Money Diary: A Project Manager On £55,000

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This week: "I’m a 31-year-old Project Manager living in London. I’ve been single for a year and live alone, which means my rent price is pretty high. I don’t currently have much in savings because I had to use them towards some unexpected expenses (such as high vet bills) a couple of years ago. I also got in a bit of debt at the time, but because I was quite strict with budgeting for a while, I managed to pay more than half of it off over the last year and a half. I recently started freelancing to supplement the income I get from my full-time job. However, it’s still very early days and I’ve only gotten a couple of one-off jobs from it so far."

Occupation: Project manager
Industry: Finance
Age: 31
Location: London
Salary: £55,000 + annual bonus
Assets: I unfortunately depleted my savings in the last few years because of a mixture of unexpected vet bills, not having good financial habits in the past and my ex-partner's job loss. I currently have around £1,600 left in my emergency savings.
Debt: Interest-free credit card debt worth £4,000.
Paycheque Amount: £3,172 (after tax, NI and student loans).
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Monthly Housing Costs: £1,400. As of recently, I live alone, so I spend quite a lot on rent, because the rental costs in London are very high.
Utilities: £35.22 wifi, £104 council tax, £29 water, £84-£118 gas and electricity.
Number of Housemates: None.
Monthly Loan Payments: £367 on student loans and £90 current minimum monthly debt payment (I usually pay off a lot more, though).
Pension: I have a pension pot of £25,000. I've paused my monthly contributions to repay debt quicker.
All Other Monthly Expenses: £13 phone, £27 gym, £80 pet insurance, £25 online CBT costs (I signed up when they had an offer on, so my current cost is very low, but it's due to rise in the next few months, if I decide to continue with it).

Did you participate in any form of higher education?
Yes, I did both an undergraduate degree and a master's in the UK. I took a tuition fee loan for my undergraduate degree and my parents helped me out with the living expenses. I also received a small inheritance, which I used towards the living expenses. I also had a part-time job throughout most of my degree. I didn't want to rely on my parents to pay for my master's, so after my undergraduate degree, I took a year out to work and save. I got a tuition fee loan, a £3,000 scholarship and worked part-time throughout my master's to cover the costs myself.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
I can't remember my parents having too many conversations about money with me when I was a kid. My parents are small business owners and in all honesty, they've never had the best financial habits. They were always doing well when their businesses were doing well and they were doing badly when the businesses were struggling. I've never heard my parents talk about any kind of savings, be it pension savings, emergency savings, etc. Having seen my parents have that kind of relationship with money definitely caused me to have a lot of anxiety around money and meant I didn't have good financial habits instilled in me.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was part-time at university. I did a mixture of bar and waiting jobs as well as working at university conferences.

Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes and no. As I mentioned before, my parents never had very good financial habits and weren't prepared financially when their businesses weren't doing well. So, there were times that I didn't worry, but also times when I saw my parents worry about money, live paycheque to paycheque and have to borrow money.

Do you worry about money now?
Yes, I hate having debt. So, I've been worrying about it a lot. I'm proud of myself for having paid a lot of it off, but it does feel a little bit like a never-ending journey. I can't wait to get rid of it soon! I'm also planning a big international move in the next year, which I want to start saving for.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
I became fully financially responsible for myself after I graduated from my undergraduate degree. I was around 21 years old then.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
Yes, my grandad left me his apartment in his will while I was still a teenager. The apartment was in a small town abroad and was not worth much. It was sold when I went to university and my parents would send me some of the money monthly, which contributed to my living expenses.

6:30 a.m. — I wake up but stay in bed for another 30 minutes, because I can't bring myself to get up yet.

7:00 a.m. — I quickly get ready, feed the cats and grab a quick breakfast myself. I'm currently obsessed with these lemon cheesecake protein yoghurts from Lindhal's. They taste so good!

8:00 a.m. — I recently signed up to do student mentoring to help international students with their university applications. I'm still due to be allocated students, but the company I'll be working for has asked me to take part in a promo video for their social media channels, which I'll be getting paid for. We're doing a test run today. It's the first time I've done something like this and it goes surprisingly well!

