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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 am a 26-year-old project manager living in East Anglia. My partner (S) and I pool all of our money; we both get paid into the joint account and if we want to buy each other a gift or something secret, we move the money needed into our personal account so that the other person doesn’t see it on the statement. Other than that, everything is split straight down the middle. We bought our first home towards the end of last year (£200,000), which we jointly own. The deposit was from savings that I’d been building up for years before I met S, based on the assumption that when I did buy a house, it would be alone (I couldn’t imagine ever liking somebody so much that I would want to see them literally every single day)."
Occupation: Digital Project Manager
Industry: Media
Age: 26
Location: East Anglia
Salary: £27,500
Take-home pay: £1,764
Industry: Media
Age: 26
Location: East Anglia
Salary: £27,500
Take-home pay: £1,764
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £993.10 mortgage. Because I had/have a terrible credit score, we ended up with a ludicrously high interest mortgage. When we can remortgage in 20 months, we should hopefully be able to get a much lower rate. I live with S and my squishy dog (pup).
Debt repayments: I got a consolidation loan last year, which I still owe £1,735 on. I owed various bits of money in various places and this seemed the best way to get organised and hopefully raise my credit score. I pay £293 towards my loan each month.
Other monthly expenses: Council tax £133.98, electricity and gas £60, water £62, Virgin broadband £38, Netflix £11.99, Spotify Family £14.99, YouTube Premium £17.99, mobile contract £59.99 (bloody rip-off), pet insurance £11.81, razor subscription £8, prepaid prescriptions £9 (I typically get three prescriptions per month but with a prepayment plan, you pay a set amount each month, no matter how many you get. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who gets more than one prescription each month). Couch repayments £23.22, mileage tracker £4.49 (no idea what this is, it’s a thing that S has).
Savings? Our savings were completely depleted when we moved, so we’re starting from scratch. Last month we managed to save £700, largely thanks to not spending money going out; we aim to save £500 a month normally. Some of this will go on mortgage overpayments, some towards buying a larger house in a few years, and some towards future holidays or random big things.
Debt repayments: I got a consolidation loan last year, which I still owe £1,735 on. I owed various bits of money in various places and this seemed the best way to get organised and hopefully raise my credit score. I pay £293 towards my loan each month.
Other monthly expenses: Council tax £133.98, electricity and gas £60, water £62, Virgin broadband £38, Netflix £11.99, Spotify Family £14.99, YouTube Premium £17.99, mobile contract £59.99 (bloody rip-off), pet insurance £11.81, razor subscription £8, prepaid prescriptions £9 (I typically get three prescriptions per month but with a prepayment plan, you pay a set amount each month, no matter how many you get. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who gets more than one prescription each month). Couch repayments £23.22, mileage tracker £4.49 (no idea what this is, it’s a thing that S has).
Savings? Our savings were completely depleted when we moved, so we’re starting from scratch. Last month we managed to save £700, largely thanks to not spending money going out; we aim to save £500 a month normally. Some of this will go on mortgage overpayments, some towards buying a larger house in a few years, and some towards future holidays or random big things.
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