Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking a cross-section of women how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period – and we're tracking every last penny.
This week, in partnership with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), we're with a woman working for a digital marketing agency based in central Brighton.
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She lives with her boyfriend in a flat they bought together about two years ago. They're coming up to the end of their current fixed rate mortgage, which is scary, considering they haven’t got round to any of the renovations they planned when they moved in (replacing windows and redoing the bathroom). They became vegetarians just over a year ago and are trying to eat healthily and sustainably, as well as do more exercise – they both joined a gym at the end of last summer and her boyfriend is currently training for the Brighton marathon. She has been quite strict recently about bringing lunch into work as she could tell most of her money was going on food. They recently finished booking all the accommodation for a two-week stay in Japan they have coming up in May, so that plus Christmas has hit her bank account hard.
Industry: Marketing
Age: 27
Location: Brighton & Hove
Salary: £23,000 (boyfriend’s salary £40,000)
Paycheque amount: £1,526.46 after deductions – tax, NI, tiny pension contribution, and student loan repayment (approx £40).
Number of housemates: One – boyfriend who is a web developer, also working in central Brighton.
Monthly Expenses
My boyfriend and I have a joint account that we transfer money into monthly to cover the mortgage and bills, plus a bit extra for the majority of our food spending and the occasional treat (meals out, cinema).
Mortgage: £778.68
Bills: To cover mortgage, bills and Netflix (plus a bit extra) we each pay £688 into the joint account each month.
Loan payments: I am currently using my credit card for day-to-day spending, then paying it off every payday. So although I never get charged interest, technically I am always in debt of a month's worth of spending because I use all my ‘real’ money to pay it off. This month in particular it was higher than usual because of paying for hotels and Airbnbs for a Japan trip we have planned in May. I have a plan to budget during February and March so that I can stop using the credit card apart from in emergencies. Student loan comes out automatically from my paycheque.
Transportation: We walk or cycle everywhere in Brighton so trains/taxis are paid for as and when.
Phone bill: £15.86 for sim-only contract and £33.45 to pay off my handset as I got it direct from Apple (only a couple of months left until this is paid off).
Savings? I have £5,000 in a bond that is mainly from inheritance. We are planning to use this to redo our bathroom. My boyfriend has upwards of £8,000 that we are hoping to use to shave some time off our mortgage when it comes to renewing in April.
Other: £9.99 Spotify Premium for me and £5.99 Spotify for my boyfriend (we should really get a joint plan but our music taste is so different – don’t know if that would be an issue?), £20 gym membership + £80/£100 for personal training sessions (ouch, don’t like seeing that written down, but it’s really helping me with my motivation to lose weight and get my blood pressure down). The service charge for our block of flats is £967 every six months which is very steep, but the shared lawn, car park, hallways, etc are all immaculate and we get two free annual parking permits included in the cost.
Day One
6.45am: I wake up to the sound of rain, again. The winter weather is really starting to get me down now. Living in the southeast has meant that while magical snowy vistas were gifted to much of the country this winter, Brighton has experienced rain, wind, rain and more rain.
7.45am: A shower and some time reading has lightened my mood, so I am less of a grumpy breakfast companion for my boyfriend who has prepared our standard morning feast of mixed cereals, tea and orange juice (pre-bought in our weekly food shop). We have a routine where he makes breakfast on weekdays and it’s my turn on weekends. Before you point out the unfairness of the 2/5 day split, remember, he gets served breakfast in bed every weekend, whereas on the weekdays I am already up and getting ready for work anyway.
8.45am: Near the end of my 40-minute walk to work, I make friends with a seriously cute puppy and realise the sun is starting to shine. Maybe today isn’t so bad, after all.
11am: The morning has flown by and my stomach is rumbling so I eat a banana I have brought from home. It’s small but the perfect ripeness.
12pm: I share an article on blockchain technology on one of my client’s Twitter feeds and go down a rabbit hole of research into whether I should invest in cryptocurrencies. After a while I realise I understand none of it and I have no spare cash to invest anyway… money saved I suppose!
