dublin

How to figure out how much you need to earn to live in Dublin

October 21, 2018 by Meg 5 Comments

This is a question I get a lot, how much should I be earning if I want to live in Dublin? So many people compare their salary back home to the salary here and then forget that the monthly budget you would need in order to live over could be very different to the monthly budget you had back home. When we first moved over, I wrote a post on the cost of living between Johannesburg and Dublin although that was a couple of years ago, it gives you a general idea on my perception of costs between the two cities. In this post I am going to share an estimate monthly budget for Dublin, which will give you insight into how much you need to be earning in order to comfortably live and pay your bills in Dublin.

First thing you need to do is to work out what your take home salary will be every month. Just a note that companies will give usually give you a salary offer per annum, not per month. So if you got a job offer with a salary of 30 000 euros, that’s probably per year – not per month! You also need to remember to deduct tax. The tax rate is high here, but it is fairly similar to South Africa, so for us this wasn’t a jump from what we were use to. Our friends from Dubai did not have the same experience! A handy online calculator to work out your salary after tax is this website.

Once you have a monthly take home salary, you should work out what your monthly costs will be. Just a note that these are estimates, and largely based on our own experience. Everyone has a different budget and way of living, so this is purely what we have found costs to be like here in Ireland. I think when you are deciding if moving to Ireland is going to be good for your family, you should always over-inflate your costs of living. The last thing you want is to move all the way over here, only to find you are not able to afford the lifestyle you had back home. A move as big as moving overseas should always be an improvement to living back home – or at least the same, but never worse. You don’t want to have to cut your costs and battle to make ends meet in a foreign country – moving countries is hard enough as it is, who needs the added stress of not being able to afford to live month to month too!

Rent

Once you have a job offer, then you can start looking where you would like to live, and what rent is like in the areas close to your work. Finding a place to rent is one of the hardest thing to do here in Dublin. There is a huge housing crisis and the demand for rentals and people looking for places to live makes it tough. We had the added stress of finding a pet friendly rental, I wrote a post about how to find a pet friendly rental, but the same process could equally be applied for finding any kind of rental. The average cost of rent in Dublin varies, but on average if you plan to live close to the city the average rent is 1800 upwards for a two bed apartment. Some people choose to move out of the city, which means the rent is slightly more affordable. But moving out of the city has pro’s and con’s to it, and in some cases you would need to buy a car if you plan to live far out of town and commute into work. Depending on where you work and where you plan to live, that commute might be just as bad as living closer and paying a higher rent.

Utilities

Then you need to consider gas and electricity costs. On average these costs for us have been around 75 euros a month. The cost of gas and electricity will depend on how frequently you have the heat on in your home, and what kind of rating your home has. BER A1 means it is a highly energy efficient house, the rating goes all the way to G which would be the lowest rating and least efficient. The higher the energy efficient the house is, the lower your utilities costs should be. Currently no one pays for water in Ireland, but this could change in the future. For now, it is not a cost you need to account for.

WIFI / Broadband

We don’t own a TV, but we do have internet at home. We went with Virgin because they had a good deal at the time, but you can go with anyone really – most service providers have competitive prices, so you can shop around. For internet at home we pay 55 euros. If you own a TV you will need to TV license to get the national channels, and if you want something similar to DSTV or cable TV, then there are providers like SKY TV etc. We have found that internet is fine for us, with YouTube, Netflix etc you might not feel the need to own a TV.

Mobile phone

Your company might offer you a company phone as part of your package, or you can just buy a new SIM and buy prepaid. When we first arrived, we brought our phones over from SA (make sure your phone is unlocked so that it is able to accept a new SIM!). We were on prepaid/top up for a while before moving to a SIM contract. Since moving here, we are hesitant to get into phone contracts and paying ridiculous fees for new phones. We both pay on average of 25 euros a month for data/minutes each month. We have never had to top up our data or run out of data since we moved here which is a serious novelty for South Africans!

Groceries

This is a really personal thing, how much you eat might be half as much as what we eat. We had to live off one salary for over a year so we got really good at cutting our food bill and buying cheap. I find fruit and veg that is in season to be very affordable, and you can get a frozen pizza for 1 euro that isn’t half bad (especially if you are on a tight budget!). When we are saving and trying not to overspend, on average we can spend as little as 50 euro a week on food for two of us. We both drink, but not a lot and when we were struggling on one salary we lived off 50 euro a month for beer and wine that we consumed at home.

