This week: I’m a 29-year-old corporate events manager currently on furlough. The past six months have been a bit of a whirlwind for me since I moved back to the UK after a long stint working in Hong Kong, moved to London and continued a long distance relationship. Since lockdown I’ve been furloughed (with slim chance of my job resuming this year), had to move back in with my Mum in Cumbria. Also very recently my boyfriend and I broke up. So it’s been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster!
Spending-wise I’ve always been more from the, “I need that top/drink/holiday more than I need to save the money and you only live once” approach, but since having the opportunity to save when I was living in Hong Kong I’ve gradually changed that attitude and now I’m trying hard to build on my savings and aiming for a decent chunk to put into a house deposit.
I’m still paying rent for the flat I was living in in London for the time being but apart from that I’m very lucky that I don’t have that many outgoings at the moment, so am able to save some of my furlough pay and also put some of it away into a post-Corona pot for when I need to jump on a plane and get out of here.
Occupation: Event Manager (currently furloughed).
Industry: Events
Age: 29
Location: Cumbria
Salary: £35,000
Paycheque Amount : Usually £2,400 but currently £1,850 on furlough scheme.
Number of housemates: Currently two — my mum and stepdad.
Monthly Expenses
Monthly Housing Costs: £815 on rent for the two bed flat in London (flatmate K pays the other half). Currently fortunate enough to be living with my parents so not having to pay double rent.
Debt: £400 on a credit card used for emergencies which I pay £50 to each month by direct debit.
Savings: 15K in LISA and premium bonds that I’m going to put towards a house or flat deposit. I try and put approx £400 per month of normal paycheque into savings but at the moment I am saving more in lockdown (so aiming for £700 per month).
All Other Monthly Expenses: Netflix: £5.99. Spotify Premium: £9.99. Apple storage: £0.79. Phone contract: £51.00. Utility bills for flat (TV, water, electricity, gas) approx £90 a month. Oyster Card would usually be £138.70 per month but this is on pause whilst I’m not living in London.
8am: Alarm goes off (trying to keep in a routine even in lockdown) and I and then head out on a run. I’ve always been active but never enjoyed running that much until I’ve been doing it most days in lockdown. It helps that I have beautiful scenery around where my mum and stepdad live. I’m slow but exercise is improving my mental health a lot at the moment. Stick on a summer playlist (a lot of Sean Paul and Bob Sinclair) and manage a 5km hill run.
9am: Cool down and keep walking through the village to one of the only shops open and get an Americano to takeaway. Have a quick chat with the owner about lockdown rules and changes they have had to make and then continue home. £2.10
10.30am: Shower and then sit outside eating some peanut butter and banana on toast. Cuddle the family dogs in the sunshine for a while.
1pm: Carry on sitting outside (lucky I have an outdoor space especially whilst the weather is so beautiful) and read some articles about the BLM protests and latest news. Make a list of books I can read and podcasts to listen to to become more informed. Make a donation to an anti-racism charity. £50.
2.15pm: Make a lunch of salad and leftovers from the fridge followed by a Mars Bar ice cream. Then a second. Balance.
4pm: FaceTime with best friend who lives in Scotland. She has been so supportive over the past few weeks when I have been so sad and just unanchored in general with my relationship ending coupled with my general uncertainty about work and where I am going to live. End up discussing Selling Sunset which we both binged last week and loved (it’s The Hills with better outfits and incredible house porn so what’s not to love?!) Hang up wondering if my future plan should be to move to LA and get my real estate license.
7pm: Have a snack (Babybel and carrot sticks) whilst helping my mum cook tea (salmon stir fry). I am very fortunate that my mum is letting me live at home without contributing financially whilst I am still paying for the London flat I’m renting. I haven’t spent longer than a fortnight here over the past decade so it is nice to spend quality time (despite the circumstances).
11pm: After dinner I watch some Friends episodes (have started re-watching from the beginning) and I’m really enjoying, probably because nostalgia and it’s comforting and I want all of the girls’ 90’s outfits. Get ready for bed and crash out.
Daily Total: £52.10
8am: Start the day with a bike ride listening to two Tables Manners podcasts and spend the rest of the ride changing my answer to the question, “What would be your desert island meal?” I settle on a starter of a cheeseboard, main of prawn Pad Thai and a bread and butter pudding desert. Preferably with a lot of red wine thrown in there somehow too. Random I know but separately they are all my favourite foods.
10.30am: Have porridge with fruit for breakfast after my shower whilst watching Frasier (a lockdown discovery which I secretly love).
1pm: Had a mini meltdown because I heard my ex’s accent (he’s Australian) on TV and it was the first time I had heard the accent since we broke up two weeks ago. That sounds so silly but it really winded me. I’ve never experienced proper heartbreak before and it’s gut-wrenching. Sounds trivial as there are many worse things happening in the world right now but if everything is relative, then currently in my little universe, being heartbroken and worrying about the uncertainty of my job has made the past few weeks pretty shit. I would just like to be able to get dressed up and go to a bar and see my friends and have a massive hug.
