Enterprising Irish workers are coming up with new ways to beat the budget according to a new survey from IrishJobs.ie
Over half of respondents (55 per cent ) told IrishJobs.ie they now consider themselves to be more “thrifty” - which they defined as activities such as growing their own food, brewing their own beer and cooking from scratch; 56 per cent said they had instigated a review of their homes energy consumption. One in three (34 per cent ) said they were selling or had sold some of their possessions (ebay, car boot sales ) to help make some extra cash while 12 per cent said they would let a spare room or take in a lodger to help them beat the budget.
Workers also explained how they were planning to cut costs to beat the budget. Two thirds will cut back on buying clothes, 60 per cent are bringing their own lunch to work, 54 per cent are limiting their socializing and 43 per cent are avoiding ‘posh’ coffees. Other ways in which workers are saving money are: cutting back on grooming products or make up for 42 per cent and alternative and cheaper commutes for 27 per cent.
A total of 38 per cent of people were prepared to work longer hours to keep their salary the same while 22 per cent said they would give up annual leave to keep their salary untouched. However 6 per cent of workers told IrishJobs.ie they would quite happily make their co- workers redundant to keep their pay intact while over a third (34 per cent ) of workers would be happy for the boss to pay more tax.
More than half of workers surveyed are earning up to €35,000 with one quarter earning between €35,000 and €50,000 and the remainder earning more than that; 40 per cent of workers had a reduced income while another 40 per cent claim that their salary has remained the same. Of the 40 per cent of workers that had a salary reduction, nearly one quarter have been reduced by less than 5 per cent, over one third between 5 and 10 per cent, one quarter by 10 to 25 per cent with the remaining experiencing a reduction of over 25 per cent.
Both jobseekers and workers were very clear about what treat they would add back in to their budgets with going out the most popular (43 per cent ), followed by new clothes (33 per cent ), the gym (14 per cent ), grooming products (6 per cent ) and satellite TV (5 per cent ).
Valerie Sorohan, IrishJobs.ie, commented: “The Irish are well known for their culture of enterprise so we were not at all surprised that respondents were coming up with ways to beat the budget. Everyone is examining their expenditure and finding ways to stretch it and ways to make a bit of extra cash too.”
