Money Diary: A Lawyer On 73k At The Very Beginning Of The COVID-19 Panic
Last Updated 15 April 2020, 6:00
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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 lawyer based in London. I wrote this diary just over three weeks ago at the very beginning of the concern about coronavirus in the UK. Reading it back now it seems like it could be from years ago.
I work for a large charity and when I was writing this diary we were just about to go on a holiday to Mexico. We were incredibly lucky to be able to go away two days before Europe began banning all but essential travel, but the week was full of reading increasingly worrying news reports from back home. Now, I'm very lucky to be back in the UK and WFH along with my boyfriend as we try to tell ourselves that Easter eggs are not essential goods."
Industry: Legal
Age: 29
Location: London
Salary: £73,000
Paycheque amount: £3,846.26 (after tax)
Housemates: One, my boyfriend.
Age: 29
Location: London
Salary: £73,000
Paycheque amount: £3,846.26 (after tax)
Housemates: One, my boyfriend.
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £936 for my share including all bills and council tax.
Loan payments: £200 per month to repay a loan and two overdrafts accumulated while with my ex and paying for most of our expenses.
Credit cards: I took out one credit card in 2018 to see me through a brief sabbatical. The max amount of credit is £1,800. Its current balance is £1,100 as I have been making an extra effort to pay more than the minimum payment in the last couple of months after I maxed it out. Minimum payments are otherwise £41.85.
Utilities: Included in rent.
Transportation: Approximately £150 per month, depending on how much I cycle and whether I am catching a train to see either my family or my boyfriend’s family.
Phone bill: £44.55.
Savings? None. As well as my credit card and loan, I have two overdrafts to pay off following debt that my ex and I accumulated when we earned a lot less and we bought a flat and needed furniture etc. We still have the flat, which is where all my savings went in 2017. Thanks to some knotweed it is currently unsellable which is causing me a certain amount of low-level stress and makes me feel like I can’t move forward.
Other: Spotify £14.99.
Loan payments: £200 per month to repay a loan and two overdrafts accumulated while with my ex and paying for most of our expenses.
Credit cards: I took out one credit card in 2018 to see me through a brief sabbatical. The max amount of credit is £1,800. Its current balance is £1,100 as I have been making an extra effort to pay more than the minimum payment in the last couple of months after I maxed it out. Minimum payments are otherwise £41.85.
Utilities: Included in rent.
Transportation: Approximately £150 per month, depending on how much I cycle and whether I am catching a train to see either my family or my boyfriend’s family.
Phone bill: £44.55.
Savings? None. As well as my credit card and loan, I have two overdrafts to pay off following debt that my ex and I accumulated when we earned a lot less and we bought a flat and needed furniture etc. We still have the flat, which is where all my savings went in 2017. Thanks to some knotweed it is currently unsellable which is causing me a certain amount of low-level stress and makes me feel like I can’t move forward.
Other: Spotify £14.99.
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