1pm: Lunch is a veggie frittata and salad that I made at home this morning (the frittata was already done, I just threw everything together before leaving the flat). I eat at my desk while browsing Topshop for something I can spend a £30 voucher on that my brother gave me for Christmas. Nothing takes my fancy.
4pm: God this day is going slowly. I head to the kitchen to make a cup of white tea (supplied by work) and stand around awkwardly while waiting for the hot water tap to be free. I love the co-working/office space my work is based in, but my introverted nature doesn’t love the constant small talk.
6pm: Time to clock off! I have ticked a couple of big things off my to-do list today so am feeling pretty satisfied. Walk to the pub to meet bf and his work colleagues. He was paid today so treats me to two pints of ale and a couple of plates from the special Burns Night menu. The pub’s pop-up kitchen normally serves Vietnamese bao buns, so I eat spicy neeps and tatties in dumpling form. Delicious.
9.15pm: Supposed to be staying out to go to a friend’s gig but am feeling very tired and know I will get drunk/spend money, so leave bf and gang at the pub and walk to the train station. £2.90 for a one-stop train journey home.
10.45pm: Having faffed around getting ready for bed, chatting to friends on WhatsApp and reading another chapter of my book, I get to bed.
Total: £2.90
Day Two
5.45am: Alarm goes off. Ouch. I have a personal training session so get up, get dressed and set off for the gym. It’s only a 10-minute walk, which is the perfect amount of time in the cold (dark) outside world to wake me up. The two beers from last night have resulted in a dehydration headache (mini hangover) so I am not looking forward to this… PT session costs £20 for half an hour but as I pre-paid at the beginning of the month…£0.
7.20am: Arrive home and shower, read while drying my hair, eat breakfast (same as yesterday) and prepare lunch (same as yesterday) before walking to work for 9am.
10.50am: Absolutely starving and still feeling dehydrated so I rummage for a protein ball I bought at the beginning of the week. It’s coconut and macadamia nut and is delicious washed down with plenty of water.
12.51pm: Time for lunch – homemade salad and frittata again (more details: spinach, rocket, lettuce, radish, baby plum tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, beetroot, olives, hummus, olive oil, black pepper). This is the fourth day in a row I have had this exact lunch and I am a bit bored of it, but at least it’s free.
1.15pm: I book tickets for bf and I to see The Post at the cinema tonight. We both recently renewed our Picturehouse memberships which means, as well as getting 20% off ticket prices and refreshments all year, between us we have 10 free tickets to use. I still have two of mine left so a sofa seat for both of us costs £0.
4pm: It’s Friday so the co-working/office space I work in is giving out beers. I avoid this as I fear it will make me fall asleep in the cinema later.
5pm: It’s the weekend! #FridayFeeling
5.15pm: Meet boyfriend at a Japanese restaurant round the corner from my office for rice and tofu bowls, £5.20. They are so quick and filling, it’s a local favourite and provides the perfect dinner before an early cinema showing.
5.45pm: Cinema time.
8.15pm: The film was good. We begin our post-cinema ritual of using the journey home to discuss everything we liked and disliked about the film in extreme detail. We have considered recording these conversations before and turning them into a podcast – I even went as far as buying clip-on microphones – but we never quite plucked up the courage to find out if anyone would be interested in our ‘expert’ reviewing skills. Opt out of the 40-minute walk and jump on a train – £2.90.
11pm: After some time in front of the TV I call it a night and head to bed.
Total: £8.10
Day Three
8am: Wake up slowly and read articles on my phone until bf wakes up. I’m starving so get up and make porridge, orange juice and coffee for us both before returning to bed to eat/read/lounge around.
9.30am: Bf's dad is coming round soon to deliver our new (to us) car! It’s bf’s grandparents' car that they have kindly given us as, following granddad’s sudden hip replacement, they can no longer drive. Living in an (easily walkable) city means we haven’t felt the need to buy a car but as it’s free and it will mean we can get out into the Sussex countryside more, we were happy to accept the offer. The flat is an absolute tip so we rush around cleaning before a parent can see the state of it.
