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 junior doctor living in Nottingham. Her life consists of long hours and busy days, which means she's not got a lot of time for eating home-cooked meals. Nevertheless, she still manages to fit in exercising, socialising and a bit of revising. How do her finances fit into this? Let's find out...
Industry: Junior Doctor
Age: 24
Location: Nottingham
Salary: Basic is £27,000 but overtime and nights takes it to £32k gross this year
Paycheque amount: Varies with overtime but averages at £2,000 take home per month
Number of housemates: 2
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs (rent): £300
Loan payments: £0
Utilities: £120
Transportation: £100 (bus pass)
Phone bill: £15
Pension: Fixed NHS contributions (currently 9%, but goes up as the salary goes up)
Savings: £250 pm to Nationwide regular saver, £200 to HL S+S LISA (currently I have about £3,000 in savings)
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Day One
7am: I drag myself out of the house; research shows eating later in the morning improves insulin sensitivity, so no breakfast. Use my monthly bus pass. When I get to work I make myself a free tea from the kitchen.
1pm: It’s a busy morning. I’m so excited for lunch that I forget I have no cash on me and have to borrow £2.50 from the senior doctor on the ward. I treat myself to cheesy chips and a Diet Coke… my New Year’s resolutions are already a lost cause.
6pm: I manage to persuade a group of junior doctors to join me for dinner, so I get the bus straight into town after work. I’m early so browse in Boots, I buy a tub of Nivea for my housemate and a sheet mask for me, £4 (skincare is an obsession of mine). Yo! Sushi is packed, so we make our way to a make-your-own-pizza place. The barman winks at me and doesn’t charge me for my beer, so I pay £7.45 for a pint of Punk IPA and a 12-inch pizza.
8pm: After scaring the restaurant with our medical talk, we move to a quieter bar, where my friend buys us a round. We share an Uber home, my share costs £2.
Total: £15.95
Day Two
7am: The dark mornings are killing me, but I make it onto my bus. Why oh why didn’t I learn to drive when I was 17? I help myself to more free tea when I get to work; my consultant shares her Oreos during ward round, so I’m a happy bunny.
12.30pm: I walk over to the main hospital for teaching, and buy myself a salad for lunch from M&S, £4. I have meetings all afternoon, but chain-drink free coffee from the doctors' mess to keep me going.
6pm: I stop at Sainsbury’s on the way home, there’s only so long I can go without food in the house before self-preservation kicks in. I buy three fresh soups, three packs of straight-to-wok noodles, three stir-fry sauces and three bags of stir-fry veg, £10.
7pm: I’m starving by the time I get home, I persuade my housemate to order pizza from Domino's. I go for a three-mile run, and then enjoy my large Veggie Volcano (it’s two for Tuesday, so my share costs £9).
Total: £23
Day Three
7am: No breakfast again, bus again, free tea from the kitchen again. It’s such a busy day at work that by lunchtime I have a raging headache. My leftover pizza for lunch cheers me up.
6pm: On the way home, I send my little sister’s birthday presents (ColourPop makeup, already paid for) by 24hr delivery and it costs £6. Me and my twin also send her some vodka from Amazon, £10. When I’m in the post office I also buy a Diet Coke, a magazine and snack pack of olives, £3.
7pm: I get home and instead of eating the healthy stir fry I had planned, I eat the final three slices of my pizza. I have bigger fish to fry than healthy eating. I do manage to drag myself on a one-and-a-half-mile tempo run though, go me!
Total: £19
Day Four
7am: I come into work to find utter chaos, I’m sure that patients can sense the bad weather outside.
12pm: I eat one of my Sainsbury’s soups for lunch with yet another cup of tea. I really should move back to peppermint tea again, I’m probably developing a caffeine tolerance.
3pm: I’m not home yet but my housemate lets our new cleaner in for the second week; she cleans the floors, kitchen and bathroom for us and is a complete lifesaver. £20 for two hours.
