Terrible with money need some advice

JakeArmitage

I am absolutely terrible with money, I earn on average 3k net(yes into my hand ) and have zero savings . Sometimes its more, last month I got 4.5k into my hand because of a ****load of OT . The following represents a list of fixed expenses per month

Rent-500
Internet-40
Cinema-20(i'm limitless with Odeon , this doesn't include extra food cost there)
Phone-25
Car-50 a month on petrol plus whatever the tax is very 3 months
esb 100

I spend the rest on food drink and entertainment, I don't include them as fixed costs because they aren't set and they basically need to change

iainBB

JakeArmitage wrote: »

I am absolutely terrible with money, I earn on average 3k net(yes into my hand ) and have zero savings . Sometimes its more, last month I got 4.5k into my hand because of a ****load of OT . The following represents a list of fixed expenses per month

Rent-500
Internet-40
Cinema-20(i'm limitless with Odeon , this doesn't include extra food cost there)
Phone-25
Car-50 a month on petrol plus whatever the tax is very 3 months
esb 100

I spend the rest on food drink and entertainment, I don't include them as fixed costs because they aren't set and they basically need to change

What do you want to happen?

Lu Tze

JakeArmitage wrote: »

I am absolutely terrible with money, I earn on average 3k net(yes into my hand ) and have zero savings . Sometimes its more, last month I got 4.5k into my hand because of a ****load of OT . The following represents a list of fixed expenses per month

Rent-500
Internet-40
Cinema-20(i'm limitless with Odeon , this doesn't include extra food cost there)
Phone-25
Car-50 a month on petrol plus whatever the tax is very 3 months
esb 100

I spend the rest on food drink and entertainment, I don't include them as fixed costs because they aren't set and they basically need to change

For a month pay for everything by card. Check out your online banking, on a weekly basis put it all into a spreadsheet from the online banking and add another column for categories. Bills, rent, groceries, eating out, recreation etc. At the end of the month you can generate a pivot table by category, should be very clear where the majority of your income is being spent and where you should be cutting back

iamtony

For starters I'd say you are totally underestimating the cost of running your car.
Where's the insurance and maintainance?
Factor in Xmas, birthdays, holidays etc over the whole year.
If you go out even once a week theirs €500 a month right their.
I'm similar to yourself, money burns a hole in my pocket but I do know where it goes, I'm just so weak.
You will always spend what's available to you its so easy these days with food from Takeaways being so readily available and beer being so cheap in shops etc.
The only thing I can recommend is to set up a credit union account if you don't have one and direct debit even €100 a week into it and watch it grow. Try not to dip into it though!

iamtony

Oh and if your in a relationship that's probably costing you a fortune!

gordongekko

JakeArmitage wrote: »

I am absolutely terrible with money, I earn on average 3k net(yes into my hand ) and have zero savings . Sometimes its more, last month I got 4.5k into my hand because of a ****load of OT . The following represents a list of fixed expenses per month

Rent-500
Internet-40
Cinema-20(i'm limitless with Odeon , this doesn't include extra food cost there)
Phone-25
Car-50 a month on petrol plus whatever the tax is very 3 months
esb 100

I spend the rest on food drink and entertainment, I don't include them as fixed costs because they aren't set and they basically need to change

car insurance?

JustAThought

JakeArmitage wrote: »

I am absolutely terrible with money, I earn on average 3k net(yes into my hand ) and have zero savings . Sometimes its more, last month I got 4.5k into my hand because of a ****load of OT . The following represents a list of fixed expenses per month

Rent-500
Internet-40
Cinema-20(i'm limitless with Odeon , this doesn't include extra food cost there)
Phone-25
Car-50 a month on petrol plus whatever the tax is very 3 months
esb 100

I spend the rest on food drink and entertainment, I don't include them as fixed costs because they aren't set and they basically need to change

This dosn't seem right unless you have free gas, light & electricity? Food is also not listed here which apart from ' entertainment' is a big spend. You must live close to work or walk to work as e50 a month on petrol is nothing: are you sure you ae being honest with yourself in relation to your real spend & costs? You also don't mention car insurance/car tax/ car overheads like Parking/NCT etc?is there a visa bill too?

Either way it looks like you are just spending everything you earn regardless of whether it is 20-30% per month of a difference higher with overtime. There are lots of things you could do that will show you where your real money gies - Mabs.ie have money planners on their website that would help structure your thinking & follow the trail of spent money a bit better! You could evaluate your spending more accurately & see if you could reduce costs perhaps by planning to eat in 2 or 3 nights a week rather than 'entertainment/eating out 7 nights a week' etc. Are you the one buying lots of rounds? Do you drink 2 or 3 take away coffeys a day (e50 a week!) buy daily papers/magazines etc.

