Illustrations: Elise Tel
You know those couple of weeks where you don’t even know if you’re coming or going and you have so many thousands of micro odd jobs to do, you don’t even know which one to do first? I’m right there in the midst of it. Work is moving into its busiest period, I have A LOT of events to go to (I know, sooooo tough), I’m trying to squeeze in seeing all my friends in the space of the last few weeks before Christmas as well as attempting to finish buying presents. Oh and we need to start saving for a kitchen, so there’s that.
To add to it, I decided I’d do an entire article documenting all my spending! Writing down every tube fare, coffee and Deliveroo order. The main reason being that if I write things down, I am generally more mindful of my spending. So imagine if I not only wrote it down, I also put it out there for thousands of people to read??
In partnership with NatWest, I’m hoping this will help normalise the conversations around money, that it’s okay not to know your money yet, but by knowing and understanding how we’re spending it could all help towards financial freedom in the future!
So here goes!
DAY 1
It’s 4 days until payday and I have around £118 in my bank (and no big bills coming out), which I‘m quite pleased about! Ideally I’d like a little left on payday to move into our building saving fund, so it would be good to have some leftover this month.
I am in my office for most of the day which is about a 20 minute walk from my house, I know I’m meeting a friend for coffee in the afternoon, so I don’t let myself buy a coffee on the way in. I made my lunch (sandwiches) to stop my temptation of buying food at work (the cafe at my co-working space is so overpriced for really, really mediocre food), but I also currently have an addiction to Naked Noodles (Singapore noodles flavour is my favourite) as we don’t have a microwave and I like to have some sort of hot food at my desk in winter! I buy this on route (85p).
Coffee with my friend: £2.30 ( I ordered a cortado which was the size of a thimble so in hindsight, probably wasn’t the best value for money drink I could’ve ordered).
Chris bought some food essentials (bread, milk etc) and we always split the cost of all of this, we earn almost the same so it makes everything easier and is the way we’ve always been together – it suits us! Where this is the case, I’ll just add my half of the bill here for ease (£2.52).
Watching TV at home I get a Black Friday email with a 50% off code for Snapfish, so I order all the large photos I was planning to frame for family as Christmas gifts (£4.81).
Ping! We sold a few items on eBay to help bump up our Christmas fund – just £30 but it helps to cut down spiralling costs. We sold an old kitchen table which we moved in with – it was bulky, heavy and took up too much room, the buyer picked it up so our kitchen feels much more roomy, too!
TOTAL: £10.48
DAY 2
I worked from home in the morning, then headed into central London (£5.20 tube fare) to an IT Cosmetics Thanksgiving lunch. In my job, I’ll often have work events at this time of year – it means I generally have to cram my work around them and a lot are in the evenings but it does mean I save money on food and don’t have to think about a packed lunch!
I get home from work and plan our food shop. We try and keep it low and use up everything we have in our cupboards, and as I’m out a lot this week we shouldn’t need to spend too much (I’m hoping!).
Chris spotted a rat in our bathroom so might need to call Pest Control which may play havoc with our finances this week…but fingers crossed it was a one-off – that happens, right?!
TOTAL: £5.20
DAY 3
I am up early to get a train to Southampton (Tube: £7.60, train £48.70 – I pay but will be reimbursed at some point next month) to do a guest lecture at Solent Uni, super proud of myself for remembering to make a sandwich this morning and bringing my eco coffee cup! But forgot my water bottle so buy a plastic one on the train (annoying)…I also buy a coffee (total: £4.15) but there’s no discount for bringing your own cup, obviously, and he makes a cappuccino by pouring water in my cup with a sachet and I have to stir it myself. I don’t mind a sachet coffee but not when I’m charged £2.30 for it!
Talk goes well, always slightly surprise myself that I know what I’m talking about sometimes, to be honest! I get back to London 15 minutes before a meeting at Peggy’s nursery, and realise we still haven’t done our weekly food shop yet so buy ingredients for nachos this evening and stir-fry tomorrow. I go to Tesco Express near nursery for convenience (which I tell myself to never do!) and it costs £20.50 (which I split with Chris), which is half our usual weekly shop total! Frustrated with myself but then, there could be worse things to spend my money on…
TOTAL: £70.70 (but £48.70 to be reimbursed at some point!)
