This week: “I’m a 32-year-old strategist working in the southeast. I relocated out of London with my long-term partner during the pandemic to be closer to friends and family. Since being here we have got a dog and I really love the benefits of having the countryside on my doorstep. My savings have been massively depleted by the house move and making improvements to our Victorian property, which has needed several upgrades. However I’ve really enjoyed making our house a home, even if I often feel mildly panicked by the future investment required to maintain it and my lack of safety net. I’ve definitely loosened my attitudes to saving. I used to obsess about it; now I am definitely someone who tries to enjoy their money every so often.”
Occupation: Senior strategist
Industry: Construction
Age: 32
Location: Southeast
Salary: £95,000
Paycheque Amount: £5,000 monthly.
Number of housemates: Two: my partner, T, and our dog, P.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £1,600, which covers my share of the mortgage and key household bills plus life insurance, house insurance, pet insurance and council tax. I pay more than T (who pays in £1.1k) as I earn around £15k more per year.
Loan payments: £215 for my half of our loan. I paid off my student loan in 2021.
Pension? I pay 7% of my salary and my employer matches this (about £1.1k in total per month). I have about £80k in total across three pots.
Savings? £8.8k in my ISA.
Utilities: Our total bill is roughly £250 on electric and gas, £33 on water (included in housing costs).
All other monthly payments: £33 phone, £10 to local hospice, £5 Labour Party membership, £100 for the cleaner (she comes twice a month for three hours). Subscriptions: £10 Omaze subscription, £85 dog food subscription.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, I did an undergraduate degree. I had a student loan and maintenance loans as I didn’t quality for any bursaries.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
My parents were always money-conscious, especially my dad. He’d always be down the reduced aisle in Tesco and I was never the kid with the latest trainers. Things like “I want never gets” and “money doesn’t grow on trees” were common phrases in our house. I always had what I needed and I am super grateful and privileged to have had this upbringing. We were comfortable but never a wealthy family. My mum always taught me about savings and opened an ISA for me at a young age — it never had more than some birthday money in it but it taught me key lessons about putting money aside. Although we had some challenges with my dad being out of work for a while and my mum returning to work for a couple of years in her late 60s after retiring, I never had to endure any real struggles, unlike some of my schoolfriends.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I was 23 when I moved out to rent with my partner.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
When I moved out at 23. Since then I have covered all financial aspects of my life.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I was 18 and working in retail on weekends and full-time during the holidays. I got the job when I was at uni to support paying for nights out and food etc.
Do you worry about money now?
All the time. I worry constantly about losing my job and not being able to afford our house and lifestyle. I think growing up and seeing my dad out of work for a few years has made me a bit insecure. I earn more than I ever thought would be possible in my lifetime so I feel like I have a lot to lose now I have a house and a fairly big mortgage.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
I received £15k from my parents towards my first flat deposit around seven years ago. I’m extremely grateful to them for their support and I am aware of how lucky I am to have received this.
7.10am: Absolutely shattered. It was so hot and I slept terribly. T hogged our fan (which I bought! The cheek of it!). I usually have an earlier start but I’ve hit snooze repeatedly and decide to get a later train.
9am: Arrive at the office. I had to pick up some lunch en route as in my sleepy haze I forgot the packed lunch I made last night. I got a cold brew, salmon sandwich, Mini Cheddars and some chocolate biscuits, £7.50.
11am: Buy a croissant from the office café for 80p because I’m absolutely starving and my lunch is three floors away. Again, I don’t normally do this as usually I snack on a breakfast bake from home.
2pm: I’ve been in meetings all morning with no break until now. This is unlike me as I am normally disciplined about protecting my lunch break.
2.30pm: Wolf my lunch down and go for a walk between meetings with someone in my team. It is absolutely lovely in the sunshine. I really value getting some fresh air, too.
3pm: Back at my desk. I do some work to prep a slide deck.
3.30pm: I have my one-to-one with my boss, who says I look tired. I always see that as code for “you look like sh**”. We talk about what I’m working on and she gives me some great advice and steer for managing some of my stakeholders.
4.15pm: I am absolutely exhausted due to my lack of sleep so I call it a day and manage to hitch a lift home with a colleague. As I worked quite a few extra hours last week, I don’t feel bad about knocking off early.
6.30pm: Dinner ends up being cheese, butter, pepper and pasta. Delish. T is out with his parents at a gig so I get away with a lazy dinner.
7pm: Follow with a nap on the sofa with the dog. I’m so tired.
8pm: Head to bed and leave key out for T.
9pm: Sleep.
