Freddo bars or a trip to Bray? How to spend your Budget money

Lastest ESRI figures show the average household will be up by €57.20 per month

You could buy 2,288 Freddo bars with all that extra cash you’ll be swimming in. Photograph: Getty Images
You could buy 2,288 Freddo bars with all that extra cash you’ll be swimming in. Photograph: Getty Images

The latest figures from the ESRI show that the average household will be up €14.30 per week as a result of Budget 2016.

That equates to €2.04 per day, €57.20 per month or €686.40 per year.

So what will you do with all that extra cash you’ll be swimming in? Here are a few suggestions...

Gym membership

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The yearly lump sum should be enough for a yearly membership at even the top-end gyms in Ireland. Or, you can join one of the cheaper ones and spend the rest on lycra and sweatbands.

Bottle of wine

Depending on where you shop, the € 14.30 per week should be enough for anywhere between one and three bottles of wine for the weekend.

Freddo Bars

It is important to equate almost any amount of money with its equivalent value in Freddo Bars. In this case, there are 2,288 on the line.

A trip to Bray

With your newly-found wealth, you can get the Dart between Howth and Bray 6.89 times per month. You’ll only have enough to get off at about Booterstown on your last journey, though.

Family fun

You could get a family day pass to Dublin Zoo (two adults, four children) once a month. That comes to € 55.50, leaving almost exactly enough money for ONE Loop-da-loop, ensuring your day is completely ruined anyway.

Public toilets

You can reserve your extra cash for trips to the bathroom at Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, which cost 20c a pop. That’s 3,432 trips per year, or 9.4 per day... but you might as well be flushing it down the toilet.

New York, New York

You could fly from Dublin to New York and back, with €228.9 left over. With that remaining money you could bring your partner over with you and let them find their own way home.

Teabags

You could 34 teabags every single day for the whole year. That’s 11 pots of tea every day. You probably should have saved some cash for biscuits.

Health insurance

A more sensible option might be a basic health insurance plan from any of the main providers, which mostly come in at under €50 a month.

A car

You could buy a 1997 Mercedes-Benz for €450, but considering the three litre diesel engine you might need more than the remaining €236 to tax it.

If you have any other suggestions, you can contact us on Twitter @DeanRuxton or @NiamhTowey1.