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This week: “I’m 29 years old and living in Manchester, working as a data analyst for a charity. Since my first diary a year and a half ago, I’ve changed career direction, been on some lovely holidays, made lots of new close friends in Manchester and am now about to start looking for a flat to buy. To that end, I am trying to bulk up my savings as much as possible while still having a social life. After the purchase is complete, I’ll probably look at getting a new job to increase my income.”
Occupation: Senior marketing data analyst
Industry: Nonprofit
Age: 29
Location: Manchester
Salary: £40,800
Paycheque amount: £2,504.64
Number of housemates: One: G (and my cat, S).
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £682.50 rent.
Loan payments: £101 student loan repayment comes out of my gross pay.
Pension? I pay £170, matched by my employer.
Savings? I currently have £24,400 in a LISA, £5,500 in a regular savings account, £1,351 in my cat-sitting earnings pot and £300 in a pot for my 30th next year, as I’d like to plan a trip with a friend and a party. At the moment, I only put ‘round-ups’ into my LISA, £50 a month into the 30th pot, and anything else I have left at the end of the month goes into regular savings, in anticipation of buying a flat and all the associated fees/furniture costs. On average this year I’ve saved around £500 a month from my main salary and earned around £135 a month from cat-sitting, although this varies wildly month by month.
Utilities: I transfer my flatmate £202.27 a month, which covers water, electric, council tax and TV licence.
All other monthly payments: £12.87 pet insurance, £32.60 cat food subscription, £22.99 gym membership, £140 personal trainer, £21 contact lenses, £10 phone contract, £5 donation to Marine Conservation Society. Subscriptions: £10.99 Netflix, £2.99 Now TV.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
There’s more detail on all of these questions in my original diary, but to recap: I did a three-year English degree, paid for by student loans. I got the minimum maintenance loan and worked three jobs during holidays to pay for everything else. I also received a £2,000 academic grant, which I used to pay for my car insurance and MOT for when I was working.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
My parents were very frugal and would take out cash every week to stick to their budget, do a monthly audit of all their receipts, spending, etc. Their financial situation is much better now that we are adults; they are very comfortable and support us when we need it.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I moved out six months after university at 21, to live in London for my grad job.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
My parents continued to cover some small bits for the first few years after I moved out, like my contact lenses and phone contract. They would also loan me odd amounts to pay for things like security deposits when I was moving between rental houses. I became fully responsible for myself when I moved to Manchester about five years ago.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I trained as a lifeguard when I was 16, which I’d say was my first ‘proper’ job. I did odd admin work at my mum’s office and had a paper round when I was younger.
Do you worry about money now?
Looking back at my first diary, I am happy to see that I am less stressed about money than I was, as my earnings have increased and I feel comfortable. However, I am currently looking to buy a flat, which is making me very nervous; after eight years of saving, seeing my accounts go down to £0 will be terrifying! I’m also worried about the monthly payments. I haven’t decided yet if I want to buy a two-bedroom flat and take in a lodger, which would make it cheaper than I currently pay, or if I want to increase my outgoings to get a one-bed, live a lot more frugally and have the place to myself.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
Other than occasional support from my parents and the £2,000 listed in my first diary, I also have a small amount in premium bonds, which my grandparents bought when I was young. This is a minimal amount and I’ve never won anything on them! If I do buy a flat, I think my parents will probably gift me a few thousand pounds to help with the cost, as I know they did this for my brother recently. I’m not counting on that though and want to make sure I can pay for everything myself, with anything extra as a lovely bonus.
6:15 a.m. — My alarm goes off. It’s a bit early for a Sunday but I have a nail appointment this morning. I get up, grab a cup of tea and my overnight protein oats, and enjoy them in bed while cuddling my cat, S. Then it’s time for skincare (CeraVe face wash, Dermatica azelaic acid cream, Clinique moisturising gel) and supplements (iron, vitamin D, B12, omega-3, probiotic).
9:20 a.m. — Get dressed, out the door and tap into the tram, £3.50 return. The trams are all messed up at the moment for construction works so I have to get off and walk 25 minutes through town to get to the salon.
10:40 a.m. — Leave my nail appointment. I haven’t been to this place before and booked it last minute as my usual girl is on holiday. The nails aren’t great and I’m not sure how long they’ll last, but the colour is cute so it will do for a couple of weeks (prepaid when I booked).
11 a.m. — Go to the big Asian supermarket to stock up on some bits, which I do every couple of months. Tofu is less than half the price of a regular supermarket so I get three big packs as well as soy sauce, ketjap manis, kimchi, two packs of frozen edamame and a big bottle of aloe water, £18.60.
