Money Diary: A Senior PR & Marketing Manager On £80,000

Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last penny.

This week: “I’m a 32-year-old senior PR & marketing manager living in Kent. I moved here from London over three years ago and actually wrote a money diary shortly after I moved. Quite a lot has changed since then! I met my fiancé, D, two years ago and we are currently planning our summer 2025 wedding. I’ve changed jobs since my last diary and had a nice bump up in salary, too.
For the time being, we’re happy living where we do, but I think a move is on the cards in a few years’ time to be a bit closer to both our parents before we have kids. So, as well as saving for a wedding and honeymoon, we also have this in the back of our mind too when it comes to savings.
Money-wise I’m the perfect storm between spend-y and save-y. I transfer a good amount to my savings accounts at the start of the month, but I also love to treat myself. I used to be a lot more spend-y when it came to fashion and would often buy quite a few new pieces each month. These days though I’m more committed to saving (hello, wedding and honeymoon fund) and would rather spend my disposable income on treats such as getting my nails done and meals out. My fiance, D, is a teacher and his salary is less than half of mine, so we try to split things as fairly as we can. This is still a work in progress and I’m sure it will continue to evolve, but for now, it works really well for us.”

Occupation: Senior PR and marketing manager
Industry: Tech
Age: 32
Location: Kent
Salary: £80,000
Paycheque Amount: £4,599.81
Number of housemates: One
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing costs: £1229.32 for my mortgage (£150 of this is an overpayment). I bought the house before I met D, so I still cover this completely on my own.
Loan payments: I pay £275 a month on a £8,264.80 car loan. When we bought our car earlier this year D put 50% cash down and I took out a bank loan for the remainder (because I didn’t have the spare savings, whereas D did). The interest rate on the bank loan was substantially better than the car finance offerings. I can also afford the monthly payments more than D, so this made sense to us.
Savings?: £5,300 in a personal cash ISA, £8,500 in a joint saver. I try to add money to both pots each month. D and I have an agreement to split whatever savings we have each month into both our personal and joint savers, to allow us to save towards a goal together, whilst still feeling like we can enjoy buying things we want individually. (For me, I’m saving up for a coffee machine and for him, a piano).
Pension? I pay £146.76 from my salary, plus a top up direct debit of £100 per month. I pay 5% and my employer pays 3%.
Utilities: D pays for all of these, and also puts in more money than I do into our joint current account, which we use for the food shopping during the month.
All other monthly payments: £22.88 car insurance, £63.99 gym membership, £100 Nest pension top-up, £10 Dementia UK, £10 RSPCA, £10 Cancer Research, £7.61 Phone Bill, £39 Peloton Membership. Subscriptions: £1.99 Disney Plus, £7.99 Amazon Prime.

Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it? Yes, I went to university for an undergrad, which I paid for through student loans, personal savings and support from my parents. I was very lucky that my parents were in the position to help and they matched my maintenance loan each month. This meant I didn’t need to work during term time; however I did work heavily over the holidays to build up my own savings and spending money. I went to uni when it cost £3k a year and came out with around £20k to pay back. I actually made my last ever payment last month and I can’t tell you how good it felt.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
My parents always made it clear how important saving was and always encouraged us to put a bit of birthday and Christmas money aside each year. However, saying that general finances wasn’t something we openly talked about. I’m sure there were years where things were tight, but they never made this clear to my brother or I.

If you have, when did you move out of your parents/guardians house?
I moved out at 18 for university and have pretty much lived elsewhere since. I’ve gone back to stay for a couple of months at a time, mainly between moving and also during the pandemic when I was unemployed.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
I would say when I moved to London at 21. I paid all of my own bills, however if I was in a pickle I knew I could call my dad and he would transfer me £25 when I was in desperate need at the end of the month.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I started babysitting when I was 14, so technically that classifies as my first job. However, when I turned 16 I started working at my mum’s gift shop which was great and much more regular pay.

Do you worry about money now?
This is tricky — whilst it doesn’t keep me up at night, it is ALWAYS on my mind. I earn a great wage and together as a household we have a solid income. However, it scares me how expensive life is these days and there is always something that has to be bought, booked and paid for and that’s without looking too far in the future and thinking about how we can afford kids and being on maternity and paternity leave.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
Yes, I received £5,000 when my grandmother passed away over 20 years ago. When my grandfather passed away six years ago, he left me £20,000 which I put towards my house deposit. I wouldn’t have been able to buy my house without this so I am so incredibly grateful and know how privileged I am.