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 are with a woman who recently left her job working for an independent business to pursue a similar role in a bigger, branded company – it's her first "big girl job". As part of the recruitment process, she has to complete 12 weeks of training all across the country and then pass a review. This week, she is off to a city three hours away from home and is worried as it will be the first time she's spent more than two nights away from her boyfriend, who she lives with. She says she is just as nervous about him being left to his own devices as she is about being away on her own. Will she come home to find a burnt pizza stuck to the bottom of the oven…again?!
Industry: Hospitality and restaurant management
Age: 24
Location: Northwest (but living away in the northeast!)
Salary: £23,000
Paycheque amount: £1,576.64
Number of housemates: 1 (my boyfriend)
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: Total rent (including bills) and council tax = £782 split between the two of us = £391
Loan payments: £42 student loan
Utilities: Included in the price of the flat
Transportation: My boyfriend and I share a car that we have on finance, totalling £168 per month including tax between us. We paid the insurance off in one go at the start of the year so the only other cost is around £30 per month petrol each, so £114 per month
Phone bill: £37
Savings? I wish! I do try to save around £200 per month but I donʼt beat myself up if I havenʼt managed it recently with changing jobs.
Other: I have a monthly prescription that I pay online for £17.60 (that reminds me to renew my monthly prescription card!). I also swapped my gym membership for Apple Music at £9.99 per month, the theory being it will encourage me to walk to work...maybe.
Total: £811.59
Day One
10am: I pack my bags and head to the station as I embark on my journey across the country. My boyfriend is asleep after working nights, so kiss him goodbye and attempt to book a taxi instead. The local taxi firms are fully booked (groan), so try an Uber as Iʼm running late – as usual. Successful, but my lateness costs me a price surge of 2.1x and £6.72 for a mile journey. Kick myself on the way to the station.
10.20am: Arrive at the station and as luck would have it, the train is delayed anyway. Try to talk myself out of buying a coffee in an attempt to claw back some cash from the taxi but give in to temptation at the thought that work have paid for my ticket. £3.05
1pm: Halfway through my train journey and the lady passes through with the refreshments trolley. Realise that the sandwich I made to bring with me is sat on the kitchen worktop, and so buy myself a replacement, £3.75. Inwardly sigh that mine would have been much better than the warmish BLT I've just bought. Oh well.
2pm: Arrive in my new (temporary) city. Make my way to the hotel and check in along with the four bags I definitely (maybe) needed to fill to the brim. The guy at the check-in desk seems amused when I confirm Iʼm only here for six nights this stay! I have a wander down to the city centre, walk past a Pret a Manger and remember an article I read about making your barista smile for a free coffee. I head inside and chance my luck. No joy, and the terrible small talk costs me another £2.75.
9.30pm: I wake up with a start after realising I've fallen asleep in the hotel surrounded by books and revision. Hear my stomach grumble and frantically search TripAdvisor for restaurants open nearby. All have ££-£££ next to their name and I decide against it and head to the McDonald's I saw down the road earlier. Large Big Mac meal with a bottle of milk (donʼt judge me, I will use it for my morning tea in the hotel instead of UHT!), £5.09. Head back to the hotel slightly defeated and definitely tired. I'll do some more exploring tomorrow.
Total: £21.36
Day Two
9am: Wake up bleary-eyed to the sound of housekeeping knocking despite the do-not-disturb sign. Iʼm awake now anyway and decide to check out the hotel's breakfast option – I hear it's a buffet style, and think it sounds like a great idea. £12.50, some stale cereal and terrible coffee later, I realise itʼs definitely not.
11am: I head back up to the room and take stock of what I need to start work tomorrow. Realise I have absolutely no appropriate footwear and decide to head out to see what I can find. I also need basic supplies (pens, pencils, lighters, bottle openers) for my beverage training and head off in search of a hospitality mecca where I can find such things.
2pm: Admit defeat and try Primark (shoes) and Wilko (supplies). Spend £12 on trainers that I can scruff up and it wonʼt matter, and reminisce about the days when Primark used to set you back about a fiver. Followed by guilt about the ethics of it all. Wilko is more fruitful than I hoped, although I'm lured in by all sorts of homeware bits I definitely donʼt need, including an electric toothbrush. £26.17
5pm: I try and keep things cheap by heading to Greggs for a snack. Doesn't work and only ends up making me hungrier, although I suppose 90p pales into insignificance compared to my earlier totally unnecessary spree.
