/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25630218/2170097136.jpg "Elon Musk is navigating Brazil’s X ban — and flirting with its far right")
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 am a 23-year-old grad working my first proper job in London while living at home in Hertfordshire. In the last year I have gone through a breakup with my long-term boyfriend so I have experienced lots of change and I am trying to work out what my new day-to-day life looks like. I work in operations at an investment management firm and I am very lucky to have got this job straight out of uni. However I am still thinking about my future and am considering doing my CFA (chartered financial analyst) exams so that I can have a better chance of moving into other careers that I have an interest in, such as being a portfolio manager or working with clients. I constantly think about money and my financial position, probably partially due to the industry I work in, but I am definitely a saver over a spender. I don’t have a large interest in designer clothes or the new trendy things but I do like to travel and go on holiday. I don’t mind spending money on that though, as once-in-a-lifetime experiences make me far happier than seeing a larger sum in my savings account.”
Occupation: Operations analyst
Industry: Investment management
Age: 23
Location: Hertfordshire
Salary: £35,000
Paycheque amount: £2,132.24
Number of housemates: Two — my dad and my brother — plus our cat.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: I pay my dad £150, which covers my food, bills etc. I am extremely lucky and very appreciative of this low cost.
Utilities: £0
Loan payments: None except my undergrad student loans, which I think I pay about £30 a month towards.
Savings? I have about £20,000 in various savings accounts through a combination of being a saver more than a spender, inheritance, gifts and savings from paycheques. I try to put roughly £900-£1,000 into premium bonds every month, I save £100 for car-related costs every month (I use these savings to pay for my car insurance and road tax, which I pay annually, and any repairs, MOTs or services) and then each week Plum does an automatic upload of around £50.
Pension? I have two pensions. One was set up for me after I was born and my grandad put £3,000 into it — I have never added to it and it’s now worth around £14,000. I also have a work pension that I pay 10% into and my work also puts in 10%.
All other monthly payments: £22 phone, £100 Pilates membership. Subscriptions: £11.99 Spotify Premium, £2.99 iCloud storage, £2.99 Plum.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I have an undergraduate degree in economics that was funded by student loans. I also have a master’s degree that my grandad kindly paid for. My dad paid my full rent during my undergrad and master’s and also gave me an allowance to live on while I did my master’s so that I would not have to take out any loans, which I am very grateful for.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
We had constant conversations about money from a very young age. I remember being 8/9 and saving up for things I wanted, and I had to budget lots when I was learning to drive and paying for lessons. My parents are divorced and have different views on money — my dad likes to plan and save while my mum would spend more. I was taught to always save for my future through a pension (my dad is obsessed with talking about pensions) but also to save for other things I want, like a house or holidays.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I lived away from home at uni from 18 to 22 and then moved home at 22. It was quite an adjustment but it allows me to be within 35 minutes of my office and save money.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
I would not say I am financially responsible. My dad paid my rent at uni and now I live at home, paying very subsidised rent. I do pay for everything else myself except my contact lenses, which cost £50 per month.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
Babysitting. It paid for my driving lessons and then at uni I got a job working for the student union for the experience rather than the money (though the money allowed me to buy a car and go travelling).
Do you worry about money now?
I don’t worry about money now for my current self but I worry for future me. I have lots of plans and I want to make sure that I have a comfortable life and I can afford to do the things I would like to.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
When my granny passed away I inherited £5,000, which I put into premium bonds.
9:30 a.m. — I am on annual leave today so I have a nice leisurely lie-in, which are too few and far between nowadays. I shower, do my skincare and have a cereal bar.
10:30 a.m. — I get a notification that Plum has taken £63.64 from my account and saved/invested it. I am a big Plum fan and highly recommend it as a way to save without noticing it.
12 p.m. — Let in the cleaner, who comes once a week, then drive to the station as I am meeting up with an old flatmate in London. The car park costs £4.50 and I pay
£18.30 for an all-day travel card. Why are the trains so expensive?
1 p.m. — Get off the Tube and get lost trying to find my friend B for 10 minutes. Turns out South Kensington has a few exits! We go to the free Taylor Swift exhibition at the V&A.
2:30 p.m. — Go to the outdoor cafe. B gets a drink but I brought water with me. We sit outside in the last of the summer sun for a bit, then have a wander around the gift shop.
3 p.m. — Head to the Natural History Museum while I eat a Deliciously Ella cereal bar — they are so yummy! Have fun looking at the dinosaurs and then get the Tube to Piccadilly Circus as we are meeting another old flatmate, M, who I haven’t seen for a few months. Tube is prepaid.
5 p.m. — I get a KFC bibimbap from my favourite Korean restaurant in Soho, £8.50. I often get this if I don’t have a packed lunch at work. B and I then go to a Japanese convenience store where she gets sushi and a mochi doughnut, which I have a bite of. We then spend 15 minutes trying to find M in St James’s Park. Eventually we find him and the topic of conversation goes straight to grad salaries. B earns around £20k and M earns £27k so we are on a range of different wages one year post-grad. I am all for discussing money and salaries and removing the taboo from the discussion.
