This week: “I’m a 31-year-old project manager living alone in Yorkshire. I’ve lived in the north for the better part of the last decade but I’m originally from down south. I love it up here and have no plans to leave. I feel like I’m really hitting my stride with my career after feeling very lost in my early 20s. I’m now saving to buy my first home on my own. I’ve been with my partner for a few years but we don’t live together and have no plans to. We both like our own space and we don’t intend to have children or get married.”
Occupation: Project manager
Industry: Transport
Age: 31
Location: Yorkshire
Salary: £52,888
Paycheque amount: £2,919
Number of housemates: None
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £720 for a one-bed city-centre flat.
Loan payments: £209 for my undergraduate student loan, £159 for my postgraduate student loan (this comes out of my paycheque monthly).
Pension? Yes, I contribute £240.19 to my company pension monthly (this comes out of my paycheque).
Savings? £10,500 in a LISA and £11,000 spread across a few other high-interest savings accounts. I put £650 per month in my deposit/first home fund, £300 short-term savings pot, £120 miscellaneous emergencies pot.
Utilities: £103 council tax, £25 internet, £6.10 contents insurance, £69 electricity, £29 water.
All other monthly payments: £50 phone, £28.50 trade union membership, £2.99 Apple, £16.95 Denplan, £26.09 gym, £15 ClassPass. Subscriptions: £15.99 Netflix, £4.99 Amazon Prime, £4.99 Hayu.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, I went to university straight after sixth form. Two years after I graduated, I chose to go back and get my master’s. I was lucky enough to go to university when maintenance grants still existed and before the fees were hiked up to £9k plus. I paid for my undergrad through a combination of government loans and grants (I received the maximum maintenance grant as I came from a low-income family). My master’s was funded through a combination of a government postgraduate loan and working part-time alongside my studies.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
Money was a source of stress in my household, more so during the first half of my childhood due to my dad’s poor attitude to money. He changed jobs constantly, spent money like it was going out of fashion and racked up a lot of debt, which led to a lot of instability. My parents divorced when I was 12 and then my mum was a single parent. This brought with it a different kind of financial struggle as my mum had to support two children on one very low salary. My mum is very resourceful and excellent with money so things felt more stable during this time. Through my mum, I learned about looking after my money from a young age. I received a small amount of pocket money as a child, which I saved to buy any toys or games I wanted (there was no money for these things outside of Christmas or birthday treats). I knew I had to get a part-time job as soon as I left secondary school and was financially responsible for my own clothes, toiletries and bus pass from this point onwards.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I moved out when I went to university at 19 and never moved back home.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
I became fully financially responsible for myself at 19 when I left home and moved to university, where I paid for myself using loans and grants and by working part-time. There was no expectation that my mum could afford to help me financially after this point. I had been paying for a lot of my own expenses for a few years by then.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
When I was 15 I worked in a hotel as a cleaner for a few months over the summer. I got paid cash in hand. I knew that my mum couldn’t afford to pay for much for me and I wanted to start to earn my own money.
Do you worry about money now?
I feel very lucky to live in a part of the country where the cost of living is reasonable and to earn a comfortable salary. I now earn more than either of my parents ever have in their adult lives and I feel very conscious of this. I live in constant fear of becoming like my dad when it comes to money so I am very sensible with spending. I check my bank balance daily and have kept spreadsheets of my expenses ever since I got my first job.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
My mum was able to give me £5,500 towards a deposit for my first home. I never expected to receive any help from my parents with buying a home so I am incredibly grateful for this. My mum’s financial situation has changed a lot in the last decade as she paid off the mortgage on the house I grew up in and sold it when she moved into the house her partner owns.
7:40 a.m. — Wake up at my partner’s house. We don’t live together and see each other a few times a week. At the moment, I go to his and stay over as he has a cat and his housemate is away so someone needs to be home with her daily. I don’t mind because it means I get to wake up being cuddled by both of them in the morning.
8:25 a.m. — I walk home from my partner’s house, which takes around 40 minutes. I listen to an episode of the Bad Gays podcast while I walk. As I near home, I swing by a coffee shop and buy an oat milk iced latte, £3.80.
10:30 a.m. — I have an unusually meeting-free morning so I take a break from screens to eat breakfast: Greek yoghurt and granola.
12 p.m. — Someone is meant to be coming over to fit new blinds (several months after I reported they were broken; the joys of renting). I feel like I can’t start making lunch until they’ve been, fearing the awkwardness of being in the middle of making food/eating when they arrive.
1:30 p.m. — The blinds have been fitted. I am starving now and don’t have much time before my afternoon meeting so I decide to nip to the shop down the road and grab a meal deal. I also pick up a box of cereal bars while I’m there, £4.50.
