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 37 year-old internal communications officer working for a local authority in central London. I’m originally from the North West but moved to London 15 years ago and can’t imagine living anywhere else. I previously worked in PR and media relations, but in 2023 I switched to internal communications for a new challenge and started my current job two months ago. I’ve definitely had to hit the ground running but so far I’m really enjoying it! Currently I live alone in a one-bed flat. I bought the flat in 2020 after my ex-husband bought me out of our marital home. The divorce had a huge impact on my finances as I spent a lot on solicitors and rental deposits before buying the flat, as well as on things I didn’t need to make myself feel better. As a result, I ended up with a large amount of credit card debt. I’ve been working hard to pay this off in the last few years and I am aiming to be debt free by April! Otherwise, I would rather save for experiences like holidays or concerts, so I do my best to be frugal in my everyday life wherever I can but still enjoying myself.”
Occupation: Internal Communications Officer
Industry: Local Government
Age: 37
Location: London/Surrey
Salary: £47,628
Paycheque Amount: £2,756.86 (after income tax, National Insurance, pension fund contribution and student loan repayment)
Number of housemates: None
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £756.45 mortgage (fixed until December 2027).
Loan payments: £230.63 credit card repayment. I also have a student loan which is repaid out of my salary before tax.
Savings?: Around £300 in my easy access savings account. I put aside £100 a month as a sinking fund for haircuts and concert tickets. I’d like to save more but have been focused on clearing my debts first.
Pension?: I pay 6.8% of my salary (£270) into the local government pension scheme, which comes out before tax. I also have around £37,000 in a pension pot with Scottish Widows from two previous jobs, plus some smaller ones from temporary roles over the years.
Utilities: £78.23 gas and electricity, £15 TV licence, £23 broadband, £120 council tax (including 25% single occupancy discount), £24.53 water. Annually, I pay £58.91 contents insurance and £596 buildings insurance.
All other monthly payments: £25.89 critical illness cover, £52.62 income protection, £25.80 phone bill, £13.60 charity donations. Subscriptions: £4.99 Netflix, £11.99 Spotify, £15 Sew Over It membership, £16.09 festival payment plan, £28.90 contact lens plan, £4 meal plan subscription. Yearly subscriptions: £90 Disney+, £24 political party membership, £40 Substack subscription.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I studied English Literature and graduated with a 2:1. I paid for it with student loans and maintenance grants, plus a weekly allowance from my parents during term time and a part-time job in a hotel bar during the holidays.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
We didn’t have formal conversations about money, but we were comfortable and I didn’t want for anything growing up (though eating out was only for special occasions and we only went on a holiday abroad a few times when I was young). Both my parents were the first in their families to go to uni, so they pushed me to do well at school, get a good job and work hard at it, as well as not buying things on credit if I couldn’t pay it off straight away. That said, they’re both very generous and quick to treat loved ones, which has also rubbed off on me. Overall, I think they gave me a very balanced attitude to money.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents/guardians house?
I moved out to go to university aged 19 and then came back for a couple of years after graduating where I lived rent free. I moved out for good when I was 23 and came down to London.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
Although I’d been able to support myself since I moved to London, I didn’t feel fully financially responsible for myself until I bought my flat. Currently no-one else covers any aspect of my financial life. My parents have repeatedly offered to help me out if I need it and I’m very grateful for that, but I wouldn’t ask them unless I was desperate (as in ‘suddenly lost my job’ desperate).
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I did cash-in-hand babysitting as a teenager, but my first proper job was on the checkout in the local supermarket aged 17. I got it to be able to buy new clothes and have my own phone.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes, a lot. I can comfortably support myself and like living alone but paying a mortgage and bills by myself eats into my disposable income a lot compared to friends who are cohabiting or living with housemates. I also feel angry with myself for getting into debt and worry that I’m behind on savings as a result. Lastly, I’m at a point where longer term finances are starting to worry me, like potentially buying a bigger home or having a larger pension pot.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
I received £7,000 from the sale of my nanna’s house after she passed away in 2023. The bulk of that went on paying off my credit card debt but I also used some of it for a holiday last year.
