Money Diary: 23-Year-Old Arts Admin Assistant On £23k

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 23-year-old working in arts administration and living in London with my partner, N. I finished my master’s degree in 2020 (we love graduating in a pandemic) and started my current role soon after. Thanks to working from home, I only moved to London a couple of months ago.

Moving to London on a relatively low salary means I try to keep my finances tight! When we were in full lockdown I found this pretty easy, apart from spending money on the odd coffee, takeaway or piece of clothing. Now things are opening up again I’m struggling to keep my savings targets in mind while not feeling guilty every time I spend money. I’m also living near more of my friends than I used to, so I’m trying to balance not spending too much with seeing them more.

I currently have a lot of savings, largely because my parents were very generous with putting money in savings for me as a child. Some of my savings are also from jobs I had before and during university, as well as what I’ve saved from my job in the last few months. I’m aware how privileged I am for this and am keeping most of my savings to one side for a house deposit in a few years, as well as other more expensive things like a wedding. I don’t want to feel like I’ve wasted it so I try to view it as money that is only for big purchases rather than as money that’s available to me right now.

My parents have always been big savers and they’ve definitely passed this on to me. I’d love to save £500 per month but think this might be a bit too ambitious with my current salary and living costs in London. It helps me to have a savings target as it means I question my purchases and spending habits a bit more to keep me in line but I also don’t want to feel like I can’t do anything fun because I’m too focused on saving. At the moment I’m mainly saving to buy an engagement ring in around a year or so…"

Industry: Arts administration
Age: 23
Location: London
Salary: £23,000
Paycheque amount: £1,510 after tax/postgraduate student loan/pension contribution. I recently increased my pension contribution on my dad’s advice. It does mean I have less for my normal savings each month but I know logically it’s still a saving.
Number of housemates: One, my partner N.

Monthly Expenses

Housing costs: £550 (my half) for a one-bed flat in Zone 2.
Loan payments: £10 postgraduate student loan. I have an undergraduate loan too but I’m not at the minimum salary threshold yet.
Utilities: All of these are shared with N. Total amounts are £119 council tax, £36 water, £30 electricity, £25 Wi-Fi.
Transportation: I’m working from home at the moment but will thankfully be able to walk to work once I’m back in the office. I spend around £15-£20 per month on TfL for travelling to see friends and visit places.
Phone bill: £22.50
Savings? £12,000 in a LISA, £5,000 in a fixed rate ISA, £5,000 in a notice savings account and £5,000 in an everyday saver. I’m aiming to save around £500 this month but it might realistically be closer to £400.
Other: £7.99 Amazon Prime, £5.99 Netflix, £13.99 Spotify, £13.12 TV licence, £12.99 Peloton (all shared with N again).