irishbudgetingjourney - Irish Budgeting

May 25, 2022June 18, 2022

50 Side Hustle Ideas to add extra income to your Budget!

What is a side hustle?

A side hustle is a way of bringing income into your household budget, aside from your normal income. Other names include nixers, extra income, moonlighting, and side projects.

Some side hustles are quick and easy to do, and some require a skill, qualification or a talent. I’ve tried to add a good mixture to my list.

Considerations when getting side hustle income.

Yes all side hustle income is taxable, unless it is paid in the form of a voucher. This income must be declared with revenue.

In Ireland, if you earn under €5,000 in the year you can declare this income on your income tax return. This is very easy to do using myAccount.

If you earn more than €5,000… first of all WELL DONE you!! Again yes, you must declare this income. You will need to register for self-assesment. Once registered it is easy enough to file a tax return form with ROS. Checkout this link for more info.

As this income is taxable, its very important to track it, and keep a record of what you have coming in.

Which Side Hustle is for you?

Well first off, you need to look at how much time you have spare… do you have weekends free, evenings, or even one evening? This will help you decide for sure what side hustles are definitely not for you.

Another thing to consider is what are your passions? If you are passionate about something, you are more likely to for one enjoy doing it, but also you are more likely to strive for it to succeed.

You should also consider any skills or qualifications that you have. For instance, teaching grinds if you are a teacher, which can be very flexible.

Lastly I think its important to think about how much it is going to cost you to start doing this side hustle… some side hustles will be free to start, and some may require an investment, which is something to think about.

Types of Side Hustle Income

Earned Income: Where you have put time and effort in to earn the income in return. This is the easiest time of income. Examples include a part-time job, freelance work, or doing a craft.

Passive Income: More complicated to set up in the beginning, takes time effort and maybe money. However once it is set up, the money should come in without any time and effort on your part. This income may be slow, but as is requires little effort, that is ok, it will accumulate over time. Examples include rental properties, investments, and affiliate sales.

Capital Gains Income: Where you buy something and in return for doing something to it, or even holding on to it for a while, you can sell it and get a profit. This is capital gains income. Examples include buying and selling furniture or buying and selling stocks.

I hope these ideas are helpful to you! If you do Side Hustles to increase your household income, let me know what you do below!

May 23, 2022June 18, 2022

Budget Home Baked Bread! – Only 49 cent a loaf

My sister Jen sent me this recipe and it has been such a hit in my house! A loaf never lasts past breakfast anytime I bake one. I find myself baking at least two loaves at a time, just to get the change to have a slice myself!

There are only 3 ingredients plus some warm water, which makes this a simple and also frugal bake.

You can use strong white bread flour or plain/all purpose flour, which means you will probably always have the ingredients for this bread in your cupboard. The only other ingredients are Yeast – I used fast acting, salt, and as I said warm water.

I have linked a video above, where you can watch me making the bread, and I show the folding technique. That is the only thing that I really think is important to watch as it would be difficult to explain in words.. but it really is a very simple bread to make!

Recipe

3 Cups of Strong white flour OR Plain Flour (all purpose)
2 Packets of Fast action Yeast
1 tsp Salt
1.5-2 cups luke warm water (too hot and it will burn the yeast)

Method

Into a large mixing bowl place your flour, yeast and salt. Give it a good mix with a spatula.
Add 1 cup of the luke warm water to the dry mixture, and mix together with the handle of the spatula. Then add a little at a time of the remaining cup of water until you notice the mixture coming together as a dough. It should still look a little stringy, and should be sticky to touch.
Now cover the bowl with some clingfilm, or even a tea towel. Then place the bowl in a warm place for 1 hour. I am lucky enough to have a warming feature in my oven where it stays at 40 degrees Celsius, but if you have a hotpress that will work great too!
After 1 hour, you are ready to shape your bread! First sprinkle a generous dusting of flour on your counter. Then take the bread out of the bowl and let onto the floured counter.
You are going to start folding the bread, if you need to see how, see the above video.. but you essentially fold one end in, and then the opposite, then fold the side in and then the opposite, and keep going about 10-12 more times. It should start to feel less sticky, and more bread dough-like. It should also start forming into a loaf shape.
Next you are going to flip it over, and start shaping and tucking the dough so that it forms the classic round loaf shape, and becomes firmer.
Next place the rounded dough into a bowl lined with grease-proof parchment paper, and leave to rise for 15 minutes.
While that is rising, place the container that you will bake the bread in, in the oven at 235 degrees Celsius. This is to heat up the container so that it reaches temperature before you put the bread in it. Ideally you would use a dutch oven, however I use a casserole tin every time and it works great!
After 15 mins, sprinkle some flour on top of the loaf and score the top. You can use a scoring blade if you have one, but if not a sharp knife also works great.
Then take the container out of the oven ready for your bread, open the lid, and lift the bread in by the parchment paper. Pop the lid back on and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 mins, take out of the oven. You are just going to take off the lid and slide out the parchment paper, and pop back into the oven for about 10 more minutes, or until golden. This will held your bread to become crusty.
Once golden brown, take out of the oven and tap the bread underneath to make sure there is a hollow sound. Leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour, and enjoy!!

