This week: “I’m a 27-year-old researcher working in London. I’ve lived here for four years, having moved here to do a master’s degree. I then stayed on, which was always the plan. I got about six months of “normal life” before the subsequent lockdowns, and I’ve lived with my two friends for the entire time, though our first flat was a bit of a dive!
My current sector is related to my master’s degree, and I’m finally starting to see the benefits of my hard work and have progressed quite quickly in my jobs so far.
With regards to money, I am definitely a spender but have tried to curb it over the years. I’ve always viewed money as something to spend when I have it. I was in a good position with savings when I first moved to London, but my inclination to spend, plus some unfortunate financial COVID-19 stuff and the expense of “London life” means that I’m currently on a bit of a debt journey. However, with the salary increase I finally feel like I have the means to tackle my debt and improve my financial future.”
Occupation: Researcher
Industry: Market research
Age: 27
Location: London
Salary: £43,000
Paycheque Amount: Approx. £2,400 post tax. I’m still waiting for my first pay cheque for a full month from my new job to figure out what the number will be each month. More recently, it was £2,000 post tax.
Number of housemates: Two flatmates (D and S, and one cat)
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £733 rent for our flat
Loan payments: I made the grave mistake of getting a loan out to help towards living costs during my master’s degree four years ago and I pay £150 each month towards that, which doesn’t seem to be making the slightest dent. The last I checked the balance was £5,200 in June 2023 having borrowed £5,000 and making payments for two and a half years… I also have £1,500 on my Very account, a £,1500 overdraft, a £1,300 credit card, a £500 credit card, a £450 credit card, a £250 credit card and a £200 credit card. It actually makes me feel sick to write this! I moved to London four years ago without any debt, but a combination of income loss during COVID-19, having to pay rent on a high-interest credit card, trying to keep up with people and absolutely silly interest rates on credit cards has led me here. My credit is too bad to get any kind of consolidation loan. I’ve now got my new job which is an extra £400 a month. I’m hoping once I’ve got my first payday I can start attacking it with the new surplus, but to be honest I don’t even know which debt I should tackle first.
Savings?: Absolutely none, once I’ve paid some of my credit cards off I’m hoping to start building up a rainy day fund.
Pension? For the job I’ve just moved into, I pay 4% and my employer pays 3%, which is actually quite basic and there’s no employee matching scheme, so I’m planning to open a personal pension at some point.
Utilities: I split utilities between my two flatmates. My share is £45 council tax, £10 water, £30 gas, £30 electric, £11 Wi-Fi.
All other monthly payments: £40 phone; £4.60 pet insurance; £20 Loqbox; £32 gym membership. I also make minimum payments towards Very and my credit cards (£115, £60, £30, £25, £25, £10). Subscriptions: £6 Netflix; £8.99 Amazon Prime; £11 Spotify; £2.50 iCloud storage; £2.33 Labour Party membership; £5 donation to charity; £10 for my share of a Pret subscription.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I did a four-year humanities degree at £9k a year with full maintenance loan/grant, and a social sciences post-grad that cost £11k-ish for tuition. This was all funded through Student Finance England.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
I grew up in quite a volatile environment with my mum raising me and my sister alone without any involvement from our respective dads. We had a lot of things from catalogues (including a TV where you had to put pound coins in to make it work!) and I found out as a late teen that my grandma bailed my mum out of debt quite a few times. We didn’t go on holidays and I remember my mum always projecting her stress about money onto me and my sister.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I moved out of my mum’s house when I was 18 to move to uni. I would then live at home during the summers while working and she would charge me lodge (£50 a week, while also paying summer rent for my uni house, so I basically just never had any money). I haven’t lived at home now since I was 22.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
I would consider myself financially responsible from the age of 16. As soon as I got my first part-time job I was buying my own food, toiletries, travel, lodging, treats, et cetera, as I think my mum decided that from that point her job was done. Nobody else covers anything financially for me.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was a waitressing job for £3.68 an hour in a restaurant! My first full-time job was in a secondary school for a year post uni to pay off my overdraft and save to move to London.
Do you worry about money now?
I worry about money every single day. On a short-term basis, I worry about my debt and having absolutely no safety net or anybody to lean on financially if something were to happen. In the longer term I worry about when I have paid off debt, how far that will have set me back with building savings for my age, home ownership at some point, building up a pension. It honestly feels quite overwhelming living payday to payday, while trying to not be a total recluse, and also trying not to live beyond my means (though clearly I have been).
