This week: “I’m a 27-year-old doctor living in the east of England. I’ve lived here ever since I left home to go to university and managed to buy a house with my fiancé, K, last year. We also got a little dog, B, two years ago despite working full-time. I’m not working in a patient-facing role for the next year so I am able to work from home relatively often and only go onsite for some of the days or part of the day.
I used to be a massive spender during my university years but once I started earning my own money I got a lot better at saving and spending wisely. K and I share all costs 50/50 but he earns a little bit more than me. Currently our financial goals are saving for a wedding and hopefully saving for a baby in the next couple of years. I worry a lot about the financial pressures of a child with family being so far away but I do feel financially comfortable.”
Occupation: Doctor
Industry: Healthcare
Age: 27
Location: East of England
Salary: £40,000 base pay and £5,000 additional pay.
Paycheque amount: £2,400 after pension and student loan deductions.
Number of housemates: Two: My partner, K, and my dog, B.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £470 mortgage.
Loan payments: My student loan is usually just under £200 a month and I use no other forms of credit.
Pension? I have an NHS pension and on my current pay scale I pay 9.8% into this.
Savings? £30,000 in an ISA and £10,000 in an easy access savings account.
Utilities: All my bills are split with K. My half comes to £19 water bill, £18 Wi-Fi, £70 energy bill, £90 council tax.
All other monthly payments: £10 phone, £130 doggy daycare, £20 union fee, £8 home insurance, £8 life insurance, £14 road tax. Subscriptions: £2.50 Netflix, £7 Spotify.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I went to university for my medical degree and paid for this with student loans while my mum covered my living expenses.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
During my childhood our family finances fluctuated quite a lot. My dad had quite a good job and my mum was a stay-at-home mum. We moved to England when I was a toddler for my dad’s work and lived quite comfortably. Unfortunately he passed away when I was young, which left my mum a single mother without a job and she was stuck in a legal battle with the rest of his family for his remaining assets so she was unable to use that to support us. I was hyperaware of my mum not having a lot of money and tried not to ask her for too much but she didn’t really talk about her finances. When I was in secondary school she started a successful company and our finances completely changed. She taught me a lot about budgeting and saving before I went to university so I felt well equipped by the time I left home.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I moved out at 18 and haven’t lived with my parents since. When I went to university my mum moved abroad almost immediately.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
Currently I am completely financially responsible for myself and would say this began when I graduated from university at 24.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was during university where I worked as a student ambassador to supplement my student loan and money given to me by my mum. I actually really enjoyed having a job and earning my own money.
Do you worry about money now?
I do worry a bit about money as I hope to have a child in a few years’ time and the cost of childcare is very overwhelming. I think I’m in a comfortable position at the moment as I only spend half my income and manage to save the rest. This is a big change from when I was younger and I had a lot of worry about money as my mother struggled to make ends meet for quite a while.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
My dad died when I was younger and after a long legal battle with other members of my family I inherited £25,000. I managed to waste £15,000 of this during my summers at university, going on holiday every year without fail. I think it was a worthwhile experience and I had a great time but I do look back and think I could have done a lot more with it. I later inherited a further £20,000 from the sale of a property my mum owned and she wanted to gift me some money upon completion of medical school.
9am: Wake up feeling very well rested and grateful for the weekend lie-in. K takes mercy on me and takes B out for her morning walk while I fit in a quick free Les Mills body combat class on YouTube.
10am: Have my normal breakfast of oats and berries. Video call my mum for a catch-up. She lives abroad and I try to call her as often as possible. Mum updates me on the random family gossip and gives me a video tour of the house she is having built. It would be my dream to build my own house but I’m realistic so feel absolutely blessed to have been able to buy my home.
12.30pm: It’s been a busy week so K and I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together. We decide to go for a pub lunch with a deal for pizza and a bottle of wine. It’s dog-friendly so B tags along too. K has been extremely stressed at work and spends most of our lunch venting so he pays in apology. I just feel bad for him as he’s going through a bit of a rough patch at work.
3.30pm: Back home and spend two hours playing Overcooked on the Nintendo Switch (this is definitely not a valuable use of my time but the Switch is new and K and I are basically addicted).
5.30pm: Decide it is time to be productive and revise for a professional exam I have coming up. It cost me well over £500 to take and it’s necessary to progress to the next stage of my training so I really need to pass.
7.30pm: Take a break from revising to have dinner. We eat the only food we have left in the house, which is tomato soup and toast. We try not to watch TV while eating but we’re currently watching a Netflix show called 1899 and we have so many questions that we can’t resist another episode.
8.30pm: Read The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman for the rest of the evening with a glass of wine while K reads The Merchant Of Venice. This is not the Saturday night I used to have at uni but the book is really funny and I’m fully invested in the lives of these fictional OAPs.
11pm: Head to bed.
Total: £0
8.30am: Up and out of bed to walk B. She’s reluctant to go but enjoys it while we’re out. I listen to The Receipts podcast and laugh out loud during my walk at some of the questions. I discovered this podcast a couple of years ago and it’s a weekly staple.