11:25 a.m. — Pop into Lidl to top up the shop with a few bits for the week: bananas, strawberries, an avocado, mushrooms, hob cleaner, frozen peas, noodles and protein yoghurts, £10.22. Start the trek home with another walk (with heavy bags this time!) and a 20-minute wait for the tram.
12 p.m. — Get home, put away the shopping and sit down with my book for a bit (Prophet Song by Paul Lynch). Then heat up some leftover chilli with toast for lunch, along with a small glass of aloe water.
3 p.m. — Have a banana and a protein yoghurt as a snack, and text a little with a guy I’ve recently started dating, C. We’ve only been out once but it’s longish distance, so we’ve been chatting a lot until we can go out again. He’s volunteering at a festival this weekend so it’s a quick check-in before he goes back to work. I’m happy he took the time out to text!
4:30 p.m. — I was supposed to be meeting friends for a walk this afternoon but the weather is awful so it’s back to my book. I finish Prophet Song and then do some Sunday chores: clean the kitchen, hoover, put clean laundry away and do my physio. Then I shower, wash my hair and do my evening skincare (same as morning routine).
5:30 p.m. — Start making dinner, a creamy Cajun pasta with soy mince. My flatmate, G, gets home from a wedding so she fills me in on how it went while I cook. We then watch a couple of episodes of The Office.
6:45 p.m. — Make a tea, get some chocolate and start Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.
7:30 p.m. — Quick chat on the phone with my parents, mainly about my potential flat purchase. I want to move to south Manchester and have my own space but it’s going to be expensive and I’m scared! My other option is to buy a two-bed and rent a room to G. Dad had his birthday a few days ago and tells me he ordered himself a new golf umbrella so I send him the money to cover it as his gift, £25.
10:15 p.m. — Lights out.
Total: £57.32
8 a.m. — Wake up naturally before my alarm. S comes in for a cuddle so I stay in bed with her until 8:40 a.m. Feel terrible when I eventually get up because she’s nestled between my legs and purring very loudly, but I build her a nest out of my duvet and she soon passes out.
9 a.m. — Start work with a tea. Since my first diary, I’ve changed career! I worked in fundraising/marketing before and realised that the only part I really enjoyed was working with data to understand different audiences, strategies, etc. So I started teaching myself to code and managed to get a senior data analyst role within the same charity, and they’ve continued my training. I do all sorts of stuff now, from analysing our fundraising audiences or campaigns to recommending new strategies, building Power BI dashboards and completing analysis on the people the charity helps to try and broaden our reach. I find the work really interesting but I don’t love my new team, as my manager has previously let slip some personal/religious views around sexuality that make me uncomfortable. Once I have more experience on my CV, I’ll probably look elsewhere.
9:50 a.m. — After a check-in call with my manager I get breakfast: overnight protein oats with sliced strawberries on top. Eat it with another cup of tea while I play around with a couple of new softwares we are going to start using and may need to build reports with.
11:50 a.m. — Change into gym clothes, put some laundry on and walk over to the gym for my lunch break. Work is really quiet at the moment and we’re about to enter the busy period so I’m taking advantage a bit at the moment. A few of my friends are in so we chat and I do my training session: bench and various push exercises.
1 p.m. — Get home, have a quick body shower and make lunch: grated tofu, avocado, lime and pesto on toast with pickled red onion and some aloe water. I saw this tofu idea on Instagram at the weekend and I’m always looking for new ways to incorporate protein into my lunches. It’s decent; basically a bulked-up avocado toast.
2 p.m. — Hang up laundry and get back to work. Have to send an awkward email to a team explaining that their information won’t show up in reports or analysis if they haven’t entered it into the database to begin with. Sigh.
2:45 p.m. — Book two tickets for Dear Evan Hansen when it comes to Manchester for me and a friend. We were texting about it over the weekend to confirm dates and ticket options. £34 for my ticket. Yay!
5 p.m. — Finish work and get ready to go out for dinner. It’s a casual place so I just put on some light makeup, flared jeans and a top. Jump on the tram, £3.50.
6:30 p.m. — Meet two of my close friends at the restaurant. We share tzatziki, melitzanosalata, and cheese and garlic pita, then I have a vegetarian moussaka with a Diet Coke, £33. It’s all delicious, as always. One of my friends is moving to Scotland soon so we talk about our plans to visit her next summer and a possible girls’ trip — we’ve been away together the last two years.
