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 single, fresh-out-of-uni 23-year-old who took the first job I could to pay my exorbitant south London rent. I live with some friends and spent September and October frantically applying for jobs and burning through my savings to stay afloat. I am typically very bad with budgeting and tend to spend everything available until my overdraft bottoms out – usually prompted by a call from the bank rather than diligent monitoring of my account balance."
Industry: Financial services
Age: 23
Location: London
Salary: £38k
Paycheque amount: £2,219
Number of housemates: 3
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: Base rent £785
Loan payments: Student loan, comes directly out of wages
Utilities: Around £150 (Wi-Fi, utilities, council tax)
Transportation: £30/week
Phone bill: £0 (love you, Dad)
Savings? About £400
Other: Yearly travel card, £1,648, is bought by work and comes directly out of my wages
Day One
10.30am: A late wake-up but probably not as late as I deserve, given my sleep deprivation. Have that foggy headache associated with staying in bed too long, which is disappointing since I deliberately declined any kind of booze the night before. Make a fat cafetière to disperse head fog.
12pm: Solicit housemate to buy a Sunday Times (£2.70), only to discard broadsheet and dive into Dolly Alderton’s column in Style. Cancel loosely held lunch plans as the desire to travel to Islington from Balham is too low (journey of just under one hour). Make brunch (lunch?) of fried mushrooms and spinach and soft boiled eggs (£3.60).
2pm: Housemate’s brother visits and, after long awkward pauses in the sitting room, resolve to go to the pub in order to endure each other’s company. Drink two Bloody Marys (£15), which is allowed on a Sunday anyway, and plan to do YouTube HIIT workout later to burn off.
4pm: Endure HIIT workout, co-suffering with housemate, nearly breaking floorboards with overzealous imitation of impossibly toned YouTube HIIT woman. I like to think doing these vids saves me circa £40/month in gym fees.
7pm: Pilfer housemate’s leftover tom yum as lack the will to cook. Also wolf down pack of Oreos and Christmas oversized choccy coin in a very anti-New Year, New Me move.
7.40pm: Head to pub quiz and fail miserably at nerd-oriented questions ( Star Wars? Football stadiums? Speed of light? Fuck off). Friend buys me overpriced craft lager as bar is cash only (the audacity of that). Accumulate debt of £7.85.
10pm: Go to sleep angry at stunning pub quiz failure, forgetting to remove makeup, thereby compounding frustration.
Total: £29.15
Day Two
6.40am: Awaken to dulcet tones of Radio 4 and ignore five successive alarms and drag self out of bed at 7.18am. Throw clothes on, remove makeup and run out front door by 7.25. Ouch.
7.55am: Arrive at work with five whole minutes to get flat white and porridge (provided by the work pantry) before hustling to my desk to be online by 8am sharp. I am typically very bad at being on time but working on it.
11am: Exhausted by intensive three hours of resolving client issues and receiving angry calls from sales reps. Run to pantry for another coffee and snaffle some dried fruit snacks to keep energy levels up for more irate German bankers.
1pm: I get exactly (strictly) one hour for lunch and I like to sprint for the front door and spend the whole hour as far away from my desk as possible. Many of my colleagues work through lunch but getting out of the office building is, for me, a matter of self-preservation. I take an angsty walk along the river with my earphones in then drop by Pret, buy a Thai red curry soup pot and baguette (£4) and read my book (Sally Rooney’s Normal People. If you haven’t read this by now then drop everything and just read it).
3.30pm: Take an indulgent 15-minute coffee break (again, pantry) with other new hires to complain about job/management/job performance metrics. Learn that other new hires have been staying a lot later than I to finish tasks. Resolve not to emulate other new hires.
5pm: Finish work and head for suffocating Northern Line. Read more Sally Rooney and fantasise about running away to rural Ireland, or going back to university.
6pm: Heat up preprepared stuffed mushrooms from Sainsbury's (£2), Diet Coke (75p).
8pm: Feeling empowered and emboldened by new series of Outlander, buy bright red cord work suit from Topshop online (£75). Resolve to ignore encroaching thoughts that red suit will pair badly with red complexion; choose to remain optimistic.
Total: £81.75
Day Three
7.05am: Roll out of bed, shower, dress and leave by 7.25. Smugness at completing this feat is evident to all Northern Line passengers.
7.55am: Feeling luxy and because it is my fave, I get standard flat white with sugar-free vanilla shot and two sourdough rolls, complete with Philadelphia spreadable and Nutella (work pantry). Start morning feeling buoyant.
10.30am: Very busy morning. Steal away to buy pack of Marlboro Golds, smoke two on the way back to the office (£12.45).
1pm: Out the door. Smoke more nasty dirty wicked ciggies by the river. Appetite suppressed, I settle for another coffee and pack of 'Ape' Thai flavour coconut and rice balls from the pantry.
3pm: Have joined a work group chat which sends out alerts when a fun afternoon treat arrives in the pantry. Today’s 'fun' is vegan energy balls which seem to be 95% desiccated dates.
6pm: Arrive home ravenous but somehow still take time to make Jamie Oliver trout, boiled egg and asparagus salad with hollandaise sauce. Ingredients pre-bought.
8pm: Do another HIIT and break more floorboards.
9pm: Eat housemate’s Green and Black's cooking chocolate as dying for sugar fix but lacking any fatty treats. Other housemate has friends over, enjoy solitary glass of champagne.
Total: £12.45
Day Four
7.10am: Rise, run out the door as per. Hump day, so feeling particularly grim; plus it is freezing this morning.
7.50am: Elect whole milk porridge with strawberry compote and almonds. I skip the coffee as my teeth have been gradually turning off-white.