9:00 a.m. — I work all morning. I have a couple of meetings and spend the rest of the time catching up on some admin that I've been putting off for a few days.

12:45 p.m. — I break up for lunch. I made a quick tuna sandwich and relaxed for a few minutes before starting work again.

2:00 p.m. — I have a communications workshop with a project team. One of the projects I'm working on requires a big behavioural change across the organisation, so we meet to finalise the training and communications plan.

3:00 p.m. — The meeting ended and thankfully, we managed to go through everything without having to schedule another catch-up. I tidy up my notes and send out the actions to all attendees as well as update the project plan before logging off to go to a GP.

4:15 p.m. — I have been feeling a bit lightheaded for the past week, which is not something I had ever experienced for a prolonged period of time, and the doctor told me to come in for an in-person checkup. I'm told that I have mild depression and that my blood pressure is too high (which shocks me because I'm a very healthy person). I'm booked in to do some further tests and told to measure my blood pressure daily for the next two weeks in case the readings at the GP were a fluke due to stress.

5:30 p.m. — On the way home, I stop off at a supermarket to get spices, £2.75.

6:00 p.m. — I make a steak with vegetables and sit down, still in shock by what the doctor told me. I order a blood pressure monitor on Amazon for next-day delivery, £18.99.

6:30 p.m. — I feed the cats and lay around for a bit, trying to figure out which of my eating habits could be contributing to my health issues.

9:00 p.m. — I go to bed and browse the internet for some journaling prompts. I used to love journaling, but have found myself feeling a little bored with it because I was always writing about the same things. I find prompts that I like. They're £19.99, but I decide to check if I can get them cheaper anywhere else. I find the exact same prompts unused (still wrapped in foil) on Vinted for £5.09 including delivery. I'm pretty happy with my find as I don't like overpaying for my purchases if I can buy them at a lower price.

9:30 p.m. — I spend some time reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I'm only about 40 pages in, so I'm not sure if I like it yet, but I've been told that this book will break my heart. I'm extremely tired and fall asleep around 10:30 p.m.

8:30 a.m. — As it's a Saturday, I have a lie-in. I'm planning to have a slow weekend. I feed the cats and make myself breakfast and then I sit on the sofa and journal for a little while.

9:30 a.m. — I get ready and pack the things I sold on Vinted as well as get a few returns ready to drop off. I ordered a few pairs of Mary Janes the other day to try on and I'm really happy with one of the pairs, so I've decided to keep them. I initially found them online for £75, but ended up having a look around and found the exact same pair of shoes sold on John Lewis' site for £30 less. I try not to use my credit cards anymore, but I like to use them for online clothes orders when I buy a few items to compare, so that I don't have to pay for items I'll end up returning. I pay off the pair of shoes that I'm keeping, £45.

12:30 p.m. — I drop off the parcels and go to the shop to get some healthy snacks for the cinema, £3.35.

1:30 p.m. — I get six free cinema tickets a year from my bank, so my trip doesn't cost me anything (apart from the snacks). I watch Sinners. I was expecting it to be quite a bit scarier than it was, but I did really enjoy it.

5:00 p.m. — I stop off to get some groceries for dinner on my way back, £7.50. I'm making Cajun chicken with veggies and crispy potatoes today.

6:00 p.m. — The blood pressure monitor arrives and I anxiously check my blood pressure. Thankfully, it's absolutely fine. Seeing the number feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders! Up until now, I didn't realise quite how upset I was by the doctor's suggestion that I may have high blood pressure.

7:00 p.m. — I need to do some chores, but I am really struggling to motivate myself. I end up putting Midnight in Paris on in the background to entertain myself a little bit while cleaning. It ends up doing the trick because I spend 50 minutes cleaning the kitchen without even noticing.

8:30 p.m. — I take my cats to the garden for some fresh air. I live in an apartment building and have indoor cats, but I do try to take them out to get some fresh air in a communal tenant garden daily. They love watching birds and chasing bugs there and it's become their favourite part of the day. I get told off with some very stern meows if I occasionally don't end up taking them out.

9:30 p.m. — I get ready for bed and finish off the film before falling asleep around 11 p.m.

