advice on saving

Adding up your monthly costs I only get €2112. Which leaves about €1200 going on what?

You're on €60k a year which is fairly good and your commitments don't look too major so you've got a lot of scope to save.

You mention management charge which probably takes another €100 - €150 per month.

You have €600 per month on food/living but also break out car expenses and mobile which I'd classify as living expenses. How many cappuccinos do you have a month? How many nights out and shopping sprees do you go on a week?

Can you do a more detailed breakdown of the €600 there's probably savings to be made there and there very likely also is in the missing €1200.

Ask your work to pay for your broadband if you're using it for eWorking.

I don't want to sound too harsh. You've got plenty of potential to sort out your finances.

Do a budget, it's essential to have a plan for achieving your goals. Draw up a detailed complete list of all your annual and monthly bills. Divide this by twelve and pay that much into a separate account each month to pay the bills.

In order of priority:

1: Bills that must be paid to maintain roof over head, warmth during winter, travel to/from work.
2: Basic nutritional food & work clothing
3: Savings/Investment towards your goals
4: Lifestyle & non-essential living expenses.

Living within your means. Decide a reasonable living expenses figure per month and pay yourself this much per month. Do not spend more than this per month. Delay spending until the future if you are running out of this allocation of cash. You can allow yourself some luxuries but only within this constraint. Similarly decide how much you can save towards your dream house and ring fence it.

Items like wedding gifts come out of this living expense allocation. If you're short on cash then they get a smaller present.

As an initial goal you should pay off your credit card. €5k is a big balance to have. Cut it up is the best option until you can use it not abuse it. You need to get your spending under control. Next repay the car loan. Then continue the good habits and build up an emergency fund of 3-6 months salary. You also may have a big stamp duty bill if you trade up to a second hand property. You can't borrow the stamp duty as part of the mortgage.

There's no need to rush into the property market at the moment. Trade up after you've got your spending habit sorted out more. Ideally you should delay trading up for a number of years so that you can make a bigger step up when you do. There's no point paying a big stamp duty bill on the total value of the property if it is only worth 100 - 150k more than your current home.
 
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