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? Nope!
7:10 a.m. — I wake up very reluctantly because last night I went to bed too late finishing the last A Court of Thorns and Roses book.
7:20 a.m. — Skincare this morning is the Ordinary glycolic acid, Inkey List caffeine eye serum, some random Garnier day cream and Bondi Sands SPF. I follow all of this up with my usual makeup and get dressed and pack my bag. I do all of this while listening to the latest episode of The Rest is Politics podcast.
8:40 a.m. — Yes, I take ages to get ready. I race out of the door to get to the office. I’ve been cycling in but today I get the tube because I want to get a coffee using the Pret subscription, £2.80.
9 a.m. — Get off the tube and drop by Pret for an iced Americano. Immediately text in the group chat the time I claimed the coffee so they know when they’re able to get the next one. I suddenly sense that I have come on my period (women’s intuition) and stop by M&S for some ibuprofen, a pain au chocolat, and some fresh soup for my lunch, £5.30.
9:15 a.m. — Arrive at the office and start focusing on a report. This is my first one in this new job so I’m really trying to get stuck in and make a good impression.
1:30 p.m. — I break for lunch and have my soup with some of the people in the office and chat.
2:15pm: Back to reporting for a while! I accidentally on purpose listen to “the 1” by Taylor Swift on repeat and start romanticising my ex-boyfriend from uni for a bit. We slept together two months ago and he sent me some messages recently suggesting he may/may not see a future with me. I round this up by texting my FWB. I’m seeing him in three days and in-between we send the odd message or meme.
4 p.m. — Decide I don’t want to be a Sad Girl, listen to Kim Petras’ new album and decide I want a night out tomorrow, so I message around and manage to rally a couple of people.
5:30 p.m. — I have grand plans of going home and doing some life admin, but I get invited to the pub with some colleagues and I have no self-control. There’s always tomorrow! Somebody senior kindly gets a big round in. I have a pint from them, and they buy me a half pint a bit later.
7:40 p.m. — I’m heading home now and I get a Santander bike, £1.75. Annoyingly I actually have access to my flatmate’s subscription but I have to pay because my phone has died…
8 p.m. — Arrive home, fuss over and feed the cat and put some potatoes on for mash to have with a Quorn pie I made last night.
8:30 p.m. — I dig in and exchange some messages with a guy I’ve been speaking to from a bit of a risqué website — we’re meeting for the first time in a week. I don’t really know why I’m bothering as it’s unlikely to be a dating vibe and I already have a FWB. SOS.
11 p.m. — Makeup off and lights out!
Total: £9.85
8:10 a.m. — I’m working from home which means a lie in! I wake up groggy with my cat yelling outside my door. Get up, feed her, then get back in bed to scroll for a bit.
9 a.m. — Open my laptop, log on and scroll through the report I’ve worked on so far. Leave it open and go and put some pots away and make a coffee. For breakfast, I have a chocolate brownie from a batch I made two nights ago. It’s not very healthy but it’s almost like having a pastry…
9:20 a.m. — Nearly buy a green TikTok Uniqlo bumbag dupe to go with my black one, but with delivery it comes to £8 which doesn’t feel enough of a saving, so I clear my cart. Today I am embodying Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
12:40 p.m. — After work and some meetings I pop out. I grab an iced matcha from Pret as I’m trying to limit my caffeine intake because I was a fiend yesterday and had two coffees (soooo crazy).
1 p.m. — Return my library book and attempt to pick up a Vinted parcel but after 10 minutes they can’t find it! Cry.
1:10 p.m. — Grab what I thought was a steal for a huge bottle of mayo on offer, and some pale rosé to drink before I go out later. To my horror I picked up the wrong size and have now just paid £3.99 for mayo – screaming, crying, throwing up. I accept my mistake and pay, £10.24 for both.
1:20 p.m. — Get home and fix up some lunch – tuna jacket potato with cheese, and get back to work.
5:30 p.m. — I shower, get some music on and start getting ready to meet my friend T in east for a few drinks. I text her that I’m going to need slightly longer to tame my hair, and pour myself a pale wine.
7:40 p.m. — I leave mine and head on the way, £2.80 for the Tube.