9.30am: Back home and have my usual oats and berries for breakfast. Sneak in some revision before I’m due to meet a friend in the city. K offers to go to Aldi to get some much-needed supplies so I make a shopping list for the meals we’re going to have for the next week.
11.30am: Get ready to head into town and K drops me off before heading to Aldi. My friend has been on a date I set her up on – it’s a bit awkward when I meet her as she’s still on the date. She had a nice time but I don’t think she’ll see him again.
12.30pm: Head to a new food hall in the city but it is completely packed. I really should have booked us somewhere as we have to drive out of the city a little bit for something to eat. We have a catch-up and chat for ages. We used to work with each other but now live an hour away so these meetings are few and far between. I use my Blue Light card so get 20% off lunch and my cocktail, £17.
4.30pm: Get picked up by K who had a successful Aldi trip and managed to get all our food for the week. I decide I’m going to meal prep our dinners and lunches tonight since we have everything and I have no further plans for the evening. It comes to £23 for my share of the Aldi shop.
7.30pm: We have dinner and sit and chat while the rest of the meals cook. Once we finish dinner, I revise in between checking on all the food and K responds to emails he still gets out of work hours.
9pm: All the food is packed and refrigerated. I hate cooking so it’s nice to have that out of the way for the week. Revise a bit more before heading to bed at 11pm.
Total: £40
6am: It’s K’s turn to walk B this morning but I decide to join them despite the cold and the dark.
7am: Shower and get ready for work. I plan to WFH until 10am then head onsite after that. I get through quite a bit of work for a couple of hours and play with B for a little bit. I have not timed my day well and need to jump onto a Teams meeting which I had planned to attend in person.
11am: Head onsite for in-person teaching. Have an absolutely brutal three hours of lectures, which highlights to me how much reading up I need to do before I’m ready for the exam. I have a late lunch of rice and chicken that I prepped yesterday, feeling grateful that all I have to do is pop it in the microwave.
2pm: Head back home and revise until 5pm. I’d like to say my day was productive but I got so distracted by absolutely everything that I barely managed to do any work.
5pm: Get a message from DPD letting me know I need to pick up a package. I managed to buy one of the elusive PS5s last week but for the past few days it has been delayed in transit. I thought for a little bit that it had gone missing but it actually made it to the pick-up point!
6pm: I collect the PS5 and check that everything is okay before I wrap it up for K. This is his Christmas present so I need to hide it as best I can. B is so curious about all the paper and boxes and proceeds to step over everything while she sniffs it.
7pm: K comes home and quickly changes out of his work clothes so we can go to a pub quiz. We do this quiz every week with a group of friends, it costs £1 each to enter and every week we lose but we have a good time. True to form, we lose again this week and have dinner and drinks at the pub. I have a pint and some loaded fries, £14.
9.30pm: Back at home and have some carrot sticks with hummus as the loaded fries didn’t quite fill me up. Read my book before going to bed early at 10pm as I am absolutely shattered.
Total: £14
6am: Snooze my alarm for 15 minutes. I’m still mentally struggling with waking up while it is pitch black and arriving home in the pitch black. Winter is not my season. I have the electrician coming round at 7am so K walks B while I get up and showered. Listen to The Guardian‘s Today in Focus podcast during my shower. Podcasts are now the only way I consume news.
7am: Electrician arrives to check our ensuite extractor fan. Over the last month we have started to get a bit of mould in the corner of our bathroom despite keeping the bathroom warm and using the extractor fan so hopefully it’s just a fault with the fan which can easily be remedied. This visit is covered by my developer as my house is a new build.
7.30am: Following my breakfast of oats and berries (I’m sure you’ve gathered I eat the same breakfast every day by now), the electrician breaks it to me that I have a fully functioning extractor fan and he doesn’t know what could be causing the mould. I die inside a little bit but thank him for coming out so early. K has already headed off to work by now so it’s just B and me.
8am: Officially the start of my working day but nothing scheduled until 9am so I just do some revision on my laptop while B naps.
8.40am: Pack my pre-prepared lunch and head off to work for a further day of physics.
5pm: Get home from work and B runs downstairs to greet me (she has clearly been having a post-daycare nap on my bed, her furry little head looks half crushed). I chop up a cucumber and put some in B’s bowl for a snack, then make myself a cup of decaf tea and revise for a little bit before tennis.
6pm: Get a text from my tennis coach cancelling because the courts are too wet. Immediately get into some comfies and settle on the couch with my laptop to do more revision.
7pm: K gets back from work and we settle in and have pre-prepared lasagne and a side salad for dinner while watching 1899. We only have two more episodes left of the season and I still have no idea how they can bring this to a conclusion. Every episode is leaving me more confused than the last. K has many theories as to how it will end. I’m looking forward to seeing if any are actually correct.
11pm: After some further revision I head to bed. Continue reading for half an hour before sleep.