DAY 4
Head into Tottenham Court Road via tube (total travel £11.60) as have an appointment with Ikea to look at kitchen designs, we’ve been cooking one-pot meals on portable hobs for a few years now and I cannot wait to turn it into a more homely space! We buy coffee (£2.62) at Warren Street with 10p discount each for bringing our own cup (I have a rule that I can’t buy a fancy coffee whilst out unless I have my own cup, it works!) and after the appointment, we grab a quick katsu curry for lunch (£8.05 each) – one day until payday and we have a little bit of money in our account – that’s something to celebrate, right?!
We head home to work on content but pass a beautiful toy store called Pollock’s Toy Museum on the way and in my effort to support small businesses I convinced Chris to come in with me, we find a few presents for friends’ children, they cost a little more than we could’ve found online (£16 each) but it’s good to support independent shops where we can. And a few more items are ticked off our present list, at least!
In the evening I head to a friend’s house – we were supposed to meet in town for dinner but we both have babies to put to bed so I asked if she would mind just a casual catch up at her house instead, she offered to cook pasta and it was perfect.
TOTAL: £37.87
DAY 5
It’s PAYDAY!! I’m freelance, but I still pay myself on payday as I find it helps me budget for the month. I then put aside money for tax straight away so I don’t get caught scrabbling around for my tax bill at the end of January. We transfer all our non-negotiable outgoings (mortgage, insurance, council tax) into our joint account on the 1st of every month. All of our bills and direct debits come from this account – it’s so important to know exactly how much we always need in this account, plus it’s nice to have a bit of contingency as we don’t really have any savings (everything currently goes into the renovations).
Sold an old designer scarf on Vestiaire Collective a few weeks ago and the money finally hit my account! So we have an extra bit to play with, which will go towards Christmas gifts.
Chris did the rest of the food shop in Lidl (at 7am to beat the rush!) which comes to £22.84 (£11.42 each), which sounds great but it’s because we had already spent £20 in Tesco the other day, so it’s more than our usual weekly shop and we’re barely in to eat. I also owe Chris £5.75 for an extra reusable nappy we bought this week.
We film an IGTV at home, and eat leftover butter bean stew (we always cook in bulk if we can to make meals go further) and have a much needed quiet night.
TOTAL: £17.17
DAY 6
I drive to my sister’s for the weekend with Peggy whilst Chris is in Liverpool watching the football (the car was already full of petrol – so luckily didn’t have to fill it up). Their road does a lovely Santa and carol service and Peggy loves hanging out with her cousins.
My sister doesn’t let me pay anything towards the Deliveroo takeaway, so I have to just remember to return the favour once we have a working, child-friendly kitchen!
TOTAL: £0.00
DAY 7
For once, we have no plans! I bring the Christmas decorations down from the loft and we go through our present list. We start our Christmas shopping in October to help us budget and give limited gifts (we don’t, for instance, buy for each other, or even Peggy this year as she still doesn’t understand), so we only have a few left on our list.
By 5pm we all go a little stir crazy and decide to go out for a local dinner (£28 between us) – it’s so child-friendly and Peggy is always so well behaved there (the chefs even play peekaboo with her behind their aprons!). We order just mains and Peggy shares ours (the children’s meals are £7 and you can bet she will screw her face up as soon as it arrives).
Sunday night is when my eBay items end (I don’t sell as often as I used to, but try and do a few around this time of year to help with spending) – we’ve uploaded a few items that I no longer wear but are in good condition – a necklace, some old designer shoe dust bags (they sold for £1 each but better than in the bin!), so I put a few together using up old jiffy envelopes and transfer out the money to use for our Christmas shopping we’re planning to do in the morning.