6 p.m. — We head to the pub. I get M and me a pint and a vodka lemonade for £14.70. We chat about my recent breakup; my boyfriend of 18 months and I broke up three months ago and I am over the relationship but still sad the friendship has ended. We then give each other dating advice that none of us should listen to.
8 p.m. — M offers to buy me a drink but I’m driving so he gets me a lemonade. After that drink we all say goodbye and promise to see each other soon.
9 p.m. — Arrive at the train station and drive home. Quickly make some pasta with veggies and have a portion for dinner and keep a portion for my packed lunch tomorrow.
10:30 p.m. — Shower and then go to bed feeling very happy after seeing my friends.
Total: £46
6:55 a.m. — Wake up, get dressed, do teeth, hair and very light makeup (the only makeup I ever do is powder and mascara). My dad drives me to the station. He is retired so most of the time he very kindly drives and picks me up from the station to save me spending £10 a day on parking.
7:35 a.m. — Spend £20.55 on the slow train so I get a seat. I then alternate between mindlessly scrolling TikTok and reading. I get Kindle Unlimited as a birthday present every year and it saves me so much on books.
8:30 a.m. — Train was a bit delayed. Get my ‘going to the office treat’ of a large oat cappuccino from Blank Street, £3.60, and go for my 20-minute pre-work walk.
8:50 a.m. — Get to the office and start working while having my usual breakfast of a banana and a cereal bar. I fancied a nectarine but there was none (we get free fruit at work).
11 a.m. — Busy morning catching up on what I missed while I was off and having a team meeting.
12:30 p.m. — Do a 50-minute walk around St James’s Park and have my pasta packed lunch when I get back to my desk. I then have some chocolate-covered sour cherries as my afternoon sweet treat/pick-me-up.
5:30 p.m. — Leave work exactly on time and head home. Dad picks me up from the station and I start cooking chicken and rice. I do Pilates on a Wednesday so it’s always a bit of a rush when I get home.
7:15 p.m. — Drive to my reformer Pilates (prepaid). I started recently after my breakup and I’m obsessed with it. It’s my new happy place.
8:30 p.m. — Drive home, have an everything shower and a slice of victoria sponge that I made on the weekend.
10:30 p.m. — Skincare and dry my hair and then put in my heatless curler. I love heatless curls and if my hair ever looks nice, that is why. Read for 30 minutes and then go to sleep.
Total: £24.15
6:55 a.m. — I slept terribly but try not to let it put me in a bad mood. Usual teeth, skincare, makeup, get dressed. Dad drives me to the station. £20.55 for my train ticket — it pains me every day, paying this much.
8:30 a.m. — Spend £3.60 on my usual coffee and do my walk before I go to the office. If I’m super busy I forgo the walk and head straight to the office but I like to try and get it in, especially when the weather is nice.
12 p.m. — I was on calls for quite a bit of the morning and had a banana and some strawberries while I worked. It gets to lunchtime and I head to Nando’s with my colleague R (we treat ourselves to lunch out every Thursday). I pay £11.80 for a medium grilled chicken burger with chips, which isn’t horrendous compared to some of the lunch prices in central London.
5:30 p.m. — After a nice and quiet afternoon I head to work drinks. Tonight is the first work drinks where colleagues/clients haven’t paid for most of my drinks. A big adjustment! I spend £7 on a vodka lemonade.
8:30 p.m. — Leave Boom Battle karaoke bar (prepaid) and head to a cocktail bar. Luckily it’s still happy hour so it’s only £20.50 for my round of four drinks. We then decide food is very necessary before the next bar so spend £8.80 at Shake Shack.
10 p.m. — Realise all the trains are delayed/cancelled. I wait 30 minutes for a train, only to get on and it be cancelled with no replacement or future trains. I resort to sharing an Uber home with a stranger, £22.50 for my share.
12 a.m. — Finally home and feeling sorry for my bank account but I had a great time with my work friends.
Total: £94.75
8:40 a.m. — Wake up exhausted and wonder how I used to go to 9 a.m. lectures after a night out. Log on bang on 9 a.m. Have Weetabix and banana to try and revive me.
11 a.m. — Any hope of a quiet day has gone out the window, with loads of trades going through. I have a love/hate relationship with being busy at work. I love being challenged and working towards a deadline but prefer for it to be on a Tuesday-Thursday when I’m in the office. Find a spare five minutes to send my friend a Moonpig card as she got a job this morning, £3.30. I love Moonpig and sending cards to friends and family.
1 p.m. — Quickly heat up some frozen veggie gyoza for lunch and go for a 20-minute walk. Another slice of cake as my sweet treat and then back to work processing all the trades.
6 p.m. — Finish up work and scroll on TikTok. Apparently I’ve become a sucker for ads as I purchase the Dermalogica Clarifying Body Spray for bacne which I’ve seen loads of ads for, £21.55. I feel marginally better that I found it cheaper on Beauty Bay than it was on Amazon.