10am: I’m still up to my elbows in washing up when bf’s dad arrives. We go over the change of ownership paperwork while catching up. The visit is short but sweet and after we have said our goodbyes I continue to clean while bf goes out for a run.
11.30am: After running 10 miles, bf finds me in the kitchen with all the contents of the cupboards on the floor around me. In an attempt to tidy a couple of things away I have made a much bigger mess, including spilling couscous everywhere when trying to combine it with some leftover bulgur wheat (I shook the jar to mix them and the lid popped off – wonderful).
6pm: The day has passed with more cleaning, some reading, some episodes of Parks and Recreation and general relaxing. Bf cooks a mushroom risotto using ingredients we have in the flat, including a nice bottle of white wine my brother got me for Christmas. I drink a glass of that wine as I sort out the tax and insurance for the new car. It’s £30 for the year’s tax; annoyingly it's the end of the month but it charges us from the 1st so technically we are getting 11 months instead of 12. Insurance for us both plus a basic breakdown cover package is £245.28 for the year. I have been insured on my parents' cars since I passed my test 10 years ago so have built up a good no claims discount. We pay all this from our joint account but we will each pay half back in as the service charge for our block of flats is due soon so we need to keep it topped up. £137.64 each.
7.30pm: We take the new car out for its maiden voyage for a visit to my friend’s new flat in Worthing. It’s the first time my boyfriend has driven me anywhere as we have only ever used cars I have been insured on before. I use the opportunity to have a drink and finish off the rest of that wine from my brother, plus a glass or two of champagne to celebrate the new flat.
12am: Home and in bed.
Total: £137.64
Day Four
9am: I have a wine headache.
9.30am: I get up and make us breakfast – porridge, orange juice and tea. We are now totally out of important things like porridge oats and milk so we make a shopping list while finishing our food and lounging around in bed.
10am: I drive us to Waitrose (new car, fun!). One of our New Year ‘goals’ was to start getting vegetable boxes from a local farm delivery service. We are both vegetarian for environmental reasons, so it makes sense to lessen our carbon footprint further by buying local as much as possible. So far we have found a veg box every two weeks keeps us going when supplemented with staples like eggs, cheese, pasta, rice and the odd bag of Quorn mince. Our shopping list consists of mainly cupboard necessities – tinned tomatoes, cereals, tea, salad bits for my lunch, yoghurt – plus a couple of treats like crumpets and fresh flowers (two bunches of tulips for £5!). Total comes to £57.49, which is less than I expected for the amount we got. Usually this would come out of our joint account but again, as the service charge is looming, we agree to split it – £28.75 each.
12pm: As it's Sunday, we are obviously having a roast. I prepare roast potatoes, carrots, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, gravy and a veggie toad-in-the-hole while bf preps his lunches for the coming week – a big batch of veggie curry.
3pm: Delighted to discover that You’ve Got Mail is on TV today (bf’s secret favourite film) so we settle in the living room, me with three pairs of shoes and the polishing kit, him with the iron and a bunch of clothes (I swear we haven’t done this many domestic chores at the weekend in months). Luckily these tasks don’t take long and we get to enjoy the film to its fullest (apart from when the washing machine finishes and we have to hang out the clothes to dry – who are we?).
7pm: Bf was supposed to be going to a gig in London with a friend but it's all bus replacements and they don’t fancy getting home at 2am on a Sunday night for a band they have seen many times before. They decide to skip the gig and go to the pub. I decline the invite as I am too lazy to make myself presentable (I somehow haven’t found time for a shower today…), so stay in and end up making chocolate chip muffins and ugly crying to a few episodes of This Is Us.
10.30pm: Boyfriend arrives home and we go to bed.
Total: £28.75
Day Five
5.45am: Alarm goes off for the gym. I don’t want to go and boyfriend quickly agrees that it would be a good idea to have another hour in bed. Mondays…
7am: Get up, shower, have breakfast, make lunch – same salad combo as last week, but with tuna mayo instead of the frittata (I occasionally eat fish, bf is pure veggie).