7:18 a.m. — Alarm. I’m working from home today but I like to stick to my routine where I can. Do a 15-minute YouTube workout video, then shower and do my morning skincare (Garnier cleanser, Inkey List exfoliator, Olay serum and Byoma moisturiser with SPF). I put on jeans and a T-shirt and make myself some cereal and a coffee for breakfast. Whilst I eat, I do today’s Wordle and Connections.
9 a.m. — Log in to start work. My role is linked to a major internal project which is launching next month, so today I’m updating our intranet pages ahead of that. The team has approved the copy I’ve drafted, so I set up the page and then share it with a colleague for her thoughts before publishing it.
12 p.m. — Lunch is Singapore-style noodles with chicken and stir-fried veg, which I batch cooked earlier in the week. Have a banana for afters, then draft some campaign launch emails.
5 p.m. — After work, I do my evening skincare (Simple micellar water, Revolution cleanser, Olay serum and Drunk Elephant moisturiser), then get stuck into cleaning my living room. I’m currently deep cleaning and decluttering my flat, which is taking longer than I’d like, but it’s also really satisfying. I pull out furniture to hoover behind and under it, wipe down surfaces and bag up stuff for the charity shop. I also put The Chase and House of Games on in the background to play along, because I love a quiz show.
6:30 p.m. — Make gnocchi with sweetcorn, courgette, chorizo and pesto for dinner. Then I pack my bag for my board games meet-up tomorrow.
7:30 p.m. — I watch Crufts (I love dogs and always wanted one as a kid) and Gogglebox whilst I do some dressmaking. Currently, I’m working on a dress for a festival my boyfriend T and I are going to next weekend. It’s my first attempt at ‘pattern hacking’ (where you merge two patterns together) and so far it’s going quite well! Today I’m working on assembling the skirt. I find I often get lost in a sewing project, which is really helpful for quieting my mind.
11 p.m. — Decide to call it a night and head to bed. I read a chapter of my book before I go to sleep.
Total: £0
6 a.m. — One disadvantage of having a routine is training your body clock to wake up stupidly early even on weekends. Read my book and do Wordle/Connections in bed, then get up and do another YouTube workout — today it’s a 30-minute aerobic session.
8 a.m. — I decide to make myself pancakes for breakfast as I didn’t make them on Pancake Day. They’re not my finest work but they taste pretty good! I eat them with lemon and sugar and also have a coffee.
11 p.m. — After eating breakfast and washing up, I start cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. I wipe down all the surfaces (including inside the fridge), unblock the sinks and shower drain and hoover every nook and cranny I can get to before mopping the floors. I also put on a load of laundry and hang it up to dry.
12 p.m. — Jump in the shower and wash my hair, then eat another portion of noodles for lunch before getting changed into bootcut jeans and my favourite T-shirt and applying some light makeup. I also do a bit more work on my dress to attach the zip.
1:30 p.m. — My friend P stops by to drop off some leaflets I need to deliver for a local by-election that’s happening in a few weeks and we have a quick catch-up.
1:35 p.m. — I head over to my cat-sitting job. I’ve been looking after these cats for about 18 months now — they’re a super sweet brother and sister pair. I give them some fuss and set the timer on their feeder for later this evening before sending their owners a couple of snapshots to let them know they’re OK. The girl cat looks very interested in one of her fishing rod toys, so I get that out and play with her for a few minutes before her brother joins in. My own cat died last month and I’m not currently planning to get another one, so this is helping to scratch the itch. This will earn me £105 — their owners have already paid me half and will send me the rest when they’re back next week.
3:35 p.m. — Say goodbye to the cats and get the bus to my board games meet-up. On the way, I pop into Tesco to grab a meal deal for dinner later (chicken and bacon sub, Twirl and an iced coffee which I drink on the way to the pub), £4.
