This week: “I’m a 26-year-old manager working in communications. I grew up in Scotland and moved to London after the pandemic for work. Since publishing my previous diary this time last year, I’ve gotten engaged, had a promotion, and sadly lost a close family member. My last diary attracted a lot of flak as my fiancé, H, who works in finance, earns roughly eight to 10 times my salary. I appreciate it is controversial but I think we have a system that works for us. Living costs aside, we tend to split things down the middle and both like to treat each other. And to answer some comments from last time: No, H is not a sugar daddy/older than me, nor did I know how much he made when we met — trust me when I say, I’m not hot enough for that. Generally, I like to think I’m decent with money although I’m aware I’m now in a privileged position. I haven’t increased my monthly budget since moving in together and I put all my savings straight to my ISA. At the same time, I know I won’t be young and living in London forever so I do want to make the most of it.”
Occupation: Account manager
Industry: Communications
Age: 26
Location: London
Salary: £38,000 plus bonus up to 10% dependent on company and individual performance.
Paycheque Amount: £2,376 monthly after student loans, tax, and pension.
Number of housemates: One my fiancé, H.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: My boyfriend, H, owns our two-bedroom flat and I pay him £500 a month towards the mortgage, bills and our cleaner.
Loan payments: £66 — I’m lucky to be on the Scottish system which has much lower interest rates than England though I’m still nowhere close to paying it off.
Savings?: I have roughly £21,000 in savings split across a fixed term ISA, emergency fund, and my wedding, holiday, and presents funds.
Pension? I pay £126.05 but I’ve been debating whether to up this recently.
Utilities: Included in housing costs.
All other monthly payments: £17 phone contract, £20 to my local foodbank back home where I used to volunteer (I do this through H’s work so that they match it).
Subscriptions: £69 for Classpass, £95 annually for Prime.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I was the first in my family to go to university. It was always my plan growing up, however my mum tried to manage my expectations as not many people from our school went on to higher education. I did my undergrad in Scotland, so I took out a maintenance loan and worked two part-time jobs to cover costs. I then went on to study a master’s degree in England, which I covered through loans, savings and support from my parents.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
While my immediate family were fairly financially comfortable, I grew up in one of the most deprived areas of the country and saw many of my wider family struggle with money. We never wanted for anything but my parents emphasised the value of hard work and living within our means. When we were 12, my dad took me and my brother to open bank accounts and encouraged us to save for the future.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I moved away for university at the age of 17, came back during lockdown and then moved out again at 23.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
I began covering my own costs when I moved to university at 17, although I always had the option of going back to my parents’ house. Up until moving in with H, I would have considered myself financially independent. However, I know that I pay way below market price now for my flat. I’m grateful for the opportunity to save but it’s important to me that I don’t become reliant on this. I know I could afford to live independently in London on my salary, although now that we are getting married I hope I never need to!
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I started babysitting for family and neighbours at 12 for spending money. When I turned 16 I got a job at Tesco and worked every overtime shift I could to save for university.
Do you worry about money now?
I’m aware that I am in a very privileged position given H’s income, but from a personal perspective I do still worry about rising costs. Increasingly I wonder about whether it would be worthwhile working when we have children given that the costs are the same as my salary, but I worked hard for my career and I really value it.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
My parents gave me £13,000 towards the cost of my master’s. This was money they’d saved up over decades to pay off their mortgage, and I feel both incredibly grateful and guilty they gifted it to me. I have since offered it to them as a lump sum but they wouldn’t take it. Sadly, a close family member passed away last year after living with my family — I am extremely grateful to be receiving a third of their estate in the next month, which will come out to roughly £20,000. I haven’t decided what to do with this other than high-yield savings as I feel some guilt that they worked hard all their life for it, and specified it was to give me a good start in life, which through other circumstances I’ve already had.
9 a.m. — Wake up feeling worse for wear at my parents’ house in Scotland following a family wedding. It’s H’s birthday but all his presents are waiting in London which I feel a bit bad about.