5pm: End up going on a really long walk with my mum to talk it all out. I’m an only child and it was just us when I was growing up so we are very close and she has been my rock the past few weeks. Amazing how being outside and moving on a walk can make you feel better, even if you have no immediate solutions.
6.30pm: Order two large pizzas and walk round to the local pizza place to collect. Watch The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a family. My stepdad is happy since he remembers the original and I’m happy since I have a massive crush on Armie Hammer and as a family we are all a sucker for action films. £15.50
10pm: Get into bed after buying Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. (Kindle version £1.69) Her other book Wild is one of my favourite books and I think she is just such a beautiful author. I’m enjoying this one a lot since it’s a compilation of advice columns which are just all so raw and heartbreaking but hopeful and amazing all in one.
Daily Total: £17.19
7am: Wake up after some very unsettling dreams (teeth all falling out, being in lots of different airplanes that are all about to crash). Go on a long run to clear my head.
10am: Home and cool down with some Headspace meditation. I subscribed at the beginning of the year when I was struggling with work and used a few to get to sleep but have never had the patience to do sessions during the day until now. I find meditating really hard but 10 minutes out of my morning is nothing and it does make me feel better. Aim to try and do it every day as part of my cool down.
11am: Spend a few hours finishing off the last session of a free online course, breaking to make some beans on toast for lunch. I miss work a lot so it’s been good to keep my hand in slightly doing some relevant online courses which hopefully will beneficial when we can get back to the office.
3pm: Get sent some photos from a ‘doorstepping’ photographer who was going around taking pictures of families at their doors on our street last week. They are lovely so I send her an email saying thanks and donate the £25 she’s suggested to NHS Together charity and promise I’ll share her details with family and friends. £25.
6pm: Chat with my old housemate for a long time as we haven’t chatted properly in a few weeks. I lived in Hong Kong for five years and moved back to the UK in January so there has been a lot of change for me over the past six months. I miss it a lot but ultimately am glad I am back in the UK. We discuss the differences in lockdown between the two countries and plan when I could potentially come and visit when they let in tourists. I cannot wait to just get on a plane!
9pm: Made a chicken Katsu Curry from Gizzi Erskine’s Instagram. She and Professor Green are doing recipes from favourite high street restaurants every week and although my effort isn’t completely Wagamama’s standards, it’s not bad at all. Go for a walk after tea with parents and dog and then fall into bed and read more Tiny Beautiful Things.
Daily Total: £25.00
7am: The rain wakes me up so I decide not to run and turn over for more sleep.
9.30am: Listen to Angela Scanlon’s Thanks A Million podcast in bed with a coffee. Makes me feel very positive.
12pm: Look at some news articles online and then do some market research studies and realise I can cash out my latest earnings. I use Prolific which is an online platform where you can participate in online studies and get paid (usually about £1 per study for 15 mins of your time). I joined this at the beginning of lockdown and have got £15 so far (I know – big spender!) +£5.83.
3pm: Head to the shops for my mum to pick up a few things. Fortunately there isn’t a major queue in our local Co-op. It’s still very eery going into shops like this and I wonder if people will ever get used to being in crowded places again. £35
6pm: Still raining when I get back to the house so I get myself comfy with cup of tea and send a Moonpig card for a close friend for her birthday next week (£4.20 inc delivery) and then browse ASOS and get some running things I had been looking at for a while. £47 inc delivery. I call my landlord with my London housemate and chat through options for the lease we have on the flat. Decide ultimately that best thing would be to give notice. I’m gutted as my friend and I only lived there together for a couple of months but under the current circumstances and considering that I probably won’t have a salary after July (work have more or less said this) it seems silly to risk having to pay out so much in rent for the later months of the year. Hang up and have a little cry because I’m just so sad about everything at the moment and a lot of things are just completely out of my control. £51.20
9pm: After tea (spag bol) we start The Morning Show which I have wanted to watch for a while. I think Reece Witherspoon is amazing at everything she does. I get the seven day free trial but as we are enjoy the first episode so much I will definitely get at least the month Apple TV subscription (£4.99) in order to watch all of the episodes.
Daily Total: £86.20
8.30am: Wake up and head out on a run as the sun is shinning. Do a 5km under 30 minutes for the first time (not a massive achievement for most people but definitely one for me as a new-ish lover of running!).
10am: Home and shower, eat some toast and peanut butter with a nectarine and a large coffee with Friends on in the background.
1pm: Spend the morning outside with the dogs reading. Order some beer from a local brewery to be delivered for Father’s Day next week since my stepdad is definitely missing going to the pub. £34 inc delivery.
