This week: “I’m a 33-year-old pricing analyst, living in Leicester with my husband and one-year-old son. I’m now back at work after taking a year out for maternity leave, and even though it was difficult at first we are getting used to our new routine. We bought our first home five years ago and while we would love to move to a bigger space eventually, we are happy where we are at the moment. I’ve been in my current job for a while now so I think it might be time for me to start looking for a new opportunity and hopefully get a pay rise. I am generally quite careful with money now as our expenditure has increased since having a child. While our day-to-day spending is covered by our salaries, there is definitely less left over at the end of the month than we’d like. I’ve learned from my past mistakes of getting into credit card debt so I try to look for voucher codes and make purchases via cashback sites where I can.”
Occupation: Pricing Analyst
Industry: Scientific Research
Age: 33
Location: Leicester
Salary: £34,265
Paycheque Amount: £2,100
Number of housemates: Two – my husband D, and our son R.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: My half of our mortgage payment is £500.
Loan payments: £205 car loan, £425 personal loan (paying off previous credit card debt and money for house improvements we made).
Savings?: £2,000 in an ISA and we have opened up a savings account for R, which we deposit his child benefit into. I’m building up our savings pot again as it really took a hammering during my maternity leave.
Pension?: I currently pay in 4% salary (via salary sacrifice) and the company puts in 8%.
Utilities: The following is split equally with my husband: £160 gas/electricity, £35 water, £38 broadband, £24 Sky, £70 life insurance, £175 council tax.
All other monthly payments: £12 sim card, £18 contact lenses. Subscriptions: £10.99 Netflix £10.99, £8.99 Amazon Prime.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it? I did a Bachelor’s degree and paid for it using maintenance grants and loans. I also received a bursary. I think I will pay them off eventually but it won’t be for a while yet.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
When I was growing up we didn’t talk about money in my house. I know my parents worked hard to provide for me and my siblings, and we were comfortable but we didn’t have too many extravagances or big holidays abroad. We were encouraged to get part time jobs alongside our studies if we could.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I moved out when I went to university. Once I graduated, I moved into rented accommodation and started working.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
When I moved into my rented flat after graduating. I had to learn how to budget my salary to cover rent, bills, food etc. I didn’t do a great job at first and managed to build up significant credit card debt but I’m paying that off with a loan now. Nowadays, I split all costs for running the house, childcare and bills with my husband.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was in a kitchen as a kitchen assistant (glorified pot washer) and I got it to have some spending money during my A-level studies.
Do you worry about money now?
All of the time. Our day-to-day costs have gone up so much and I constantly worry about providing for our son even though we are doing okay at the moment. I worry if I’m doing the right thing by going back to work and putting him in nursery for a few days or if I should take the income hit by reducing my hours and then being able to spend more time with him.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
My grandparents gifted us £7,000 towards our house deposit, which made up half of the deposit in the end. We were really grateful for that contribution as it allowed us to buy earlier than we would have done without it.
5am: Wake up with R. He loves a morning cuddle although this morning starts a little earlier than I would have liked! We co-sleep and while it’s not for everybody, I love waking up to his big cheeky grin.
7am: We are dressed, bags packed and ready for the day. I head out to drop him off at my mother-in-law’s house as she looks after him once a week. I then head back home as this is my WFH day.
11.15am: I realise that I haven’t actually eaten any proper food yet, so I make myself a coffee and raid the cupboards. It’s a few days before payday and the cupboard is looking decidedly empty, but I find some shortbread that I bought recently and open that.
12pm: Go and get some petrol for my car as we are making a trip to London to visit D’s brother and his girlfriend this weekend, £40.
5pm: My MIL drops R back off at home, and I make a start on dinner. I make pasta bake using some bits from the freezer and cupboard – it’s one of R’s favourite foods so at least it’s a guaranteed hit for him! D gets back in time to keep R distracted and out of trouble while I cook.
7.30pm: Do our bedtime routine which is bath, book, some cuddles and then sleep.
9pm: D and I attempt to watch a film but I am too tired from the early start this morning and abandon it and go to bed.
Total: £40
8am: Drop R off with my parents. They are looking after him for the day so we can go to London.
