Money saving techniques

In one of my last blogs I said that I would convey some money saving techniques that I had learned during my stay in Dublin. I would like to share those techniques now. It can be taxing on your pockets to spend a whole four months overseas, especially when you want to fully experience all that country has to offer. To help relieve some of that stress, there are some areas where you can save your money so more can be allocated to what you really want to do. Here are some ideas that I have come across and/or used myself.

Food

Food is one area where you can spend very little or very much depending on your tastes or how much you eat. This can be a big area to save money if you are willing to. One technique that has worked for us over the semester is sharing certain foods. They don’t use as many preservatives in Ireland so the odds of you eating an entire loaf of bread yourself before it begins to mold are slim; this is, of course, assuming you don’t eat sandwiches for every meal. Bread is a great food to share with your roommates so you get the most out of it. There are some huge loafs for .99 cents at the Lidl up the road from the apartments or fresh baked tiger bread at the Tesco across the river for the same price.

Depending on your preference, milk can be shared pretty easily too, but it seems to last longer than most food so that one is really up to you. Butter is great to share as it lasts a long time so having four sticks in your fridge doesn’t make much sense. Condiments and spices can save you a few Euros if you share since they will probably last you most of the semester even between the four of you.

If you buy storage containers early on, you will thank yourself later in the year. It is incredibly difficult to find ingredients for your own meals in quantities that you could use to make a single serving. Being able to just cook up the amount you bought and store the leftovers for a couple days saves you a lot of money from not having to cook as often or having to buy smaller, more expensive sizes. Fruits and vegetables are dirt cheap here so try to make use of them. You can make massive stir-fries for next to nothing and anyone can make them. There is a market on the north side of the river where you can get fresh fruits and vegetables for absurdly low prices if you are in that area. The frozen food is, in my opinion, better here than in the States and not terribly expensive either; definitely a good option for nights where you don’t feel like cooking anything. Lidl often has certain foods marked down pretty low so keep an eye out for that as well.

Beer

If you are in Ireland, odds are you are going to want a drink. If not, then congratulations! You will save a lot of money over those four months. As is the case in the States, going out to a restaurant or a pub and ordering a drink is rather pricey (around 5 Euros for a pint of Guinness and closer to 6 for anything else) so you will save a lot buying your drinks at a local Spar or Malloy’s up the road. You can get a four-pack of half-liter cans for 5 Euros in both locations. Alcohol is outrageous here so avoid it if you can. Not only are the liter bottles around 25 Euros, but anything you want to mix them with is expensive too. Soda is 1.50 minimum for a half-liter bottle, and the pricing is not like in the states where the bigger the bottle is, the cheaper it costs. I’m not a wine drinker so I can’t comment on how the pricing is compared to the others. Sorry.

Travel

You should be able to walk pretty much anywhere you want to visit in Dublin and, obviously, this is a money saver. If you do need to take some other means of transportation around the city, there is a bus route throughout the city center that only costs .50 cents. Traveling by taxi can be expensive so take a friend or be prepared to fork over 15 Euros for what you could have walked in 30 minutes. If you need to get to the airport, I’ve found buses to be much more affordable than a taxi, even with two other passengers. The Aircoach and Airlink both take you to the airport for 7 and 6 Euros respectively. The travel time is around 20-30 minutes, I think. If you have a late flight, the Airlink may not be running but the Aircoach runs all day and night.

When it comes to travel around Ireland itself, I’ve found Bus Eireann to have affordable pricing and I would suggest them. If you buy your tickets online they are cheaper too. Travelling outside of Ireland is almost always cheaper by plane. Even if you are travelling to England or Scotland, a direct flight is cheaper than taking a combination of a ferry, train, or bus. Ryanair offers cheap flights sometimes but watch out for the taxes and fees they throw at you because they add up fast. I’ve heard of people finding Ryanair flights for free or 5 Euros with no taxes, but I have yet to see one. Aer Lingus is rarely cheaper than Ryanair, but if the cost is the same or only 5 Euros difference, I definitely recommend taking the Aer Lingus option because flying Ryanair is a bit of a joke. Flights in and out of Ireland will be cheapest with these two airlines 9 times out of 10 but check skyscanner.net because something cheaper may pop up.

I hope these tips help save you some money in the future so you can enjoy the finer parts of studying abroad. If you are ever in doubt, they sell ramen here too. If I think of any money savors that I forgot to list, I will be sure to mention them in future blogs.