4:15 p.m. — Arrive at the pub for board games. I’m currently in the middle of a co-operative campaign game with my boyfriend and our friends B and E. This session takes around two hours and we end up winning comfortably. I buy a gin and tonic, £7.70.
6:30 p.m. — We take a quick break and H gets me a ginger ale whilst I eat my meal deal (luckily the pub is cool with us bringing food). Then our friend L joins us to play a game where you use resources to create various objects to get points, before a couple of rounds of a quickfire game with other people from the group. I lose at them all, but it’s still a lot of fun!
9:30 p.m. — T and I say our goodbyes to the group and walk down to the station, where we go our separate ways. We’ve been dating for two years now but live on opposite sides of London, so we tend to meet in the middle or he comes to my flat to hang out. It’s silly, but I do really miss him when he’s not around.
11 p.m. — Arrive home, do evening skincare and go to bed. Overnight, TfL takes £13.20 from my account.
Total: £24.90
6 a.m. — Another day, another early start. I get dressed in jeans and a jumper and heat up a chocolate croissant in the oven for breakfast, which I have with coffee.
6:55 a.m. — Head out to get the train and Tube to cat sitting. They’re happy to see me as usual and I feed them before we have some more playtime. Tube and train back home afterwards.
10 a.m. — Once I’m back, I grab the bag of leaflets P dropped off yesterday before heading out to deliver them. I’ve been involved in local politics since I was at uni. The delivery route is short but is through a very windy estate, so I feel like I’ve had a good walk.
11:30 a.m. — As I’m already out I head down to the supermarket to get supplies for the next few days. Stop off at a local coffee shop which is sadly closing down for a bag of their ground coffee, £11.80 (I know, but it’s really good and still cheaper than buying a coffee from a shop every day).
12 p.m. — At the supermarket, I pick up chicken thighs, cucumber and pizza, £8.94. Get the bus home.
1 p.m. — Back home, I make my lunches for this week: roast chicken and cucumber salad with a peanut and soy sauce dressing. I then shower and get changed into jeans and a T-shirt.
2 p.m. — Spend a couple more hours working on my dress. I attach the invisible zip and sew up the side seam, then work on putting in the bodice lining. I might just get this finished before the festival now…
4:30 p.m. — Eat a portion of my salad for a late lunch/early dinner (it’s really good!) before heading over to cat sitting.
6:25 p.m. — Leave my cat sitting job and walk the 10 minutes over to the pub for quiz, where I meet T as well as a few other friends. It’s £2.50 to enter.
8 p.m. — Buy a Diet Coke at the halfway point of the quiz, £4.
9 p.m. — My team comes third, which isn’t too shabby! A bunch of the others want to go to McDonald’s, but T and I decide to just head home. On the walk back to the station, we catch up on our days and talk a bit about the festival. I’m going to stay over at his place over the festival weekend as he lives a bit closer to it than me, which I’m already far too excited about.
10:45 p.m. — One Tube and bus later (plus a good chunk of progress on my book), I arrive home. Do evening skincare, pack my work bag for tomorrow, then head to bed. TfL charges me £15.30 overnight.
Total: £42.54
6 a.m. — Alarm goes off. I’d normally only go into work three days a week but because of cat sitting I’m in the office every day this week. Shower, get dressed in a skirt, T-shirt and a cardigan with leggings and trainers, then eat my cereal. I also make a coffee in my travel mug for the journey and pack a portion of my salad and a small chocolate bar for later.
6:55 a.m. — Leave the flat to catch the early train. I read my book and listen to the Rest Is Entertainment podcast on the way in.
8:15 a.m. — Cats are all good as usual. Fuss, food and playtime again.
8:30 a.m. — Get the bus to the office, which is a great idea in principle, until it’s late and then gets diverted twice for roadworks. Make a mental note to leave a bit earlier and get the Tube tomorrow instead.
9:15 a.m. — Eventually arrive at work. First job of the day: having a read through some toolkits a colleague has pulled together to help with sharing updates and add some more information from my project.