Total: £55.85

8:30 a.m. — I wake up and make French toast for breakfast, which I have with a bit of yoghurt.

10:00 a.m. — I do my grocery order on Morrisons via Amazon as my bank has a 12% cashback offer. I spend £49.63, which ends up costing me £43.67 after the cashback. A few of the items I needed the most ended up not being available and the substitutes offered weren't great, which means I'll unfortunately have to go grocery shopping again soon.

12:20 p.m. — I go to Boots to get a couple of things I've run out of, £23.99. I go to Holland & Barrett to get some snacks, £5.50, and then go to the gym where I do a few core and lower body exercises.

1:40 p.m. — I rush home because I'm starving and end up calling my brother for a quick catch-up on the way. I reheat yesterday's chicken for lunch and scoff it down as if I haven't seen food in days. Then I catch up on emails and send a couple of chasers on the pitches I sent to editors a couple of weeks back.

3:30 p.m. — The weather is really nice today and I keep dreaming of having an iced matcha. There aren't any cafes close enough to me that I could buy one from and I don't fancy walking 30 minutes, so I decide to walk to the shop to get myself an ice cream instead, £2. It doesn't hit the spot at all, but the sunny walk is nice.

4:30 p.m. — I make myself a cup of tea and decide to stop lounging around and Hoover, but then my phone rings and I end up spending the next hour talking to my parents instead!

6:00 p.m. — I make some salmon and tenderstem broccoli for dinner, clean up the dishes and then my evening seems to get away from me.

10:00 p.m. — I'm finally in bed, where I read through my notes ahead of tomorrow's interview, do a little bit of journaling and read a book. I don't end up reading too much, because it's getting late, but I do really want to give A Little Life a proper try, because I've been quite slow with reading the past couple of weeks. Maybe I'll manage to read some more tomorrow!

10:58 p.m. — I realise I've forgotten to get shampoo earlier today. I quickly order one from Sephora for next-day delivery, £15. I'm suddenly not so tired anymore, so after some tossing and turning I do an NSDR meditation and fall asleep.

8:00 a.m. — I slept through multiple alarms, but I've managed to drag myself out of bed. I get ready, eat and make myself a large cappuccino to wake up.

9:00 a.m. — I'm doing the interview recording today. I think it went pretty well, although I've never done something like this before, so I do worry about the end result a little bit…

9:45 a.m. — I need a few minutes to decompress, so I end up Hoovering my flat as I didn't do it last night.

10:00 a.m. — I log onto my work laptop to check my emails and plan my week. I have a lot of paperwork, I've been putting off for a little while so I block out my diary and get on with it. I make myself a decaf coffee to help me focus.

11:15 a.m. — I receive an email at work about a new discount platform that's going to be made available to all employees as part of workplace benefits later this month. I have a quick scan through it and it seems like quite a few shops I regularly shop at are on there, which should come in handy in the future.

11:20 a.m. — I check my phone and notice that I sold a dress on Vinted. I don't have many items left to sell, but through selling things I no longer needed or had the space for on Vinted and Facebook Marketplace, I managed to consistently sell between £40-200 worth of items per month for the past few months, which has been quite helpful in paying off my debt more quickly. And it feels pretty good to have less clutter in my space.

12 p.m. — I walk to the shop to get the grocery items that were missing from my delivery. I spend £5.25. I get back and make a quick spicy chicken wrap for lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon working.

5:00 p.m. — Finally time to log off for the day. I've caught up on most of my admin, but I still have a few things left to finish off. I decide that it's a tomorrow problem, though!

6:00 p.m. — I have dinner and spend some time outdoors catching up with a friend.

9:25 p.m. — I get in bed. Since it's Monday, it's The Last of Us day and I'm over the moon. I can't remember the last time I actually looked forward to Mondays this much! I'm still not over the second episode of this season (and I probably never will be)!

6:30 a.m. — I didn't sleep very well last night, which is quite a frequent occurrence for me on weekdays. I was planning to go to the office today, but I can't quite bring myself to commute in when I know nobody else from my team is going to be in. I decide to work from a nearby cafe later on instead. I don't love WFH too much, but I also don't like going in when nobody else from my team is in.