Total: £8.30
7.30am: I’m working from home today so I make myself coffee and get ready. I am seriously into iced mochas atm.
8am: Feed and walk the dog before work. We head to a local field — it is so beautiful and really helps me clear my head and start the day positively. It is also so nice to see P so happy, running around like a madman in the sunshine.
8.45am: Arrive home and the cleaner is already there so I lock myself in my office to stay out of the way.
8.50am: Get ready for my first call at 9. T calls to say hello and I snap at him as I’m about to go into a meeting and need to prep. Feel bad. Note to self: Be less of a stresshead.
10am: On calls and in and out of meetings most of the morning.
12.30pm: Break for lunch. Have tomato soup and a bagel (healthy!), followed by a second iced mocha (not so healthy).
1.15pm: Back to meetings and doing work. Have some productive sessions but there are never enough hours in the day.
5.30pm: Finish work and call my mum to ask if she wants to join me for a dog walk. She says yes so I go and pick her up with P.
6.30pm: Back home, do a few more emails.
7pm: Speak to T on WhatsApp and apologise for earlier. Then order my dad’s 70th birthday present. Purchase a BBQ and BBQ cover from John Lewis on offer. I pay the full amount for now, £219.50. My brother will pay me back.
7.30pm: Pick T up from the local gym and we go straight to my parents’ to help them set up their new wi-fi, which is proving tricky. While we wait for T to act as their IT help desk, my mum gives me a cheeky small red wine. Simply larvly. T manages to sort it relatively easily despite the lack of instructions. What a legend.
8pm: Home for taco dinner. Normally T does the majority of the cooking so I’m impressed with my ability to cook something edible.
8.30pm: We watch Your Home Made Perfect. Love that show.
9pm: Up to bed (I am a granny) to watch a few TikToks with T (yes, I’m too old for that) before going to sleep.
Total: £219.50
7.30am: Overslept again. Thankfully I’m working from home today. Log into my online banking as it’s payday. It was an expensive month last month as our dishwasher broke and the oven needed fixing. I pay off the credit card and move money to our house account. Not a lot of liquid cash left after that!
7.45am: Get ready but as I go to put on my outfit for the day I cannot find any pants. Borrow some of T’s boxers as a last resort — they are surprisingly comfortable!
8am: Mocha made, I take the dog around the block so I’m back at my desk for 8.30am.
9am: Have a few meetings and deliver a presentation to our chief exec and chief officers for decision.
12pm: Time for lunch. I eat the other half of my soup from yesterday.
5pm: Walk P at the local field and he decides to be stubborn on our way out, refusing to move for at least 20 minutes. A great thank you after having to pull grass out of his arse!
6pm: I have a virtual board meeting as part of my role as a trustee, which I do outside of work. It finishes early, at 7.25pm rather than 8pm. Result. T arrives while I’m in the call.
7.30pm: Discover my pants are with the folded laundry I forgot about. Mystery solved!
8pm: Dinner is made by T. Halloumi kebabs, yum. Follow this with Location, Location, Location.
8.30pm: Order some Buddy and Lola probiotics for P via subscribe and save, £24.47.
9pm: Bedtime (why am I so boring?). The laundry is out ready to put on in the morning.
Total: £24.47
7.20am: Shower and wash my hair. Take P out for a country walk. It is so nice in the sunshine.
8am: As we head home, a dog on the other side of the main road nearly gets run over when his collar and lead slip off. Luckily the dog’s owner manages to scoop him up. Pretty scary stuff.
8.15am: Get home and the washing goes on as we are going away on Friday for two nights with friends. T is doing Tough Mudder with some of them and me and the other partners are joining for moral support (and the excuse to drink wine). We will be staying in a lovely Airbnb, which used to be a shooting lodge for a duchess of something or other. This was kindly paid for by one of our friends who is incredibly generous. As a thank you we are all covering his and his partner’s share of a private chef who is cooking for us on Saturday evening. I’m absolutely pumped for that.
8.30am: Meetings, reports, building new dashboard, working on stuff. Check in with a couple of members of the team via one-to-ones.
6pm: Take P for a walk. Then go and pick T up from the station. We stop at Pets at Home to get a car seatbelt for P as he normally goes in the boot but our luggage will be in there. T pays as he owes money on our household Splitwise.
7pm: Stop at Majestic and get a mix of six wines. Two bottles of red (pinot noir and Portuguese) plus a savvy b, Greek white to go with the Saturday meal and some sparkling English rosé. T pays; this will go on our Splitwise with the others for the weekend. We also stop at Tesco as we are down for breakfast ingredients: eggs, muffins, bacon, juice, yoghurt, fruit and a few other bits, which T also gets and puts on Splitwise.