5 p.m. — Confession: When I have a night to myself, I eat dinner ridiculously early. I tell myself it’s because I work out in the evening and want to give my food time to digest but I’m secretly just an old woman who loves to eat dinner at 5 p.m. I throw together a buffalo chicken salad.
8:30 p.m. — I walk to the gym and run 2.5 miles on the treadmill. I used to run a lot a few years ago but a mixture of bad illnesses and injuries has meant I’ve been inconsistent with it for a long time now. I’m doing a six-week programme to gradually build back to easily running 5k (and improve my confidence/silence the voice in my head saying I can’t do this).
10:30 p.m. — Freshly showered post-gym, I make a peppermint tea and climb into bed to catch up on TV.
Total: £8.30
7 a.m. — I rarely wake up to my first alarm but today I do for some reason. I lie in bed, scrolling on my phone and chugging water for another 30 minutes.
8:45 a.m. — I’m working in the office today so I make myself a second coffee in my reusable mug and pack some granola and Greek yoghurt for breakfast.
12:30 p.m. — Colleagues from the London office are visiting for a few days and they suggest chips for lunch. We walk to a chip shop nearby and eat outside, despite the unseasonably cold weather, £4.05.
1:30 p.m. — After lunch I decide I need some fruit to balance things out. I head to the shop and grab a pot of watermelon (expensive but my weakness) and a multipack of protein bars, as it’s cheaper than buying a single one, £6.25.
3 p.m. — I need a Diet Coke break so I pop downstairs to the canteen where they’re subsidised, £0.99.
5:15 p.m. — I’m meeting friends after work to see the film Sometimes I Think About Dying at the cinema. I get some sweets to sneak in from the shop en route. Tickets were pre-purchased last week, £1.75.
8 p.m. — We all agree that the film was sweet and beautifully filmed. We head to the pub for a quick half before calling it a night, £2.60.
10:30 p.m. — Sleep.
Total: £15.64
8:30 a.m. — Somehow manage to oversleep so I get ready in a hurry. I’m terrible for snoozing my alarm in my sleep.
10:30 a.m. — No time to make myself a coffee in my reusable mug this morning (it’s still sitting on my kitchen counter, needing to be washed up) so I buy a soy cappuccino from the office canteen, £3.10.
1:15 p.m. — I’ve booked lunch out with my team to celebrate the launch of a huge project we all spent the last few months prepping. I order an Asian chicken salad and a Diet Coke, £16.
2:30 p.m. — I always need something sweet after a savoury meal. I buy another Diet Coke and also a Kind bar from the office canteen after lunch, £2.74.
5:10 p.m. — I walk home from the office and watch some TV. I’m meeting friends in a few hours and I’m grateful for some downtime between a busy office day and more socialising this evening.
7 p.m. — I walk over to a bar nearby and meet some friends for a pub quiz. I buy myself a pint of cider, £5.35.
10:30 p.m. — Two more pints, a lot of chats and a pub quiz later. We come in second place overall and are giddy with excitement. Our prize is a £10 bar tab, which we sensibly decide we’re all too boozy to spend tonight. We book in another pub quiz night together for a few weeks’ time. We resolve to come first next time, of course. £14.65 for the drinks.
11 p.m. — We’d planned to eat dinner at the bar but never got around to it so I eat yoghurt with granola in bed before I wash my face and call it a night.
Total: £41.84
7:30 a.m. — I’m feeling tired this morning after two days back-to-back in the office and socialising both nights. Luckily it’s going to be a quieter day at work.
12 p.m. — I’m going to a conference for work in Amsterdam in a few months. My travel and hotel for the conference are covered by my job but I’ve never been to Amsterdam before so I’ve decided to spend 24 hours doing some solo exploring once the conference is over. I pay for the hotel for this extra night myself, £146.64.
1:15 p.m. — Once my meetings are wrapped up for the day, I head out for a walk. I pick up a coffee and head to M&S to get a few bits I need for lunch, £10.70.
4:30 p.m. — I log off a bit early so I can fit in a run today. I do two miles outdoors, which still feels more difficult than running on the treadmill but I’m getting there.
6:30 p.m. — I’m freshly showered and packed for the weekend. My partner picks me up and we drive to the supermarket to get food for the next few days. I typically spend weekends at his at the moment, for the aforementioned cat-sitting reasons, £28.33.
8 p.m. — Our arrangement is that I cook and my partner washes up, which is great because I love cooking but hate washing up and he finds cooking stressful. I make us pulled pork nachos, which we have with a few beers while watching Uncut Gems.
11:30 p.m. — I’m exhausted from socialising a lot this week and my partner is exhausted from a busy week at work so we go to bed at a reasonable time.
Total: £185.67
11 a.m. — We sleep in late, with no alarms, which feels amazing. Eventually we get up and I make us coffee and sausage bagels for breakfast. We eat while watching Antiques Roadshow (one of our faves) and plan what we’ll do with our afternoon.