7:30 a.m. — After an hour-long failed attempt to go back to sleep. I get up and get ready for the day.

9:00 a.m. — Work begins. I've got a few morning meetings and as it turns out a couple of issues arose on a project. I try to get a better understanding of why they're happening and what this means for the project as well as get a solution in place to fix them.

12:20 p.m. — Lunchtime. I make a wrap again and pack Vinted orders to drop them off on my way to the cafe, where I'll be working for a couple of hours.

1:20 p.m. — I get to the cafe and get an oat milk flat white for £3.50 and get on with my work.

2:00 p.m. — The cafe is also a used bookshop, so I end up browsing through their fiction section and find two books that are on my ‘to be read' list, so I buy them for £6.

3:00 p.m. — I get hungry and don't fancy any of the food available at the cafe, so I get an iced matcha (finally!) to keep me going for a little longer. It cost me £4.50.

4:10 p.m. — I'm struggling to focus after a bad night's sleep and decide to finish work for the day and head back home. When I'm back, I meal prep pork souvlaki with homemade tzatziki to have for dinners over the next few days and spend the evening reading one of the new books I picked up. I really like A Little Life, but I'm in the mood for a more lighthearted read at the moment, so I'm giving it a break until I'm in need of a good cry.

9:00 p.m. — I get ready for bed and sleep at 10:30 p.m.

7:30 a.m. — I wake up pleased, having finally had a good night's sleep. I put my gym clothes on, as I'm planning to work out later this afternoon and I have breakfast. And yes, somehow I'm still obsessed with the cheesecake yoghurt.

9:30 a.m. — My first meeting of the day and another project issue was identified. Oh, the joys of project management. I speak to my mentor to bounce some ideas off her and get on with the rest of my work.

12:30 p.m. — I have a working lunch today, so I can log off early to go to the gym.

3:45 p.m. — I have a chia seed pudding as a pre-workout snack, close my laptop and set off to the gym.

5:15 p.m. — As I walk back from the gym, I stop off at TK Maxx to get an ice cube tray to make iced drinks at home, £2.99.

5:45 p.m. — I make dinner at home and read for the rest of the evening.

9:30 p.m. — I get in bed and do some journaling and more reading before falling asleep.

6:30 a.m. — Another not-so-great night's sleep, but I get up and start getting ready. I make myself a coffee, but the lack of sleep has definitely caused me to be very slow.

8:30 a.m. — On my way to work I buy a yoghurt pot at Pret because I was too tired to make breakfast at home, £3.25.

9:15 a.m. — I get into the office and have a morning full of meetings. There are some changes coming up to the company structure and we're given updates on what to expect from them.

12:30 p.m. — We're having a team lunch today. I grab something at Wasabi before spending the next hour catching up with my colleagues, £7.45.

2:00 p.m. — I'm getting a bit of an afternoon slump, so I go to a cafe with my colleague to get a flat white, £4.09. I could get a free coffee at work, but I don't think it tastes too great, so I always end up buying one at a nearby cafe.

2:30 p.m. — I get on with work for the rest of the afternoon and of course, I have a tech issue with my laptop, which means I spend an extensive amount of time at the IT Helpdesk.

5:30 p.m. — I'm setting off home. I'm happy to have come into the office today and I am planning to try to come in more frequently in future. I do really miss the face-to-face interactions I had with colleagues prior to working from home becoming the norm.

6:00 p.m. — I go to a supermarket on my way home to get a packet of vegetables, £1.50.

6:00 p.m. — I also stop off at a pet store to get treats for my cats, £5.69.

7:00 p.m. — Finally home! The commute to work cost me £4.20 for the day. I play with the cats a little bit and make dinner before I run myself a magnesium bath to read and wind down for the night.

11:00 p.m. — I go to sleep.

"I really enjoyed recording my spending. It's definitely opened my eyes a lot to how much exactly I'm spending every day. I feel like my spending wasn't too bad this week, although I'm disappointed to see that I didn't have a single no-spend day and I think I could do better with spending a bit less when I go into the office if I'm a little bit better prepared."