This week: “Hi! I am 22 years old and I work as an electrical apprentice in the oil and gas industry. I am currently completing an HNC alongside my day-to-day work; I prefer this type of education as I get to learn vocationally and I get paid as I learn. I live at home with my parents at the moment and I am very fortunate to have very little outgoings. I have worked throughout the pandemic so I have been able to save up some money to hopefully move into the home my boyfriend is buying!”
Industry: Oil and gas
Age: 22
Location: Grimsby
Salary: £8.20 an hour, for 40 hours a week.
Paycheque amount: £285 weekly after tax, national insurance and pension.
Number of housemates: Five (Mum, Dad, sister C, her boyfriend B, and my brother A) and seven pets (three dogs and four cats).
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £0. I am very lucky that my parents don’t charge me rent to live at home, although they do ask that I put the money I would spend on rent in savings so I put £50 a week in a help-to-buy ISA.
Loan payments: £0. I have a credit card that I pay off in full each month and no student loan as I didn’t go to university.
Utilities: £0 as I still live with my parents.
Transportation: I own my car, insurance £73 a month, fuel £60 a month and I pay my tax yearly. I would usually pay at least double the fuel but I am not travelling anywhere other than work at the moment. I would also top up my HumberTag for the Humber Bridge with £20 as my boyfriend lives in Hull but I cannot see him because of the lockdown at the moment.
Phone bill: £35 contract, £5.50 insurance.
Savings? Weekly £50 into a help-to-buy ISA, £25 into an emergency fund, £25 in a holiday fund and £12.50 each in a car fund and a gifts fund. I currently have £5,300 saved between all of those accounts.
Other: I pay £9.99 a month for Spotify and £0.79 for iCloud storage. I try to keep to £100 a week for spending.
6am: Wake up ready for work. I really don’t like rushing in the mornings so I slooowly get ready and leave for work at 7.10.
7.30am: Arrive at work and fill up the kettle for the team, make myself a Quaker Oats porridge from a box I bought previously. Have a cup of tea. We all chip in to buy tea, coffee, milk and sugar etc.
11.30am: After a quiet morning of paperwork, it’s lunchtime. My work provides free meals which is fantastic. I choose jacket potato with beans and cheese and a pineapple pot for after. Also have a cup of tea.
12.30pm: Back to work!
3.30pm: After a slow afternoon of checking stock and ordering new bits I go back to my desk to finish some college work for my end point assessment. Also have a cup of tea and a Hobnob as a colleague brought in biscuits.
4.20pm: Go and get ready to go home. I get really dirty while at work. I change out of my overalls, wash my hands and face, then brush my hair and put it up into a bun. I leave at 4.30pm.
5pm: Arrive home, Mum has made vegetable pasty and chips. Yes! I then shower and crack on with some more college work as I have an assignment due in a week.
7.30pm: I finish with my work for the evening and do a Boots order to replace some products: The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5, CeraVe Moisturising Cream and Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm. I have pretty dry and sometimes flaky skin so these products are a go-to for me. I also order new shampoo and conditioner as mine are running low and I find my hair getting greasy soon after washing it. I’ve heard that your hair can get used to products so I’ve switched it up and gone for the Aussie Calm the Frizz range. £37.23 with next-day delivery.
9pm: I spend the rest of the evening watching TV and FaceTiming my boyfriend.
10pm: Go to sleep!
Total: £37.23
5.30am: Wake up before my alarm so just do that thing where I lie in bed, waiting for it to go off.
6am: Alarm goes off. Today I am on compassionate leave from work as it is a loved one’s funeral. Their passing was a shock to the family as they were previously healthy and only went into the hospital around a month ago.
9am: Arrive at the crematorium.
10am: Arrive back home. Sadly we are unable to hold a wake due to the national lockdown, which is a shame.
2.30pm: I have scheduled a meeting with my tutor to go over a recent assignment. I then spend time on a different task to take my mind off things.
4.30pm: Mum has done oven pizza for tea so I get some pizza and go back to working.
8pm: I finish working and catch up with my boyfriend on FaceTime. We watch First Dates together.
10pm: Go to bed.
Total: £0
5.30am: Wake up before my alarm goes off again.
6am: My alarm goes off, I ignore it.
6.30am: Get up and get ready for work.
7.30am: Arrive at work, make tea and porridge. I check my emails and see I have to be at my work location at 8! I wolf down my porridge and rush out of the office. I didn’t even get a sip of tea.
11.30am: I made it on time and we have a busy morning pulling cables into place as part of a crane upgrade we are currently working on. Have lunch of tomato, chickpea and pasta soup and a cheese baguette.
12.30pm: Have a cup of tea then back to work!
4pm: Get back to my desk and get a drink before leaving for home.
5pm: Arrive home and Mum has made meatballs and pasta for tea. I have a portion then have a quick shower before working on corrections on my assignment.
8pm: Finish the corrections on my assignment and resubmit it to my tutor to do some final checks before properly submitting it. So close to being done now and I’ll be so relieved once it’s out of my mind. FaceTime my boyfriend and watch YouTube until bedtime.
10pm: Turn out the light for sleep.
Total: £0
1.30am: I wake up but roll over and go back to sleep, this is a bit too early!
5.30am: Wake up again but lie awake waiting for my alarm.
6am: My alarm goes off so I get up and get ready for work.
6.30am: Today is Friday so it is also payday! I get paid weekly as an apprentice so I move any remaining money from the previous week from my spending account into my savings account.