11am: Eat a slightly overripe banana I brought from home.
3pm: My packed lunch hasn’t kept me full for long so I nibble a handful of almonds from a pack I keep on my desk. I then remember I have to pay for my next month's worth of PT sessions so I transfer £80 to my trainer’s bank account. I used to go twice a week but once a week is now all I can really afford.
4pm: A cup of white tea will fill me up, right?
6pm: Home time! Work has been SO boring today – probably why I have been so hungry, I am a classic bored eater. Luckily there hasn’t been anything too unhealthy for me to devour in the office.
7pm: While bf finishes cooking dinner (veggie burgers with homemade chips and coleslaw that I made yesterday with the leftover red cabbage from the roast), I book flights for us to go to Portugal at the beginning of July. Our friends are getting married in Porto and a big group of us are going out for it. Annoyingly the flight prices have gone up by £30 since I first looked. I pay for the flights on my credit card as I’m pretty sure that gives extra insurance for online purchases over £100. It’s £211.24 for both of us. I then find a cute Airbnb which boyfriend pays for as he has his PayPal linked up to the account and it's easier – £187.55. We figure out the difference and pay each other back (£199.40).
10pm: One of my best friends got married the day before Christmas Eve and has just got some of the photos back from the photographer. Spend the rest of the evening reminiscing over WhatsApp and laughing at our drunken happiness. Then bed.
Total: £279.40
Day Six
5.45am: After five minutes of deliberating, boyfriend and I get up for the gym as we failed to do so yesterday. The dark mornings are making it so hard to be motivated this side of Christmas. But I know I will feel good afterwards… sigh.
7am: I do feel much better.
9am: I have a client meeting in London today so I meet my boss at the train station. He pays for our train tickets on the company credit card and offers to buy me a drink for the road; I remembered to grab my water bottle before dashing out the house so I decline.
10.30am: Half an hour before the meeting is about to start we realise that it is being held in a different office than we thought, which means a dash northeast and arriving very hot and bothered after many Tube changes.
12.30pm: The meeting went well and we make it onto a fast train back to Brighton. My boss has recently had his second novel published so we chat about the inner workings of small publishing houses and the self-consciousness of being a writer. It’s a very enjoyable conversation and as I gather writing tips, I treat myself to a chocolate muffin I have brought from home.
1.50pm: Eat my prepared lunch at my desk, already a bit bored of tuna mayo.
6.45pm: Arrive home and help bf make a veggie moussaka and feel chuffed that we have already done the washing up by the time it comes out the oven. It is delicious and we enjoy it in front of a couple of episodes of Parks and Rec.
9.30pm: After reading my book for about half an hour, I fall asleep on the sofa. This is happening too frequently lately.
10.45pm: I groggily drag myself up, wash my face and go to bed.
Total: £0
Day Seven
6.45am: Alarm goes off.
7.10am: I get up and have a very quick shower to make up for my mini lie-in. Have the usual cereals, tea and orange juice, and manage to get some reading in by propping my Kindle against the kitchen tiles while I prep my lunch – tuna and salad again.
12pm: I have just been paid – our usual payday is the very last day of the month. This has made for an extremely long wait considering we were last paid before Christmas, so I rush to pay off my credit card, pay back bf for the shopping earlier this week and transfer money into the joint account. My remaining balance is depressingly low. It’s going to be a frugal couple of months for me until I can get back on track.
7pm: Home from work. I heat up the leftover moussaka for us; it is even tastier today.
7.30pm: We were planning on going to the cinema tonight to see Darkest Hour, but it would mean a drive to Brighton Marina as it has stopped showing at our usual cinema. We look it up and it will be £24 for both of us, which seems very steep considering we are not THAT fussed about seeing it. Bin it off and decide to watch a film on Netflix instead.
10.30pm: BEDTIME.
Total: £0
The Breakdown
Food/Drink: £34.65
Entertainment: £0
Clothes/Beauty: £0
Travel: £342.84
Other: £80
Total: £457.49
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