would you move back into shared accommodation at 38

Ursus Horribilis

The insurance one is baffling me. He's 38 so by that stage of his life, his premium shouldn't be too onerous a bill. Even with the price hikes. The only thing I can think of is that he had a car accident and didn't protect his no claims bonus.

Food and drink is something you can fritter away a surprising amount of money on if you're not careful. You'd be amazed how much money you'll save if you do some pre-planning and cook/freeze meals. All those coffees, rolls, takeaways, bottles of beer or wine and other impulse buys at the supermarket add up. I bet if you decided to cook up a pot of spaghetti bolognaise, chili con carne, chicken curry or a casserole, you'd be amazed how far it goes and how cheap it is. I find I get three days out of something like that. Usually now, I freeze the third portion so that there's a ready meal in the freezer for those days when I can't be arsed cooking.

BetsyEllen

If you're bad at saving, and have an issue with spending spare money on drink then I don't think having more spare cash is actually going to help you here.

You'd be far better working on how you manage your finances.

Maybe open a type of savings account that you can't withdraw from without giving notice, or is locked for length of time (ie. 12 months) and set a standing order to go directly into it on payday.

Withdraw a set amount of cash and put it into your wallet and tell yourself this is your spending allowance for this month.
Take out however much you need to cover food, petrol etc and then put your bank card in a safe place at home so you're not carrying it with you daily.
You'll likely find you spend less when you can see the actual cash in your wallet.

Try this for a month and see how you go. If you can save say €200 and get to your next payday without touching it you'll feel great and I can guarantee you'll feel spurred on to do it again next month.

Ursus Horribilis

Elemonator wrote: »

With respect, there's no point going to the gym if you are drinking that much.

Or as I've often heard, you can't outrun a bad diet. Going to the gym is not a bad thing in its own right but I think sometimes people think it'll right the wrongs of what they're eating and drinking.

pilly

I wouldn't give up my privacy for any money and paying €500 p/m rent is great in current circumstances.

Could you not get rid of the car anyway and use public transport. If you're insurance is €145 a month you're paying a lot more than €200 p/m for the car. Again you add up petrol, servicing, wear and tear etc.

I have no TV subscription at all, tons of channels for free but then I'm not into the football.

Not much else I'd advice but keep your independence. Imagine if you gave up that apartment and moved into shared accommodation and then decided in a years time that you're not going away. You wouldn't get another place back for €500 so think very carefully.

Viscount Aggro

Without being too critical to the OP, if you want to beat the system, theres ways around it, by being more efficient.
20 quid a week will feed you, look at alternative house shares - how do you think foreign nationals working minimum wage jobs are managing? I would take nothing as a fixed cost, go animal on expenses, cycle or walk everywhere, cook everything from scratch and freeze the rest. Depends what the objective is here? Getting your savings rate up? pay yourself first, at end of the month, then live on the rest.

PhoenixParker

Would you even find a house share at 38?

Most people prefer to share with people roughly they're own age. Anyone I know sharing in their 30s has been sharing with the same people since their 20s. If the house share splits up they don't look for new stranger housemates, they move to their own place or in with a partner.

Cyrus

Lukeskyrunner wrote: »

I have wanted to move to Australia for a long time and its about time I start moving forward with my plan. It s going to take 9-12 months before I get my visa so I m considering moving out of my apartment and into shared accommodation near work, I m also planning on selling my car since I plan to move near where I work. I should still be able to save a lot of money with all those bills but my capacity to save money if I moved into shared accommodation is massive, would appreciate some advice

can i ask what the motivation is to move to australia?

spaceHopper

Can you cut the sky, are you under contract, will there be a penalty if you do?

I wouldn't move, you have stability now, what if you end up with bad house mates or get kicked out.


Your fixed costs are less than 1K a month! That is very good. Where is the other 2K going? Moving would save you 570 a month based on your figures. Turn down the heaters, put on jumper.

Shop more carefully, bring your lunch to work....

Also check that your electricity meter is the correct one and you aren't being charged for another appointments! It's been know to happen. Get the management agent to show you the meter. Pull the fuse on your fuse board and see that it stops. Then put it back in, run the oven, immersion and heaters, see it spin. Keep an eye on other metes too. It might not save you much if it's wrong but you would be due a refund!

Goya

Certainly would not if I had a choice. And you do have a choice. My friend had to at 38 because her relationship ended and she earns less than 25k before tax. She doesn't like it but it has to be done.

You however are definitely not in a financial situation that requires it - your rent is very reasonable and you earn good money (especially when you have no dependants), fair play.