8am: I arrive at work and do the usual routine of filling the kettle. I make myself a porridge and coffee as I am really tired this morning.
10am: I arrive back at my desk as the people I am working with have a meeting. I use this time to do some paperwork and scanning for college.
11.30am: Lunchtime! I choose vegetable pie with chips, peas, vegetable gravy then chocolate cookies for after and that’s all washed down with a cup of tea.
3pm: Get back to my desk after an afternoon of planned preventative maintenance on one of the company’s offsites. I make a cup of tea, do my timesheet and send it off then catch up with the team until home time.
5pm: Get home and have jacket potato with cheese and beans. I had planned to do some more assignment work but decide instead to have a chilled evening.
6.30pm: I go and have a ‘pamper’ shower where I exfoliate and shave and then moisturise my whole body. I never do this in the week as I usually have really quick showers but I like to take the time on Friday to make myself feel a bit more human after being at work all week as it is a really dirty place.
7.30pm: I settle down to watch TV and chill out in bed. I re-download Instagram – I delete the app every Monday as I find it really affects my productivity in the week. I have none of the other social media apps on my phone and I rarely check them but I always end up down an Instagram hole so deleting the app stops the urge to constantly scroll.
11pm: Go to sleep, excited to get a lie-in tomorrow.
Total: £0
5.30am: Wake up. I have no idea why I wake up at 5.30 every day and it is so frustrating.
8.30am: I wake up again after falling back to sleep. My Saturdays are always really slow, especially now we are in lockdown again.
10am: Scrolling through Instagram I find a cute mug and order it to go to my boyfriend’s house directly. £13
12.30pm: I finally get up and out of bed, shower and get some toast and tea. I then carry on scrolling my phone.
3pm: I read the article on Refinery29 about budgeting your attention like you would money so I put down my phone, make a cup of tea and pick up my book instead.
4.30pm: I get hungry and Uber Eats has 50% off a vegan burger so I order that. My sister joins me but sends me her portion of the money. I try to eat mainly vegetarian as I really don’t like the thought of meat and I hate the texture of lots of it although I eat meat at home as it means my mum doesn’t have to make multiple meals but any meal I choose/cook will be vegetarian. £19.34 but I get £9.50 back from my sister so £9.84.
5.30pm: I have finished my food and I really enjoyed it! It is nice to have such a good option at a big chain food place. I carry on reading my book.
7pm: I get in bed and watch The Pembrokeshire Murders three-part series on ITV player. I find this kind of show really interesting but so scary.
10pm: Fall asleep while watching TV.
Total: £22.84
7am: Wake up. I didn’t wake up at 5.30 today, hooray!
10am: Get up and dressed, then go downstairs for tea and toast.
1.30pm: I spent the morning scrolling on my phone and reading my book so I decide to have lunch of a cheese toastie and then do something productive.
2pm: I start work on my design assignment. I have to complete engineering drawings for each of the 12 parts of a reception desk I have designed. This part takes the longest and I have put it off until last. I have completed the rest of the assignment apart from this.
3pm: A nightmare happens and my computer crashes so I reset it and go to make a cup of tea to take a break.
5pm: My nanna arrives at my house as she lives alone and is in our support bubble. We have Sunday dinner and spend some quality time together.
8pm: My mum takes my nanna home. Snow is forecast for overnight which is so exciting!
8.15pm: Go for a shower and then get in PJs and get in bed to FaceTime my boyfriend, we watch an episode of First Dates together. It’s really hard to be away from him in lockdown. We live a 40-minute drive from each other so we can’t meet for a socially distanced walk as neither of us would be in our local area.
9.30pm: Go to sleep so I get up and dressed at a reasonable time.
Total: £0
6am: Wake up due to our old pug barking. He is going deaf and blind so he often thinks he sees or hears something and barks until we go downstairs to see him. He was barking because one of the cats was at the back door. I let the dogs in the garden and make myself a cup of tea. I then let the dogs back in and go and get back in bed.
6.15am: I have one last scrolling session on Instagram before I delete the app again.
8.30am: I have Mondays off as I receive day release from work to complete my HNC course at college. However college is online at the moment so I work from home.
11.30am: I have spent the morning completing the corrections on my maths assignment and writing it up neatly. I then scan and submit my assignment to Turnitin.
11.45am: Submit my design assignment to Turnitin.
12pm: After completing all my work I go to Tesco to get some bits for lunch and some other bits I need. £22.87 in total but £14.03 with Clubcard savings and £5.50 of vouchers.
12.30pm: Have lunch. I bought myself the Bol sweet potato Caribbean jerk with rice and beans. I love the Bol ready meals as they contain a lot of fresh veg and textures. This one is delicious.
1pm: I dust, hoover and tidy my bedroom. Once I’m finished, I decide I want to organise my chest of drawers so spend a few hours doing that.
5pm: Mum calls me for dinner, tonight it is chilli and rice. I don’t eat it all as I am still full from lunchtime.
6pm: I go in the shower and then get in bed to watch TV and FaceTime with my boyfriend.
10pm: I go to bed ready for work tomorrow.
Total: £14.03
Food/Drink: £23.87
Clothes/Beauty: £37.23
Entertainment: £0
Travel: £0
Other: £13
Total: £74.10
Conclusion
“This is a fairly average week for me in lockdown, especially as I didn’t buy fuel. I am saving up all the budgeted spending money I don’t use to put towards fun things once the lockdown is eased and we have a little bit more freedom.”
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