9:20 a.m. — Have two packets of Quavers and a Dr Pepper for breakfast, health is wealth, et cetera.
9:30 a.m. — My dad drives us to the airport to catch our flight back to London. I feel quite guilty about heading back as we recently found out my dad has cancer. Once we’ve checked our bags I realise I haven’t had a roll and square sausage while we’ve been in Scotland, so quickly rectify that error, £3.50.
11:30 a.m. — H’s bag gets flagged at security so we spend a while explaining each item. In departures I go to four separate shops to find a bottle of Irn-Bru that is crucially both full sugar and cold, the ultimate hangover cure. (Not sure I’m doing wonders for stereotypes with this diary.)
12:30 p.m. — Spend our flight alternately playing Candy Crush and trying not to vomit.
2 p.m. — Back in London and fork out for the Stansted Express — not sure how they get away with this pricing, £14.
3:30 p.m. — Finally back home. I nip to Sainsbury’s and get us a meal deal each and a reduced pizza to shove in the freezer, £4 for my half.
4 p.m. — I give H his birthday presents and he decides he’d rather have a takeaway than go out for the meal we’d planned. I call the restaurant and rearrange to next week.
5 p.m. — I have a bath while H calls his parents. When I get out he’s decided on Dishoom for his birthday meal — I could live on their black daal. My treat, £34.99.
7 p.m. — We do one of my favourite things — coexisting in the same room while doing different activities. I watch Call the Midwife while H works on his hobbies. I can tell I’m hungover because I sob my eyes out at a scene.
9:30 p.m. — Get into bed where H has preemptively put our diffuser on so it’s like sleeping in a spa. I swear nothing hits like the second sleep after a night out.
10:30 p.m. — Tube comes to £5.20.
Total: £61.69
8:55 a.m. — Stay in bed as long as physically possible before starting work. Monday is a WFH day so I catch up on emails and news from the weekend.
10 a.m. — Jump onto a couple of hours’ worth of client and internal calls.
1 p.m. — I’m meeting a stakeholder IRL for a coffee so I put on real clothes and head for the bus, £1.65.
2 p.m. — I ask the waiter for a table facing the door as I can’t quite remember what my stakeholder looks like. This is a mistake as the waiter clearly assumes we are on a date and spends the rest of the time shooting us glances.
2:15 p.m. — I realise I haven’t eaten anything today so I get a portion of mushroom arancini and the other person gets an oat latte (expensed). We have a chat about our plans for the year and the election.
2:40 p.m. — Nip into Superdrug to pick up a prescription but they don’t have it so I get it ordered in. While I’m there I pick up one of those grossly satisfying peeling foot masks as my feet currently resemble a hobbit’s, and some deodorants for H I mistakenly thought were on offer, £7 for my half.
3 p.m. — Jump on the bus home and one of my colleagues calls me en route to discuss a client issue, £1.65.
6:10 p.m. — Log off for the day and crack on with making a prawn risotto from our HelloFresh box which arrived this afternoon. I jump between all the different meal boxes so that we are always getting a discount.
7:30 p.m. — H arrives home and we catch up on our days while eating dinner.
8:30 p.m. — Watch TV and text with some friends to plan a trip to visit K, who’s recently moved up north. The first date we are all free is in August, is this adulthood? Pencil it in nevertheless.
10 p.m. — Do my skincare routine which I am not very good at sticking to and get into bed. Struggle to get to sleep as I’m feeling worried about a big meeting I have in the morning.
Total: £10.30
7:30 a.m. — Up and at ’em. I’m off to see a client in their city office today so I have to wear my best corporate girlie outfit. I’m planning to go swimming this evening but decide trailing my swimsuit and towel to their office isn’t very professional of me.
8:30 a.m. — Hop on the train and switch onto the Waterloo and City line to Bank. I’ve never gotten it at rush hour and it’s like being slowly suffocated by a lot of very expensive suits.
9 a.m. — Arrive at the office and zoom up in their scarily fast lift. I’m a bit funny with heights and have to push that aside when I visit.