At the same time though, if you actually want to share, what does it matter how others feel about it? I don't agree with those saying you wouldn't save. You would of course - lower rent and split bills. But it doesn't seem necessary - if that's your only concern.

riclad

You can just go for basic entertainment and music channels,
cost 30-35 per month.
drop sky sports ,if theres a big match on go to a pub that has sky sorts.
For 50-60 you can get broadband plus 50 tv channels from upc or virgin media .
if you cut your sub from sky ,you,ll still get all the fta channels, bbc,itv,c4,
channel 5 ,true movies etc
https://switcher.ie/broadband/

bucketybuck

dont bother wrote: »

usually in a house-share there is always one older person - and the other housemates, IME, always view them as a bit odd, weird, strange.

What a load of rubbish.

There are of course weird people out there but his age has nothing to do with it. In a time and a housing market where older people frequently have to back and live with their parents there is nothing particularly strange about anybody in their 30's house sharing.

athtrasna

Mod note

That's several pages of financial advice, can we get back to the Accommodation and Property aspect please.

ongarboy

Most renters in Dublin could only fantasize about only having to pay one sixth of their take home pay in rent each month as OP is doing. You must be renting far outside Dublin as most one bed apartments in Dublin are at least €1000 per month. If you were paying an extortionate amount for renting alone, then yes, I'd say consider a house share but most house shares in Dublin would cost more per month than you pay for your own place so saving a couple of hundred on rent is not going to make a big impact if you are reckless in your spending elsewhere.

I'd focus on where you are needlessly throwing away money rather than undertaking a big lifestyle change of sharing with others at this stage of your life. Yes, there is nothing strange about older tenants sharing, however, all people gradually get set in their ways as they get older and are generally less tolerant of things that they mightn't have given a toss about as much in their twenties (dirty pots on the cooker, leaving the emersion on, parties mid week etc). Could you endure that with others who may be in different age groups and stages and priorities in their lives?

Your car insurance at 1440 per year is absolutely crazy for someone of your age unless you are a provisional driver. I'm similar age as you and pay less than a third of that. I'd ditch the car unless I absolutely had no other way of getting to work. Watch out for those take away coffees each morning and gourmet paninis for lunch. That can add 50-100 per week if you are not careful although realistically a single man earning 3000 a month should be able to absorb such expenses but if you are having problems saving, then ditch such items and make packed lunches and use the staff kettle!

I binned my Sky after 10 years last year and got Free to Air and I don't miss a thing. I'm not a sports fanatic so never needed the premium channels but as others have posted above, there are ways and means of getting them for free.

It sounds like the elephant in the room revolves around how much you spend on entertainment. All other disciplinary measures you take will be a waste if you don't address that. I can spend 20 to 200 on a good or crazy night out depending but if I was reckless, I could spend 200 every night (buying shots for acquaintances I met 5 minutes earlier etc as people do, after parties, pills, continue the session into the next day etc....all fun but at a very expensive financial and health cost if doing it consistently). Not sure what your primary motivation is for going to Oz but if you think it will facilitate you changing bad habits, then it won't. That will have to be done regardless of where you live and Oz could worryingly encourage your vices as there can be a whole "away from home, let's party to celebrate or to drown out the homesickness" attitude.

Some posters have come on here saying they can feed and live as a family of 4 comfortably and still save on the same amount that you earn. You need to take a long hard look at your current lifestyle and follow the good advice that people are posting here. Best of luck!

Edit - apologies mod, just saw your post only now about veering away from main topic!!!

johnnyskeleton

Do you know anyone in a houseshare that you get on with and could move in? Probably better than moving in with strangers.

Lukeskyrunner

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread, I have decided to stay in the apartment. The problem isn't the 1k I spend on my expenses its the 2k that burning a hole in my pocket. I should be able to save 1500 euro every month no bother , I know the TV expense for the football is a lot but its a luxury I am well able to afford. My salary is very good and would be good even if I was living in Dublin. With regards the car, yes at 38 I am still on provisional which is why my insurance is high. With regards OZ, I have been 3 times now and love it and since I have no dependents here why not whilst I am still relatively young, I have family out there as well permanently . I suppose the main reasoning for thinking of doing this is to put myself into a militant type mind set where I am focused on spending the bare minimum and saving as much as I can in the shortest time possible

orionm_73

Would you consider setting up a bank account that you have to give notice of any withdrawals ? Then set up a standing order so that €xxx is transferred every payday. It will mean not being able to withdraw the cash on a whim.

Lukeskyrunner

orionm_73 wrote: »

Would you consider setting up a bank account that you have to give notice of any withdrawals ? Then set up a standing order so that €xxx is transferred every payday. It will mean not being able to withdraw the cash on a whim.

My problem is I have alot of expenses from now to the end of march, I have to go back over to OZ again

Lukeskyrunner

I just read some of another thread on here and 500 euro a month is pittance compared to what people have to pay in Dublin

mansize

No.

fits

After my expenses were covered i used to allow 700 euro for food, entertainment and clothes and incidentals per month. The rest was split between a rainy day account for large occasional expenses and a notice account for long term savings. You could take an approach like that.