8:10 p.m. — Arrive at the bar and happy hour finishes at 9 p.m. so while my friend holds our table I queue for cocktails.
8:25 p.m. — 15 minutes later I’m two palomas and two margaritas up, £27 (they add service charge despite you queuing up at the bar for a drink!). If I told my family up north about this, they would riot.
10 p.m. — After we’ve put the world to rights and discussed everything from who we’re currently dating to the extracurricular activities we did when we were nine, we leave.
10:10 p.m. — Arrive at another bar which is absolutely dead, so we head downstairs to the sister bar which is marginally less dead. We choose a cocktail each. My friend pays because I got the last round.
10:40 p.m. — We decide we want a dance so leave to go to another bar. I recoil in shock that it’s £10 entry but pay it anyway. T gets us vodka lime and sodas.
11:15(ish) p.m. — At this point we’ve got a full boogie on and I decide I want us to have a shot, two tequilas, £12.
Midnight: The men are really out in full force tonight and it’s a bit of a sausage fest. We have already established our fake names for the night. More tequila shots! T pays.
Total: £62.04
1 a.m. — We head upstairs for a water and a dance up there, only for a random man to grope my friend. We stand discussing what to do when he has the audacity to ask why we are looking at him. We shout at him to the effect that he’s a pervy gross bastard and he appears to be embarrassed enough to disappear.
1:30 a.m. — We decide to leave as that’s tainted the bar a bit. We source some chips. We’re both feeling a little bit grumpy at the end of what was otherwise a really fun night.
1:40 a.m. — Cheesy chips and garlic sauce for £4.10 are secured.
2 a.m. — I get the bus, £1.75.
2:40 a.m. — Arrive home and spot a pair of men’s shoes that I don’t recognise and realise my flatmate has a boy here. I text her for the gossip, take my makeup off with just micellar water (criminal), down some water, send my Tuesday date (O) a couple of voice notes and go to sleep.
9:35 a.m. — I wake up and feed the cat and do my usual routine.
10:36 a.m. — I’ve been snoozing. Check my phone and the shoes mystery is solved, it’s her ex!
12 p.m. — Having the kind of day where I lean into my hangover. I get on a bike, get an iced coffee and wander around Sainsbury’s. I pick up some microwaveable mash because no part of me wants to make it right now, some chilli heatwave Doritos and a cheese and chive dip, £4.20
1 p.m. — Have my mash with the last portion of leftover pie and tuck up on the sofa with my flatmate to watch some reality TV.
3 p.m. — My flatmate and I decide we absolutely need to make milkshakes, so we browse Uber Eats and choose some caramel ice cream, and Magic Stars to go in it. My share is £4. We then read an article about how badly delivery drivers are paid and add a 10% tip on, which equates to another £1 for me.
3:25 p.m. — We make extremely decadent milkshakes with oat milk, caramel ice cream, caramel syrup, crumbled digestives and Magic Stars. I have to drink it in two separate sittings.
7:30 p.m. — Time has gotten away with me and I get what can only be described as the hangover zoomies. I clean my room, the living room, tidy up the kitchen, wash up, roast some random veg, do two loads of washing, change my bedsheets, and then make a soup with the roasted veg.
8:55 p.m. — I finally come up for air and order a Chinese. I have JustEat credit, so a salt and pepper chicken combo, roast duck chow mein, curry sauce, and a drink costs me just 50p. “Girl math” dictates that this whole thing is free. I then jump in the shower and wash my hair so I can feel pampered with my fresh sheets later.
10:45 p.m. — Suddenly feel deathly lonely and download Bumble and start swiping. Start having a think about the amount of time I’ve been committing to casual situations when I know that actually I want a relationship. This starts to give me cold feet about seeing my FWB tomorrow, and I set my status as “relationship” for what I’m looking for and only swipe on people that aren’t looking for something casual.
1:03 a.m. — Get in bed and drift off.
Total: £15.55
9:22 a.m. — Wake up and scroll on my phone for a bit, before dragging myself up and taming my hair, which is a blend between Hagrid and Hermione when I sleep on it wet. Decide today is going to be a life admin(ish) day.
11:05 a.m. — Get dressed and head out to the shops for some flat bits. Pick up bin bags, carrier bags, kitchen spray and laundry gel. My share is £2, the joys of living with flatmates! Then I grab a pack of naans, stock cubes, some onions and a cauliflower for my dinner later, £4.99.
