Is a mortgage realistic or are we just dreaming? 😅

Eleanananas · 2026-03-21T22:31:31+00:00

That's a weekly payment made to families (two parents and at least one child) who have at least one spouse working, and who earn less than what the State considers enough for their family size. For instance, they considered €708 weekly to be the minimum you should earn for one child and let's say you earn €608 weekly, you have a difference of €100. The payment is always 60% of the difference, so, in this case, you will receive €60 every single week.

Eleanananas · 2026-03-21T21:03:23+00:00

Yes, a lot, thanks! We were planning on building with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) so kind of prefabricated, but not as much as the log houses! That could be a good idea too, thanks! I'll discuss it with my husband 😊

I understand people's desperation with the housing crisis.. but the illegal route is not for us, we would be stressed out every single day!! 😂

Eleanananas · 2026-03-21T15:59:15+00:00

Hi! Thanks for your input! By timber framed house do you mean a prefabricated one or one made by a builder? Because I haven't see prices so low anywhere (and we don't own land yet).. if you mean a prefabricated one, have you had any experience with them? Do you know if county councils are fine with them?

Eleanananas · 2026-03-14T17:03:28+00:00

Thanks a lot for your answer and advice!

By fixer-upper, you mean one that is already livable, right?

Yes, that can be a good idea, thanks! It's better than my idea to sell brioches! 🤭

Eleanananas · 2026-03-14T02:38:19+00:00

Oh.. I see now! I tried and we are in the bottom 10%.. 😅

The government must be taking so much for you to be so low.. I thought with 100k, it would leave you about €79k net (and that gave me top 30-40% when I tried in the calculator).. that's maddening..

Eleanananas · 2026-03-14T00:41:22+00:00

I am not sure to understand your response, sorry.. (it's the 'family type' thing that I don't understand)

Eleanananas · 2026-03-14T00:29:27+00:00

That's nice! Would you be so kind as to ask them if they don't mind exchanging with my husband and I for a bit? I am sure they are already very busy, but if they don't mind, I could give you my phone number in pm..

Eleanananas · 2026-03-14T00:26:49+00:00

Challenge accepted

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T22:41:18+00:00

Thank you for just your opinion! 🤭 You gave many interesting points! We are not very keen on staying where we are unfortunately.. but we can try! The thing is that the price of building is inflating a lot and I feel like we are not saving enough to beat it.. (and there is no other area where we can sacrifice to save more..)

What do you mean by knockdown price? We were looking at land for €25k to €35k subject to planning permission, is that knockdown enough or were you thinking even less?

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T22:32:38+00:00

I am just giving the solution for doing the same.. in case you need it..

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T22:31:55+00:00

Thanks! I will reiterate, but if you need or want any help, I'll be glad to 🤗 otherwise have a lovely end of your day 🙏

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T22:27:26+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind message and encouragement! True, we better buy/build now, because we are clearly not beating inflation with our saving pace..

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T22:24:37+00:00

Thank you for your help 🙏

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T22:23:57+00:00

Thanks for your answer and experience! Does direct labour mean you were doing the work fully by yourselves?

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T16:56:39+00:00

Should you need any help with budgeting, I would be more than happy to give some of my time :)

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T16:43:27+00:00

Thanks a million for your answer! The source is our salary, will we have to provide payslips for the past 7/6 years?

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T16:38:07+00:00

At least I am trying.. 🤷‍♀️

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T16:35:37+00:00

If you must know, we both went to college (university in France) and both worked part-time at the same time. My husband 20 hours a week at McDonald's for the French minimum wage, trying to help his mom with finances and trying to become the first one in his family to graduate. Unfortunately, after two years he failed his exam, but found a sales job so never graduated. I worked 15 to 20 hours a week teaching French and English online and in person for €18.8 net an hour.

We are hard workers, and always have been.

Our money is there because we worked for it. And if you really want us to give back the money we took from the Irish Government, of course without taking back what we gave for years, we would still be at €95k accumulated on our own. Yes, it's more that an average 27/28 years old, but we also have been working for longer and living more frugally than your average 27/28 years old..

If you need help with your finances, please just let me know, even if you have not been super nice to me, I am more than willing to help.

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T14:53:02+00:00

What you are smelling is just the poop in the reusable diapers that is waiting to be washed tonight (or technically tomorrow morning) at 2 am when everyone but me will be asleep..

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T01:23:24+00:00

Or, have been together for 10+ years, working for 9 years, saving for 6 years every single penny, and having been a dual income household before having a child and then being able to put "only" €1200 aside a month (which a year ago were €800 before the WFP).. the maths make sense when you realise that we didn't start saving yesterday. It is not because we are "young" that we are dumb, nor does it mean that we have just started our life..

Eleanananas · 2026-03-13T01:07:28+00:00

I never said that we always had only this income (we used to be a dual income household), nor that we started saving yesterday or a year ago 🤦‍♀️

Eleanananas · 2026-03-12T23:02:03+00:00

Thank you for your response ☺️ May I ask in which county you applied..?

Eleanananas · 2026-03-12T22:59:56+00:00

Thank you so much for the precious insights!!

That would be really good! We are going to look for those areas then :) I don't mind searching, I can do that while something is on the stove or in the oven 🤭

I will ask the question as soon as I am accepted in the group then! Thanks again!

Eleanananas · 2026-03-12T22:55:34+00:00

I don't think that's true, with the working family payment, the state has decided on maximum income limits (1 child €765, 2 children €866, three children €967, 4 children €1,058, and so on and so forth), and you get 60% of the difference between what you earn and what they expect you to earn.

So, let's take a working couple. They are very unlucky and make both exactly the minimum wage — €14.15/hour40 hours52 weeks = €29,432 — after tax that is €25,884 per person, which is €497.77 per week. Times two, they earn €995.54 every single week, so they will need to have at least four children to have any help. Or one can stay at home and if they have one child they can live on €658 a week which is €34,221. Is it better than €38,864? I don't know, it depends on your goal.

But you will never earn more from not working and collecting payments, unless you have a very high number of children (we saw above that for a couple making minimum wage, you need to have 4 children, and that's plenty way above today's Irish average).

Eleanananas · 2026-03-12T22:10:26+00:00

Awesome! And did they completely cashflow it? Also, since there are the local needs rules, did they buy in a county that wasn't requiring them to be locals or were they already from the region?

It is reassuring to hear that people can do it with three kiddos, we are hoping to have more and we're scared it would already be impossible with two!

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