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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 28-year-old living in Wiltshire. I moved here two years ago when I purchased a house with my then boyfriend, now husband, D. This was a big move and we knew almost no one in our immediate area so it has taken some adjusting but I now feel really settled here. D is also a doctor and there is uncertainty about the location of his next job as he will be applying for higher specialty training. This is one of the major downsides of medical training — the constant moving and uncertainty can be a nightmare if you are in a couple, and it also becomes very expensive. I recently qualified as a GP, which was a huge personal achievement and the culmination of 10 years studying/working/taking endless exams. My income has had a boost as a result, which is very welcome as it has been an expensive few years with a house purchase and a wedding. I work three (long) days a week at a lovely local practice, which equates to 32 hours. I am trying to increase my income further with some self-employed work on my days off so we can build up our savings pot and this has introduced me to the joys of self-assessment tax returns. Work can be quite intense and all-consuming at times and D is away for work a lot so I try hard to build in time for fun social activities during the week.”
Occupation: GP
Industry: Medicine
Age: 28
Location: Wiltshire
Salary: £67,000
Paycheque amount: £3,500 plus £250-£1,000 from self-employed work.
Number of housemates: One: my husband, D.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £1,102.50 for my half of the mortgage.
Loan payments: I have a student loan but it’s automatically deducted from my pay.
Savings? £4,700.
Pension? Yes, the standard NHS pension, which is I believe 10.2% of monthly salary.
Utilities: £22.33 gas and electric (we were massively overpaying so built up credit), £118 council tax, £22.21 internet, £19.75 water — these are all my half, split with D.
All other monthly payments: £195.57 car payment, £20.53 dental insurance, £49.36 payment protection insurance, £55 life insurance and critical illness cover, £10 phone, £14 contact lenses, £7.50 National Trust. Subscriptions: £82 professional subscriptions.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I went to medical school, which is a five-year degree. I received the minimum loan, which didn’t even cover half my rent. I worked as an HCA (healthcare assistant) throughout, which provided flexible and relatively well-paid work. I was able to fully fund myself for the first three years but the final two years were harder as we frequently had to stay away for hospital placements. My parents very kindly helped out with rent for the final two years.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
In my earlier years I remember money being tight and my parents were in credit card debt for a number of years, which caused them significant stress and I remember being fully aware of the situation even at a young age. My dad gradually worked his way up in work and his salary increased as a result so our teenage years became more comfortable, but the stress of those earlier years really left an impression on me. My mum has a long-term illness and has been unable to work for a number of years now so I prioritise payment protection insurance and critical illness cover, as you never know what is around the corner.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I moved back in for a year after university, then moved out again aged 24.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
At 24 when I moved out for the second time. My parents did not charge any rent or bills for the year I was living with them while working, which allowed me to build up a house deposit.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I worked every Saturday in a shop from age 16. It only paid about £3.50 an hour but it felt good to earn my own money.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes. I am aware I am on a very good salary now but it has only just increased. We’ve had a lot of expenses in recent years with buying a house and getting married. Our mortgage payment went up £800 a month last year thanks to the interest increases and knowing it could go up again makes me feel quite vulnerable. I really want to build our savings back up and so I have taken on out-of-hours work to try to boost our savings.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
My parents gifted me £12,000 towards our house deposit and £5,000 towards our wedding. D received about the same from his parents.
7:15 a.m. — Wake up later than usual, which makes a nice change. I don’t usually work today but I am doing an extra half-day this week. It’s a nursing home round so I don’t need to start until slightly later. Alone this morning as my husband, D, is on night shift.
7:30 a.m. — All the fun morning chores: dishwasher and hanging up some washing.
8 a.m. — Eat breakfast while I run through today’s list and any tasks that have come in overnight from my laptop. Then I drive over to the nursing home and start the round. I know all the residents very well as I do this every week; it’s a nice round with no major issues. But then I have a difficult call with a relative, which leaves me feeling quite drained and anxious — not a great end to the round.
1 p.m. — Ruminating about the call. I really struggle with verbal aggression, which is sadly quite common and sometimes it is a case of knowing you are doing the best job you can and moving on. Decide to head into town for a coffee on the way home as a pick-me-up. Pay for parking and then walk into town. I notice a new coffee shop on my way in and decide to try it. The guys who run it are very friendly although they seem quite taken aback when they ask how my day is going and I answer honestly with “Not great”, £5.10.
2 p.m. — Arrive home and D is asleep so try to be quiet. Catch up on work admin — I’m trying to sort out some self-employed work and there’s lots of paperwork.
4 p.m. — I have gradually been trying to decorate the house. Sand down all the skirting in the kitchen and caulk the cracks. Order some paint and decorating supplies, which D will pick up tomorrow, £37.
5 p.m. — D wakes up and we head to our friend H’s house. She’s in the army (as are most people around here) and has just arrived home from deployment. We cook a very nice Thai curry and catch up on the past few months. We were all friends at uni and lived in adjacent houses for several years so she’s a very good friend. It’s nice that her base happens to be close by. She has also recently bought a house in the area.