7pm: Hunger takes over and to be totally honest, as a massive fan of eating out, Iʼm not really missing home-cooked food yet. I decide to properly scour TripAdvisor this time, find a pasta restaurant half a mile down the road labelled "£-££" and decide to take a chance. Oh my god so worth it! Have a starter, main course and a San Pellegrino (fancy!) and it sets me back £11! After such a bargain I wind up tipping £4 as my server makes the effort to try and make me feel less uncomfortable about going for a meal on my own. £15 well spent.
8.30pm: Back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow!
Total: £66.57
Day Three
6.30am: Up at what feels like the crack of dawn after my relative lie-ins the past few days. Get ready for work and make sure I have packed all 15,783 pens I bought in preparation. (Okay thatʼs an exaggeration but I did buy three spare packs.) Decide I canʼt show up on the first day without treats (my favourite word ever) and stop off at a bakery on the way in. £11.25
1pm: Midway through my first shift here, everything is going well! I've found an ally in the coffee/baked goods department and she asks where I fancy for lunch. I try to be diplomatic (I'm the most indecisive person ever), and she suggests Starbucks. I roll with it. Standing in the queue, there's a lull in conversation so I offer to pay to say thanks for taking me under her wing. Forgot how expensive Starbucks is for what you get; two coffees, two sandwiches and two cakes set me back £18.80.
7pm: Finish work and walk back towards the hotel. Dragging my feet I pass the McDonald's and hate myself for being so lazy but nip in anyway again as it's quick and easy, and I know where it is in comparison to my hotel! £5.09
10pm: Crash into bed as the last few days catch up with me, just as I get an email that a subscription I forgot to cancel has been withdrawn from my account. Oops. Decide not to argue with the company as itʼs actually my fault this time. £10
Total: £45.14
Day Four
10am: Iʼm on nights from today onwards so I try and get a lie-in, but again, housekeeping knocks despite the sign... I suppose you've gotta admire their persistence! I drag myself out of bed and head down to the hotel bar for a cuppa, as I used the last of the teabags the night before. £2.95
12pm: After a couple of hours' revision, I start to get a rumbly belly and try and decide where to go for breakfast/brunch. I decide against a place across the road, as I walk past and look at a menu outside – £5.50 for a bacon butty! No chance. I head further down the road to a café which I have on good authority of the guys from work is really good. I see a board outside advertising brunch offers until 2pm, so £6.95 for smoked salmon and eggs on toast with a pot of tea. Iʼm feeling extravagant (I havenʼt checked my mobile banking) and head inside. The bill comes to £3 more and Iʼm not quite sure why, but Iʼm too soft to query it so I take my pot of tea and grumble to myself instead. Although, when the food does arrive, it's very good. £9.95
4pm: Iʼm only in work at 6pm but decide to head down early to get on with some more training revision. As I arrive Iʼm asked if Iʼd like a coffee, and head to the bar with my purse. I get told I have a tab and can put food and drink on it, why did I not know about this sooner! As a point, I order some snacks to keep me going and feel a mixture of joy at the revelation, and sadness that I havenʼt made more of it. £0
3am: I finish work and head back to the hotel. On the way, I pass a Greggs that is still open, and I. Am. Shook. I head inside to check that this isnʼt just some kind of northern mirage and to my delight there are pastries galore! Steak bake for one please. I head back to bed feeling as though I have experienced a kind of epiphany. I wonder if my boyfriend will consider moving cities? £1.40
Total: £14.30
Day Five
12pm: Iʼm on nights again today, but I wake up and decide to try and have a "free" day. I get a text from my boyfriend asking if Iʼm okay for money as Iʼm working a month in hand, and feel slightly guilty at how much I've spent this week. I decide to go for a walk and head to work early again for food.
3pm: I arrive at work and peruse the menu all in the name of "training". I decide on a range of appetisers to keep me topped up and order a sparkling water. It dawns on me while drinking this that I've eaten really badly this week and am starting to miss vegetables (am I losing the plot?). I order a side salad in an attempt to reverse some of the damage, and wonder if Iʼm feeling tired from the new job and intense training or just the seriously poor diet. I decide to make a conscious effort to be more healthy when I head back home, and almost restart my gym membership, but then I remember this is my "free" day, so I "canʼt" (ha!).
