This year, we've tackled what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. In our Money Diaries series, we asked a cross-section of women how they spend their hard-earned cash during a seven-day period, tracking every last penny.
We've featured everyone from a recruitment consultant making £19,000 in North Devon, to a writer living in London on £30 a week, to a sales manager taking home £130,000 in Manchester.
Here, we've rounded them up for you to enjoy.
A 31-year-old woman who works in PR for a high-end beauty brand shares her weekly spend. She is single, lives with one flatmate, never does a weekly shop and spends too much money in the pub [her words]. She tries to save but often transfers her funds back into her current account at the end of the month. She has accepted that she will probably never own a flat in London and is part of the generation that has given up on that dream, spending their money on brunch and holidays instead.
Industry: PR
Age: 31
Salary: £42,500
Paycheque after tax, student loan and pension payment: £2,469
Housemates: 1
Monthly Expenses
Rent: £600
Household bills: £85
Cleaner: £50
Phone: £40
Contact lenses: £30
Gym: £110
Travel: Estimated £100, as I pay as I go on my debit card
Savings: £100
Total: £1,015
Living In London On £30 A Week
A 34-year-old freelance writer and actor living on around £30 a week in London.
Industry: Freelance writer / actor
Age: 34
Location: London
Salary: Very variable as I recently went freelance but my rough monthly take home has been £950 after tax for the last couple of months
Housemates: 0 – unless you include the cat
Monthly Expenses
Rent: £585
Council tax: £74
TV licence: £13
EE broadband: £20
BT Sport: £20 (this is a package I have for work)
Sky Sports bundle: £35 discounted rate but about to increase to £50 (also package for work)
Equity membership: £10 (I’m an actor and this basically protects my acting name)
Spotlight: £10
T-Mobile: £35
Drama school loan: £20
Total: £ 822 – Which leaves me with £128. Divided by four weeks that's £32 a week. When money is this tight you have to organise spending down to the last penny.
Saving To Buy A House In Yorkshire
A 29-year-old woman from Yorkshire who is saving to buy a house with her boyfriend. "I've been saving about £400 a month towards the house but it has varied month to month as some months I earn more. So far, we've saved about £6,000 between us. I have £70,000 from selling my last house, which was in Leeds, meaning we haven't had to use a Help To Buy scheme or anything like that. We will use the 70k as a deposit and for renovation, and then our mortgage is about 95% – based on my boyfriend's earnings, as his salary is much better than mine and I'm not in full-time employment."
Industry: Pilates Teacher
Age: 29
Location: Yorkshire
Salary: £20,000 - £22,000 before tax – varies
Paycheque amount per month: £1,562 last month
Roommates: 2 – I sold my house in June and so my boyfriend and I are currently staying at my mum’s house while we save some money to buy somewhere together.
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: No rent, but the deal is that I pay for the food shopping
Council tax: My share is £30
Utilities: Lucky enough with my current living arrangement that I do not have to pay any of these!
Transportation: Fuel costs, usually around £60 a month on average
Phone bill: £25
Savings: Around £400 per month
Total: £515
A Week In London On A £72k Lawyer Salary
A law graduate with a salary that allows her to both spend and save...
Industry: International dispute resolution
Age: 27
Location: London
Salary: £72,000
Paycheque amount per month: I get £3,184.20 after tax each month
Roommates: 1
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £950
Loan payments: £126 (my car)
Utilities: £52.81 (gas/electricity) + £5.08 (Sky) + £8.66 (BT Internet)
Council tax: £76
Cleaner: £72
Contact lenses: £18
Graze (snacks by mail): £3.89
Netflix: £8.81
Gym membership: £99
Savings: £600
Total: £2,020.25
A Week In London On A £25k Salary
A London University PA who prefers to spend money each day on doing things with family and friends rather than prioritising on personal savings for the time being.
Industry: Research
Age: 24
Location: London
Salary: £25,860 including London allowance (Extra allowance for employees living in London – compensates for extra living costs in the capital)
Paycheque amount per month : £1,590.66
Number of housemates: 1 (I live with my boyfriend)
Monthly Expenses
Rent: £704 per month
Loan payments: Student Loan £50 per month
Utilities: £150 per month incl. water, electricity
Transportation: £50 per month for Oyster (pay as you go)
Phone bill: £12
Savings: £100
Gym: £30.99 per month
Netball (membership in a club): £280 for the year, approx. £23 per month
Total: £1,119.99
Christmas Money Diary: A Teacher In London On A 30k Salary
A 29-year-old woman reveals how she gets by on a teacher's salary in one of the most expensive cities in the world at one of the most expensive times of year. School dinners might have something to do with it...