9 p.m. — Head home and straight to bed as I have an early start and don’t function well without nine hours sleep.
Total: £42.10
6:15 a.m. — Get up after snoozing alarm a couple of times, get ready and have breakfast. I don’t take long to get ready but I like to sit and scroll on my phone for a while. D is off today post-nights so I leave him sleeping.
7:15 a.m. — Drive to work. Feel quite anxious in the car. The thing about GP is you just can’t predict what will happen and I find the anticipation of this quite hard. Once I’m in work it’s fine.
7:30 a.m. — Work through tasks and results that have come in, dealing with most urgent first. I like to try and clear this early but more will come throughout the day. Admin is definitely the most taxing part of the job as you just have to fit it in around appointments and there can sometimes be very abnormal results or significant actions from letters that can take a long time to sort out.
8:30 a.m. — Start my morning clinic. I just love the variety of GP. I see a whole range of things: chronic pain, MSK, women’s health, children, mental health… The list goes on.
11:30 a.m. — Tea break with a colleague. We have a nice catchup as I’ve been off on holiday. I hope I’ll get a lunch break later but end up eating my sandwich at my desk.
6 p.m. — Work flies by with a few urgent issues to deal with at the end but I am able to leave on time. I find clinic days quite exhausting as it’s literally all go from start to end of shift.
7 p.m. — Get home then head straight back out the door and into town for drinks and an Indian with D, his parents and godparents. We haven’t caught up with them in a while so it’s nice to spend time together. The Indian restaurant is amazing and we come here often as the food is exceptional.
11:30 p.m. — Home after a lovely meal and drinks, £50.
Total: £50
7:30 a.m. — Wake up but don’t get up for another hour or so.
8:30 a.m. — Pack a bag as we are staying at our friend R’s tonight to attend a 30th birthday. They are not actually attending the party as it’s a different friend group but they live in the same city and have very kindly said we can stay.
9:30 a.m. — D is driving and we stop to get fuel. He pays — we both have cars so whoever is driving will pay and it evens out over time. I’m starving so we stop at Costa for an egg and mushroom bap and flat white. Feel guilty as I could have made the bap at home but we just ran out of time, £5.99.
11 a.m. — Arrive at R’s house that she shares with her husband. They’ve done a lot to the house since they moved in so we spend some time looking around. They got married around the same time as us last year and they have some lovely photos around the house.
11:30 a.m. — Head out for a walk. Halfway round we stop at a tree where R’s dog has their favourite toy caught in the branches and they’ve not been able to get it down. D climbs the tree and after lots of branch shaking he manages to get it down! I knew he wouldn’t be able to leave until he was successful so I’m glad it didn’t end with any broken bones.
1:30 p.m. — After a long walk we stop at a pub for lunch. Get a burger and a wine, £22.50.
3:30 p.m. — Back to R’s house and we chill for a while as I’m tired from the walk and now have very sore feet. They have a lovely black lab who gives us lots of cuddles. Do a fashion show with R to decide what to wear later.
6 p.m. — R kindly drives us to the party, which is at a pub in town. It’s for one of D’s childhood friends.
7 p.m. — I don’t know many people here and previously I would have felt anxious about this before arriving so it feels really nice that I’ve made progress and wasn’t worrying about it beforehand. Everyone is nice and I spend time chatting to various people, some I know and some are new. Meet a guy who has just completed some research in point of care blood testing (where you get an instant result rather than sending to a lab), which is cool. Have some sharing plates and several gin and tonics, £37.50.
10:30 p.m. — Uber back with D — everyone else is heading out but we can’t hack it anymore. D pays. Go to bed pretty much straightaway.
Total: £65.99
8:30 a.m. — Wake up. I didn’t sleep that well so I’m a bit groggy. I go downstairs and sit with a cup of tea while everyone gets ready. R kindly makes us bacon sandwiches.
9:30 a.m. — Leave to drive home.
11 a.m. — Arrive home and get straight out the car and into my neighbour M’s as we’re going to book club. They meet monthly at a cafe and I’ve recently started going. Moving here we didn’t know anyone in the immediate area so it’s really nice to do things like this and feel part of a group.
3:30 p.m. — We spend a lovely few hours together at the cafe. M has brought her baby daughter with her who is adorable. I buy a couple of hot drinks and a Greek yoghurt pot during this time, £14.90.
4 p.m. — A few of us wander round town and end up in Waterstones. I buy a notebook and a board game, £32.24.
5 p.m. — Get home and D has cleaned the house, done a food shop and is in the process of cooking a roast — lucky me! Food shop out of joint account. This includes some new pillows for our bed so it’s a little more expensive than usual, £34.50.
6 p.m. — While D cooks dinner I paint all the skirting boards in the kitchen with primer. I will be painting the walls tomorrow.
7 p.m. — Collapse on the sofa feeling very tired from our busy weekend. Watch some TV and head to bed around 9 p.m.
Total: £81.64
6:30 a.m. — D kisses me goodbye as he leaves for work. He has a very long commute and has to leave early. He has a study day so should hopefully be able to spend time working on his application for the next stage of his surgical training.
