Money Diary: A Museum Manager On 36.6k

This week: "I’m 30 years old and I live in Wales. I used to live in London and work as a teacher but I packed it all in a few years ago as I felt my job was becoming my life. I thought I was going to relocate to another city in the UK but when I returned home I decided that I actually really love Wales and I've been here ever since. I like the slower pace of life and being close to nature, as well as being so much closer to my family.

I now work in heritage, doing a range of things but generally focusing on learning. I’m based on a fairly small site but I also have responsibilities nationally, which means I get to do strategic and policy work too. The work is interesting and I feel like I have a good work-life balance, and I’m lucky to be well paid for what I do as the sector is notorious for low salaries.

I bought a house a couple of years ago and now live with my partner of nearly five years, A. We don’t have a shared account but generally split everything in a fairly relaxed way, either by taking turns to pay or by using shared tabs on Monzo. I honestly don’t know where my money goes every month as I generally don’t tend to buy much 'stuff' so it will be interesting to track my spending for a week like this."

Occupation: Museum professional
Industry: Heritage
Age: 30
Location: Wales
Salary: £36,608
Paycheque amount: £2,138 after tax and deductions. I also earn around £120-150 a month for teaching a weekly evening class. I pay the full basic rate tax on this and the 32 weeks a year I work are averaged out over each month.
Number of housemates: One: my partner, A.
Pronouns: She/her

Housing costs: £350 for my share of the mortgage. A contributes £200 as I earn a bit more than him and I own the house. We will hopefully buy somewhere bigger together in a few years' time. 
Loan payments: Plan 1 student loan, which is deducted from my paycheque each month.
Savings? Roughly £3,000 spread across different accounts and pots. What I had built up over the years basically all went on fees, renovations and furniture when I bought a house a few years ago.
Pension? I pay 9% of my gross salary and my employer contributes around 20%, I’m not sure of the exact percentage.
Utilities: I split all these utilities 50/50 with A. My share comes to £38.51 gas, £14.50 electric, £11 internet, £7.72 home insurance, £74 council tax.
All other monthly payments: £10 phone, £18.99 car insurance, £6 political party membership, £9.99 union membership, £10 War Child charity donation. Subscriptions: £9.99 Spotify, £15.99 Netflix.

I did an undergraduate degree, which I funded through the standard student loan route for my fees. I had a maintenance loan to live off and was also given some money by my parents towards my rent as I lived in an expensive city. I worked in a bar during term-time and had various jobs during all the breaks to add to my income. I also have a PGCE but this was paid for through my graduate teacher training scheme as I completed it while working full-time in a school.

I don’t remember worrying much about money when I was growing up as we were definitely comfortable financially. My parents really drilled it into us that we were lucky to be in the position we were in and that it was important to appreciate the value of things and spend our money carefully (they’re both pretty frugal people). From this I’ve definitely learned to try and prioritise spending on needs over wants, and I feel able to speak openly with my parents about money and ask their advice.

I moved out at 18 for uni and moved back for a couple of months aged 25 when I first moved back to Wales.

I’ve been financially responsible for myself since I graduated and started my first job at 21. However, I would discount the couple of months at home when I was 25 as my parents didn’t charge me rent.

I worked in a shop and a café from 15 onwards to fund my Topshop and magazine habits. I loved it, met loads of interesting people through both jobs and had lots of valuable experiences that still help me in my professional life now. There is nothing like working a customer-facing job in a tourist town at the height of summer to teach you how to deal with difficult people.

Yes and no. I’m aware I’m privileged in a lot of ways, e.g. I’ve had familial financial support, own a house and have good job security and pension. However, I do feel like I should have more savings and be 'doing better' financially, whatever that means. I’m focusing on building up an emergency fund at the moment but also on trying to think less about the minutiae of money day to day. I’ve not been on my current salary for long and I think I’m slowly realising that I can enjoy myself a bit more and stress a bit less, especially while we don’t have any dependants or big responsibilities.

Yes, my parents gave me some money towards my living costs at university and I inherited £25k from my grandparents, which I used towards the house deposit and am incredibly grateful for.