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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 33-year-old living in the countryside who was recently made redundant. My husband and I have been together since school and our approach to finances has changed radically in the last few years. Post-COVID all our friends started having babies and, while we’re totally in awe of them, we realised (after many, many conversations with each other and, for me, with a therapist) that parenthood isn’t the path we want to take. So we’re now at a really exciting (and kind of overwhelming) point in our lives where we get to completely reimagine what the next 20 years look like, without the raising kids blueprint we assumed we’d be following. We love to travel more than anything and are both interested in trying out non-corporate jobs so our main goal is to get to a place where we have enough financial freedom not to have to work full-time or be tied into an expensive mortgage, and spend way more time exploring the world."
Occupation: Currently on redundancy.
Industry: Communications
Age: 33
Location: Oxfordshire
Salary: My most recent role (head of communications) paid just over £60,000. Household salary is currently just my husband’s salary of circa £50,000.
Paycheque amount: When I was working it was £3,301.98. Since being made redundant I’m paying myself £1,895 per month from my redundancy payment to cover bills and expenses.
Number of housemates: Two: my husband, C, and our rescue cat, G.
Pronouns: She/her
Industry: Communications
Age: 33
Location: Oxfordshire
Salary: My most recent role (head of communications) paid just over £60,000. Household salary is currently just my husband’s salary of circa £50,000.
Paycheque amount: When I was working it was £3,301.98. Since being made redundant I’m paying myself £1,895 per month from my redundancy payment to cover bills and expenses.
Number of housemates: Two: my husband, C, and our rescue cat, G.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: My half of the mortgage is £756.50. We got screwed by the infamous mini budget: Our fixed deal ended just afterwards, increasing our monthly mortgage payments by a painful 50%. We bought an absolute wreck with a plan to borrow more to fund building work but now we just pay a lot of money for a house that’s falling apart. I love adulting.
Loan payments: I have just over £5k of my student loan (Plan 1) to repay so once I’m working again I should clear that in just over a year. I also have £2k on a 0% interest credit card for a creative writing MFA-style course I signed up for when I was made redundant (I’ll pay this off in a lump sum once I’m working again). We bought our car together on finance five years ago and have five monthly payments of £151.20 left (and hoping to get some money back as we’re affected by the car finance commission scandal that is currently being investigated).
Savings? Just over £15k in a high interest savings account.
Pension? Yes. One of my first life admin tasks when I was made redundant was to combine all my pensions into one — it’s currently sitting at just over £60k. When I was working I was paying in around £300 p/m and my employer had a very generous contribution scheme.
Utilities: £235 council tax, £130 gas and electric, £21 water, £49 internet, £13.25 TV licence (all split equally with C).
All other monthly payments: £113 life insurance, £54 home and car insurance bundle, £15.40 pet insurance, £20.50 vet plan — all split equally with C. Then I pay £6.95 for my phone and £25 in charity donations. Subscriptions: £13.99 Spotify, £10.99 Netflix, £8.99 Amazon Prime, £12 Dabble Writer.
Loan payments: I have just over £5k of my student loan (Plan 1) to repay so once I’m working again I should clear that in just over a year. I also have £2k on a 0% interest credit card for a creative writing MFA-style course I signed up for when I was made redundant (I’ll pay this off in a lump sum once I’m working again). We bought our car together on finance five years ago and have five monthly payments of £151.20 left (and hoping to get some money back as we’re affected by the car finance commission scandal that is currently being investigated).
Savings? Just over £15k in a high interest savings account.
Pension? Yes. One of my first life admin tasks when I was made redundant was to combine all my pensions into one — it’s currently sitting at just over £60k. When I was working I was paying in around £300 p/m and my employer had a very generous contribution scheme.
Utilities: £235 council tax, £130 gas and electric, £21 water, £49 internet, £13.25 TV licence (all split equally with C).
All other monthly payments: £113 life insurance, £54 home and car insurance bundle, £15.40 pet insurance, £20.50 vet plan — all split equally with C. Then I pay £6.95 for my phone and £25 in charity donations. Subscriptions: £13.99 Spotify, £10.99 Netflix, £8.99 Amazon Prime, £12 Dabble Writer.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I did an undergraduate degree, getting student finance for tuition and maintenance loans. I’m the first person in my family to go to university and incredibly lucky that my parents were in a position to pay my accommodation costs throughout; they often gave me additional money for food and petrol, too. I worked in the holidays for a bit of extra spending money but I stopped drinking after my first year so nights out were cheap for me and the money mostly went on clothes.
I did an undergraduate degree, getting student finance for tuition and maintenance loans. I’m the first person in my family to go to university and incredibly lucky that my parents were in a position to pay my accommodation costs throughout; they often gave me additional money for food and petrol, too. I worked in the holidays for a bit of extra spending money but I stopped drinking after my first year so nights out were cheap for me and the money mostly went on clothes.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
I was very privileged to grow up in a wealthy family, with one stay-at-home parent and one parent working in the City. I’m an only child, went to private school, had incredible holidays all over the world every year and never wanted for anything at all — in all honesty, money wasn’t really talked about. Looking back I definitely didn’t appreciate how fortunate I was until I was out of the private school bubble but I absolutely don’t take it for granted now. I’m very conscious nowadays of trying not to live up to the only child/spoilt brat stereotype.