7pm: It’s been another long day on the ward, but I finally manage to cook after catching the bus home. I make myself veg stir fry with the stuff I bought on Tuesday – there’s enough to save for lunch tomorrow.
8pm: It’s bitterly cold and rainy, I’m not dedicated enough to run through it. I fall asleep at 8.30pm and sleep straight through. I’m starting to think my life is a bit boring, typing this out.
Total: £20
Day Five
7am: I have all-day training at the main hospital on end-of-life care. My friend gives me a lift in and we manage to miss the traffic. We’re early so I treat myself to a skinny latte from Costa, £2.65.
11am: The end-of-life training is a bit depressing; we have a tea and sympathy break halfway through the morning. I buy a Diet Coke and bag of low-calorie salt popcorn, £2.
1pm: I eat my leftover noodles for lunch and we gossip about how much we hate Jeremy Hunt – he’s prime doctors' mess chat these days.
5pm: The rest of training goes well and I manage to beg a lift home off an old colleague who I bumped into.
6pm: My housemate cooks me dinner, but I’m still too lazy to run. This Money Diary seems to be doubling up as a food and exercise diary for me.
Total: £4.65
Day Six
9am: I start the day with a two-hour driving lesson, I’ve got a test booked for three weeks’ time, so we’re mostly just practising test routes, £50.
12pm: After a quick soup for lunch I actually (shock horror) manage to take myself on a three-mile run. I’m listening to the PodMed podcasts at the moment while running, but I’d really recommend the TED health talks podcasts to non-doctors.
1pm: On my way back I stop at Tesco Express for a Diet Coke, toilet roll and Sterling Menthols, £9. I don’t smoke, but I’m planning a big night out with a group of friends and most of us smoke when we’re drinking. (You didn’t hear it from me; doctors are the pinnacle of responsibility.)
6pm: I eat a small frozen pizza (pizza is a staple for me) and spend almost two hours in the bath before getting ready for my night out.
7pm: We meet at the hospital for a pantomime, there’s lots of doctors and nurses I know putting on a show of ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ to raise money for the hospital charity. I buy an ice-cream and Diet Coke in the interval, £2, and put £5 into the collection at the end.
9pm: We move to a pub round the corner from the hospital for a few drinks, but one of the guys I’m with pays for my two vodka-Diet Cokes. After our pantomime stars have been released from backstage we move into the centre of town. We get the tram – luckily a kind lady offered me her all-day ticket that she’d finished with.
10pm: I buy a round at the next place, £17.95, but like the spoilt princess I am I mostly get my drinks bought for me. I realise with horror an hour later that this bar uses 35ml measures instead of 25ml… no wonder I'm smashed.
1am: We walk drunkenly to a friend’s house near town, but the smell of cheap McDonald’s tempts us in. I get a medium fries, 99p, and finish them before we’ve even got home. I sleep on their sofa rather than paying for an Uber back.
Total: £84.94
Day Seven
7am: My hungover brain wakes me up early. I help the host make eggs and bacon for the boys and we enjoy a duvet morning watching Netflix. It starts snowing but we decide to brave the weather for lunch and shopping.
12pm: I buy a pair of flat boots and some footsie socks from Primark, £12.50. The cold weather forces us into a new tea shop and I buy a matcha latte to warm me up. I also pay for one of the guys, as he bought me a few drinks when we were out, £5.25.
1pm: We swing by Yo! Sushi for lunch, but sadly the Blue January offer doesn’t apply on weekends. We eat there anyway – I justify it as a hangover cure with all the omega 3s and B vitamins in fish, £15.95.
3pm: I beg a lift home, and after a quick run I meet up with some other medics for some revision and gossiping. It’s raining so I justify an Uber (there and back) £8.
8pm: I make myself stir fry for dinner and save the leftovers for Monday lunch.
Total: £41.70
The Breakdown
Food/Drink: £92.74
Entertainment: £5
Clothes/Beauty: £16.50
Travel: £10
Other: £85
Weekly total: £209.24
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