10:30 a.m. — I have a quick call with a colleague to discuss dividing up work on our intranet updates ahead of the new platform launch next month. Then make myself an instant caramel coffee with the sachets I keep in my locker which I drink whilst catching up on emails.
12 p.m. — Lunchtime! Eat my salad at my desk whilst doing some paid surveys. I hit the payout limit for one of them and cash out for an extra £20 in the bank/off the credit card. A colleague has brought in homemade cookies, so I have one of those for dessert.
2:30 p.m. — Catch-up meeting with my supervisor/mentor. We meet once a week and it’s almost like a career coaching thing, which is kind of daunting as it’s not something I’ve thought about
3 p.m. — I meet with the rest of the internal comms team, including my manager, to catch up on our plans for the week.
4 p.m. — Have a phone call with the internal comms team in one of our other departments, to brief them on our planned communications activity for the next phase of the project and get feedback about what they need from us.
5 p.m. — Say goodbye to my team and get the Tube over to cat sitting. Cats are all good and happy with fuss/food/playtime. Then Tube and train home.
6:10 p.m. — On the train, I eat my chocolate bar and read my book. I also get a notification that my old energy company has refunded me £97.10 — result!
6:55 p.m. — Stop off at Tesco for milk as I ran out this morning, £1.45.
7:10 p.m. — Arrive home, do my evening skincare and make dinner: orzo with chorizo, pepper, garlic and cream cheese. It’s delicious. Watch Mastermind whilst I eat (I did say I love a quiz).
8 p.m. — Wash up, then catch up on Married at First Sight Australia whilst I work on the sleeves for my dress.
10 p.m. — Bed. TfL takes £15.30 out of my account overnight.
Total: £16.75
6 a.m. — Same morning routine as yesterday. Today’s outfit is a red jumper and leopard print midi skirt with tights and boots as it’s suddenly got really cold!
6:55 a.m. — Walk to the station. It’s payday, so on the train I move my weekly spending money (£150) into my everyday account and transfer what I didn’t spend from last week’s spending money into my savings.
8:10 a.m. — Arrive at cat sitting. All is still good!
8:35 a.m. — Get the Tube instead of the bus to the office today to try and avoid yesterday’s issues.
9 a.m. — Arrive at work and jump straight into a call with internal communications colleagues in other areas of the organisation.
11 a.m. — Catch up with my manager. It’s short but they give me a couple of tasks to work on.
12 p.m. — Eat my salad at my desk before my next meeting.
1 p.m. — Run out before my afternoon of meetings to pick up some skincare bits. First stop is Lush for a tub of their Ultrabland cleanser and some shower gel, £20. I then head to Superdrug for moisturiser, £16.50.
5 p.m. — Get the Tube over to cat sitting. Usual routine of fuss, food and playtime, then Tube and train home. I finish my book on the train, which I’m kind of glad about — it’s been a bit of a slog and I wasn’t really enjoying it, but I felt like I’d got to a point where I was in too deep just to give up.
6:55 p.m. — Arrive home, do evening skincare and put my pizza in the oven. I sew in the sleeves on my dress whilst it’s cooking.
7:45 p.m. — Sainsbury’s delivery arrives, £50.01. This comes out of my main account as I normally do a big order of heavy/bulky items to be delivered on payday. However, today it’s mostly festival snacks and I’m almost certain the delivery guy is judging me for my choices.
8:15 p.m. — After I’ve put the shopping away, I jump in the shower and wash my hair. I then finish packing for the festival as I won’t be back in my flat until after the weekend.
10 p.m. — Head to bed. Overnight, TfL charges me £15.30.
Total: £101.81
6 a.m. — Up and at ‘em. Shower, morning skincare, get dressed in a black jumper and check skirt with my cowboy boots and eat yoghurt with berries and honey for breakfast. Quick final check that I’ve got everything I need for the weekend (including packing both my remaining portions of salad) and then head out the door.
6:55 a.m. — Walk to the station. On the train, I start a new book, Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay.