You could decide to have a cap on your spending to leave a little over each month - set up two direct debits when your salary comes in so you don't see it going or don't have the opportunity not to do it! Have even e150 going into a save for a holiday/special thing fund & another e100 going into a do not touch My leg is broken/ I lost my job/I need a catscan fund that is there for life proper emergencies. Real people would say to save for a pension TOO. But either way 2-300 oer month is not a huge amount & if you structure your thinking ' habbits around spending & what your money is actually going on it is quite achievable.

I went a few years back from zero debt to paying for a thing at e1,000 a month for two years - it was a bit of a cultureshock at first but after the first two months it came to be a habbit & I just reorganised a few things & it was very achievable on that kind of net salary. Its amazing what you can do with 20,000 or the plans you can make with it. If you don't know where your money is going or are not really seeing the benefit of it all you could plan bigger than just a holiday fund & emergency fund & save to have savings of e600 per month - from 3,500 - 4,500 net per month this could be quite a realistic goal - in two years this would give you life changing options.
(& I don't mean a new car!!)

The J Stands for Jay

Paying the car tax annually would save a fortune.

iamtony

Do you bring lunch to work? I used to spend roughly €10 a day on lunch so I started to bring my own, I'm on the road so also brought flask of water and tea bags and milk and bought a money jar and put the tenner a day into that. At the end of the month I opened the jar and used the money to buy something nice instead.
The reason I'm saying this is, I still bring my lunch to work but stopped putting the tenner in a jar everyday but I don't have €200 surplus in the bank every month the money just gets spent someway or another. So the only way to actually save a few quid is to put it out of reach like in the credit union.
You can tell yourself you'll leave the money in the bank or whatever but you will spend it.

hi_im_fil

Start a savings account and put a few hundred euro a month into it straight after payday. It seems you just spend whatever is available so if it's gone from your account you won't spend it. Maybe set up an account that you have to give a weeks notice to get money, that should stop you taking from it unless really needed or planned

Esel

McGaggs wrote: »

Paying the car tax annually would save a fortune.

Not really, in this or any scenario. Unless by 'fortune' you mean €250 absolute max per annum.

hi_im_fil

McGaggs wrote: »

Paying the car tax annually would save a fortune.

Not really for the op. They might save 100 per year, but the op has a problem where they will spend an extra 1500 per month just because it's sitting in their account!

pwurple

Have you a pension coming out at source? If not, start one.

I agree a good way for you to save would be to scoot that cash out of sight before you even spend it. Set up a regular saving account. The bank will suck the money into it without you even seeing it.

And your car estimate is way too low. Tax, insurance, tyres, maintenance, nct.

Nelly11

Check out Consumer Help website they have a budget planner calculator. First input estimated essential costs car insurance, food, rent etc and fixed costs, this will show you what is leftover for social life, clothing etc you will be surprised at actually how much you have leftover.
What is your goal? You rent? Are you interested in buying a house? If so you need to work out what level of mortgage you can afford and need to be saving this and a little more for over a year.


At 3k net per month you are on approx 50k plus p.a, you have plenty of scope.

petethedrummer

The first thing you should do is open a savings account and set up a standing order for 50 per week. If you are single and earning 3000 per month you will not notice it leaving. Then start to nudge the amount up by maybe a euro per week.

Try some reading some of these.

https://www.youneedabudget.com/
http://www.madfientist.com/podcast/
http://www.getrichslowly.org/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
https://www.mint.com/
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/
http://www.doughroller.net/
http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/
http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/

All very american but I haven't found european equivalents yet. YNAB(YouNeedaBudget) and the Madfientist podcasts would be my main recommendations and the early dough roller podcasts.

There's a budgetting show on RTE at the moment can't remember what it's called. It's pretty good.

To Elland Back

OP did a 'hit & run' to let us know how much he earns and is having the craic. Still posting about Man You and not interested in advice given

iamtony

To Elland Back wrote: »

OP did a 'hit & run' to let us know how much he earns and is having the craic. Still posting about Man You and not interested in advice given

Classic burying his head in the sand behaviour cause he has money problems:-)

petethedrummer

To Elland Back wrote: »

OP did a 'hit & run' to let us know how much he earns and is having the craic. Still posting about Man You and not interested in advice given

It takes a while to change behaviour. At least he recognises something is going wrong.

CiniO

3k per month nett (into a hand) just gone on your onw?

We live on less (around 2k - 2.5k) per month for a whole family of 2+2.
Everything in excess goes into savings, investments.

lcwill

I posted this somewhere before but basically, the Central Statistics Office says the average weekly disposable income per person in Ireland is around E250 per person (after paying taxes, accomodation).

If the OP gets 3k net/month and spends E500/month on rent, he can give himself another 1k/month to cover all other expenses. Thats total spending of 1500/month leaving another 1500/month to save or stick in pension.

It doesn't take long to build up a decent pile of cash at that rate and that's with average spending patterns so not really depriving yourself.

