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 35-year-old living in Essex, working full time as an HR manager in London. The decision to live in Essex was because I realised that buying a house in London was incredibly unrealistic. Perhaps one day I will move back, but I also flirt with the idea of living abroad in the future.
Money is a topic that I am very interested in, particularly the FI/RE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and thankfully me and my partner have a similar philosophy on money. Several months ago, I received a more significant pay increase which has really helped boost my savings and given me more of a buffer against cost of living increases. Generally, the areas I spend most of my money on are travel, eating out and gigs.”
Occupation: HR manager
Industry: Retail
Age: 35
Location: Essex
Salary: £66,000
Paycheque Amount: £3,597
Number of housemates: One, P.
Pronouns: she/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: We split the mortgage equally, so my share of this is £805.
Loan payments: £0
Savings?: £95,600 in a stocks and shares ISA and £5,000 in an easy access savings.
Utilities: £47 electricity and gas, £18.50 water, £20.22 internet, £150.50 council tax (paid over 10 months instead of 12). All utility bills me and P split equally.
Pension?: I have a matched contribution pension, where I contribute 10% and the company matches the 10% (this is the limit). I only started paying more than the minimum pension contributions when I was 30 and do wish I started this much earlier.
All other monthly payments: £15.28 for phone, £11 for Netflix, £15 for private medical insurance, £3 for dental insurance and £46 for gym membership.
Subscriptions: £11.40 for contact lenses.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it? No. I was considering going to university and took a year off after college to figure out what course I wanted to take. In that time, I took a full time job and decided that I was more interested in working my way up than going back to study.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
It was a real mixed bag. I was encouraged to save money by my grandparents and have always been a diligent saver because of them. My parents didn’t really speak about money and I was actively encouraged not to get a credit card as they worried I would get myself into debt. I chose not to listen to this “advice” because I knew I would be responsible. The majority of the really important money information I have learnt, such as how to invest, how much to save for retirement and the way compound interest works, I obtained from reading a ton of books from financial experts like Ramit Sethi, JL Collins or Grant Sabatier.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents/guardians house?
I moved out at age 25, when I bought a house with P. Ideally, I would have moved out from home a lot earlier than I did, but saving for a house was more important so I put up with an awkward living situation as my parents were not getting along.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself?
I would say I properly became financially responsible for myself when I was 25, when I moved out of home. Although I was paying for most of the costs myself from the age of 18 and I paid my parents a monthly contribution towards living costs, I benefited from not having to pay high rental prices.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was a paper round, which I got when I was about 14. I was so bad at it, and it didn’t pay well as it was a free newspaper which no-one even wanted. (The better paying newspaper rounds were the paid ones). The reason I took a job was because my pocket money was quite a lot lower than my friends and I wanted to keep up and have enough money for things like cinema trips.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes and no. No, because I earn enough money to cover my basic needs and the savings I have built up give me security in case I am made redundant or am not able to work because of sickness. My fears about money are more that I really don’t want to work until I am in my 60s, and I worry that even with the level of savings that I have achieved, it won’t be possible. Seeing all these American influencers who have already managed to retire before their mid-30s doesn’t help as I am constantly comparing.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
Technically you could count the £4.14 in monthly interest I get from my main bank account. In terms of inherited income, I received £250 when my grandmother passed away, and don’t expect to receive any more inheritance in the future.
9:15 a.m. — Wake up. See an alert on my phone that says I sold an item on Vinted overnight. Find that unopened beauty products seem to sell the best. The sale will only bring in £2 but I am enjoying the decluttering process.
9:30 a.m. — Open up the laptop with a hot chocolate and take a survey. I do a couple of these a day, and actually enjoy doing them, although the main purpose is to earn some additional money.
9:55 a.m. — Pack my gym bag. It is raining and cold so I briefly question my life choices and consider staying in bed. Hope that because of the crappy weather, the gym will be emptier so I won’t have to queue for the machines.
10:30 a.m. — Leave the house and stop by the corner shop on the way to post the Vinted parcel.
11:15 a.m. — Start my gym workout of cardio and weights. Of course, as it is January the gym is heaving. Decide that today’s playlist will be Industrial Metal. Get mildly annoyed at a lady who hogs the machines by spending 10 minutes on her phone between reps.
12:30 p.m. — Jump in the sauna which is pretty much the only reason I chose the gym I did. Have shower and then get dressed to head into the town.
1:30 p.m. — Pop into Holland and Barrett to get matcha powder, as I really want a healthier alternative to hot chocolate. Hoping I can try and recreate the blueberry matcha from Blank Street Coffee, £19.95.
1:35 p.m. — Stop at Pret and complete a mystery shopping assignment. Buy a salad and a coffee which I will be reimbursed for in several weeks time, £8.