If you try this recipe let me know below, and I really enjoy any pictures of your bakes, so please do tag me on instagram if you make it!

May 21, 2022June 18, 2022

Feeding 5 People for €5

With food prices soaring, inflation hitting our food budgets, back in March I started thinking about how I could help families like mine…

That’s when I decided to do a meal that only cost €5 to feed all 5 of us!

I set some rules for myself… Obviously I wanted to stick to a €5 budget (where possible)! I wanted to make the meals somewhat balanced, with a focus on fresh ingredients. I wanted also to change the shops where i purchased the ingredients, as i was aware not everyone has the choice of where they can do their food shop. I wanted to include meals that would suit different diets, so that if you were vegetarian, celiac or even just very picky, there would be a meal for you.

I do not include cupboard staples, things you probably already have at home. It is just the main ingredients that i include in the costing of the €5 meal. However many of these ingredients can be used for additional meals, and also there are usually also leftovers!

So my first meal was a chilli with ingredients from Aldi. It included minced beef for €2.69, Basmati rice for €0.99, carrot & parsnip tray for €0.49, passata for €0.49, and baked beans for €0.25. The ingredients cost a total of €4.91.

I posted the full meal on my Instagram, in the form of a reel, and it was very well received. At the time of this post, there are 100k views on this particular reel. I have continued with these reels since, and post a new feeding 5 people for €5 meal every week since.

So far my meals have consisted of the above chilli, fish and chips, a sausage casserole, chicken and pesto with baby potatoes, a chickpea curry, spaghetti carbonara, butternut squash risotto, roast chicken, spaghetti bolognaise, and spaghetti aglio e olio.

I will post some of the recipes in future posts, but what i would love to know, is what is your favorite type of food? Do you like Italian, Indian or Asian? Do you like good home cooked foods, or are you a meal in 15 mins kinda person?

May 20, 2022June 18, 2022

Sinking Funds – What are they?

Irish Budgeting – YouTube

Ok … hold up… what are these sinking funds I hear you talking about? Rainy day funds, stash, reserves, kitty, dips… there are so many other names for sinking funds.. but they are essentially money put aside for big expenses that are coming.

The idea is that you save little and often, over time, in order to accumulate enough money for a large expense. The due date is usually known, and also the total amount needed is also usually known and certainly the goal! Examples include Christmas, Birthdays, Back to school and Insurances.

Why use Sinking Funds?

Less stressed about trying to save a large amount. Less likely to panic about the sudden onset of a large expense. Less likely to increase your debt, which could cause more stress down the line, as it slows down your progress. Less likely to dip into your emergency fund and savings.

Sinking funds give you an amazing peace of mind!

Imagine this Christmas, being able to afford to buy your loved ones presents, without any stress or worry. Being able to enjoy this season, without the stress and financial worries in January. The first year we saved ahead for Christmas, I couldn’t believe the peace of mind it gave me.

Ok! I like it, how do I start using Sinking Funds?

So first you need to plan ahead. What large expenses do you having coming up? What expenses to you struggle to cash flow, year on year? I have sinking funds towards braces for my daughter, back to school, birthdays, Christmas, car maintenance and holidays.

Then with your chosen sinking funds, you need to decide when it is due and how much you need to save. This will help you prioritise your categories.

For example: Christmas, target amount €1,000, Due 1st December.

Next you need to decide how you are going to tackle this sinking funds. There are two main ways people save towards sinking funds. You can take that target amount for each sinking fund and divide it by the number of weeks till it is due. The second way is the way that I tackle sinking funds, and that is to tackle by priority, or due date. So I am concentrating on Back to school currently, as that will be due very soon, once I have paid that fund I will move onto funds like Christmas. It is up to you which method you choose to use, I have used both, and both work really well.

Where should you save your Sinking Funds?

You can save into envelopes using cash. I like this method, its easy to see and its tangible. Its good for people that are visual and like to see what their sinking funds are and exactly what they are saving towards.

The second option is to save into digital envelopes. Currently in Ireland, there is a company called Revolut that has a facility called saving vaults. There are other companies, especially in other countries that have similar facilities. These are separate “digital envelopes” to save money in, and you can name each one the name of your sinking fund.

The third option is an account that consolidates your money. So your sinking funds are all lumped together in the same account. This I feel is not the most straight forward option, as it involves a bit of paperwork on your behalf, to know what you are putting towards each category.

I personally use a mixture of the first two options. I like to save cash into each sinking fund in my sinking fund binder.. however once the category gets to a certain amount I transfer it to my Revolut account and place it into its relevant vault. This is great for safety reasons and it also means that I can buy items online, or transfer money if I need to.

I hope this helps you to understand sinking funds, and what a useful tool they can be!

Do you use Sinking Funds? Let me know down below!