9:15 p.m. — Get home, make some overnight oats for tomorrow and do my skincare. Text with C for a little while before lights out at 10:30 p.m.
Total: £70.50
8:45 a.m. — Wake up and do the usual morning routine. I also respond to some messages and book a cat-sit for Friday morning. It’s only one visit so not really worth the time, but it’s a new client so I’m hoping it turns into more work in future.
9:45 a.m. — Overnight oats at my desk while making some updates to Power BI reports.
11 a.m. — I have my first session with a leadership coach specialising in managing ADHD at work. She offered my charity six weeks of coaching pro bono. We talk about how I thrive at work when I’m busy but struggle to hold myself accountable when I don’t have set deadlines during these quieter periods. She suggests some useful frameworks to help break things down into achievable steps.
12 p.m. — Break for lunch. I take a 15-minute walk to clear my head, have a shower and then eat lunch at my desk: the second half of the tofu/avocado mix and some edamame on the side.
3 p.m. — After many rounds of conversation with ChatGPT I get a complex bit of code working for one of the reports. Celebrate with a quick break to empty the dishwasher and wash up from lunch.
3:30 p.m. — Have a protein bar as a snack.
5 p.m. — Log off work, read my book for a little while and accidentally end up on the Uniqlo sale. Order a pair of gingham trousers and a casual midi dress. I’ll probably end up returning these, £25.80.
5:50 p.m. — Start on dinner: a ‘chicken’ and chickpea tikka masala. Serenade S while I cook; she thinks I’m so embarrassing.
6:50 p.m. — Finish eating and go out to meet my new cat-sitting client. She shows me how to access the flat, introduces me to her fluffy ragdoll called Milo and talks me through how to look after him.
7:30 p.m. — On my walk home and get the news that my best friend M is engaged! I’m so excited for her and her partner. Try not to cry. My other best friend, F, calls to be excited with me as M is busy telling other people and celebrating.
8 p.m. — Get home and catch up with G. Make a tea and read my book for a while.
10:15 p.m. — Lights out. It was a quiet day but also the first day of my period so I feel really exhausted and sleep badly…
Total: £25.80
7:45 a.m. — Wake up to my alarm feeling so groggy and tired. I’m starting work a bit early today as I have flat viewings this afternoon, so log on straightaway. Start working on a quarterly insights presentation for next week.
9:30 a.m. — Eat my overnight oats at my desk, then pop down to Co-op for some milk, £1.05.
12:05 p.m. — Stop to make a quick lunch of scrambled eggs and cheese. Something very odd has happened to the bread in my freezer and it has become one solid lump that can’t be separated. I try defrosting it all in the microwave but it falls apart so it’s back down to Co-op I go for some sourdough, £2.30.
12:35 p.m. — Now rushing. I head out to my flat viewings, £3.50 tram.
2 p.m. — One viewing down, I get the bus to my next one, £2.
2:30 p.m. — I have a 30-minute walk to my final viewing so I stop for fuel: a dirty chai with oat milk, £3.75.
4 p.m. — Viewings over, I head home with much to think about. I really loved one of them, a one-bed flat, but it has no chain and I’m in my lease for another six months so I think it’ll move too quickly for me to buy.
5 p.m. — Get home, change and head over to the gym for a PT session. We chat about the flat and my friend’s engagement yesterday while we train glutes.
6:30 p.m. — Home! Shower, reheat leftover curry and sit down with my laptop. Catch up on some work from today and then look at my budget. I do an estimated monthly budget for the flat I loved, and do some calculations on whether I’d be able to afford rent and mortgage for a few months if I needed to. Answer: probably not. I call my parents to chat it through as well. My dad is helpful but my mum is not particularly — she doesn’t want me to live alone so she’s being a bit negative about a one-bed. I send the agent a list of questions to help me decide how I want to move forward.
8:30 p.m. — Chill out with my book until 11:15 p.m., then bed.
Total: £12.60
8:45 a.m. — Wake up feeling much better than yesterday. Get ready quickly and start work at 9 a.m., continuing the presentation from yesterday.
10 a.m. — Eat my breakfast while IT takes over my laptop to fix some issues I’ve been having.
12:30 p.m. — Break for lunch and go to the gym for a quick back workout. Chat to a friend who recently bought a house while I’m there and get some advice.
1:30 p.m. —Home, quick shower, back to work with my lunch. I make scrambled tofu with cheese on sourdough today.
3 p.m. — Come off a call about legacy forecasting statistical models. G baked cookies last night for a work event and left one for me, so I heat it up as a snack.