2:15 p.m. — Have a late lunch of Spanish tortilla and salad.
3 p.m. — Watch some Real Housewives because I need some trash in my life.
7 p.m. — Dinner of a mixed rice with sausage, vegetables and turkey. Have the last slice of cake for dessert which was heavenly. Healthy eating starts tomorrow.
10:30 p.m. — Go to bed.
Total: £27.95
7:15 a.m. — Wake up and make a protein shake. Notice that the best before on the protein powder was June 2024. Cross my fingers that it is still fine and have it anyway.
8 a.m. — Start work. Thankfully the inbox is quiet, hope it continues.
9:58 a.m. — That was short lived. Already losing motivation.
12 p.m. — Decide to have a simple lunch of mozzarella and tomato as it looks like it will go off soon, and I hate wasting food. Book a doctor’s appointment online and catch up on this week’s Money Diaries.
1 p.m. — Snack on dried mango which I got free in my Ocado shop.
2 p.m. — Take a call with a manager who needs some advice. Most of my role is advising managers on issues like underperformance, long term absence and conduct issues.
3:40 p.m. — Snack on some cashews. Look and see if there are any mystery shopping assignments I can book, but nothing is available.
5:30 p.m. — Finish work and take a shower. Browse online for a new backpack as mine is falling to pieces but they are all too expensive. Decide I will look for a secondhand one.
7:30 p.m. — P comes home with goodies from work. After me sulking yesterday that the cake was all gone, P presents chocolate chip cookies that his work colleague had given him.
8 p.m. — Have the free Pret salad from yesterday and some banana, granola, Greek yoghurt and honey for dessert.
8:40 p.m. — Calculate the monthly finances as me and P don’t have a joint account. Each month we tally up how much we have spent on shared costs like supermarket, restaurants etc and we split everything equally. I know that there are apps that do this calculation with minimal effort, but I like the old school way.
10:40 p.m. — Head to bed.
Total: £0
5:35 a.m. — Alarm goes off. Realise I set the alarm too early and I can have a sweet 10 more minutes in bed.
5:45 a.m. — Get up and dressed. I am calling today’s look for the office ‘corporate teddy bear’.
6:45 a.m. — Leave the house late. Power walk to station as it is freezing.
7:04 a.m. — Take the train. Really resent how expensive train travel is in the UK. I buy a single peak ticket to Zone 2, rather than a return, as a single peak and a single off peak ticket works out cheaper than a peak return. With off peak I can use my Network rail card and get a third off, £20.70.
12 p.m. — Time for lunch. Today I have more of the rice, sausage and turkey dish. I appreciate that eating the same foods several times in a week isn’t for everyone but I don’t mind it at all.
2:35 p.m. — My colleague kindly gives me some biscuits that they had picked up from abroad.
3 p.m. — Spend the last few hours drafting internal comms about our gender pay gap.
5:50 p.m. — I leave the office later than normal and I walk to station to save getting a tube, £13.30 for a single ticket.
7:30 p.m. — Get home and flop on the sofa. Do a couple of surveys.
8:30 p.m. — P prepares a dinner consisting of chicken, avocado and a quinoa salad which is sooo good.
9:30 p.m. — Have a cuddle with P who shows me funny videos that he has been saving on his phone, mainly of dogs and babies being goofy.
10 p.m. — Accidentally fall asleep on sofa.
11:30 p.m. — Thankfully we woke up as we hadn’t set our morning alarm. Go straight to bed.
Total: £34
5:50 a.m. — Another early start because of travelling to the office.
6:30 a.m. — Power walk to the station in a record 18 minutes.
7 a.m. — Buy single train ticket, £20.70.
8 a.m. — Arrive at office and have a protein shake at the desk with some milk from the fridge.
12 p.m. — Lunch with the rest of the team. Today I have sausage, rice and cabbage. I tend to bring my lunch most days as the idea of spending £10 each day on lunch makes me wince.
2 p.m. — Have a team meeting to discuss how to implement safety training.
3 p.m. — One of our team has a big birthday so we have cake in the office to celebrate.
5 p.m. — Go to Vision Express for a contact lens review. Turns out the price I currently pay for lenses will be doubled next month as now my left eye and right eye have different prescriptions. Test was free because I have a contact lenses subscription.
5:40 p.m. — Stop at Pret to do another mystery shopping assignment. Pick up another freebie salad and coffee. I tend to do several of these visits a week because I cannot resist the allure of free food, even though it is still work because of all the reports I have to submit, £8.
7 p.m. — Buy return ticket home, £13.30.
8:30 p.m. — Have dinner which consists of the Pret salad and some Greek yoghurt with honey and granola.