7 p.m. — My brother and my dad go to Waitrose but I stay home and make a jacket potato with garlic spinach for dinner as the weather is horrible. I am a bit worried about the days getting darker and the clocks going back as I feel far happier in the summer when it’s light and I can do more in the evening rather than leave and come home from work in the dark.
8:30 p.m. — I debate doing a cycle on the exercise bike but decide against it and spend the rest of the evening rewatching Grey’s Anatomy. I’m currently on season 9.
Total: £24.85
9:30 a.m. — I have a lovely, relaxed wake-up and shower and then head to M&S with my dad to do a weekend food shop. We tend to do one on Saturday for the weekend and then go again on Monday for food for the week. We then go for a wander in the charity shops and I get a new work top for £4.99. Most of my graduate work wardrobe has come from charity shops or Vinted, which I love and has saved me lots as work clothes (and clothes in general) have become so expensive.
11:30 a.m. — We’re home and I start to make my normal weekend brunch of eggs, mushrooms, hash browns and sausages. I then settle down and start making a cushion from a kit I got while watching Grey’s.
2 p.m. — I have a nectarine and continue working on my cushion — it’s going a lot slower than I thought. I message and catch up with my best friend, A, about how her new job is going (she started a few weeks ago).
6:30 p.m. — We all have lasagne with garlic bread and spinach for dinner. I eat quickly as I have sold a pair of trousers on Vinted for £30 and I want to post them tonight.
8 p.m. — My brother and I both have a melt-in-the-middle chocolate pudding with custard. We chat while they cook.
10 p.m. — I arrange to meet a uni friend for drinks in two weeks. Try not to think about how much my last drinks cost and then get ready for bed.
Total: £4.99
9:15 a.m. — I wake up and shower, quickly have a nectarine and then drive to my reformer Pilates class (prepaid). I try and do at least one class on the weekend as it’s a nice way to relax and enjoy myself.
11 a.m. — Get home and make the same brunch that I had yesterday and sit in the garden in the sun for a bit. Last weekend I was super busy the whole time so it’s really nice to relax and do nothing.
4 p.m. — I spend the afternoon sitting outside enjoying the nice weather and working on my cushion. I then go for a walk in the woods near my house.
7 p.m. — My dad has made a roast chicken so we all enjoy that and then I make a banana bread. My brother rates it 7.5/10, which is high praise in his books. I realise I have spent my weekend sewing and baking and feel a bit like a 1950s housewife without the husband or the kids.
8 p.m. — I have a slice of banana bread and feel happy about my no-spend day after what has seemed like a very expensive week!
10 p.m. — Get ready for bed and try to have an early night. I try to maximise my sleep on a Thursday and a Sunday night as I don’t have to get up as early for work the next day.
Total: £0
8:40 a.m. — I wake up and it’s like a sauna in my room. I can’t keep track of English summer and the constant changes in temperature. I’m excited for work today as it’s an American bank holiday, which usually means we are nice and quiet.
10 a.m. — My usual WFH Weetabix and banana while I check my pension, which I usually do about once a month. My retirement goals are on track but I still have a very long way to go.
1 p.m. — Mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and scrambled eggs for lunch. I manage a 30-minute walk as work is quiet, which is a nice change as I never have a lunch break longer than 30 minutes when I work from home.
4 p.m. — Browse on Vinted for a bit and buy a new pair of work shoes: very cute, blue ballerina slingbacks. They cost £13.85 but I use my Vinted balance so I don’t actually spend anything.
5:30 p.m. — I log off bang on time and then the three of us head to Waitrose to do our weekly food shop. I love going to the supermarket and seeing what’s new (my dad pays). We all agree we probably spend too much on food shopping so spend the drive home thinking of ways we can cut back.
7 p.m. — I make mac ‘n’ cheese with chicken tenders for dinner and at the same time make my usual office packed lunch of pasta with an assortment of veg. I go through phases of having a few different things for my packed lunch but I would love a bit more variety. Otherwise I treat myself to too many lunches from the nearby restaurants and spend too much.
9 p.m. — Wash my hair and then dry it and put in my heatless curls. I then put on a face mask and relax while reading The Burnout in bed. I also message with uni friends trying to organise a day to all meet up but everyone’s schedules make it quite difficult. I really miss living five minutes away from all my friends at uni and having endless time to spend with them.
Total: £0
Food & Drink: £78.50
Clothes & Beauty: £26.54
Home & Health: £0
Entertainment: £0
Travel: £86.40
Other: £3.30
Total: £194.74
Conclusion
“I think this week was definitely a bit abnormal as I don’t have days out in London every week or have to pay for expensive Ubers home. However I was surprised about how much I spent on food and drink and how that seems to be the way I see my friends. I’d love to do more free activities with my friends such as walks or movie nights but sometimes it seems the only way to see them is by going for drinks or food. I know I am also very lucky to work in an industry where when I go for drinks, they are normally paid for by someone else. I dread to think what it would cost me otherwise and how it would impact my other spending and saving. By considering all my daily spends, it has driven me to work harder at furthering my career to earn a higher salary and not have to worry too much about daily spending.”
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