Money Diary: A 27-Year-Old Marketing Consultant On 37k

This week: "I'm a 27-year-old woman living in London and working as a marketing consultant. I'm at my third company and really enjoying it, for the most part (third time lucky?). I live with a couple – people often ask if this is awkward but it works well because both are close friends and we have known each other since uni. They've been very good recently as my partner and I split up during the summer, which was for the best although I'm not sure I've totally emotionally healed.

I'm lucky to be in a comfortable financial situation due to my employment as it allows me to save a certain amount each month and build a safety net. I do enjoy buying nice things but these purchases are usually justified in some way. I wouldn't say I'm a big saver as I do get a buzz from spending money on fun things, particularly experiences, but I don't have any expensive habits such as smoking or luxury skincare so it probably balances out."

Occupation: Marketing consultant
Industry: Marketing (private sector)
Age: 27
Location: Zone 2, London
Salary: £37,000
Paycheque amount: £2,050 after deductions
Number of housemates: Three
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses
 
Housing costs: I have an unusual arrangement in that I rent off a friend who owns the house (with his girlfriend) so I pay rent to them rather than a landlord. Because it's their house, they sort the bills etc. (which is lucky for me but makes sense I guess) so I have a direct debit of £800 to him every month to cover my rent, bills and council tax. 
Loan payments: I have a student loan, which comes out before my paycheque is issued. I also have about £500 on my credit card because of some overspending last month so am paying that back incrementally.  
Savings? I have £10,000 in a savings account which I try to put the same amount of money into after my paycheque each month, then dip into it if I need to (though I try not to). I also have a holiday pot in Monzo. I use the 'round up' function but am always stumped at how this fails to accrue any meaningful amount of money – about £30 after six months! 
Pension? I have a pension which I pay 5% into via salary sacrifice. I’m yet to consolidate this with the pension pots from my two previous jobs.
Utilities: Taken care of by my friend-landlord but council tax is around £40 each and bills are in the region of £70 each. 
All other monthly expenses: Phone bill £20. Subscriptions: I have a wool subscription for £12, a direct debit to a charity for a cause close to my heart £30, and a rugby club membership which is yearly but works out to around £15.40 a month.

I completed a three-year undergraduate degree which was paid for using the maintenance loan that applied to my parents' income bracket (no bursaries). I topped this up with the money I earned from working during my degree (call centre, working for a waitressing agency etc.) as usually the maintenance amount didn't quite see me through to the end of each term.

To be honest, we didn't have many conversations about money unless in exceptional circumstances. My parents gave me advice to save but I think a lot of how I manage my finances is based on my own research and intuition. Both my parents come from tougher backgrounds than the one I grew up in (and both still support their parents) so I think they wanted to shield me and my siblings from money stress. We rented until I was about 7 and then my parents bought their house, which helped with the feeling of security.

I left for uni aged 18 and then moved down to London the summer I finished.

I became financially responsible for myself when I left uni. I say this because although I held down part-time employment from the age of 16, I was able to come home in the uni holidays and live with my parents, who paid for the household shop and didn't make me pay them rent during these periods, which is very kind.

My first job was babysitting. We moved to a road with lots of kids when my parents bought their house so that meant there was a near-infinite demand. I started doing this properly when I was about 14, which I think is the legal age, but helped look after neighbours' children unofficially a bit before that so I always had some petty cash.

I don't worry about money day to day because I am reasonably good at budgeting and I'm lucky to have a job that pays well. This is very conditional on my employment as I wouldn't be able to survive on savings for an indefinite amount of time if I were to lose my job (probably not even a year). London is just too expensive. 

I have not.