3pm: Make a sandwich (BLT) for lunch and then get a text from my boss asking how I am so we chat for a bit. I’m so lucky that I work for such a caring company. I only started the job in January so really only had 10 weeks there before lockdown started. I work in corporate events which I absolutely love but unfortunately will be one of the last industries to come out of lockdown. Although majority of our company has been furloughed, my boss is still working so he lets me know some top line things about some of my clients he has spoken to recently and then we chat generally about lockdown and his small family. Realistically I don’t think I will be back at work ‘normally’ until January but things will just depend on government guidelines and really, no-one knows, which just means that myself and thousands in the same position working for small companies are in limbo. Extremely hard for someone who loves a plan!
7pm: Take the dogs on a pre-tea walk and come back and have a beer in the garden with my stepdad and discuss my chat with my boss. My parents are really great listeners and generally very positive about everything which I feel I need to be at the moment. I know that although I’ve had a few blows this month, I am in general in a very fortunate position and that overall everything is going to be fine, even if I just don’t know how yet.
10pm: Watch another The Morning Show after tea and then put on a face mask and read in bed.
Daily Total: £34.00
8am: Bike ride for an hour with some great playlists on full volume. Whatever happens with my job and living situation I am planning on incorporating as much exercise in as possible, perhaps one of the best things I’ve done in lockdown.
10am: Make a coffee and re-upload Instagram (I deleted all socials when my ex and I broke up) and then Sod’s law, he is the first person I see. It’s like being punched in the stomach even though it’s just an innocent picture of him on a night out. Take a breath and mute him and all of our mutual friends. Just to protect myself at the moment. Fortunately it was a long-distance relationship so I’m not going to bump into him down the road but still, I’m an over thinker by nature so can do without over-analysing every social media move he makes.
1pm: Have some salad for lunch with my mum and the dogs and then head off on walk to my cousin’s house to see her and her three-year-old twins. End up sitting in their garden and chasing after the toddlers for ages which is a welcome distraction. I’m really close to my family and having this time in lockdown has made me appreciate that I want to be closer long-term. Because everything is so up in the air with work I can’t really plan but ideally I’d like to go back to work and be able to work remotely so I could still live here but go into London maybe once a week.
4pm: Leave my cousin promising to come back to a sleepover with the twins as soon as ‘all of the germs’ have gone. Call my other cousin who lives in Cardiff on the way home — she is my age and much more of a sibling, we just ‘get’ each other and can tell each other everything. Finish the call feeling very positive but also wanting to be able to see her and give her a hug.
6pm: Bump into some family friends on the way home which is great to catch up, being back home feels extremely familiar and nice to see all of these people I have grown up with.
8pm: Weather is beautiful so we end up having a BBQ and chatting in the garden until it gets dark.
11pm: Fall asleep very full watching Friends in bed.
Daily Total: £0
8am: Final run of the week to wake up today. I go slower but further today and I get another coffee from the shop on the way home. Come home to a present from my best friend; a book on overthinking (she knows me well) and a card which makes me cry. I have some fantastic friends. Call her to say thank you and cry again when she says we’ll be in Ibiza dancing on a table as soon as possible. Can’t wait to see her. £2.10
10am: Browse presents for cousin’s 30th which is next week. Decide on a Kate Spade necklace she has wanted for a while and I also order a Bubblegum balloon to be sent to her house. She’s been disappointed about having her 30th in lockdown so I want to make it as special as possible and surprise her. £88.00
1pm: Make an omelette for lunch and then bake some cookies. I haven’t been making any bread or sourdough starters during lockdown but have been baking a lot.
3pm: Go on a walk and listen to Alicia Keys on the Happy Place podcast which is amazing. Come home and order some books that have been in in my Amazon basket for a while including Mo Gawdat’s Solve for Happy which I heard about on a podcast and haven’t been able to stop thinking about since what he was saying resonated with me so hopefully the book is just as good! Also throw in a bike bell for my stepdad for an extra Father’s Day present since he is permanently just shouting at people in his way whilst on the bike which is not great! £20.70
Daily Total: £110.80
Food & Drink: £54.70
Entertainment: £22.39
Clothes & Beauty £47
Transportation £0.00
Other £201.20
Total: £325.29
Conclusion
I feel like this will read as a very emotional week but I am an emotional person so I’m not surprised really. It was a mixed week of spending, as in a usual non-lockdown week in London I definitely would have spent a lot of money on food (mainly Pret), transport and going to the pub after work, but I have had some bigger purchases for birthdays and things this week, as well as buying running things for myself. I might have thought more about those purchases if I wasn’t at my mum’s. Lockdown has also made me realise that I do like
running and cycling outdoors so maybe I could do that instead of paying for classes in the future.
Personally, it’s been a crap few weeks, so as well as my spending it was actually very therapeutic to write down exactly how I was feeling during the week and see triggers which are making me upset (social media) and things that aren’t (friends and family, exercise) which sounds very obvious but is true. Although there is so much uncertainty, I know I’m very lucky to have so many supportive people around me who keep telling me that everything is going to be okay.
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Money Diary: An Arts Administrator & Single Mum