Industry: Education
Age: 29
Location: Vauxhall
Salary: £29,270
Paycheque amount per month: £1,679.92
Number of roommates: 1
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £700
Utilities: £100
Transportation: £80
Phone bill: £45
Savings: £200
Car insurance: £45
Total: £1,170
Working In PR In London On 50k
A 29-year-old woman who has lived in London for nearly seven years and works in PR with a variety of luxury lifestyle brands shares her weekly spend. Each month she tries to scale back on non-essentials but tends to blow it in the third week, buying something expensive as a treat for her earlier good behaviour. YOLO.
Industry: PR
Age: 29
Location: London
Salary: £50,000
Paycheque amount per month: £2,583 with pension contribution deducted. Earlier this year I read that you need to halve the age at which you begin your pension and save that percentage of your paycheque until retirement. Daunting, but it helps that the money is removed before it reaches me.
Number of roommates: 1 – my boyfriend
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: Mortgage plus apartment maintenance fee is £1,725, I pay half. My parents loaned me the deposit with the agreement that after a set time the flat would be sold and their share paid back. £862.50
Utilities: £115 (my half, includes gas, electricity, water and insurance)
Transportation: £146 for a Zone 1-3 travel card
Phone bill: £45
Savings: £500 per month into a high-interest savings account. I set this goal at the start of the year and have managed to stick to it so far.
Charity donations (RSPCA & Doctors Without Borders): £15
Spotify, Netflix: £15 (my half, split with boyfriend)
Total: £1,698.50
A Week In London For A Mum Of Two On A £64k Salary
A 29-year-old woman who works in publishing at a highly regarded London newspaper. She has two children, aged 2 and 6, and works full-time. She does a weekly shop on Sundays. She tries to spend as little as possible so that she and the family can move to a nicer area.
Industry: Publishing
Age: 29
Location: Work in London/ live in North Kent
Salary: £40,000 basic plus £24,000 OTE
Paycheque amount: Varies, depending on performance (between £2.5k-£3.5k after tax/ month)
No. of roommates: 3
Monthly Expenses
Mortgage: £895
Home insurance: £20
Contents insurance: £16
Loans: £100 (my car) £16 (sofa) £100 (credit card)
Utilities: £60 (gas) + £40 (electricity) + £40 (water) + £30 (internet)
Council tax: £130
Fuel: £40
Season ticket: £328.40
Phone: £15 * 2 = £30
Savings: depends on take-home pay
Groceries: around £300
Childcare: £0 (my boyfriend has taken a break from work as a builder to take our daughter to and from school and look after our son during the weekdays)
A Week In Manchester On A 130K Sales Salary
We hear from a 25-year-old in Manchester making 130k a year from her sales job. She told Refinery29: "When asked to do this I was a little apprehensive as I'm pretty sure none of my friends know my salary (I tell them I'm on £50,000!). But after having read previous Money Diaries on Refinery29 I have realised that my salary shouldn't be a taboo; I've worked hard to earn it."
Industry: Sales
Age: 25
Location: Manchester
Salary: £130,000
Paycheque amount: I get around £6,500-7,500 after tax each month. I don't have a set figure because about 70% of my salary is based on commission.
No. of housemates: 1
Monthly Expenses
Student loan: £1,000
Mortgage: £375
Council tax: £57.50
Ground rent: £125
Service charge: £60
Electricity: £24
Water: £16.50
Internet: £10
Gym membership: £27
Parking: £35
Cleaner: £50
Food shop: £100
Savings: £4,000
Total: £5,880
A Week In North Devon, On A 19K Salary
A 21-year-old Recruitment Consultant living in North Devon on how she juggles a love of shopping, eating out and socialising with a £19k salary.
Industry: Recruitment Consultant
Age: 21
Location: North Devon
Salary: £19k per annum + commission
Monthly paycheque: Last month I took home £1,892 before tax, but this varies month on month due to my commission structure. After tax, it was £1,539.68.
No. of housemates: Just 1 – I live with my boyfriend, but my mortgage is just in my name. He contributes towards food and bills.
Monthly Expenses
Mortgage: £222.18 (as part of a shared ownership scheme)
Ground rent: £16
Service charge: £56.10
TV licence and broadband: £29.52
Council tax: £71 a month
Utilities: My gas, water and electric amount to about £70 a month
Transportation: I’m lucky enough that I can walk to work
Phone bill: iPhone 6, £34.79 a month
How One American Expat Spends In London In A Week
A single American expat who is working as a Strategy Manager in London, seeing gigs and eating out "way too much".
Industry: Media & Information Services
Age: 29
Location : London
Salary: £75k
Monthly salary: £3700
Household: Currently looking for a new flatmate
Monthly Expenses
Rent: £1,820 for a two-bedroom, two-bath; I pay £950
Loan payments: None! While I officially have no student loans, I pay back my mother monthly £530
Utilities: £120 including internet, electric, council tax
Transportation: £124.50 (£32/week)
Phone bill: I pay my family’s cell phone bill back in the US – £88
Monthly subscriptions/ donations: Hulu, Spotify and WAMU – £22
Total: £1,834.50
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