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 34-year-old woman living in Leeds with my husband and dog. We have lived here for just over three years after both living in London for around 10 years. I am a publicist working in the publishing industry and am lucky to work partly from home and partly from the office. My husband works in the same industry as I do and also benefits from the national offices our company has, so we decided to move to Leeds where it was more feasible for us to own a home and a large dog. We are now expecting our first child and it’s clearer than ever that this just wouldn’t have been possible for us if we had stayed in London. I have family close by who will be able to help with childcare when I go back to work — we wouldn’t have been able to afford for me not to work or the full-time childcare costs in London. We have a generous shared parental leave deal with our employer; I’ll be on full pay for 22 weeks, SMP for four weeks (giving my husband 15 of my SMP weeks), then the remaining leave will be 13 weeks unpaid. We will both have to adjust our spending habits when the baby comes, as people who like spending on ourselves. This is something I’m slightly worried about as I tend to emotionally spend but it will be good to curb that habit.”
Occupation: Publicist
Industry: Publishing
Age: 34
Location: Leeds
Salary: £43,000
Paycheque Amount: £2,663.42
Number of housemates: One
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £1,049 split equally with my husband.
Loan payments: £117 student loan repayments.
Savings: Approx £7,000.
Pension: £182.78.
Utilities: £500 for gas, electricity, water, TV license, pet insurance, internet, house insurance, car costs (all split with my husband).
All other monthly payments: £41 phone, £25 gym. Subscriptions: £12.99 Postcode Lottery, £4.99 Disney+, £8.99 Audible. Then split with my husband, we pay £12.99 Netflix, £41.24 Gousto.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, I paid for my undergraduate degree via a loan, which I’m still paying back (though thankfully I was on the pre-2012 plan). I also did a master’s degree, which I paid for outright with some inheritance and by working alongside.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
My parents were always careful with money — I’m from a working class background and my dad was a miner who took part in the year-long 83-84 strike, so they know all about being frugal. I think I started getting a bit of pocket money around 12/13 years old and it was very much drilled into my brother and I that once that ran out, we wouldn’t get more. I remember my brother making far more sensible choices in his spending than I did and being jealous that he still had money when I didn’t. As mentioned before, I spend in quite an emotional way, which is something I have worked on over the last five or so years and have gotten much better at.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents/guardians house?When I turned 18 and went to uni. I briefly moved back after uni while I did my master’s degree, then moved to London.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
When I moved to London after finishing my master’s degree.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
Waitress at a local café when I was 15. I wanted more money to go out with friends!
Do you worry about money now?
Yes — I know I’ll always have somewhere to go, but I worry about being made redundant and not being able to pay the mortgage.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
Yes, I received an inheritance from my grandad, which I put aside as a deposit for a house in the future (the one I own now!).
Day One
7:30 a.m. — Wake up and it’s already 24 degrees – I’m 36 weeks pregnant so this isn’t ideal. Husband has already taken the dog for an early walk, so I get dressed and drive to the supermarket (not waddling in this heat) for lunch stuff and Calippos, £11.05.
9 a.m. — Sit down at my kitchen table to start work (with two fans aimed at me). I have two weeks left before maternity leave starts, so it feels simultaneously very busy and like I’m in limbo. Homemade iced coffee to stop me spending £4 on one from the local café.
12 p.m. — Lunch is cottage cheese and onion chutney on salt and vinegar Snack-A-Jack’s. My diet is weird at the moment and it’s too hot to leave the house and buy anything else.
3 p.m. — Brain isn’t working so I move to the sofa. I’m in my last two weeks of work before maternity leave, so this is acceptable right? A mum I know recommends a cooling leg gel I order immediately, £4.99.
6 p.m. — Dinner is a Gousto recipe — some sort of Filipino chicken and rice situation, very delicious. We’ve been getting four Gousto recipes per week since winter 2019 and were very smug about it when the pandemic hit.
Total: £16.04
Day Two
7:30 a.m. — Wake up and THANK GOD it’s cooler today. Husband takes the dog out for a walk as I’m too large to do it now — the dog is a 35kg golden retriever who likes to plonk himself on the pavement and not move if he suspects we’re on the way home and I can no longer physically move him.
8:30 a.m. — Have breakfast (a bowl of Krave, if you can’t have children’s cereal at eight months pregnant when can you?) and start work. I’m definitely going to miss something off my handover notes.
12 p.m. — Various meetings and lunch (same as yesterday, I’ll switch it up tomorrow). Looking suspiciously like I’m not going to be leaving the house again today.
2 p.m. — Ordered a pair of silly stripy but COMFY trousers from H&M for £12.99, already have them in navy and live in them currently.
4 p.m. — Call it a day with work, lie on the sofa rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer until dinner is ready.
6 p.m. — Everyone is talking about The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden which has just won the Women’s Prize so I order a copy, £11.48.
Total: £24.47
Day Three
6:30 a.m. — Wake up and we are at normal temperatures. Get up for what I hope will be a peaceful coffee and to read for a bit but the dog proceeds to vomit on the floor in front of me so I clean that up and cook some rice to settle his stomach. He’s probably just eaten something gross on a walk and will be fine in a day or so.
8:30 a.m. — Early Zoom meeting for work then crack on with emails and more handover stuff.
10:30 a.m. — Head to the supermarket for lunch bits. I never do a big shop, just mini ones throughout the week where I inevitably spend more money because I have failed to plan. We also have neighbours coming for dinner tomorrow night to thank them for giving us LOADS of baby stuff so I buy some ingredients to make dessert (balsamic strawberries with white chocolate cream), £21.44.