I was very privileged to grow up in a wealthy family, with one stay-at-home parent and one parent working in the City. I’m an only child, went to private school, had incredible holidays all over the world every year and never wanted for anything at all — in all honesty, money wasn’t really talked about. Looking back I definitely didn’t appreciate how fortunate I was until I was out of the private school bubble but I absolutely don’t take it for granted now. I’m very conscious nowadays of trying not to live up to the only child/spoilt brat stereotype.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents'/guardians' house?
I moved out at 18 to go to university but properly left home at 22 when I graduated and got my first job in London.
I moved out at 18 to go to university but properly left home at 22 when I graduated and got my first job in London.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
Technically I’ve been financially responsible for myself since I graduated at 22, as I’ve never asked for or relied on anyone else for money since then. But my parents did surprise me with a contribution to the deposit for our house as my 30th birthday present (we exchanged a few weeks after my birthday) and paid for most of our wedding later that year, neither of which we’d have been able to do in the same way without their help. I never had the expectation that they would pay for any of these things but I also know that, as their only child, they want (and can afford) to help me out with big milestones like these. Right now, I’m covering all my expenses with my redundancy payout but I’m fortunate that I share costs with my husband and know I could get help from my parents if worst came to worst.
Technically I’ve been financially responsible for myself since I graduated at 22, as I’ve never asked for or relied on anyone else for money since then. But my parents did surprise me with a contribution to the deposit for our house as my 30th birthday present (we exchanged a few weeks after my birthday) and paid for most of our wedding later that year, neither of which we’d have been able to do in the same way without their help. I never had the expectation that they would pay for any of these things but I also know that, as their only child, they want (and can afford) to help me out with big milestones like these. Right now, I’m covering all my expenses with my redundancy payout but I’m fortunate that I share costs with my husband and know I could get help from my parents if worst came to worst.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My very first job was a Saturday job, working in a cafe for probably about £5 an hour when I was 16 or 17. I got it mostly because I wanted to put it on my uni application/CV. My parents were pretty strict with not wanting me to work during any of my exam years so I could focus on studying, so I only worked during school holidays.
My very first job was a Saturday job, working in a cafe for probably about £5 an hour when I was 16 or 17. I got it mostly because I wanted to put it on my uni application/CV. My parents were pretty strict with not wanting me to work during any of my exam years so I could focus on studying, so I only worked during school holidays.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes and no. I don't take for granted that both my husband and I have family safety nets if we really needed them, but day to day I do worry that we could be better at managing our money. A few years ago we racked up £15k on 0% interest credit cards from holidays, several transatlantic weddings (that we turned into extended road trips) and some small renovation projects for our house. That was a real turning point for me because I found it very stressful being in that much debt to fund ‘wants’ not ‘needs’. Travelling is the most important thing to both me and C and we’ve never regretted any of the amazing trips we’ve taken, but I did feel a lot of shame for getting into so much debt when our household income was over £100k at the time. We earn significantly less than most of our friends and, coming from wealthy backgrounds too, I think it’s been hard not to compare and get swept up in a lifestyle we can’t actually afford. We cut back and worked really hard to pay everything off before the interest-free deal ran out and ever since then I’ve taught myself a lot about personal finance. I now use Ramit Sethi’s conscious spending plan method for all our budgeting and we’re determined to build our savings and start investing (why, oh why, didn’t we do this earlier? Better late than never, I suppose...).
Yes and no. I don't take for granted that both my husband and I have family safety nets if we really needed them, but day to day I do worry that we could be better at managing our money. A few years ago we racked up £15k on 0% interest credit cards from holidays, several transatlantic weddings (that we turned into extended road trips) and some small renovation projects for our house. That was a real turning point for me because I found it very stressful being in that much debt to fund ‘wants’ not ‘needs’. Travelling is the most important thing to both me and C and we’ve never regretted any of the amazing trips we’ve taken, but I did feel a lot of shame for getting into so much debt when our household income was over £100k at the time. We earn significantly less than most of our friends and, coming from wealthy backgrounds too, I think it’s been hard not to compare and get swept up in a lifestyle we can’t actually afford. We cut back and worked really hard to pay everything off before the interest-free deal ran out and ever since then I’ve taught myself a lot about personal finance. I now use Ramit Sethi’s conscious spending plan method for all our budgeting and we’re determined to build our savings and start investing (why, oh why, didn’t we do this earlier? Better late than never, I suppose...).
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
I haven't received any inheritance but as I mentioned my parents gifted us £10k towards our house deposit (we paid £10k ourselves and my husband’s parents also gifted us £10k).
I haven't received any inheritance but as I mentioned my parents gifted us £10k towards our house deposit (we paid £10k ourselves and my husband’s parents also gifted us £10k).
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