Entertainment/Travel

Drinking and eating out falls under entertainment for us, which even though we both have jobs and two salaries coming in, we limit to once or twice a month. We find eating out to be very expensive, especially dinners. We often look for early bird specials, or opt for lunch or coffee and a treat over a full meal. We would far rather spend our money on travel and doing cool activities over eating and drink our money away. There is a lot of free stuff you can do in Dublin, plus free museums you can visit – the city has loads of budget friendly activities you can do for the whole family. We do find walking in the park or going to the beach or mountains to be a good way to get out the house and not pay for it.

Transport

This will largely depend on where in the city you live, whether you use bus/train/luas or if you choose to buy a car. There is a monthly cap on public transport so I highly recommend getting a LEAP card which will mean that your daily/weekly/monthly trips will get capped. Right now the cap is 7 euro a day if you use the bus only, or 10 euro a day if you use a combination of transport or luas/train. The weekly cap is 30 euro for busses only or 40 euro for train/luas and bus. Rob is currently study which means he has a student card, this is a cheaper rate for public transport (not to mention entry fees and other deals!). If you decide you want to buy a car it is important to remember to get a car insurance quote before you purchase a car – we haven’t gone down this road yet but when we do, I will write a separate post on it. I do know that insurance as a foreigner is very expensive!

Once you have added up what your monthly living expenses will be, and if you know what your salary each month will be, then you can work out if you can afford to live in Dublin. The above doesn’t take into account things like: savings; retirement funds; medical aid; additional costs for children like school etc which are all super important too! Plus this is just a guide, or an estimate – everyone will have a different set of priorities and costs that they will need to consider, but I do hope this posts makes you think about what those costs might look like and for you to consider whether, with your monthly budget, you can actually afford to live and work in Dublin.

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Live Simply & Travel Slow,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or join my exclusive Facebook Group. And because I seriously am an open book, if you ever want to bounce ideas off me, or just chat and connect send me an email (I really love chatting!)..

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20 things to do in Dublin FOR FREE

May 1, 2018 by Meg 5 Comments

Looking for some free things to do in Dublin this weekend that won’t cost you a million Euro? On a tight budget but still want to explore as much of Dublin as you can, without breaking the bank? Here are 20 ideas on things you can do for free in Dublin:

Visit the national botanic gardens. Right next to Glasnevin Cemetery (which, in my opinion, is well worth paying to do the tour) is the national botanic gardens in Dublin – and it is completely free to enter the gardens! The gardens are well looked after, there is often art and sculptures around the grounds, as well as a few hothouses where they keep the tropical climate plants. I would suggest bringing a packed lunch, as the restaurant is limited and with such beautiful gardens, you would be missing out if you ate in the restaurant instead of taking in the beautiful views.
Walk along the Liffey River, You don’t need to do a walking tour, just grab a map and walk Dublin streets for free at your own pace, stop when you see something interesting or keep walking, you decide. I wrote a post about 7 walks you can do in Dublin.
Explore one of the many parks around Dublin City – St Stephens, Phoenix, Merrion Square, there are loads of parks scattered all around the city, look on google maps and find them! St Stephens has beautiful flowers in the spring and summer, it is also big enough to walk around it in a nice loop. If you go there when the weather is warm, you will find loads of people soaking up the sun (this is true for most parks and when the weather is good – everyone comes out!). Phoenix Park is the largest walled park in Europe. So you would battle to walk the entire park in one day but there are some great spots to view deer and wildlife, as well as cycle paths to ride around the park. Merrion Square is where the statue of Oscar Wilde is, which worth a quick walk by. Not to mention that last year, they held open-air cinema in the summer at this park – for EUR5 which is almost free! Another fave park of ours is the Sean Moore Park, in Irishtown. It is next door to a nature walk, so you can walk through the park, along the beach and into the nature reserve. It is a great loop to do, and we enjoy walking it with Jack most weekends.
Hit the beach – there are several blue flag beaches in Ireland, one of them is Dollymount. You can grab a coffee or a toasted sandwich at Happy Out and walk along the beach on Bull Island . We also have Sandymount Strand right on our doorstep, there is a great promenade which you can walk along, but when the tide is out, the beach is dead flat and stretches out for miles, so you can really walk quite easily without really being on top of people. Jack turns into a beach pug when he hits this beach – which honestly makes my heart so happy seeing him run along the beach.
Bike or walk along the canal – The canal runs quite a distance through Dublin, and has walking paths along both sides. We love walking along the Dodder river with the view of the Aviva Stadium near Lansdowne DART station. It is in-between Ballsbridge and Ringsend. Another good section of the canal to walk is the path that leads to Bushy Park. These walks are good all year round, as they are quite nicely protected from the wind, and you can really see the changing of the seasons along the canal and river – which is different all year round.
Cliff walks (Our two faves – Howth and Bray-Greystones) – If you have visited Ireland without doing a cliff walk – can you even say you have been? Jokes aside, cliff walks are one of my fave things to do on the weekend – because the view is magical, and it doesn’t cost a cent to do! You can catch the DART out to Howth or Bray and walk along the cliffs, both have different views and angles of Dublin so if you are visiting for a while, try do both then let me know which one is your fave – because I am still undecided, I love them both equally.
Walk along the harbour pier – Dublin has a few harbour towns along the coast, so you can walk along the harbour piers in Howth or Dun Laoghaire. You can also do a walk out to Poolbeg Lighthouse, which has a 2km pier out to sea.
Go searching for statues – molly malone statue; oscar wilde, even a statue for Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy are all dotted around the city, I find this handy list of statues and their stories you can read it here.
Go hiking in the Dublin Mountains. There are several routes you can do, so it means that you can keep coming back to the Dublin Mountains and going along different paths. Hellfire Club has some ruins on top of the hill, and has a great view of Dublin City. Faerie Castle and Three Rock have great views of Wicklow. And Ticknock Hill is great for mountain biking, but also, the moss and fern life in Ticknock forest is something out of a fairy story tale – there is magic in that forest.
Georgian door hunting – I love searching for new, brightly coloured, ornate georgian doors on our walks through the city. They make for great back-drops for instagrammable photos too!
Check out one of the free museums – interested in learning more about the History of Ireland? There are NINE free museums to see in Dublin, I loved visiting all of these museums, I wrote a whole post explaining all of them right here.
Listen to Grafton Street buskers – Grafton Street is a bustling high-end shopping street in Dublin, but it also has a some great buskers and musicians who play daily. It is such a vibe walking down the street, listening to songs being sung and people passing by.
Spire on O’Connell Street – Known by the locals as the Stiffy by the Liffey, it is a 120m in height pin-like monument that was created as a replacement for Nelson’s Pillar which was blown up 1966. There isn’t too much to do at the Spire, except shopping, but it still is pretty cool to see.
Pick a favourite Dublin bridge – it is a common debate between me and Rob on which is the best bridge in Dublin between the Ha’penny Bridge (my fave) and Samuel Beckitt Bridge (his fave). Which one is your fave?
Dance to trad music in an Irish bar – a good place to find trad music is Temple Bar, if you are not for the tourist crowds, Brazen Head is big enough that you can find a seat and still hear the trad music.
Trinity College – This is a university in the middle of town, you can walk around campus and enjoy the varsity vibes, there is also an art gallery on campus that is free to visit.
Street art hunting – This is a favourite thing for me and Rob to do, because street art can be found in the most unusual places. If you are looking for some good pieces, then I recommend following Subset on Instagram, they are currently running a project called grey area project which is a great initiative treating street art like an open-air art gallery.

Found this great piece of street art down a side alley near Bachelor’s Walk. Even at night, this wall still lights up with colour! #exploredublin #exploreyourcity

A post shared by Meg | Minimalism & Slow Travel (@thisisus_living) on Jan 18, 2018 at 9:12am PST
Window shop at George Street Arcade – Ireland’s first purpose built shopping center, filled with all sorts of knick knacks – from artwork, to vintage clothing, to music. It is an interesting spot to wander through.
Dublin Castle Gardens – One day we went to George Street Arcade, grabbed a coffee and a cupcake and walked over to Dublin Castle Gardens, which is also free to visit. You have to pay to do a tour of Dublin Castle, but I would suggest rather walking around the grounds yourself, without paying the entrance.
Brave a swim at forty foot or sea point – Last summer, Rob and I braved the Irish sea and went for a swim at seapoint. It was the hottest day in Summer and still, the water was freezing! Having said that, plenty of people take a dip in the sea all year round, and it is completely free to do.

BONUS TIP: Did you know you can take a tour of the president’s house for free? Tours are available most Saturdays, all year round. You can get a ticket on a first-come-first serve basis from the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre. We have not yet done the tour, so I am not sure if it is worthwhile, but the fact that you can visit the President’s House and for free, does intrigue me. I think it might be good to get there early, and then perhaps take a walk around Phoenix Park while you are there.