Total: £0
Day Six
10am: Today is my day off from the new job and I decide to make the most of this wonderful city, which Iʼm really going to miss when Iʼm back at home. I take a walk down to the riverside and decide I will find a picturesque spot for lunch. I change my mind when I see… a cat café!!! I pop inside and enquire about booking a space and the lady working there tells me to come back at 5pm and she will save me a spot. I pay the £5 booking/entrance fee and immediately text my mum and tell her to give my two cats a cuddle, and excitedly post on Facebook. £5
12pm: In search of a spot for lunch, I read about a café which serves the most amazing tea, homemade cakes and brunch and decide to find it. I search for it on Google maps and it's about a 25-minute walk away. Contemplate an Uber (lazy I know) and then decide against it in fear of my rapidly declining bank balance. Push that thought to the back of my mind as I arrive. It's heavenly. Order a pot of tea, soup and a homemade white chocolate and raspberry blondie, and settle down with a book. Two hours later, Iʼm still there and have had another two pots of tea and one more blondie. Get chatting to the girl who served me and realise sheʼs from my hometown! She gives me a free tea and I leave a few quid as a tip, so costs me a round £20.
5pm: After wandering around the city for a couple of hours and doing all the obligatory tourist hot spots, itʼs time for my appointment with my feline friends and I practically skip down to the café. I spend a wonderful hour surrounded by cats (I can imagine some peopleʼs worst nightmare) and buy a pot of decaf tea. I've already paid my booking/entrance fee so it costs me £1.95.
6.30pm: I take a different route home to the hotel and recognise where I am – near the pasta restaurant! I go back and the same girl greets me as before. I order exactly the same meal as I did the previous visit, and do not regret a thing: chicken livers with flatbread, tomato and beef ragù and a San Pellegrino (blood orange this time). It does not disappoint and I feel a slight pang of sadness that my boyfriend isnʼt here. He has a pretty plain palate (whereas I will eat anything and everything) but even he would love this! £15
8.30pm: I call into work to pick up a letter which has been posted to me there. I wondered what it was, but it was just a notification of the company's pension scheme. I decide I may as well have a glass of wine (large of course) while Iʼm there and end up ordering a side of kale to snack on. Sounds much healthier than it is, as itʼs fried and salted, but the thought was there. £13.50. My lunch mate finishes work early and returns the Starbucks favour by getting another wine in (thank god – Iʼm starting to feel as though my extravagances are going to hit me hard when I eventually check my bank balance with my hands over my eyes!).
11pm: I spend longer there than I anticipate, and by the time I head outside, it hits me that Iʼm STARVING and I search in vain for my 24hr church, sorry, Greggs. It is closed tonight and I resign myself to YET another fast food joint. I mix it up and just about make it to KFC in time. I order a mega box and a mini fillet burger, £5.18.
Total: £60.63
Day Seven
10.30am: I wake up with a slightly dry mouth and a not-quite-there-but-give-it-an-hour headache. I only drank two glasses of wine! Iʼm craving something fizzy but only have water or tea in the hotel room. I get dressed and ready as quickly as possible (Iʼm in work at 1pm), pack my bags ready to head home for a couple of nights after I finish work, and head downstairs. Pick up a can of Fanta Lemon on the way to work and feel so pleased with myself until I drink it in one and wind up with horrific heartburn. Iʼm only 24! I vow to take better care of myself next week. 89p
5pm: I make the most of my work tab and order a large apple juice and a healthy meal of sea bass with steamed veg, and actually feel much better.
7pm: I finish work and head back to the hotel to collect my bags. I feel a mix of excitement about getting home, and sadness about leaving my home-from-home, even if it is just for a couple of days. I get to the train station and as expected, it's busy. As usual, Iʼm running later than Iʼd like but anticipate my train being at the nearest platform. Unfortunately for me itʼs at the other end of the station and I have no chance of making it. I kick myself as I pay to change my train time. I use a ticket-splitting app in a futile attempt to save some cash but it still ends up costing me £58.60. I hear over the tannoy that there is the option to upgrade to first class for a tenner, and I donʼt fancy spending three and a half hours standing, so in for a penny, in for a pound, I give in and pay the fee to upgrade (who do I think I am this week?). I donʼt really fit in with the suits in first class but I donʼt care. I get a Kit-Kat and cuppa and settle in for the journey. £13.60
10.30pm: I touch down at the train station and reflect on my week away. I get an Uber home with my bags (£3.20) and get more and more excited, the closer I get to my little flat. My boyfriend will be at work when I get home, and so I plan to throw my stuff into the washing machine and collapse onto the couch, but when I get in, all productivity goes out of the window. I jump in the shower and as Iʼm drying my hair, I notice that my skin is really bad at the moment (I never really suffer with spots). It puts into perspective how much I've eaten out/takeaway food this week.
Total: £76.29
The Breakdown
Food/Drink: £152.60
Entertainment: £5
Clothes/Beauty: £12
Travel: £78.52
Other: £36.17
Total: £284.29
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