9 p.m. —Watch several episodes of Squid Game season two. Although I am not as gripped as season one, I will plough on through.
10:30 p.m. — Head to bed.
Total: £42
5:50 a.m. — Wake up feeling groggy. During the night I was tossing and turning, and at some point had a nightmare about being trapped in a burning house. Fully blame my habit of scrolling social media before bed as the last thing I was reading about was the wildfires in the US.
6:30 a.m. — Leave the house and walk to the station.
7 a.m. — Catch the train, £20.70.
8 a.m. — Start work and go straight into a meeting for most of the morning.
12 p.m. — Have lunch in the office — today it is roast chicken and quinoa salad which is really nourishing.
3 p.m. — My afternoon consists of speaking with an employee who is suffering from poor mental health, delivering a workshop on maternity leave and sending reminders to managers to make sure their employees use all their remaining annual leave.
6 p.m. — Leave the office and walk to the station.
6:30 p.m. — Catch train home, £13.30 for a single.
7 p.m. — Stop by M&S to pick up some ciabatta rolls. I have a gift card which I earned from doing my surveys so I use that to pay.
7:35 p.m. — Arrive home.
8:35 p.m. — Have a large Greek salad for dinner with some banana and peanut butter for dessert. Watch another episode of Squid Games.
10 p.m. — Have a slightly earlier night tonight because I am flagging.
Total: £34
7:30 a.m. — I’m very thankful to be working from home today. Normally I work from home two days a week and am in the office the other three days. If it was down to me, I’d work from home a lot more frequently but feel it is important to meet employees in person as I don’t feel they open up as much when I take calls via Zoom. Plus remote working seems to be scaling back in a lot of companies (mine included) so I kind of feel thankful I can work from home at all.
12:30 p.m. — Have lunch of pita bread stuffed with minced beef and cheese and some cashews. On my lunch break, I book a hairdresser’s appointment via Treatwell to earn a small amount of cashback, £30.
5 p.m. — Finish work and decide to go to Tesco with P and do a big shop so we don’t have to go during the weekend. We buy cheese, chicken thighs, lamb steaks, milk, coffee pods, hairspray, onions, peppers, baby leaf salad, dark chocolate, coriander, deodorant and frozen berries. Total comes to £50.61 which we put on my credit card so I earn extra cashback.
6:30 p.m. — Treat P and me to a Five Guys for dinner because… Friday. We both have a peanut butter milkshake as an extra treat, £43.
Total: £123.61
9 a.m. — Wake up at a more leisurely hour. Have an avocado smoothie in bed and watch some movie trailers on YouTube.
10:30 a.m. — Leave the house to go to the gym. Stream an episode of Diary of a CEO podcast for the walk. Pick up lots of helpful tips about muscle mass and exercise, and make a note to tell P about it later.
11 a.m. — Swing by Boots to get some suncream for an upcoming holiday. I have been on an eternal quest for one that doesn’t leave me all greasy and sticky, so let’s see if this one does the job. I have a 10% off offer on my Advantage Card, so the total comes to £19.
11:30 a.m. — Arrive at the gym. Do my usual cardio and weights with a bit of sauna thrown in for good measure.
1 p.m. — Stop at our favourite local greengrocer to buy some cauliflower and aubergine. Realise that I need to spend £5 to pay on my card and I don’t have enough cash so I throw in some blueberries, £6.
2:15 p.m. — Come home and am delighted to see that P has made a porchetta sandwich for a late lunch. I am so spoiled.
3 p.m. — Attempt to make a blueberry matcha latte. It is a disaster. I mean, the matcha part tasted nice but the blueberries just clumped at the bottom in a mushy mess and added zero flavour whatsoever. Probably should have read a recipe.
3:30 p.m. — Watch Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy on Netflix with P and immediately have guilt over how many ‘things’ I have, especially clothes.
6:30 p.m. — I am meeting a couple of my girlfriends, H and S for dinner tonight so I get ready and walk to the restaurant which is only about 20 minutes away.
8 p.m. — We share some quesadillas, nachos and red wine and have a great time catching up on the usual — relationships, parents, kids, how work is going. My share comes to £30.
10:30 p.m. — Take a taxi home, £11.
Total: £66
Food & Drink: £165.56
Clothes & Beauty: £49
Home & Health: £0
Entertainment: £0
Travel: £113
Other: £0
Total: £327.56
Conclusion
“I would say that the travel and food costs are fairly typical, but I feel I have been more disciplined than normal on not spending extra on little treats or clothes. I haven’t socialised as much as I would do in a normal week because it is January, meaning money is generally tighter, plus the weather sucks so it doesn’t inspire me to want to leave the house. The only thing I want to change in the future is to automate my savings rather than doing it manually and to keep lifestyle creep in check.”
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