BEEN TO DUBLIN? WHAT DID YOU LOVE TO SEE OR DO IN DUBLIN THAT DIDN’T COST ANYTHING?

Live Simply & Travel Slow,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or join my exclusive Facebook Group. And because I seriously am an open book, if you ever want to bounce ideas off me, or just chat and connect send me an email (I really love chatting!).

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15 Irish words or sayings you need to know

April 23, 2018 by Meg 5 Comments

Rob and I have been living here for nearly 18 months, and over this time we have learnt a lot about living in Ireland, the way things work, and a large part of moving abroad is learning more about the people, and how to communicate with people is how we all form connections and make friends. Making connections with people helps you integrate into your new life overseas. It is key to be able to ‘fit in’ in your new country, if you don’t feel as though you belong, then it is unlikely that you will stay long term.

One of the reasons we decided to move to Ireland was because we thought language would not be a hurdle since we both speak English. We thought Irish would be similar to South Africans, for example we both have a similar sense of humour. However, one of the major differences between us is the terminology and phrases we both use – perhaps some of these Irish sayings will be similar to your own country, but these are not sayings we are not use to hearing back in South Africa.

LIKE. I think the Irish are the original ‘likers’. The Irish folk we have met use the word ‘like’ a lot. It reminds me of a guy I knew years ago, who used to point out how many times I said ‘um’ – he was a real jerk, but he had a point, I did say um a lot back then. It makes me think how he would hate to be around the Irish because they say like ten times more than I ever said ‘um’. OK, so maybe this is used back home too, but for the Irish, they use it a little differently, it is usually placed at the end of sentences. For example, ‘she is crazy, like’; ‘It was some good craic, like’. These sentences just don’t sound the same coming out of anyone else. But with the Irish it feels like an accentuation to the story, and it kind of just works, or maybe I am just getting used to it.
CRAIC. Another very popular word used by the Irish is ‘Craic’; pronounced ‘crack’. It is used to ask how things are going, what is the vibe like, or if something is good fun. For example: ‘What’s the craic? Ah last night was good craic. Are you up for a bit of craic?’ Second to like, it is one of the most used words in Ireland, I reckon. So it is a handy one to know, especially if you were like me, and thought they were looking to buy drugs.
SHORTEN WORDS. The Irish like to create their own slang by cutting down words and add an O, words like devo, and morto are commonly used – perhaps more with younger teenage girls.
GRAND. DELIGHTED. CLASS. Grand is used a lot, in the same way that South Africans use the word ‘lekker’. Some Irish will go so far as to say ‘Ah it is grand so’ meaning it is lekker or nice just like that. Everything can be grand but it is usually referred to when something is awesome, great or just OK. Delighted is used when they would ‘love to’, for example ‘I would be delighted’ and Class refers to when something is top-notch, it was class.
GAS. When something is hilarious or funny or just fun – it is gas.
YE. This is probably a bit of old English, but it is used instead of you, for example: what are ye doing here like? Or ‘where are ye off to?’ I kind of like this one, but it never really sounds right in coming out of my voice.
SWEAR WORDS. Shite instead of Shit, Feck instead of Fuck. In some ways, they swear a bit more than us, but I find they sound so much more polite when they swear than when I do! Maybe it’s the accent thing but they will say shite, or feck as an adjective in most sentences and it never comes off as being totally rude.
YOKE. This is another word for something you don’t know what to call it, like thingamajig; or that thing, Irish folk will call it a yoke.
BOLD. Instead of saying someone is being cocky or cheeky; you say that they are being bold. It is often used with kids, i.e. ‘Johnny is being so bold’.
COP ON. Get with the program, Catch a wakeup call; you just need to cop on. I have no idea how this even came to be a saying, but it is often used in banter, when you are talking to someone who does not fully understand what you are saying – you need to ‘cop the feck on’.
YOUR MAN. This is not related to your actual man, or your husband or boyfriend. But rather refers to ‘some guy’, used in a sentence like this: ‘I was at Tesco and your man behind the counter said they were having a sale’. It is possibly the most bizarre one out of them all, and it feels so out of place that I don’t think this will ever be something I will be able to say without laughing at myself.
YOU ARE VERY WELCOME. This is a saying that is used as a bit of a welcome introduction. Irish are very polite and will always start a tour or speech with ‘you are very welcome’. It is one of my favourite terms used by the Irish, they are very welcoming.
NO BOTHER. Probably quite a common saying but South Africans say ‘no worries’ about as much as Irish folk say ‘it is no bother’, meaning that something is no trouble at all.
YOU MIGHT WANT TO. This actually refers to something that you probably should do. Irish are very polite, probably a little too much. South Africans are often seen as being too direct or blunt, because we will just say it like it is. Whereas Irish will say ‘you might want to’ in an effort to be a bit more polite than coming right out and saying ‘just do it my way’. They say it in a way that you might have a choice, but really it is more like a strong suggestion.
LOOK COME HERE. Rob never understood what I meant when I said that a lot of my Irish colleagues will say this when they are on the phone. It is a sentence that runs off their tongue so quickly, so every time I said it to him, he said he had never heard it before. But once he heard someone in his own office saying – you just can’t un-hear it. They will usually say it when they when they are chasing up a request or trying to get information. In the same way that we might say ‘ah ya know what’; they will say ‘ah sure look come here’. The next time you are in an open plan office, see if you can hear it too.