If he struggles with that he could give himself 2,000/month to live on, way more than the average person, and save 1,000/month.

dennyk

That definitely seems a bit off. I net a little over 3k a month after tax and defined+AVC pension contribs, my rent is quite a bit higher (850), my gas and electric are higher, I spend several grand on travel a year, eat out a couple times a week, and probably spend a bit too much on groceries, and I still save at least a few hundred bucks a month, usually more. I can't fathom how OP can be blowing two thousand bucks a month unless he has a serious drinking problem or a moderate gambling problem.

OP, you should work out a proper budget for yourself. You are definitely missing some fixed expenses in your list (car insurance, home/renter's insurance, water charges, and an actual value for your motor tax for sure, and maybe waste services as well unless they're included with your rent, and the TV license fee if you have a TV). For expenses that you pay less than once a month, do the math to figure out how much each works out to per month and add that value to your budget.

List out all of your expenses in a few different categories:

- Required Fixed Expenses: These are expenses you can't cut and probably can't easily reduce. Rent, insurances, and motor tax would go here, as would unmetered water charges, prescription meds, etc. There isn't much room for savings here, though you should remember to shop around at renewal time for things like insurance and medication to see if there is a cheaper option.

- Required Flexible Expenses: These are easily tracked expenses you can't eliminate, but could possibly reduce. These would be usage-based bills like electricity/gas service, water charges (if you have a meter), waste charges (if you're paying per lift or by weight), petrol, phone bill (though 25 a month is pretty low already), and Internet service. You can potentially save some money here by changing your behavior and/or service plans to reduce cost (conserving utilities, using fewer minutes on your prepaid phone plan, switching to a cheaper Internet plan, recycling more of your household waste to reduce bin charges, telecommuting a few times a week or otherwise adjusting your driving habits to reduce petrol usage).

- Optional Fixed Expenses: These would be fixed monthly expenses that aren't required and could be eliminated. Your movie pass, streaming service accounts, TV services, gym memberships, and basically anything else that has a recurring fee or charge. You can definitely cut some of these to save some money.

- Required Variable Expenses: These are necessary but potentially highly variable expenses from month to month. Basically stuff like groceries, household goods and consumables, basic clothing, etc. You can track these expenses carefully and look for some ways to save here; use coupons and sales to save on groceries and household items, buy non-perishables in bulk, buy bulk grocery goods and cook + freeze your own meals instead of buying prepared foods, avoid buying expensive name-brand clothing, etc.).

- Optional Variable Expenses: This is presumably where all your money is going; unnecessary and highly variable expenses. Basically, entertainment, bars/pubs, dining out, travel expenses, and buying crap. This is what you badly need to get a handle on.

Here's what you need to do: first, TRACK EVERYTHING you spend; literally every dime should be accounted for. If you usually use a debit or credit card, this should be pretty easy; if you use cash, you'll have to do it all manually, but either way, every time you spend money, record the amount you spent and what it was spent on. Put it all in a spreadsheet; if you don't have Excel, go get [LibreOffice](https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/) for free and use its spreadsheet program. Do this for two or three months and then you'll know exactly where your money is going.

Once you have this data, you can use it to figure out the best places to cut back. Decide what you can live without, and where you can reduce your expenditures, and then make yourself a budget that reflects what you've decided on.

Finally, once you have the budget, you stick with it no matter what. If you've already blown through your Entertainment budget for the month and payday is still a week away, then you don't go out to dinner or to the pub this week, period. Discipline is the key here.

Continue tracking your expenses as you use your new budget. After a few months, go over your budget and expenses again and see how things are lining up, and make adjustments if necessary (e.g. if you find yourself overspending in one category but are constantly well under budget in another, you can move some budget room from one to the other accordingly).

As for your savings, you should aim to build up an emergency fund first. This is a high priority because if you don't have one, an unexpected expense could cause serious issues. My rule of thumb is enough money to cover necessary monthly expenses for six months at a minimum. This money should be in an account that is easy to access quickly, and it is meant for unexpected and necessary expenses (car repairs, medical bills, etc.), or to live on in the event you lose your job. It is *not* for unnecessary or frivolous expenses, or to make up for budget shortfalls because you overspent on another category.

Next, you should focus on retirement savings; ideally you should be putting at least 15% of your income into a retirement or pension investment plan (or more if you're older and haven't been contributing to retirement yet). Once you're making your retirement contributions and your emergency account is fully funded, you can put the rest of your savings towards other short-term or long-term goals as you see fit (e.g. a down payment on a house, a big vacation, a wedding, your future kid's university fund, additional retirement savings, or whatever other goals you might have).

One last tip: the best approach to savings is to pay yourself first. Once you've worked out your budget and figured out how much you can save each month, before you spend a single dime of your paycheck, put that amount into your savings account immediately. That will keep you from dipping into your "savings" money if you've overspent and things get tight at the end of the month.