Total: £0
6am: Snooze my alarm for half an hour. Will this get any easier? Get ready quickly to take B on her walk. B is very reluctant to get out of her crate. I have to bribe her with a bit of apple, which I eat the rest of during our walk.
7am: Shower and get ready for work. I get my migraine aura, which consists of bright flashes in my peripheral vision. Take my medication and try and sleep for an hour, praying my migraine goes away.
9am: Wake up but don’t feel any better. I’ve been hit full force with a migraine and spend 10 minutes throwing up in the toilet. I manage to keep down some water so take my anti-sickness tablet and head back to bed.
2pm: Wake up with headache still very active. I take more painkillers and try to eat something but throw up again. Accepting this day as a total write-off, I go back to bed.
7pm: K comes home and walks B. He brings me some dinner but I can’t keep it down. My headache has improved a bit but I keep taking painkillers.
8pm: Go back to bed and hope for the best.
Total: £0
6am: Wake up to snow! I’m feeling a lot better than yesterday. I consider not taking B for a walk due to how cold it is but it’s the first snow B will have ever seen so I jump out of bed, wash my face, brush my teeth and off we head into the darkness. B is so wrapped up in her fleece, coat and high vis harness that it looks a little bit more of a waddle than a walk but she seems to be having a great time so I’m glad we made it out. Listen to Londongrad (a podcast about Russian money in London) on our walk today – it’s actually ridiculous that this is allowed to happen in our political system.
7am: Back home and the heating is on full blast. Walking in is like getting a nice warm hug. I try not to remember how extortionate electricity and gas is at the moment and just enjoy the warmth. Shower and get changed ready for a couple of hours WFH before I go to work onsite.
10am: Go to work onsite with my pre-prepared lunch, it’s a very full-on day of work and onsite teaching. My laptop has a random black screen for a bit of the day, which I fear may be the black screen of death but it comes back on after 10 minutes. My laptop is 10 years old so I live in constant fear of her death but she lives to fight another day.
4pm: Come home from work to a very enthusiastic greeting from B (who had a great day at daycare, judging from the pictures I got today). I feel like I’ve had a real lack of physical activity this week so I go for a 10k run while listening to Katherine Ryan’s podcast. It’s basically just her chatting away about random stuff but I listen to it every week.
6pm: After a run and a shower I head off to Waitrose to get some stuff for tonight as our friends are coming round for dinner and games (Waitrose is my closest supermarket and is only used in desperate times; we are a diehard Aldi household). My original curry is a no-go as one of our friends doesn’t like spice. I get some hoisin duck pancakes, cucumber and spring rolls. £7.60 as I split with K.
7.30pm: Finish dinner just in time for my friends’ arrival. They bring their dog, L, who is literally the cutest. I make honey margaritas and we play some board games after dinner. I love board game nights with friends and have at least one every fortnight. I try to socialise on weeknights as I’m trying not to limit my social life to weekends so this has been a success.
11pm: Friends are gone, dishwasher is loaded and I am ready for bed. I’m so tired that I pass out in bed straightaway. I’m out like a light as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Total: £7.60
7am: Wake up a little later today as K walks B this morning. I have an early start at 8am for onsite teaching so I quickly shower and have my classic oats and berries for breakfast while listening to The Rest Is Politics podcast.
8am: Make it to work on time after a very traumatic walk due to the pavements being quite icy. I managed to only fall once with no witnesses so it could have been worse.
10am: Back home following my in-person teaching and settle in the living room with B beside me and spend most of the day revising. Stop only to have lunch of halloumi and sweet chilli salad.
6pm: Following a very low-excitement day of revision, I get ready for my work Christmas dinner. The weather is still absolutely freezing and I consider skipping the dinner to stay warm and cosy at home but I remember I’ve already paid and I can’t bring myself to waste the money.
7.30pm: Make it to the dinner and I’m actually really glad I came. I get to know different members of the department a bit better and the food is actually quite good. I buy myself a glass of wine at the extortionate price of £10.90. Wine for the table is then bought by more senior doctors so I get to have drink number two…
11pm: I don’t quite know how but I end up at a club, order way too many tequila shots and throw out the most questionable dance moves.
2pm: Finally head home, worse for wear and poorer due to my love of tequila, £20.
Total: £30.90
Food & Drink: £92.50
Entertainment: £0
Clothes & Beauty: £0
Home & Health: £0
Travel: £0
Other: £0
Total: £92.50
Conclusion
“I would say this week I’m actually quite happy with my level of spending. I think I do a fair amount of socialising without going overboard on my spending. I usually spend the most money on the first week of each month as that is when I buy all our dog food and stock up on toiletries and such but I keep my actual day-to-day spend quite low. I found documenting my spending showed me that I actually have quite a realistic idea of what I spend but I use Monzo so that helps me keep track anyway. I don’t think I’ll change my spending habits much in my current situation but I may need to re-evaluate at a later date. I’m very lucky that I can usually walk everywhere and don’t have to drive much but that may change and with petrol prices as they are, it is easy for those costs to add up.”
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