"Mooney and her family have been forced to tighten their purse strings at various points over the years. There was a stage during the recession when both she and her husband were unemployed and unable to find work. "My husband was out of work for about 11 months and that time was probably the hardest for us financially, ever," she said."
"In 2018, Ms Mooney needed to make radical changes after a 10-day holiday to America resulted in a colossal credit card bill and a subsequent reality check. "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. "We put our heads together and started thinking about what we wanted from life," she said. "We'd been renting [for] our entire relationship and the rental market, as it still is, it's very hard to get a property. The prices are crazy."
Caz Mooney describes family experiences of unemployment during the recession and a later crisis caused by a large credit-card bill after a holiday. Those events prompted radical changes, including devising a coordinated 'low-spend year' for the entire household. The family reassessed priorities, aimed to reduce discretionary spending, and concentrated savings toward buying a home amid high rental costs. Practical measures included open conversations with children and a one-year commitment to minimize spending. The approach is presented as a way to manage immediate cost-of-living pressures, prepare for seasonal expenses like Christmas, and achieve longer-term financial goals.
Read at Irish Independent
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