Money Diary: A 29-Year-Old Wildlife Conservationist On 32k
Last Updated 25 September 2019, 6:18
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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: "I’m a 29-year-old wildlife conservationist and I’ve been working in my industry for almost a decade. My career has taken me all over the world, I’ve had incredible experiences and feel very privileged to do what I do. I’ve been at my current job for around four years and due to many factors I’m really ready to move on to a new role, but they are few and far between in the world of conservation. I just completed my MSc after doing it part-time alongside my full-time job for three years. I got a distinction which I’m very proud of but due to my current mindset I’m yet to fully celebrate this achievement.
After maxing out my student overdraft back in the day to travel the world, I’m now very good with money, spreadsheets and everything. I save diligently, invest, budget and very much know what I can afford and don’t hold back if I want to treat myself. I’m not big on drinking or fancy dinners, I'd rather spend my money on facials, massages and designer clothes and shoes.
Since January I’ve committed fully to a low-waste lifestyle; there’s no way you can work in this industry and see the fallout of human impacts daily and not review your habits. This includes only buying secondhand for everything possible, including clothes, electrical goods and homeware. It also means buying unpackaged and choosing only recyclable materials if you cannot get unpackaged. Many people say low-waste lifestyles make for cheaper living but for me it’s fairly hit and miss, and averages out about the same as before. It does take up way more time and has completely changed how I approach day-to-day living. I have to seriously think about whether I need or want to put the effort into buying something when it might mean hours searching for it secondhand. I’m very glad I’ve made the changes I have though and many of my friends have taken on similar changes when they’ve seen how simple it is. My partner has also embraced it and has even made changes in his workplace – having a partner that supports this type of lifestyle is vital in my opinion."
Industry: Wildlife Conservation
Age: 29
Location: London
Salary: £32,000
Paycheque amount: £1,889.52
Number of housemates: One, my partner M
After maxing out my student overdraft back in the day to travel the world, I’m now very good with money, spreadsheets and everything. I save diligently, invest, budget and very much know what I can afford and don’t hold back if I want to treat myself. I’m not big on drinking or fancy dinners, I'd rather spend my money on facials, massages and designer clothes and shoes.
Since January I’ve committed fully to a low-waste lifestyle; there’s no way you can work in this industry and see the fallout of human impacts daily and not review your habits. This includes only buying secondhand for everything possible, including clothes, electrical goods and homeware. It also means buying unpackaged and choosing only recyclable materials if you cannot get unpackaged. Many people say low-waste lifestyles make for cheaper living but for me it’s fairly hit and miss, and averages out about the same as before. It does take up way more time and has completely changed how I approach day-to-day living. I have to seriously think about whether I need or want to put the effort into buying something when it might mean hours searching for it secondhand. I’m very glad I’ve made the changes I have though and many of my friends have taken on similar changes when they’ve seen how simple it is. My partner has also embraced it and has even made changes in his workplace – having a partner that supports this type of lifestyle is vital in my opinion."
Industry: Wildlife Conservation
Age: 29
Location: London
Salary: £32,000
Paycheque amount: £1,889.52
Number of housemates: One, my partner M
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £726 for my half of rent.
Loan payments: £86 undergrad loan and £47 postgrad loan taken automatically from paycheque before I have a chance to miss the money.
Utilities: Internet £20.75 my half (including BT Sport). Gas/Electric £28.50 my half, we use Ovo Energy which uses renewable energy. Council tax £37.50 my half.
Transportation: ~£100
Phone bill: £15
Savings? £200 in high interest current account, plus additional £100 into investments. Monzo does a roundup of all my transactions to the nearest £ and puts this into a pot, I don’t really count it as savings, usually I use it to treat myself to a massage or similar when it hits about £50.
Other: £7.50 for my half of Spotify, M pays for Netflix, Now TV and we have Amazon Prime student for the year already paid. Weekly Oddbox with reject and surplus fruit and veg £22.98 a month for my half. £5 bank account fee for my high-interest account, all our utilities go through it and I get cashback on them every month.
Loan payments: £86 undergrad loan and £47 postgrad loan taken automatically from paycheque before I have a chance to miss the money.
Utilities: Internet £20.75 my half (including BT Sport). Gas/Electric £28.50 my half, we use Ovo Energy which uses renewable energy. Council tax £37.50 my half.
Transportation: ~£100
Phone bill: £15
Savings? £200 in high interest current account, plus additional £100 into investments. Monzo does a roundup of all my transactions to the nearest £ and puts this into a pot, I don’t really count it as savings, usually I use it to treat myself to a massage or similar when it hits about £50.
Other: £7.50 for my half of Spotify, M pays for Netflix, Now TV and we have Amazon Prime student for the year already paid. Weekly Oddbox with reject and surplus fruit and veg £22.98 a month for my half. £5 bank account fee for my high-interest account, all our utilities go through it and I get cashback on them every month.
Total: £1,263.26
Disposal Income: £626.29
Disposal Income: £626.29
Do you have an unusual job that gets people talking? Refinery29 is looking to talk to women anonymously about their careers. Email moneydiary@refinery29.uk and let us know what you do.
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