7 a.m. — I get up and into my painting clothes, go straight downstairs and assess what I need to do.
8 a.m. — It’s not going too well. It’s all cracked around the window and I’ve spent ages digging out the old caulking but I’m not sure what to do with the sealed part around the window. Decide to leave this section until my dad can come over to show me what to do.
11:30 a.m. — I’ve spent all morning painting the walls. There’s a knock on the door and the guy is here to repair my car. I have dent and scratch insurance, which is lucky because I reversed into a lamppost recently. I make him a coffee then return to painting.
12 p.m. — Stop for lunch as I haven’t eaten yet: leftover roast. Also have a call with our mortgage broker who arranged our original mortgage. We are currently on a one-year fixed rate due to ongoing uncertainty about the location of D’s job. Decide it probably works out most cost-effective to do the same again.
4 p.m. — Finally finished painting what I can for now, leaving a margin around the window. We’ve gone for a medium denim blue colour and it looks lovely. Still need to do the kitchen side so I tape that up but decide not to start painting yet.
6 p.m. — Make dinner. Tonight it’s meat loaf and I also make tomorrow’s dinner, which is a chicken and chorizo air fryer recipe. They are both Taming Twins recipes — if you haven’t come across her before, they are brilliant. She has an Instagram page and a website and her recipes are delicious but also time- and budget-friendly.
7 p.m. — D arrives home and we have dinner. The meat loaf is delicious but my wisdom tooth is flaring badly, which makes it quite hard to eat. I’m booked to have them removed next week, which is super expensive (no NHS dentist) but it’s becoming so frequently painful it’ll be worth it hopefully.
9 p.m. — After watching All Creatures Great and Small and intermittently admiring my painting, we head to bed.
Total: £0
6:10 a.m. — Alarm goes off. I get up and dressed, have breakfast of apple and walnuts then sit on sofa scrolling for a while before heading to work.
7:30 a.m. — Arrive at work and at my desk. Do the usual routine of signing off results and urgent tasks before starting appointments.
11 a.m. — Quick morning coffee and catchup with colleagues. One of the very experienced partners provides some useful advice for one of my trickier patients. GP can often feel quite isolating as you are alone in your room dealing with patients back to back, so having time to meet and discuss patients with colleagues is essential. I am lucky that this surgery has built in time in the day for this — it was one of the reasons I chose this practice.
1:30 p.m. — Eat my lunch: leftovers from dinner last night. I’m joined by J, who is another newish GP. We started at the same time and have become good friends, and she has been very supportive through my training.
5:30 p.m. — Late home visit for a patient who is end of life. Battle the evening traffic to get there. It’s so dark so early now that it’s really hard to find the house. Despite this I really enjoy home visits and it’s a real privilege to be allowed into someone’s home. They can take up a real chunk of the day and fitting them in can be a challenge during busy times but I still find them one of the best parts of the job.
6:30 p.m. — Back at the surgery and writing up notes while eating the dinner I prepared yesterday. This way I don’t have to buy dinner later as I’m going straight to a pub quiz from work.
7 p.m. — Pub quiz time! It’s just around the corner from work so I head straight there. Joined by D and a few of our friends. I start with a G&T and move to lime sodas, £12.50. We come in second place!
10:30 p.m. — Arrive home and go straight to bed.
Total: £12.50
6:30 a.m. — Awake and dress quickly. Same breakfast as usual. Today I am at nursing homes all day so I log into my laptop and run through the list.
8:30 a.m. — Arrive at the first home and I tackle the list. Several discussions with family members and review those patients that need to be seen.
12 p.m. — Leave and move onto the next nursing home. Honestly the parallel parking when I arrive is the most stressful part of the day.
4 p.m. — After seeing all the residents who require a review I head home to finish off paperwork. Receive a very abnormal blood result that requires discussion with the hospital team and quite a lot of sorting out but by end of day we have a plan. Our local hospital is brilliant and I find accessing advice from any of the specialties is generally quite straightforward.
6 p.m. — Finished for the day! I’m desperate to finish decorating the kitchen/dining room so I get right into painting again. I hate cutting in, it’s so tedious, but the room is looking great! We have a new-build so have only recently been able to start painting after the drying-out process. I love adding a bit of colour to the all-white rooms.
8 p.m. — Poor D had a needlestick injury at work so he’s late home after having to wait to have a blood test. I’ve made an easy air fryer dinner of baked sweet potatoes — we eat these in front of the TV while watching All Creatures Great and Small.
10 p.m. — Bed as very tired. Ready for more painting tomorrow.
Total: £0
“I spent a lot at the start of this diary (which was the weekend) so I’m glad I was then able to have some lower spend days. Generally, if I’m organised in regards to food preparation, then I’m happy with my spending as I see convenience food as wasted money. There were a couple of times here that I could have been more organised but I think I pulled it back by bringing dinner to work to reduce spending at the pub quiz. I’d say eating out is my main form of socialising so I’m not surprised by my spending. I didn’t need any fuel this week, which is a regular spend for me, but decorating supplies and gifts were outside of my routine spends.”
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