11.20am: Desperate for coffee but resist, go for a Diet Coke instead, remember only afterwards that this is supposedly as bad for teeth as the flat white. Also manage to spill Coke down nice white Zara blouse.
1pm: They are serving lentil soup in the pantry so I take a cup but 20 mins later I’m starving, so pop to M&S and grab a ham and mayo sandwich (£3.45). Also go to Boots and get emergency tights (buy one, get one half-price, £9 for six pairs!) and splash out on a new foundation and blender sponge (£13.95). Carried by the buzz of self-improvement, book hair appointment for this evening.
4.30pm: Computer system crashes and takes a while to reboot. Seize opportunity to get a mocha from the pantry.
6.15pm: This is a new salon but came recommended by Google ratings. I was also familiar with the name of the chain so confidently agree to a £46 cut and style. My hair is bone dry as the result of an emotional crisis earlier in the year, whereby I let my housemate peroxide my hair. The £46 includes a deep-conditioning treatment which is very much needed.
7.40pm: Home, make a chicken thigh and broccoli stir fry with dark soy sauce, garlic, ginger and a splash of teriyaki sauce (£5.60). Order knockoff deep-conditioning balm off Amazon for £12.50.
Total: £90.50
Day Five
7am: Up early. Hair still looks gorgeous from style yesterday so I go whole hog and pick a nice outfit, do proper face of makeup, etc. Plan to ogle cute fella in the anti-money laundering team later today.
7.45am: Flat white, banana and Yeo Valley natural yoghurt from the pantry. Actually get time to eat it before the storm hits at 8am.
10.40am: Have started listening to Radio 4 through my headset at work. This is not strictly allowed but no one has noticed yet. Caitlin Moran is narrating chapters from her debut book, How To Be A Woman. Remember reading it as a teenager and it resonates with me as much now as then.
1pm: They serve mushroom soup in the pantry today, which is my favourite. The bread doesn’t look so appetising though, so pop out to little M&S for a poppyseed bun to accompany it (50p). Read more of very good book.
5.40pm: This is possibly the latest I have ever finished in this job and I do not wish to replicate it. Today's lateness is mostly due to waiting for coworkers to finish up so can go to pub.
6pm: My best work friend quit last week for greener pastures, so tonight he has organised leaving drinks. This turns out to be a messy misadventure (though very good bonding with team). I spend £32 on Negronis. Later we get pizza and I buy for everyone (don’t ask me why). £19.99
1.15am: Catch the last Tube home. When I roll in, housemate is still up, so I climb into bed with her and we talk rubbish for an hour or so. Dread the next morning.
Total: £52.49
Day Six
7.20am: It’s bad — an apocalypse of the mind and body. Somehow leave by 7.30.
8am: Late to desk so skip breakfast. At least coworkers look as bad as I feel.
9.30am: Get notification that pantry is serving 'detox' carrot, apple and ginger smoothies. I revive myself a little.
1pm: I really feel like something greasy but the Domino’s from last night is weighing in my stomach like a ton of bricks. Head to Leon and purchase Sicilian chicken meatballs box (£6.45), which is greasy without being too unhealthy.
3pm: The afternoon goes by paralysingly slowly. Members of the food internal group chat write extensively and in detail about the nostalgic foods of their childhood. Increasingly feel like I’m trapped in a Brechtian corporate nightmare world. They serve Victoria sponge in the pantry.
6pm: I go straight home and stop by Sainsbury’s to get fresh pesto and egg pasta (£5.80). Housemates are out so I make supper and spook myself by watching You on Netflix. Try on Topshop suit which looks predictably awful. Will send back at nearest opportunity.
9pm: Cancel plans with friends to go out in Brixton and decide to take an early night.
9.40pm: Harangued and harassed by aforementioned friends, agree to get in an Uber and join for pre-drinks. I bring a half-empty bottle of Waitrose gin left over from some party. The Uber is £10.40.
10.20pm: My friend’s sister has just been given an offer to study at my alma mater. She isn’t a big drinker (and is only 17) but we coax her into necking some vodka oranges. This whole affair is very jolly and I once again feel myself yearning for younger days, strung out on a university campus without a care in the world. After pre-drinks and failure to launch into an actual night out, I take an Uber home at a cost of £15.20 (bloody surge charge).
Total: £37.85
Day Seven
10.30am: Arise feeling groggy, partly because the heating has been left on and my room is hot and dry. Scour the kitchen to find no fresh coffee or breakfast goods. Head to Sainsbury’s for ground coffee and end up doing weekly shop. I am going out for dinner three times next week so I know I don’t need to plan many meals, so buy ingredients for parmigiana melanzane (aubergines, basil, tinned pomodoro tomatoes, mozzarella). Also get a copy of Cosmo. It all comes to £23.05. On the way home I pass a coffee shop I haven’t tried before so I get a flat white and a fried egg chapati (£5.60).
1pm: We had planned to go to Hampstead Heath today and potentially go for a dip in the women's pond. But members of the group are not replying to messages so this looks increasingly unlikely.
2pm: Walking plans looking decidedly cancelled, I go for a run around the common instead. When I get back I realise my favourite running leggings have a hole in them, so immediately purchase a replacement pair for £16.50 from ASOS.
4pm: Head to friend’s house for Burns Night dinner and drinks. This begins at the pub (two large glasses of house red, £14), followed by the purchase of a nice-looking Pinotage from Sainsbury’s (£8). The evening culminates in a singalong to the Outlander theme tune, and I fall asleep on the sofa by 2am.
Total: £67.15
The Breakdown
Food/Drink: £170.14
Entertainment: £2.70
Clothes/Beauty: £160.45
Travel: £25.60
Other: £12.45
Total: £371.34
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
This Is The Secret To Being A Successful Working Mum
How This Simple Email Trick Has Helped Me Get Better At Saying No