Housing costs: I transfer B £500 a month as my contribution to our housing costs. B owned the flat before I moved in, so we looked at the numbers and agreed this was a fair amount towards the mortgage and bills. B earns more than me (around £48,000 plus income from a second job) and the mortgage is in his name, so he does contribute more than I do. I’m conscious that this is a fortunate position to be in, as lower living costs allow me to save a lot more than I was able to before we lived together. We’ll hopefully buy somewhere together in the future, which will likely raise these costs by quite a bit.
Loan payments: My student loan comes straight out of my paycheque — at the moment, this is £88 for my postgraduate loan and £76 for my undergraduate loan.
Pension? I pay in 6.5% (usually around £200) and my employer contributes 18.5% — one of the few perks of the public sector.
Savings?: Around £32,000 split between a LISA, Stocks & Shares ISA and easy access savings accounts. A majority of this is in my LISA to make the most of the government bonus, but I’ve been building up an accessible emergency fund to make sure that I could support myself for a few months if I weren’t able to work for whatever reason.
Utilities: These are included in the amount that I transfer B above. I also transfer £250 into our joint account to cover food shopping and miscellaneous bits for the flat.
All other monthly payments: £25.38 dental insurance, £6 SIM only plan with Smarty, £400 annual gym membership, £40 for a wellness membership at a local centre, which gets me one session in a flotation tank each month (100% worth it).
Subscriptions: £12.99 Netflix, £11.99 Spotify, £3 for Disney+.