WHAT IRISH SAYINGS HAVE YOU NOTICED? ANYTHING I MISSED OFF THE LIST?

Live Simply & Travel Slow,

~Meg~

p.p.s. I try post varied content 2 -3 times a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

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How to maximise your time while commuting to and from work

February 12, 2018 by Meg 2 Comments

Commuting to work can be a real time suck, but I have found some great ways to maximise this time that I thought I would share with you. I have been travelling to work on a bus for 6 months now and while I am getting up a bit earlier, I have found some great benefits to maximising the time it takes to commute to work. My round-trip bus route takes a little under 3 hours to do – so I really want to make use of this time. I try to be mindful of this time and really try and make the most of it. Travelling on a bus is slow, but there are benefits to travelling on a bus. For one thing, I don’t get any road rage whilst stuck in traffic – and at least I don’t have to concentrate while on the bus (confession: I have been known to snooze on the bus, which is very unlike me since I usually battle to sleep while travelling).

Here are a few things that I do while I am commuting to and from work every day:

Social Media: Ok so it is not the most productive thing I could be doing, but I use the time sitting on the bus to catch up on social media, I do my posts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. I join in conversations and chat with other bloggers and my friends. I try use this time so that when I am home, I am not continuously swiping through my phone but rather interacting with my hubby, and spending quality time with him and Jack.
Blogging: thanks to the notes app as well as the WordPress app, I spend some of my time coming up with ideas and re-arranging my blog ideas. Travelling on the bus is a novel thing for me still, since I come from a country where I didn’t use public transport, so I find travelling on the bus often brings up other ideas that I have experienced that are new as an expat living in a foreign country.
Reading: I have a husband who often sends me interesting articles via WhatsApp, so I like to read and catch up on these while I commute. I also subscribe to other blogs, so I like to read the updates and catch up on the news. I have thought about reading a book, but I can’t seem to read for too long while moving in a car, as I get motion sickness – so I can’t read for long periods, just short articles or news seem to be ok.
Podcasts: Podcasts are a great way to pass the time, especially on days where I feel tired, and not in the mood to read or concentrate too heavily. I can switch on a podcast, and they usually take about as long as my bus trip which is great, because I am still a little cautious of walking while listening. I just worry that if I am listening too intently on the podcast, while I am crossing the road – perhaps I might not be concentrating on traffic and cyclists. So I do prefer to listen to podcasts while I am sitting safely on the bus. There are a few podcasts I like to listen to: Estee Lalonde’s The Heart of It; Serial; Russell Brand’s Under the Skin are just a few I really enjoy.
Connecting with friends and family: Commuting to work means I walk a far bit, before I get onto the bus – so it is a great time to leave a voice note, or make a few phone calls. I also use the time sitting on the bus to return WhatsApp’s. I must admit, I am not very good at making phone calls and WhatsApp’s – but I am trying to get better. The hardest part about living so far away from friends and family is that is it does require more effort to keep in touch. So I use the time I have while travelling on the bus to catch up with friends and family. It is amazing how great technology is. Although, I prefer to not be talking on the bus, just because I feel like everyone is listening in on the conversation – that and I don’t like it when I can hear other people talking on the phone on the bus!
Emails: Part of this blog gives people insight into how I moved overseas, and how we live in Ireland, which means that I often get emails asking me questions about moving to Ireland and how they can do the same. So I use the time to reply to my emails, and clear my inbox.

DO YOU COMMUTE TO WORK? HOW DO YOU PASS THE TIME?

Live Simply & Travel Slow,

~Meg~

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dublin

How to figure out how much you need to earn to live in Dublin