5 p.m. — Finish work and jump on the tram to pick up my Uniqlo order. For someone who said they want to avoid the tram this week, I seem to be using it an awful lot, £3.50.
6:15 p.m. — Back home. One of the Uniqlo items is a keeper, the other one I’ll send back next week. Spend a couple of hours packing for the weekend, wrapping my friend’s present and tidying up the flat. Make peanut butter ‘chicken’ noodles and put half aside for dinner tomorrow, then watch some TV while I eat.
9 p.m. — C calls and we chat on the phone for just over an hour.
10 p.m. — Lights out!
Total: £3.50
8 a.m. — Wake up to the alarm, get dressed, pack my breakfast and head out to my cat-sitting job this morning. I’m looking after a lovely ragdoll boy who loves cuddles.
9 a.m. — Start work on their sofa with a cup of tea and a purring cat. Send out a few emails then join my weekly team update.
10:30 a.m. — See a flat I absolutely love on Rightmove. Call the agent and I can’t get a viewing for another two weeks so I’ll need to decide whether to go ahead with the other one I’ve found in the meantime. This one looks amazing but it’s more expensive and I think it’ll sell quickly, so I’m not sure what to do.
12 p.m. — Walk 15 minutes back home for lunch. Do my physio, wash my hair, then make scrambled tofu again for lunch before going back to work. Text a bit with C and my parents throughout the afternoon.
4:15 p.m. — Log off from work, change and leave for my train to Cardiff. At the station I spend £2.85 on a drink and a chocolate bar, and £3.30 on a pack of hair ties as I forgot to bring one.
6:15 p.m. — Finish my book on the train and start the latest season of Selling Sunset. Eat leftover peanut butter noodles for dinner.
9 p.m. — Arrive in Cardiff to give my friend a big hug! We have a cup of tea, catch up, cuddle her lovely dogs and chat until around 12:30 a.m.
Total: £6.15
9:30 a.m. — Sleep in a little bit this morning. When I wake up my friend has popped out to take the dogs for a walk and pick up breakfast. I make myself a tea and read my book until she gets back, then eat a delicious crème brûlée croissant while we chat.
11 a.m. — Jump in the shower, get dressed and do my makeup before other guests start to arrive. Greet my best friends, some old friends I don’t get to see very often, and meet some new people too. Everyone cheers with some champagne for my friend’s engagement.
1 p.m. — Pizza arrives. I have a couple of slices of pizza and garlic bread, as well as some guac.
3 p.m. — We head down the road for pottery painting! I pick out a mug and do a basic ocean/wave design. I can’t paint but it turns out kind of cute. My friend will collect everyone’s pieces in a couple of weeks so I’ll get it when I see her next month. I order a can of Trip while we paint, plus the mug cost is £18.25.
5 p.m. — We head to a bar with street food stalls, where my friend’s partner surprises her with extra guests she didn’t know were coming over this weekend. I order a cocktail on two for £10 with my friend, then a Diet Coke, and we share a quesadilla and poutine, £18.
7:30 p.m. — We stop at a Co-op on the way back to the house. I get an elderflower cider and another can of Trip, £4.75.
9 p.m. — We’ve just been chatting and hanging out back at the house with drinks. My friend puts out a pasta salad with pine nuts, garlic, mint and lemon, so I have a small bowl to keep me going.
10 p.m. — A few people start to head off and we need a change of scene so we go to the local pub. They’re hosting karaoke tonight and a big group of locals is in, celebrating a 60th birthday — it is very funny. I order a Diet Coke, £2.65.
11 p.m. — Get on the mic and duet Lay All Your Love On Me with the birthday girl. Dance with the 60th birthday group. Not my usual night out but it’s a lot of fun!
12:30 a.m. — Home, chat and bed.
Total: £43.65
“This was a relatively high-spend week for me as I was out a few times, celebrated a birthday and bought theatre tickets. It was the first week after payday and I definitely spend more this time of the month and then rein it in a bit towards the end! Since writing the diary, my parents have very generously offered me £5,000 so I can max out my LISA this year, which is giving me a little bit of breathing room on some of my expenses around buying the flat. I’m in the process of putting in an offer on the flat I viewed during the diary but I also have a viewing booked for a lovely two-bed within my budget — fingers crossed that one is perfect as I’d love the extra space! Overall, while I know I could be more frugal, I am happy with the balance I have at the moment and I know I save well. If and when I do buy a flat, I’ll have to be a lot more careful with my budget so I want to enjoy things now while I can.”
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