10 a.m. — After my first meeting, my main client comes to meet me for a coffee. I have a hot chocolate from the machine while we chat strategy and “admire the view”.
10:30 a.m. — The senior partner at my firm arrives for our big meeting which goes well despite my apprehension. However, I do get some feedback on what the partner would like me to do differently in terms of managing the account.
12:30 p.m. — We flag down a black cab to go back to our own office, which the partner covers. On the way back, I go to Sainsbury’s and buy a meal deal. This is quite annoying as we have lots of leftovers in the fridge but I didn’t want to bring it to the client office, £3.50.
1:30 p.m. — A colleague in America wants to give me a call so I eat during this as I won’t have time otherwise. We go through a couple of things from the meetings this morning.
2 p.m. — Spend the rest of the afternoon jumping between meetings and a policy paper I’m writing about the potential election outcomes and how that would impact my clients’ business.
4 p.m. — I’m supposed to go on a venue tour for a space I’ve hired for a client event next month, but the partner wants more changes to the policy paper so I brief two of the juniors to go in my place.
6 p.m. — Policy paper is off to the client so I head home. I feel in a rubbish mood and the only thing stopping me from ditching swimming is the £14 cancellation fee.
6:44 p.m. — Stop in at the shop on the way home to get some pasta and chocolate for a quick dinner, £4.40.
7 p.m. — Have a quick snack of Mini Cheddars and pack my swim stuff. H is also heading to the gym so we walk round together. I booked my swim through class pass so don’t pay anything now.
8 p.m. — After a swim and sauna I realise I’ve packed the very bare minimum essentials for swimming and nothing else — no clean pants or hairbrush, it’s certainly a look. I also feel better — I hate that people are right about exercise.
8:10 p.m. — Don’t ask how but I somehow get locked in the shopping centre that the gym is in. A man comes on the intercom to shout me back out. I panic and convince some stranger to run out the car garage ramp with me. Of course as soon as I’m out I see the normal exit for the gym, oops.
8:30 p.m. — Home with H and heat up some pasta for dinner while we watch University Challenge because we are lame.
11 p.m. — Sleep time, TfL steals £8.50 while I slumber.
Total: £16.40
7:40 a.m. — I’m not in a client’s office today so I get ready with a normal work outfit and head for the train.
10:40 a.m. — Sit down with one of the junior team members to go over our shared accounts and discuss his objectives. I get us a Coke Zero, cappuccino and brownie to share, expensed.
12 p.m. — Very briefly join a meeting on a proposal we are working on before heading off with one of my colleagues to meet a new business prospect. On the tube we discuss the highs and lows of living in London and whether we see ourselves here forever, our current jobs are quite London centric, so it’s a big question.
1 p.m. — Arrive at a posh hotel in central and I panic order a pot of berry tea — I do not drink tea or coffee. Halfway through the meeting I feel very sick and when he leaves I excuse myself to the toilet to vomit (at least it’s a very classy loo for it).
2 p.m. — I don’t want to miss the next call I’m leading so I take it from the hotel before settling our bill (expensed) and letting the team know I’m going home for the afternoon.
3 p.m. — Change into my pyjamas and work from the couch while feeling very sorry for myself.
6 p.m. — Work finished and I don’t budge from the couch.
9 p.m. — Eventually feel a bit more like eating so make chicken schnitzel from our HelloFresh just before H arrives home from work.
10:30 p.m. — Go to sleep and hope I’ll feel better in the morning as — you guessed it — I’m back with clients. Travel comes to £8.50.
Total: £8.50
7:30 a.m. — This morning I’m headed to the corporate office but I’m also due to go to a nature event with another client in the evening. Let me tell you, women’s magazines have been preparing us for the wrong kind of day-to-night outfits. Eventually settle on a new pair of black linen trousers with a green blazer and boots.
11 a.m. — I may have given myself a crick in my neck from too much suck-up nodding in our meeting. The partner hails us a cab back to the office and en route quizzes me on how I think other members of the team are doing. I try not to throw anyone under the bus and then get told off for being overly diplomatic.