3:30 p.m. — I’ve hardly achieved anything beyond swiping on Bumble, welp. I was supposed to see my FWB today but I got cold feet and so decided not to message him/bring it up, and he hasn’t either so I guess I’m off the hook!
4 p.m. — Make a start on a cauliflower and chickpea curry that I leave to bubble away while my flatmate and I look at Airbnbs for our holiday. After a while we land on one that is £220 each (not bad for a bedroom each for four nights). I say I will book it tomorrow once I get paid.
8 p.m. — The rest of the night is a blur once I’ve settled down to eat. I also start to feel ill. It hurts when I swallow, I have a pounding headache and my face hurts. I take some painkillers and sulk for a bit.
10 p.m. — I attempt an early night but can’t sleep! I make a honey and lemon drink and scroll TikTok.
11:20 p.m. — A man from an app, who I literally spoke to three months ago and never met up with, messages me. After a light bit of roasting about him disappearing, we get into a bit of a conversation. We matched on an app that is much more casual, so I explain that actually I’ve decided I want to dedicate my time to more serious stuff now. He says he recently came to the same conclusion and asks me out on a date. This whole situation is quite baffling and unexpected, but I’m keen.
12:45 a.m. — The early night has gone out of the window. I’m not sure how successfully me and the disappearing man are going to date, given that we somehow managed to get onto some hot and heavy messages. I say goodnight before things escalate further and attempt sleep.
2:30 a.m. — And attempt sleep.
3 a.m. — And attempt sleep…
Total: £6.99
8:15 a.m. — Wake up and feel like Edward Scissorhands has been getting up close and personal with my throat. Feel very sorry for myself so I do my usual skincare, makeup, and mix a Lemsip and Beechams together for an exciting Monday morning cocktail.
9:30 a.m. — I message the guy I’m supposed to be seeing tomorrow night and explain that I think we should leave it as I want to limit the time I’m engaging in casual stuff. He also assumed that he was coming straight over to mine which made me uncomfortable, so I think this is for the best!
1 p.m. — After a morning of meetings that have got me flagging, I drag myself to the shop for more Lemsip and a nasal spray. Spend about five minutes comparing seemingly identical nose sprays by the same brand, with the same ingredients, but one is menthol flavour and therefore 95p more. I grab the cheapest one and resent that every time a random illness comes on I’m suddenly down £7.89, to be exact.
1:30 p.m. — I get home and I’m grateful for the hangover soup I made on Saturday night. I have this for my lunch with some buttered bread and a side of sliced cheddar for a lil’ treat and watch half an hour of Sex Education.
1:40 p.m. — My book club is tonight and the host isn’t feeling well, so I step in and send over the details.
3 p.m. — I am deteriorating hour by hour so I WFB (work from bed).
5:30 p.m. — I can’t focus at all and have only mustered up two slides. I should have really called in sick today but it feels too soon to be doing that.
6:05 p.m. ± I drag myself out once again to go the shop for book club snacks. I get Doritos, salted crisps, a tub of olives, a cheese loaf, a tub of hummus, a camembert, carrots and cucumber to dip, and a Tex Mex dip. My share is £5.20 and I split the rest with my flatmates who are also in the book club.
6:30 p.m. — I get home and prep the snacks and everybody arrives from 7 p.m.
10 p.m. — That was one of the most thought-provoking book clubs yet! We read Tender Is the Flesh, which was genuinely such a disturbing but interesting book. Now it’s time to clean up, do skincare and get in bed.
Total: £13.09
8 a.m. — Wake up feeling DREADFUL and quickly ask in the flat group chat whether the message I’ve drafted for work is okay. Receive the all clear from my friends and send it on.
10 a.m. — Wake up a bit later to a nice message from my manager to feel better soon but continue to feel anxious about it for a while anyway.
10:15 a.m. — Decide I should eat something, and by something, I mean leftover book club snacks. I should probably drink some soup but instead sustain myself on cheese straws and chilli olives, with a side of Lemsip.