8:10 a.m. — Arrive at cat sitting for the usual fuss, food and play, then Tube to the office.
8:55 a.m. — Get to work, drop off my stuff at my desk and then head down to help the rest of my team with setup for our all staff event this morning. We put out signs and check people off the registration list as they come in.
12 p.m. — The event goes really well! I head back to my desk as I have another short meeting, then eat my salad whilst catching up on emails.
5 p.m. — After an afternoon of meetings, I get the Tube over to cat sitting. Cats are doing well — I’m going to miss them by the end of this week! Then stop at McDonald’s for dinner before getting the bus to my board games meet up, £4.78.
6:35 p.m. — Arrive at board games where I meet up with W and a few of our friends. I play a couple of short games including a card game and a bluffing game, both of which are very fun! Get a glass of red wine, £8.20.
8:30 p.m. — T and I decide to call it a night and get the train back to his place.
9:30 p.m. — Arrive back at T’s flat. Do my skincare, then head to bed where we read our books together for a bit before lights out. Whilst I sleep (and, um, other things), TfL takes £15 out of my bank account.
Total: £27.98
6:30 a.m. — Alarm. One advantage of staying at T’s place is I can have a bit of a lie in (by my standards anyway) as he lives closer to cat sitting/my job. Shower, get dressed in a navy jumper and the same skirt and boots as yesterday, put on makeup, then sneak back to bed for a quick cuddle.
7:30 a.m. — Kiss T goodbye and set off to the station. He’s off work today and I am very jealous! Do Wordle and Connections on the train as usual.
8 a.m. — Food, fuss and playtime with the cats again, then head off to work.
8:50 a.m. — I stop off at the Co-op near my office to grab a coffee, croissant and a sandwich for dinner later, £4.
9 a.m. — Arrive at work. I only have one proper meeting today, so take advantage of having a relatively free morning to get stuck in on some admin tasks. I also have a catch up with a colleague about some templates for our project how-to guides and sense check an email for another colleague that links to the project I’m working on.
11:30 a.m. — Have a meeting with the project team to check in on how things are going. Once I’m off the call, I work on a couple of tasks I’ve been set off the back of it to draft some more copy for our intranet and the project email address.
12:30 p.m. — Eat the last portion of my salad for lunch, then crack on with some more of my admin tasks.
5 p.m. — Leave work and head over to check in on the cats (who are both still doing well).
5:45 p.m. — Make my way over to the venue for the unofficial kick-off event for the festival I’m attending this weekend. Eat my sandwich from earlier on the train.
6:30 p.m. — Arrive at the venue. I have a bit of time before the show starts, so I head to the merch store to browse for T-shirts from the festival, as I don’t want to risk them selling out. There’s one I like but it doesn’t have the line-up on the back, so I decide to leave it.
9:30 p.m. — The show is great! It’s five songwriters playing their music acoustically and telling the stories behind their songs, which is super interesting. Get the Tube and train back to T’s flat.
10:30 p.m. — Arrive back at the flat. Do my evening skincare and then head to bed, where we chat a bit about what we’ve both been up to today before falling asleep around 11.30 p.m. TfL charges me £12.60 overnight.
Total: £16.60
Food & Drink: £104.88
Clothes & Beauty: £36.50
Home & Health: £0
Entertainment: £2.50
Travel: £86.70
Other: £0
Total: £230.58
“Overall I think I did pretty well this week. I had a couple of bigger spends, like the skincare and Sainsbury’s order, but those were one-offs and necessities, so I’m OK with that. I did expect most of my spending would be on food and travel, but I feel like I had a balanced week in terms of things like socialising as well as time at home. I found the experience of tracking my spend really insightful and it’s made me reflect on areas where I could cut back a bit (like spending on alcohol as it’s so much more expensive compared to soft drinks) but also where I could have a bit more fun with my money and be a bit more flexible. I’m hoping that once I’ve cleared my debts and can focus more on savings, I’ll feel a bit more relaxed about money and not like I have to look for the cheapest options all the time.”
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