12 p.m. — I have my fortnightly catch up with my line manager at the local café. I share with her that I’ve been feeling increasingly anxious about work recently and she gives me some advice as well as suggesting I talk to some of the other senior women in our team. She also gets me a Coke Zero.
12:30 p.m. — Grab a quick meal deal between meetings and eat lunch al desko. Once again could’ve brought lunch ugh, £3.50.
1 p.m. — Slightly suspicious that my line manager has shared what I said with the other directors as one calls out of the blue to say they think I’m doing an amazing job on our shared client, but it is still nice to hear.
3 p.m. — Lead a whole team brainstorm on our plans for this year’s political party conference season. I feel like I’ve barely recovered from last year but with the election approaching, this year will be bigger than ever.
5 p.m. — Head with some colleagues to meet our client for dinner before their event. We are early so I head to a nearby pub. I share the wonders of the local library and Libby app with one of my colleagues while our youngest team member shoots us a look as if we are ancient.
6 p.m. — Meet client for dinner. In honour of the sun, I have my first Aperol spritz of the year. I have a couple of small plates and two more cocktails before we head to the outdoors event. Our director is here and he pays.
9 p.m. — Event over. We head back to the pub and I have one more G&T before calling it as my social battery is well and truly empty. I get a Bolt home and spend an embarrassingly long time trying to figure out how to open the door of a Tesla. As I’m coming from a work event, this is expensed. Our team is female led and they always encourage us to expense taxis if it is dark out, which I appreciate.
10 p.m. — Watch a bit of University Challenge with H before bed.
11 p.m. — Today’s travel comes to £8.50.
Total: £12
8:55 a.m. — Thank God it’s Friday. Treat myself to an hour of work from bed before my first call of the day. Unusually, H is also working from home today as we have an appointment so we have to alternate call locations.
10 a.m. — H is an angel and has been to the coffee shop and brought me back a croissant. I have it with butter and jam on our balcony for the first time this year, which makes me very excited for summer.
11:30 a.m. — Our cleaner arrives which is both a blessing and adds an additional layer to our room Tetris. End up taking a call from my dressing table.
12 p.m. — H and I have an appointment with a financial planner to go over what our finances might look like after marriage, tax, and our wills. We are still figuring out what our finances will look like once we get married, so the advice is very helpful. He also puts us in touch with a solicitor to draw up our wills as we have a slightly complicated family situation.
1 p.m. — I jump straight onto another client call so H kindly wraps up and grabs us lunch from the shop.
2 p.m. — Today is a big life admin day, I get a call from the lawyer about my inheritance. Since my last diary a close family member unexpectedly passed away, they had no children and so decided to leave their house to my dad, brother and me. I’d never expected this and feel both very grateful and wary of how to spend it as I know they worked their whole life for it. The lawyer confirms the house sale has gone through and we should receive our share on Monday.
3 p.m. — Feeling a bit sad as I think about my relative, sign off all the end-of-week bits for clients and work on a deck.
5 p.m. — My best friend V texts that she is feeling down, she’s had a really tough time lately so I invite her to join us later for a drink. Guess we are going to the pub tonight.
6 p.m. — Pop on some fun music and get ready to meet my friend S at barrecore. It’s a new instructor and it is HARD. The class is full of toned yoga mums in lululemon while I’ve gone for an oversized charity T-shirt and a pair of running shorts that might actually be cutting off the circulation to my vagina. This is part of my ClassPass subscription so doesn’t cost me anything right now.
7 p.m. — Death narrowly avoided, I take advantage of the free toiletries to try and make myself look less like a sweaty lobster (it doesn’t work). S and I head to meet V and H at the pub next door. It’s spritz season so we both get a Hugo spritz and join the great London tradition of standing in the street. Normally I resent paying good money to do this when I could do it for free, but the lovely sunset makes up for it, £10.50.
8 p.m. — Everyone is keen for another drink but as it’s a bit chilly now and I’m keen to save money, I suggest we go back to ours. We stop on the way for some snacks, prosecco and soda water. My share comes to £5.