1 p.m. — Once we’re dressed, we walk the 40 minutes into the city centre. I need to pick up something I left at my flat and it’s a nice walk along the canal. We pick up a coffee en route, £7.60.
3 p.m. — On the walk home, we pop into a vintage pop-up and take a look around. Neither of us buys anything but we realise we need a few things for the pecan pie I want to bake tonight so we swing past Lidl and grab those, £6.43.
5 p.m. — I put potatoes into the oven on a low heat to cook for an hour and start on my pecan pie. My partner offers to help but honestly, I prefer to cook/bake alone. Call it the control freak in me. Once the mixture is poured into the pie dish, it bakes for 40 minutes alongside the potatoes.
6:30 p.m. — We have a simple dinner: jacket potatoes with a side salad. I top my jacket potato with beans and cheese, he has tuna and sweetcorn. Afterwards, we eat the pecan pie (which is still slightly warm from the oven) with vanilla ice cream and I immediately decide it’s one of the best things I’ve ever baked.
8 p.m. — We watch a lot of films together. Tonight’s pick is Love Lies Bleeding. Overall we enjoy it but agree that it lost its way a bit at the end.
12 a.m. — Bedtime.
Total: £14.03
10 a.m. — A slightly earlier wake-up today as I have an eye test at midday and my partner has some other errands to run. I decide there isn’t time to make sausage bagels again so we just have plain bagels and coffee.
11 a.m. — As we head out to the car, I notice one of the front tyres is completely flat. Not ideal. My partner changes the tyre while I try to offer some calming words (he had this exact tyre replaced only a week ago so this is terrible luck). I cancel my eye test as clearly we’re going nowhere for now.
12:30 p.m. — After a bit of googling and calling around, my partner has found a place that’s open and can patch the tyre for him. We drive over there and wait around while they fix the tyre. Not exactly the day we had planned but at least it got sorted out quickly.
1 p.m. — Once the tyre is fixed, I suggest we go to the supermarket nearby as I need to do a food shop for the week ahead anyway. Living in the city centre means I don’t have easy access to a bigger supermarket so I usually ask my partner to take me to do a big shop every few weeks, £29.77.
2:30 p.m. — I put my stuff away so it stays cold until I can take it home later. We’re both starving now, after having a relatively small breakfast. For lunch I make mashed potatoes with sausages and roasted broccoli. I relent and let my partner help a bit this time — he makes the gravy.
4 p.m. — After our late lunch/early dinner, I feel super sleepy and we decide to lie down for a while. This turns into a two and a half-hour nap. Oops.
4:30 p.m. — My partner drives me home and I put my shopping away. I decide to watch Bridgerton. I watched season one when it came out but never watched any further but all of the recent promo from Nicola Coughlan has piqued my interest.
9 p.m. — A few episodes of Bridgerton later, and a dinner of biscuits on the sofa, I give up on my plans to do a workout and get ready for bed instead.
11 p.m. — Despite my nap I’m still pretty sleepy and head to bed early(ish).
Total: £29.77
7 a.m. — I wake up and briefly forget what day it is. The realisation it’s a Monday is not a welcome one.
8:30 a.m. — Normally I read in the mornings while I drink my coffee but today I decide to watch YouTube vlogs instead. It’s all about balance.
10:30 a.m. — I have two team meetings on a Monday. Once they’re over, I go out for a walk to get some fresh air and listen to an episode of The Rest is Politics.
1 p.m. — For lunch I make myself two fried eggs on toast with spinach and hot sauce. I eat this while watching Bridgerton.
5 p.m. — Another absurdly early dinner because I have plans to work out this evening. I make a quick stir-fry.
8:30 p.m. — I plan on cancelling my gym membership next month and transitioning to running solely outside. Tonight will probably be one of my last treadmill runs for a while. I run 2.75 miles and focus on feeling proud that I’m overcoming my lack of running confidence, instead of beating myself up because it still felt hard.
10 p.m. — Watch TV and read a few pages of my book before lights out at 11 p.m.
Total: £0
Food & Drink: £148.61
Clothes & Beauty: £0
Home & Health: £0
Entertainment: £0
Travel: £146.64
Other: £0
Total: £296.26
Conclusion
“This was definitely a more expensive week than usual for me: I don’t normally eat out so many times in a week or book hotels abroad on a weekly basis. While I am sensible with my money, I still try to maintain a mindset of ‘life costs money’ and try to enjoy the money I earn rather than fretting over every penny (which I realise is a very privileged mindset to be able to have). So while this week involved more spending than is typical for me, it was all within my budget and it meant I got to see friends and celebrate a win with colleagues. I love solo travel and haven’t done any for a while so I’m super excited for my trip to Amsterdam in a few months.”
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