Money Diary Communications Officer On 30k

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 29 years old and live in the southeast with my husband (T) and little rescue cat. I currently work for a local university, where I’ve been for the past seven years in various roles. T and I got married during the pandemic (after a couple of postponements) and have shared expenses ever since but we’re quite relaxed about the way we do it. We bought our first home about five years ago and are now in the process of selling and buying again (it’s all been very slow but we’re hopefully moving within the next month). I’m excited to have a bit more space as we bought our current home pre-remote working and now both work from home at least a few days a week. I get quite anxious about money generally so with upsizing and interest rate rises I’m finding the whole process pretty stressful. I know logically that we’re not overstretching ourselves so I've just got to trust the process. I've recently accepted a new job, starting in the summer, which will be a big challenge but it will also have a fairly significant pay increase."

Occupation: Communications officer
Industry: Higher education
Age: 29
Location: Southeast
Salary: £30,500
Paycheque amount: £1,920.27 after tax, pension and student loan.
Number of housemates: One: my husband, T.
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing costs: £855.37 mortgage, split between me and T. We used to overpay a chunk every month but we’ve paused this for a bit to save as much as we can for stamp duty and other moving costs.
Loan payments: £5 student loan straight from my paycheque. £150 a month to my credit card. This currently has about £5,000 on it but it’s 0% interest so I use it for big stuff like holidays and annual gym membership. I try to pay a little over the minimum each month and plan to clear it with savings once the 0% period is up.
Savings? £10,000 in premium bonds, some of which will go towards the new house. I also have £1,000ish in a Chase account for shorter term stuff like holidays and car or cat expenses.
Pension? I pay in 8%, which my employer matches. I also have a pot from a previous job but no idea how that’s doing so when I’m settled in my new job I’m planning to look into whether it’s worth consolidating.
Utilities: £168 council tax, £13.25 TV licence, £27 water, £125 gas and electric, £29.74 broadband. These are all split between me and T.
All other monthly payments: £6.86 SIM contract, £26.90 life and critical illness insurance, £9.58 pet insurance. Subscriptions: £10 cat flea and worm treatments.

Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?

I did an undergraduate degree in humanities and took out the maximum loans I was entitled to. Unfortunately this didn’t even touch the sides of my rent and bills so I also worked various part-time jobs throughout the year with full-time hours over the holidays. My parents kindly chipped in for expenses here and there like the first big food shop of the term and train fares to visit home for holidays.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?

I don’t remember any specific conversations but we were always comfortable. My parents both had very average professional jobs and we lived to a budget throughout most of the year. I’ve always been encouraged to work hard and save every month, and I do think I live quite similarly to my upbringing in terms of scrimping on the things I don’t value so much to spend on the things I do.

If you have, when did you move out of your parents'/guardians' house?

At 18, for university (although I went back and forth during the holidays). I officially moved out after I graduated at 22 as they were selling the family home.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?

Once I graduated and got my first job out of university. I wasn’t earning a good salary for a while but I lived in grimy house-shares and took on second jobs to make it work. Now I share lots of expenses with my husband but no one directly covers any of my financial life aside from that.

What was your first job and why did you get it?

A paper round, which I hated and traded in for a Saturday job at a bakery as soon as I was old enough. Then I worked various retail and bar jobs throughout sixth form, just so that I could pay for clothes, gig tickets, hanging out with my friends and, later, driving lessons and university.

Do you worry about money now?

To some extent, yes. I used to count every penny but now that I’m earning a decent amount I’ve relaxed on that front a bit. I worry more about longer term or unexpected things, like how I’ll afford to have children or what would happen if I lost my job.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.

My parents gave us £5,000 when we got engaged to put towards our wedding, which was hugely unexpected but of course hugely appreciated.