1 p.m. — Realise I’ve been paid from my new job and do my payday routine (move rent into my savings account ready to send to my flatmate when it comes out of her account), work out all of my direct debits and how much I need to leave in that account, then move the remaining amount into my “spending” account on Monzo. I then fill up my pots (e.g. transport, food, et cetera). I have more left over than I’m used to because of the pay increase. I work out all of my budget and realise that, with the excess, I can pay off two of my small, high interest credit cards, totalling £450! For one of them, the balance clears immediately and I close the account via live chat. For the other, I need to wait until I get a statement before I can close the account. I suddenly feel very motivated, and paying down everything else feels more feasible, even if it will take a while. I decide the snowball method will probably be best for me in my debt journey given the euphoria of clearing these. I also book the Airbnb for holiday, £110 for my share.
4:15 p.m. — Still feel disgusting, but definitely marginally better than this morning. Drag my blanket to the sofa and watch Sex Education whilst napping.
7:35 p.m. — Cook some rice to have with the curry I made a couple of nights ago and scroll TikTok.
10:35 p.m. — Another attempt at an early night.
Total: £560
7:45 a.m. — Wake up feeling a little bit better and accept with a heavy heart that I can’t justify two days off work.
9 a.m. — Log on with just a Lemsip and a dream. Start small with tackling some of my emails and let my team know I’m online as usual.
11 a.m. — Join a meeting and, luckily, I both look and sound shit, and people comment that I don’t sound great, which eases my anxiety that people might think I was pulling a sicky.
12:30 p.m. — Decide I need some fresh air after the past couple of days, so I walk to get my lunchtime Pret (chocolate chai). I also pop into the Sainsbury’s for some margarine, £1.75. On the walk back to the flat I receive a message complimenting me on a piece of work I did which really lifts my spirits!
12:55 p.m. — Heat up the last of the soup to have with bread and butter.
2:15 p.m. — I’m seeing Hamilton tonight so I message my friend/ex(?) suggesting food beforehand (specifically ramen, which I have been hyper-fixated on eating for the past two days). I also send him the money for the ticket, £27.50.
5:25 p.m. — Quickly hand over a piece of work I’ve been working on this afternoon and hurriedly get dressed. Since I don’t have any makeup on and don’t feel very presentable, I lean into this look and pull on some comfy black jersey flares, a TALA top, trainers, trench and the Uniqlo bum bag that every girl in London has. I also do a slicked back ponytail. Get the tube, £2.80.
6:25 p.m. — Friend arrives and we have a catch up. Interestingly, there is still an underlying vibe there with us, but I think it’s best not to act on it. Overall, I’m not sure we’re entirely compatible on a long-term basis and I’m trying to be healthy.
6:45 p.m. — Ramen is delicious as ever (I always order the exact same one). My chopstick tekkers are elite and I’m a pro at eating it quickly and with minimal mess.
7 p.m. — I learn that the tekkers are too good because I’ve eaten it too fast and I’m now gulping water down because I feel sick. We split the bill and head for the show, £15.64 for my share.
7:15 p.m. — Arrive at the theatre and my friend gets us a fizzy drink each (I’m in no condition to drink, but also LOVE an icy Diet Coke at any given opportunity).
9 p.m. — The show is amazing! Our seats are surprisingly good, despite being way at the top at the back, because of how steep they are. Proper bargain. I nip to the toilet during the interval and of course the queue is mental. Finally get back and get tempted by the ice cream stand. I’ve never had interval ice cream before (we didn’t go to the theatre growing up). I grab a vanilla pot and a salted caramel ice cream pot, £7.
10:30 p.m. — Leave the theatre on a high and get the bus home, £1.75. Listen to the soundtrack of the musical on the way home because I have an addictive personality.
11:20 p.m. — Get in, change into pyjamas and wash my face. Have a Lemsip and start reading a little bit of my book before retiring to bed.
Total: £56.44
Food & Drink: £102.92
Clothes & Beauty: £0
Home & Health: £9.89
Entertainment: £37.50
Travel: £13.65
Other: £560
Total: £723.96
Conclusion
“I think other than paying a couple of credit cards off and the Airbnb, this is a pretty average week for me. The food and drink spend is large but mostly because of the night out, which I usually do once or twice a month. Recording my spend definitely motivated me to look at my finances head on and think about where I can cut down, especially now I have a bit more breathing space! In the future I will look to include more no-spend days. I will also try to avoid lifestyle creep, and funnel the difference in my salary directly into paying down my debt.”
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