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, we're with a 26-year-old funded PhD student, which means she gets her fees paid and receives an untaxed stipend from her university. The stipend amounts to just under 15k per annum, which is liveable in London, but things can be a bit tight. In order to supplement the stipend, she works ‘casual’ hours at a museum, which is kind of like a zero-hours contract. She tries to do at least two shifts a week, depending on what the museum offers her, which works out as about £250-£350 a month.
She hasn’t seen the other side of her overdraft since about 2014 and says she could be a lot better at saving if she did a lot more planning, but often gets too scared to look at her bank statement. She doesn't spend a load of money on anything in particular or buy anything mad when payday comes around, and suspects by doing Money Diary, she will realise most of her money goes on snacks.
Industry: Academia I guess, and the 'heritage sector'
Age: 26
Location: London
Salary: £17,000
Paycheque amount: £1,300-£1,400, depending on how many shifts I get at the museum
Number of housemates: 1 (boyfriend)
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £670
Loan payments: My student loan repayments have been on hold for a while.
Utilities: £50
Transportation: Once a month I go out of London to my uni for my PhD supervision meetings, which usually costs about £15-£25 for a return train or coach fare. To be honest, I don’t keep track of my London transport spend as I usually walk to work at the museum or to the libraries, so don’t buy a regular travel card or anything. I’ll estimate about £40 a month.
Phone bill: £20
Savings? Nope.
Other? Netflix, £5.99. Contact lenses, £20.
Total: £825.99
Love reading Money Diaries? Love commenting on Money Diaries? Want to hear MORE from the diarists themselves? Join our Money Diary Facebook Group, where our OPs will share an exclusive reflection on their week and their spending.
Day One
10am: The day after payday. The most dangerous financial time for me. I feel safe because I have money again, but then don’t pay enough attention to the cash I’m spending. That said, I start the day cheaply, with a cup of tea and a bagel from the multipack in the bread bin.
1.30pm: Eat a big pile of homemade chips while I do some academic admin, made from potatoes already in the fridge.
6pm: Get the overground to meet some mates at the pub, £2.40. Spend £11 in Wetherspoons and then go to a party where the booze is abundant, so don’t need to nip down to the offy for a bottle of wine. People are very giving.
2.30am: Get two night buses home, £3. For some reason, the takeaway place across the road from me seems to open at 11am and close at 9pm, so there’s nowhere nearby to get much-needed chips. I make do with two bagels dozily eaten in my kitchen.
Total: £16.40
Day Two
12pm: Ugh. Crawl out of bed to get two Capri-suns and a packet of Chipsticks, £1.39, to accompany two slices of toast. Very necessary.
1pm: Take the bus to work, £1.50. Usually I’d walk but I’m too full of shame. Sit there and think about how annoying I was last night.
6pm: Buy a pie and salad for dinner, £3.40. My boyfriend is away so I'm buying/cooking dinners for myself this week, whereas usually we would take turns. Very quaint. After that, I get the bus home again as I’m still feeling rough, £1.50.
12.20am: Maybe it’s because I’m hungover but I give into myself and buy a pair of snakeskin kitten heels on eBay, £12.99. eBay can be both friend and foe; a place to sell some bits for a few extra quid, and a place to waste my money.
Total: £20.78
Day Three
8.30am: Nip out to buy eggs, bread, butter and sugar. The cheaper shop isn’t open yet so have to go to the deli, where items are a bit more expensive. Spend £7.45, which is bloody annoying but all this stuff will last me a while.
9.50am: Walk to work, packed lunch in my bag. It’s a sad pitta and a packet of own-brand crisps from a multipack.
4.15pm: Walk home. I feel like I can’t afford a gym membership so consider all this walking as a free and functional replacement. Stop off at Sainsbury’s for some more bits for the week, including dinner, £5.78.
Total: £13.23
Day Four
8.30am: Eat Staffordshire oatcakes with butter honey for breakfast, listening to men shouting outside. There’s always men shouting outside.
10am: Walk to work.
4pm: Walk back!
7pm: Is there a sweeter reply to "Where do you want to go to eat?" than "Somewhere cheap"? I don’t think there is. Go out for a cheap dinner with a mate, £11.50. It's BYOB, so I get a bottle of shiraz from the booze shop beforehand, where I do a bit of theatre when selecting, as if I’m not just looking for the cheapest bottle, £5.99.
Total: £17.49
Day Five
8am: Make French toast, then feel a bit sick after all the sugar. Everything was already in the cupboard (and fridge) ready to go, so no £s spent. Decide to work from home today, mainly because I need to do some writing and hate lugging my laptop to the library (it's not a sleek little Mac).
1.32pm: Lunch is the leftovers from the chickpea pasta thing I made the other night. Topped with three different kinds of cheese left in the fridge. Doing PhD work at home means hot lunches. Wish libraries had microwaves.
8pm: After two accidental naps, I make myself Marmite pasta for dinner. Sounds bad but it’s very tasty, I highly recommend it. Once again, all my ingredients are on hand in the kitchen, so I don’t have to buy anything.
Total: £0
Day Six
10am: Late start. Eat boiled egg on toast at home with enough salt to make my teeth feel funny. Feel like by the time I get to the library all the lockers will be full, and the faff of it all is daunting, so might as well work from the kitchen table again.
1.30pm: Go out to buy fruit and milk, £3.50. Need to look at something other than a computer screen so pop into a local gallery that I can get into for free with my student card. Must’ve been sitting inside too long because nothing outside seems real and all I can concentrate on are my eye floaters.
7pm: Have my second fencing class this evening. I have a gross spot on my lip so I’m thankful that I’m doing a sport that involves masks. Get the bus there, £1.50.
8.15pm: Me and my aching legs get a well-deserved bus back home, £1.50.
Total: £6.50
Day Seven
8am: Eat honey on toast at top speed as I woke up late for my museum shift. Walk to work and take my tea to go in my leaky plastic travel cup thing. It drips all over my coat.
8.30am: Stop in Saino’s to get a meal deal because I forgot to buy lunch stuff yesterday. What’s with the reduced selection of meal deal options? I look it up and apparently these meal deal changes first sparked fury in late 2016, I just haven’t been at them in a while, £3.
6.30pm: Go for some work drinks and end up buying a burger and chips in the pub. I wasn’t planning to, but I caved when other people did and now I feel guilty about it, £14.
8pm: Too sleepy to walk home, so bus back. Bang my head on the window several times as I keep nodding off, but on the bright side I'm so tired I'm going to have to stay in tonight and not spend any more money, £1.50.
Total: £18.50
The Breakdown
Food/Drink: £67.01
Entertainment: £0 (I’m not always this boring)
Clothes/Beauty: £12.99
Travel: £12.90
Other: £0
Total: £92.90
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
What It's Like Going To University As A Single Mother
Real Women Got Raises By Following This Advice (Maybe You Should Try It)