8:20 p.m. — Use some Aperol we have in the house to make spritzes and plate up some snacks. H makes the final HelloFresh meal for the two of us (the others have already eaten — I’m not that bad a host).
10:30 p.m. — Our friends head home and H and I get into bed after a lovely evening.
Total: £15.50
8 a.m. — Up earlier than I’d like to be on a weekend, but my friend has managed to nab us tickets to a bridal brunch that a brand is throwing in central and I cannot resist a freebie.
9:20 a.m. — Even though it isn’t that early, Oxford St is deserted and it is very odd to see. My friend is inevitably running late so I get myself a complimentary pastry and mimosa and mingle with the staff after one aborted attempt to chat to another group.
9:40 a.m. — My friend arrives and we have some more prosecco before trying on some dresses. Once again I’m foiled by my big tits which makes most dresses either frumpy or downright obscene.
10:40 a.m. — We strategically place ourselves by the drinks table while we watch the makeup workshop, have a good time playing with the various samples. I’m almost useless at makeup so it’s useful to see.
11 a.m. — Speak to one of the vendors at the event and have to stop myself visibly recoiling when she quotes me £600+ for a paper bouquet — I’m still not used to wedding costs.
11:30 a.m. — After trying on a few more dresses, we head off. We’ve had six proseccos each and received a goody bag, so it was very much a win. We browse a few shops but everything feels so low quality at the moment even in more expensive shops.
12 p.m. — We stop at Pret for a snack, we each get half a baguette and realise afterwards we could’ve got one to share. £4.40 for a half baguette and Coke.
12:20 p.m. — Meet up with the boyfriends in Chelsea. The sun is out in force so we join half of London in sitting on the grass. I’ve totally misjudged the weather and I’m wearing a jumper and zero SPF. Luckily there’s some SPF primer in the goody bag which I discover just before my translucent Scottish skin burns to a crisp. L and I have the margarita tins from our goody bags while the boys buy a beer from a nearby stall.
2 p.m. — Go our separate ways and have a browse of the Aesop store before we head home.
4 p.m. — Get a burst of cleaning energy which is very rare for me — does prosecco improve productivity? Clean our outside furniture ready for summer, clean out the dishwasher filter and do some laundry.
4:30 p.m. — H decides to go for a nap which turns into *insert euphemism of your choice here*.
5:30 p.m. — Get ready for H’s birthday dinner. Find a rip in my new linen trousers which is annoying, I’ll be sending them back.
7 p.m. — Arrive at the restaurant and I’m glad we booked as the queue is out the door. Birthday boy gets a steak and a prosecco, while I get a burger and a margarita. We split a couple of sides which are all to die for. We were planning to stay longer and get some wine but the table beside us is super disruptive and it is not the vibe we are after. I pay for the food and my dad kindly gave H money on his birthday to cover drinks, £50.
8 p.m. — Instead we swing by Whole Foods and pick up some nice English sparkling wine to have at home. Very difficult to resist the array of bougie things in there. The wine is covered with the rest of the money from my dad.
8:30 p.m. — Spend the rest of the evening enjoying the wine and hanging out. I feel like I’m on the verge of birthing a food baby, but H pulls through and has several more snacks.
11:30 p.m. — Bedtime! Travel comes to £8.50.
Total: £62.90
Food & Drink: £123.79
Clothes & Beauty: £0
Home & Health: £7
Entertainment: £0
Travel: £56.50
Other: £0
Total: £187.29
Conclusion
“Overall, I think this was a fairly standard week — I wouldn’t normally cover two meals for H’s birthday but I would say we eat out at least once a week. I’m not a big spender on physical items, I tend to spend the majority of my money everything month on food, drink and socialising. I’m lucky to have some expenses covered through work, although as I remind my friends this is often because you are spending your own time at work events and we don’t get the time back. It did make me realise how much I spend on convenient food but realistically this is unlikely to change. I’m quite on it with monitoring my spending and savings as it is so I don’t think I will change anything in the future.”
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