10am: Park the car at the Tube station and take the Tube into Central London to meet up with M’s brother and his girlfriend C, £13 for the day’s travel.
11am: We have a good catch up over brunch before the concert. I have a stack of pancakes with bacon and maple syrup and a flat white – it is so good to eat a meal without R here to pester for it! My husband kindly pays.
1pm: We go see the Lord of the Rings Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall – it is amazing! I grab two bottles of water during the interval, £5.80. I’m annoyed at myself for leaving our reusable bottles at home.
6pm: Take the Tube back to the car park and drive home.
9.15: We stop at a service station to grab some sandwiches and snacks on the way back, £10.09.
8.45pm: Finally get back home where R is asleep (my parents took him back to our house for his bedtime). We don’t often have days out to ourselves without him anymore so it was a nice treat although I did miss him!
9.15: We eat our food. It isn’t the most exciting dinner but we were keen to get back to make sure R was okay, and make sure my parents could get back home after a long day.
Total: £28.89
10am: I nip out to the shops to do a mini food shop. We have a big order being delivered in two days’ time but we need a few bits for a roast dinner tonight. I pick up a chicken, vegetables, milk, juice, and some fruit, £15.50.
12pm: Have a fairly chilled out morning once I’m back from the supermarket. I put some washing on and spend a lot of time tidying up after R.
2pm: We head out for a walk at a nice park down the road from our house. I take the pram but R spends more time trying to push the pram himself rather than sit in it.
4pm: D’s parents come over for the evening. I cook a roast for us all and they very kindly bring over a delicious homemade apple and blackberry crumble.
6pm: We’re absolutely stuffed from all of the food! R is somehow still running around burning off all of his energy after dinner.
7pm: Bath and bedtime as usual and he is asleep by 7.30pm tonight. I may or may not pass out next to him.
Total: £15.50
6am: Wake up and remember it’s payday today which is great!
7am: Leave house to drop R off at my mum’s and then I carry on to the office.
8.10am: I’ve been in the office for all of 10 minutes before I decide it’s time to get coffee and breakfast from the canteen. I get a coffee and a bacon cob, £3.67. The food in the canteen is subsidised by work so it’s cheaper than getting food elsewhere.
10.30am: Have a couple of calls which definitely could have been emails – at least it helps the morning pass by pretty quickly!
12.30pm: Grab lunch from the canteen, £4.27. I take it back to eat at my desk so I can scroll on Vinted for some winter clothes for R. We try to buy big items like coats, jackets and boots etc secondhand as he grows so quickly it seems a waste to buy everything brand new. I buy a bundle of jumpers for him, £6.90.
4pm: Finish work after a pretty productive day working on some pricing projects I’ve been assigned to. My manager has been really supportive with adjusting my workload so it hasn’t been too overwhelming coming back from maternity leave.
4.25pm: Get to my mum’s to pick up R. It sounds like he’s had a great time with her, as he always does. He has a half an hour nap while we’re stuck in traffic. I’m hoping the late nap doesn’t ruin bedtime later.
5.30pm: D gets home and asks if I want to get Domino’s for dinner as it’s payday! We get a large pizza and chicken wings to share. I make R a quick dinner of veggie rice and he has a few bites of my pizza too. I pay for the pizza since D got brunch the other day,£25.29.
7.15pm: Same bedtime routine although it takes R much longer to fall asleep tonight, probably because of his nap earlier.
8.45pm: R is finally asleep and I have no energy to do anything else so I just sit next to him in bed and scroll on Instagram. Before I know it an hour has passed and I go to sleep as well.
9.45pm: Asleep before 10pm again, can you see the recurring pattern? Since having R, I really can’t stay up late anymore as I’m just always tired!
Total: £40.13
7am: Get R up and dressed. He does not like being woken up today so he is in a grumpy mood.
8am: Drop him off at nursery for the day. He’s only been going to nursery for the past two months so he’s still adjusting. I hate seeing him upset when I hand him over to the nursery workers, but I have to say a quick goodbye to avoid dragging it out. I head home to log on as it’s one of my WFH days.