4 p.m. — Finish up meetings and take the dog to the local park (with my husband) for a run around, fingers crossed he’s feeling better and we won’t need a pricey vet visit.
Total: £21.44
Day Four
7 a.m. — Up early to prep the dessert I’m making for dinner with the neighbours later. The good thing about being pregnant is not spending money on wine, I guess. SOON.
2:30 p.m. — I have an additional ultrasound this afternoon, which has freaked me out a bit, so treat myself to a coffee from Costa and some Percy Pigs, £7.05.
6 p.m. — Neighbours join us for dinner with their adorable four-month-old baby girl. Both babies will be half-Yorkshire and half-Irish, so we’re hoping they’ll be bezzies.
8 p.m. — THRILLED to be on the sofa by this time and don’t last long before bed. Also thrilled the dog hasn’t been sick today, no spenny vets bill, hurrah!
Total: £7.05
Day Five
6:30 a.m. — Get up early as today is an EXCITING DAY. I booked it off work and am heading to a local spa courtesy of my brilliant colleagues who got me a voucher as a maternity gift. Grab an iced coffee en route, £4.85.
8 a.m. — Arrive at spa and it is *fancy*. I have brunch booked at the restaurant at 10:30 a.m. and a facial at 11:30 a.m. so I head to the pool and oh my god, why haven’t I been swimming this whole pregnancy? Suddenly my joints no longer hurt!
1 p.m. — Head home from the spa — brunch was sensational, facial was unbelievably relaxing. I scream-sing along to the radio on the drive home.
6 p.m. — Honestly did absolutely nothing for the rest of the day other than read my book (Home by Marilynne Robinson) and do not regret it.
Total: £0
Day Six
8 a.m. — Have a bit of a lie-in before spending most of the morning reading my book.
11 a.m. — Drag husband to our fave local café for a mid-morning caffeine boost. They love our dog so much in this café that he is their group chat photo, pretty proud of that. Put some fuel in the car on the way home (we’re in the process of buying a new one so are putting the minimum amount we can get away with each time.) £3.50 for coffee, £20 for fuel.
1 p.m. — After lunch I do a few bits in the nursery — organising many many bags of clothes we have received and unpacking nappies etc. The baby won’t be in here for at least six months but I can’t imagine finding time to decorate once he’s here so it’s quite nice to just sit and enjoy this ADORABLE room.
8 p.m. — After dinner it’s time for the women’s Euros. Not the best result to but I HAVE FAITH.
Total: £23.50
Day Seven
10 a.m. — Have spent the morning chilling and scrolling Vinted (my weakness!) and order a vintage leopard print shirt. A big one I can wear now and once the bump has gone, £16.29.
12:30 p.m. — Head to a local pub with husband and dog where we’re having a (not) baby shower… I tend to find traditional baby showers a bit awkward so we decided we’ll just have a joint gathering as a last chance to see lots of our friends. We pre-ordered some sharing platters to get everyone started and there’s a big menu if they want anything else, £120 (shared with husband).
4 p.m. — Head home and I’m exhausted, socialising is hard at this stage but we had a very lovely afternoon and I’m touched by how many people showed up and brought lovely gifts (I now have some delicious IPAs waiting in the fridge for me once he’s out!). Other than the shared platters, I had a Guinness 0%, £4.50.
6 p.m. — I didn’t actually get much of the food in the afternoon so we order a pizza and some bits to share, £22.98.
Total: £103.77
The Breakdown
Conclusion
“Clearly the majority of my money is spent on food and drink! I’m not particularly surprised by this — I have a fondness for a treat coffee and I’m lucky the closest café is a 25 min walk away (a touch too far for me at the moment but in normal times, a struggle not to walk the dog there every morning!). I’m also not great at planning meals/get bored if I have the same lunch every day. This means multiple trips to the supermarket and inevitably food waste which I know I need to get better at and will need to get better at with having a kid. Otherwise I’m quite pleasantly surprised by the low spend elsewhere — I know much of this is a result of circumstance and generally not having many plans at the moment — but it has also been an effort on my part over the last few years to think more consciously about spending, particularly when it comes to buying clothes. I shop mostly secondhand now and when it’s something new, it’ll be from a sustainable brand. This is definitely a privilege to be able to do even as infrequently as I do but it has made me think more about what I already have, will I actually wear this item etc. I know the next period of my life will be a challenge when it comes to clothes as my body continues to change. I think there’s always ways to improve my spending and I’d be intrigued to look back on this in a year once my whole life has been overturned to see if I’ve made any new good habits or slipped back into bad habits for the sake of ease.”
If you would like to submit a diary, please use our new form here. If you would rather email us, please send a bit of information about you and your financial situation to moneydiary@.uk. We pay £100 for each published diary.
Prior to submitting your Money Diary, please read and consider Refinery29’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for UK and Ireland. Submission of your Money Diary does not guarantee publication by Refinery29. Should your Money Diary be selected for publication, Refinery29 may, in its sole discretion, elect to pay you a fee, subject to such further terms and conditions as Refinery29 may deem necessary. Money Diaries that are not published are not entitled to receive any payment. Refinery29 will not remove Money Diaries once published. By submitting your Money Diary to Refinery29, you agree to abide and be bound by the applicable Terms of Use and Privacy Policy linked above. All submissions need to be original to the author (i.e., no AI contributions).
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
Money Diary: A Policy Advisor On £40,000
Money Diary: An Emergency Services Trainer On £38,
Money Diary: A Brand Marketer On £42,000
