Money Diary: A Telecare Operator & Student In Edinburgh On 22k

This week: "I'm a telecare operator which, for the sake of saving a couple of paragraphs, is basically an Old Lady Rescuer. We work shifts (woo) and provide remote support for elderly and vulnerable people living across Scotland: answering alarm calls, arranging appropriate responders, calling emergency services etc. I’ve been in this role for 15 months, lived in Edinburgh for 16 months and been financially independent for the past 18 months.

I had somewhat of a difficult experience of school and adolescence because I was severely unwell with anorexia from the age of 14. From 14 to 20, I had two repeated years of school, an inpatient admission in hospital, two years with outpatients and one year at Aberdeen University, during which time I lived half the time in halls and half the week in hospital. It took me a good few years, a lot of love and emotional support from my family and friends and financial support from my parents to get to the point where I could mentally and physically manage to work a full-time job and, therefore, support myself financially.

I dropped out of Aberdeen University after the first year, after deciding it wasn’t the right time and it wasn’t making me happy. After a couple of years of working, volunteering and part-time courses, I decided I wanted to go back to studying. I’ve been studying psychology part-time with The Open University for the past three years and have another two to go after this. Eventually, I think I want to do a master's in health psychology and work in elderly mental health. Studying can be quite full-on to manage alongside shifts but I don’t honestly think I’d be able to study at all if I worked a ‘normal’ nine-to-five." 

Industry: Health and social care and university
Age: 24
Location: Edinburgh
Salary: £22,000
Paycheque amount: £1,573
Number of housemates: One, L.

Housing costs: We each pay £540/month in rent.
Loan payments: £0
Savings? £2,500 in a Help to Buy ISA (I opened this last year just before the scheme ended and I transfer £100 from my current account every month), £400 in an instant access savings account (I transfer £50 from my current account every month and use this account when I have my car insurance, road tax and MOT to pay so I don't need to take money from my current account – I paid all my car-related costs over the past few months. I plan to add extra to this account over the next few months with Christmas coming up and to pay for flights (fingers crossed) for my sister's hen week in Florence next June and for my bridesmaid's dress for her wedding in August), £6,000 in a long-term savings account (my parents put aside the child benefit they received and handed this money over to me on my 18th. I've recently had to dip into this money to replace my laptop which I spilled a TINY amount of water on but which nonetheless died a death (doh), £1,400 in premium bonds.
Other: £13 Wi-Fi, £20 gas/electric, £153 council tax (all three of these represent my half of these costs), £20 gym membership, £4.99 Spotify (student rate woooo), £5 Bloody Good Period charity contribution.