7pm: Back home. Chicken madras and naan breads. Delish.
8pm: Lucky Saint for me as I’m cutting back on the booze. T has a black cherry Whiteclaw.
9pm: We watch some telly, including a show about becoming a head chef at The Ledbury. Quite enjoy it.
10pm: Pack our bag and use the packing blocks T got me for my birthday. A real game-changer.
10.30pm: Sleep.
Total: £0
7.10am: Up early as I have my monthly 8am physio appointment. My back is constantly playing up and having regular appointments makes a huge difference. It is embarrassing how young I am to have such bad back problems but it’s not been the same since it went a few years ago, £51.50.
8.45am: Back home for a big presentation today.
10am: All done and it went fairly well. Have a quick debrief with my boss and then get back to working on a dashboard with my team.
12.30pm: Have a quick sandwich while having a meeting.
1pm: We head off to beat the rush hour traffic. My boss is super nice about my travelling in working hours as she knows I’ll make up my hours next week when I have loads of deadlines, which will mean plenty of long stints.
3.30pm: We arrive in good time. Bring our bags in and then do some work until 5pm when our friends arrive.
5pm: We chill with some wine and have dinner quite late. One of the couples cooks a delicious pasta and homemade garlic bread, followed by summer berries for dessert.
11.30pm: I tidy up and clear plates. We then head up to bed as the boys have their big day tomorrow!
Total: £51.50
7am: Wake up to sounds of chitchat from our friends’ children. The boys head off around 8am.
9am: Breakfast comprises granola, yoghurt and berries. This is followed by a lovely morning playing with the dog and the children.
2.30pm: We meet the boys at a local pub to have lunch. It costs £25 per head for a few starters and a main, plus a pint. This feels like great value compared to back home. T pays and puts it on Splitwise for everyone. The dog behaves himself for 99% of the time. Result.
4pm: T and I drive to the nearby Sainsbury’s to pick up some premade espresso martinis, nappies and baby milk for our friends. T pays £50 and puts on our personal household Splitwise as we don’t mind covering for our friends.
4.30pm: Back to the Airbnb and chill for a bit.
5pm: I order Sainsbury’s delivery to home as I know we won’t have much time for life admin tomorrow, £96 on our household Splitwise.
8pm: We have the most delicious meal prepared by the chef: stuffed aubergine, halloumi burgers, wedges and tzatziki, hot dogs, lamb kebabs, Greek salad and other bits. We eat outdoors in the sunshine. There’s a hen do in the house on the other side of the grounds and they have a live saxophonist. What a treat! Dessert is Eton mess. So yum. So stuffed.
9pm: Have a few glasses of wine and watch the sunset.
11.30pm: Up to bed with the dog. T stays down and enjoys the hot tub.
Total: £96
9am: Wake up. Stir in bed for a bit. T cooks everyone breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages and breakfast muffins. Top-tier breakfast, that.
10am: Pack up and clear down the house.
11.30am: Leave and travel home in the car. Fairly painless journey.
2pm: Stop off near home to grab iced coffees, two lemon muffins and a raspberry lemonade, £19.50. I get it as a thank you to T for driving.
2.30pm: Home. Notice my roses are coming out nicely…when did I start caring about gardening?
3pm: For some reason I have a burst of energy and decide to clear out our spare room full of crap. Put on the washing.
4pm: Trip to the dump feeling smug.
5pm: T settles up the Splitwise with the others from the weekend. £128 each owed. T pays and puts on our household Splitwise.
6pm: Have a cheeky Asahi and T orders a Domino’s. He pays and puts it on our Splitwise.
7pm: Sort our packed lunches for work tomorrow. Leftover pizza. Living the dream.
8pm: T organises his nan’s birthday present. I pay for some of it, £27.50.
10pm: Organise train ticket for tomorrow, £18.59.
10.30pm: Check our household Splitwise and I only owe T £81 after the week is out as I paid for more stuff last week. We won’t settle up until the month is over so I don’t count this spend as no money has left my account. We tend to just use Splitwise to ensure that one of us isn’t spending more than the other.
Total: £65.59
Food & Drink: £125.80
Clothes & Beauty: £0
Home & Health: £51.50
Entertainment: £0
Travel: £18.59
Other: £271.47
Total: £467.36
Conclusion
“Bar the weekend away and my dad’s birthday present, this is a fairly typical week for me. It was interesting tracking my money to see what goes where but I don’t think recording stuff has changed my spending habits.”
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