10.50am: Get an update from the nursery: R ate his breakfast, morning snack and had a nap so it sounds like he’s having a good day. It makes me feel better after seeing him so upset when I left.
1pm: I’ve been so stuck into some pricing analysis files that I didn’t realise the time and figure I should get something to eat! Decide to finish off the pizza from last night.
1.35pm: The big shop gets delivered. We tend to do two big deliveries a month, and then top up with smaller food shops if we need to. Today’s shop is about average for our deliveries and includes things like nappies, wipes, cleaning products as well as our normal food shop, £44.85 for my half.
4.40pm: End up working a bit longer to finish a few tasks off, but it will put me in a good place so I don’t really mind. Shut the computer down and then head out to pick up R.
5.15pm: Start cooking dinner, spaghetti bolognese tonight. I make extra so I can take some in for lunch at work tomorrow.
6.30pm: D and R are chasing each other around the living room so I put my feet up on the sofa for a bit and catch up on replying to friends’ messages. I’ve been trying to arrange a meet up with one of my friends for a while now but she has a toddler as well and trying to align our schedules is proving impossible! We make promises to have a video chat soon at least.
7.15pm: Head up to start the bedtime routine and R falls asleep really quickly – nursery has obviously tired him out!
7.45pm: I treat myself to a bubble bath and then go to bed for another hour of scrolling Instagram/TikTok and then fall asleep before 9.30pm.
Total: £44.85
6.30am: Wake up and get ready for work. D is in charge of nursery drop off, so I get R dressed and then leave them to finish up and head to the office.
7.50am: Get some petrol on my way to the office, £20.
9am: Head to the canteen again as coffee and food is very much needed, £3.98.
12pm: Heat my leftover spaghetti up for lunch and eat with one of my colleagues.
4pm: Shut down my laptop and head back home. The traffic is a nightmare today so it takes over an hour to get home when it should take me only half an hour.
5pm: D and R get back just after I do, and R is in a very happy mood which is nice. We all spend some time playing together, making up for us being apart all day!
6pm: Make an easy dinner of jacket potatoes with different toppings, cheese and beans for R and D, and tuna and cheese for me!
7pm: We quickly video call MIL and FIL as they want to see R.
7.15pm: Head up to get R to bed. D and I usually tackle this together but he has some work to do tonight so I do it on my own and luckily R goes to sleep easily again.
8pm: I start watching Wilderness on Amazon Prime. I quite enjoy it so I end up watching two episodes and then go to sleep.
Total: £23.98
7.30am: Slightly later wake up with R today. My mum is coming over to watch him at our house so we don’t have to get ready.
8am: Mum arrives to take over R duties and I log onto work. There’s a team meeting at 9am and I silently curse my manager for setting a meeting first thing in the morning. He’s a ‘camera on’ kind of person so I have to make myself look somewhat presentable.
8.30am: It’s a quick call in the end so I crack on with some work for a few hours and the morning shoots by.
12pm: Make some sandwiches for our lunch. R devours his and half of mine as well.
1pm: Mum takes R out for a walk to the park. He’s been fighting his nap all morning so a walk in his pram should send him to sleep. I get back online after my lunch break and carry on with some data analysis.
2.30pm: I take a little break from work to browse Vinted again and end up buying myself a H&M jumper which looks almost brand new, £5.24.
4pm: Switch off for the day and Mum heads back home. R and I have some cuddles and playtime while we wait for D to get back.
6pm: Make a shepherd’s pie for dinner. We have all of the ingredients from the food shop the other day. I make lots of leftovers and will freeze them for quick lunches/ dinners for R.
7.30pm: Bedtime for R and I carry on watching Wilderness before going to sleep.
Total: £5.24
Food & Drink: £113.45
Clothes & Beauty: £12.14
Home & Health: £0
Entertainment: £0
Travel: £73
Other: £0
Total: £198.59
Conclusion
“I think this was a fairly typical week of spending for me. Most of my spending is on food, especially on the days I’m in the office. I know I always end up spending money but since my WFH days are usually spend-free it tends to even itself out. Having a toddler has definitely meant I spend less money on things like socialising and entertainment, so days out like the one we had in London was quite rare but a nice treat.”
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