


> Actually the monthly / weekly tickets work out more expensive.  My fare is €1.50 each way, so that's €3 a day.  Equals €60 per month.  I only use the bus for work commutes and those tickets are not valid on Nightlink services.



I guess the yearly ticket works out to be about the same as you currently spend but do you think you'd save money by not breaking notes to buy tickets etc. My partner gets the annual ticket through his employer and they deduct the cost of it from his monthly wages. He is definitely saving by not breaking notes all the time.


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## not_a_clue (19 Apr 2008)

contact a professional financial advisor (accountant, broker etc.) have them set you a plan , start saving all you can, take on a second job.


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## kmepll (19 May 2008)

In your Budget you have a car and paying off a loan for it,so your Budget should also include insurance,tax maintainance,nct.
But if your fuel bill is only 40 euro per month then it costs more to keep the car compared to the useage it gets.Get rid of it if its only unless totally needed
Your grocery bill you have down as food what about the rest of the  neccesities.
A proper annual Budget is required for every cost you have then you can see where cuts can be made


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## rmelly (19 May 2008)

Based on the figures supplied you should have a monthly surplus of over 3k before your borrowings.

In fairness you are making very little effort to cut back, and it shows - your borrowing has dropped in the last 4 months but not by the amount it should have, even worse when you add the bonus.

Speaking from experience you would have a large lump sum saved if you wanted to.

I also suspect your 'misc' is a lot more than 200, and covers the items missing here in particular costs of running a car (tax, insurance etc), TV licence etc.


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## rmelly (19 May 2008)

AmIok said:


> I can see some savings from my morning coffee habit, but very little of the rest I think can be trimmed.
> 
> Dry Cleaning, essential. I work in a formal environment and am required to wear trousers and a jacket occasionally.
> Clothes, this isn't fashion following spending. This is mostly for work, setting aside money for trousers and shirts. We also buy some clothes, but have not done too much recently.


 
You can rationalise these things if it makes you feel better, but most of the posters here also work in formal environments, and I'd be curious to know how many (male or female) spend EUR100 a month on work clothes.

How often do you wear stuff before dry cleaning? What is occasionally?


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## so-crates (20 May 2008)

Newbie! said:


> I guess the yearly ticket works out to be about the same as you currently spend but do you think you'd save money by not breaking notes to buy tickets etc. My partner gets the annual ticket through his employer and they deduct the cost of it from his monthly wages. He is definitely saving by not breaking notes all the time.


 
Few things on this. Firstly the annual ticket is the same cost as ten monthy tickets so there is a considerable reduction on monthly tickets there. Secondly, and most importantly, if you do get these tickets through the taxsaver scheme (which I suspect Newbie's partner is), this is deducted before tax and PRSI which means that you effectively spend about €31 of your post tax income instead of €60 on a monthly ticket. I would suggest you look into Taxsaver tickets promptly and start using your commuter ticket for journeys other than just work to gain even more value for money from it.

I work in a formal environment "occassionally" as you put it, and I too have to have clothing and dry cleaning to match but when I needed to limit it, I certainly didn't spend €100pm on clothing.

In general:
1) Save yourself the cost of an accountant or a financial advisor and do the following two things: Research the best deposit accounts to save your money and set up your budget so that savings come out first not last (otherwise you just fritter and frankly your spending seems to show that). Set the bar high, have at least €1000 euro coming out first thing your wages come in (twice what you have managed to accumulate in 4 months!) - in a year you will have €12000 in savings. You will notice it the first month but you will adjust your spending pretty rapidly to suit your diminished current account. That also gives you a clue as to what sort of savings you need to be thinking in terms of to actually build up the money you need to have to put down the deposit. As you haven't exactly excelled in saving up to this point you have a long way to go and if you want to get there quickly you need to start looking at "trimming" more than your expensive coffee habit.
2) You aren't forswearing socialising, holidaying and treats forever and joining an enclosed order in a convent or something! Just for a short period of time in order to build up a good amount of money you need to curtail your social and indulgent spending. Stop viewing it as a trial and look at it as a short term challenge. Oh and find ways to socialise without spending money (go for a walk in the evening with your partner instead of eating out).

I really do think that you want, in the common phrase, to have your cake and eat it. You want to build up your savings from, frankly, scratch without making any sort of sacrifice. The fact that you have no savings to speak of given you are both earning a good income is quite honestly surprising and foolish on your part - it presupposes a continuance of income, you'd be in trouble if one of you didn't earn anything for a month. And it isn't even as if the sacrifices you would need to make are all that onerous. You have a good (some would say excellent) combined income, more than sufficient for your needs and definitely more than sufficient to allow you to live comfortably and save reasonably or even save extravagantly to build up that deposit (and don't forget, savings for furnishings are better than an additional loan at the point when your spending will be stretching your income for benefit rather than indulgence).


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## dereko1969 (20 May 2008)

the annual bus tickets do work on the nitelink and also the airlink buses, i would think the monthly tickets do as well but as pointed out the annual ticket is much better value


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