It was a really hard thing to do but I printed off three months of bank statements. I rarely use cash so it was a nearly perfect view of where my money was going and it just shocked me.

I never planned meals so my food bills were really high. It’s only myself and my partner in the house and I was spending some months close to €1,000 on food. And it was just from not being organised and popping to the shop after work.

I was also following a lot of people on social media and buying whatever they recommended. That’s fine if it’s once or twice a month but I was literally buying everything and it was adding up.

After looking through the statements, I identified the bills that I still needed to pay and the bills that I could get rid of or reduce. I didn’t cancel Netflix or Spotify, for example, but there were a lot of subscriptions that I wasn’t using at all. Before that, I would see the direct debits coming out of my account every month but it was always too much hassle to cancel them.

Next, I looked at my mobile and broadband bills and asked if I could get them cheaper elsewhere. Then I set myself a grocery bill budget and unfollowed a lot of influencers online because I was being influenced to part with my money and it wasn’t helping matters.

At the time I had two credit cards, one car loan and one personal loan. The highest interest was on the credit cards so I attacked those first with a 0pc credit transfer.

Then I paid off the personal loans and the car loans. I was properly determined and it took me 18 months to pay off €27,759.

After paying off the debt, I started saving about €3,000 a month for an early retirement. I’m involved in the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) meet-up group in Limerick. People from different backgrounds and of all ages share information on saving, investment moves and their plans to retire early. It’s brilliant to meet like-minded people because a few years ago this information was only coming from the US.

I’d like to retire by 50. My partner is 10 years older than me and he plans to retire at 55. He started saving a lot earlier than I did and he has things in place to make that happen, while I’m still catching up.

We looked at our expenses and we worked out how much we’ll need per year before our pension kicks in. If I reach that figure before I turn 50 then that’s great, but if it’s maybe a little later, then that’s fine too. It’s nice to have a target age because I’d like to enjoy life while I still have the time.

It’s really about sitting down and saying, ‘How much is coming in and how much do I have to pay out in order to live?’ I now save for short-term things like Christmas, birthdays and nights out. I have an emergency fund should I lose my job and another fund for laser eye surgery. And then I have longer-term savings like investment funds and individual stocks.

I’m not stingy or anything like that. I still buy Charlotte Tilbury makeup and good skincare products. The only difference is that I now budget for it and I don’t impulse buy anymore. Every time a new temptation comes up I think, ‘Do I need it or am I just falling for marketing tricks?’

I also keep a wish list of sorts. If I see something I really like or if I hear something new is coming out, I put it on the list. And by the time I’ve saved up for it, the chances are I’ve gone off it or I don’t want it anymore.

Meanwhile, I’m doing a few things to bring in extra money, like online surveys that pay you for taking part and matched betting, which involves using the free bets that bookies give you to bet on both outcomes of a game.

Let’s say it’s a football match. You use your free bet to bet that Liverpool are going to win and you use your own money to pay for a bet that says Liverpool are going to lose. Of course you have to be careful of it because the next step up is gambling and when you’re on the site you might see something that is too good to be true.

Last October, I brought out a meal planner that I sell on Etsy. I was about to follow it up with a financial planner just before the first lockdown but I decided it wasn’t the right time.

My friends and family support my saving. Okay, there have been some nights out where I didn’t go. All my friends are in Dublin so going out means staying somewhere and that can be quite expensive. But everything else I just save up for. I haven’t really changed my lifestyle all that much, albeit there’s a lot more money going to savings — and a lot less deliveries from ASOS and Amazon!

Paying off the loans gave me the confidence that I can manage my money and make it grow. Had I not started I’d probably have another new car or maybe a higher credit card limit.

Before I started saving, I couldn’t have even told you how much I owed on credit cards or how much the broadband cost each month. Everything got paid but I never knew the exact amounts. Now it’s empowering to be on top of things because then you don’t have to worry.

I’ve realised that everything in society is designed to make us spend money. We were looking at cars recently and at the moment it’s hard to find the outright price because all of the car companies only tell you how much it will cost per month or per week.

Everything is set up to make us part with our cash and it’s hard to beat that. So you almost have to consciously do the opposite of what you’re being forced to do every day.”

Emer is on Instagram at @onefootinthesave