Caz Mooney: '?We sat down with our kids and said, look, we're going to do a low-spend year and hopefully buy our own home'

"As we know all too well, Ireland has been in a cost-of-living crisis for some time now, so you've likely felt the pinch somewhere along the way. Christmas isn't too far away, so you might need a plan of attack for that, or perhaps you're looking to set a longer-term monetary goal. This week on the Money Talks podcast, budgeting expert Caz Mooney shares her expertise on how to take control of your finances."

""It all began on the plane home when my husband turned to me and he said, 'Do you know how much we spent on this trip?' And I didn't. It was all put on the credit card. He had just looked at the bank statement and it was a shocking amount, just for one trip." Desperate times called for drastic measures, and so Ms Mooney devised a "low-spend year" for the entire family."

Persistent cost-of-living pressures have strained household finances and create a need for short-term plans and longer-term monetary goals. Personal financial setbacks included prolonged unemployment and an unexpectedly large credit-card bill after a ten-day trip to America. Those events prompted radical changes, including a family-wide 'low-spend year' from January 1 to December 31 to minimize discretionary spending. The low-spend year aimed to prioritize saving for a mortgage amid a competitive rental market and to reset spending habits. The family involved their children in the plan and focused on identifying essential expenses and cutting nonessential costs.

Read at Irish Independent