TOTAL: £14
DAY 8
It’s our first proper morning of Christmas shopping! We have Peggy on Mondays so walk into Wood Green to get some gifts. We’ve tried to keep most of our shopping local and go with a specific list and we are not allowed to deviate from it. In fact, we find everything in TK Maxx (£24.50)! I also buy some essentials from Boots (£4.75), a birthday card for my niece and a special ‘nan’ card as she would appreciate that sort of thing (£2.48).
As a mark of triumph, we go to Pret and buy a coffee each (£1.85), then I leave Chris and head back to my office and finish my gift guides.
TOTAL: £33.58
DAY 9
I get up early and get the tube to Marylebone for Bicester Village (tube £5.60, train booked in advance), I have been meaning to catch up with a friend for ages and as it’s coming up to Christmas, she suggested meeting here and ticking off the last of our Christmas presents at the same time – perfect. I know I need to be careful and strategic with my money – it becomes very easy to get caught up in the excitement (and bargains).
I have a plan – the main objective is to see my friend, and I would love it if I came home with a few Christmas gifts sorted at the same time. I only let myself spend money in The White Company (£50.58) – a few gifts for family and then I did pick up a sleeping bag for Peggy which wasn’t essential but after a recent sickbug we learnt she could do with a spare(!).
All this and on the train home by lunchtime (did I mention Bicester is B.U.S.Y around Christmas?!) Best to get in and out is my advice.
Pick up lunch on way to my office (£6.99) and know we need to work late to catch up on deadlines (I know, I know, shouldn’t have gone to Bicester!), I just don’t have the energy to make a mushroom risotto for over an hour after the wrestling act that is putting Peggy to bed at 7:30pm, so we order a Five Guys takeaway (£14.47). We buy drinks from our local newsagent so the overall cost is less (Five Guys can add up) and share a large fries which is cheaper than getting a small portion each. I feel terrible about the indulgence but accept that sometimes we all do things to make our life easier and today has been a bit of a write-off when it comes to expenditure. I don’t have them often.
TOTAL: £77.64
Wowza. That escalated quickly.
DAY 10
Wake up feeling rough, must’ve caught a cold from Peggy – ‘tis the season! It’s also the season for burst pipes, leaks and a household mouse apparently (yes, as well as a rat). We call our local plumber to sort the leak but decide to delay Pest Control for a bit until we know it’s a regular occurrence (only one mouse spot so far and the rat seems to have disappeared) and as I spent all my money in Bicester, we might need to hold off (priorities, Alex!). We eat leftover bolognese for lunch and work from home.
The plumber didn’t charge us! As he fitted the pipe originally it fell under his warranty (which is why it’s always a good idea to find recommended tradespeople!).
I head into town to meet my mum (£8) – I have tickets to the preview of A Christmas Carol (through work) at The Old Vic, so this will count as part of her present. We plan to meet at The Foundling Museum first – I have a National Art Pass so it’s free for both of us. We grab dinner at Wahaca nearby (one of my go-tos for affordable low-key dinners) which my mum refuses to let me pay for (possibly why I’m so anal about paying everyone back, my own family will never let me)!!
TOTAL: £8.00
Phew. Feel like I clawed a bit back from yesterday.
DAY 11
We head straight to Lidl at 7:30am (£13.24 split with Chris), we’re out so much this week and next, that we barely have anything to buy, so we add a few frozen Christmas canapes (mini toad in the holes!) to our trolley so it doesn’t hit us all at once come the big week.
In the evening I get ready for a work Christmas party, I haven’t bought anything new for parties this year, I wear a Sandro dress from last year and and an old Zara velvet blazer and get the tube to the party (£5.20), thankfully there is free food and drink (pizza and prosecco!) which means I can think about a taxi home, but it’s the other side of London so I compromise and get the tube home to as near as I can and get a taxi from the station (although I end up paying a premium rate due to the time of night – £20).
TOTAL: £38.44
DAY 12
At this point in the Christmas period, I feel I might need to be drip fed berocca. I head to my office (make my own coffee in a flask for the walk!) and now the gift guides are finished, I start to feel work slowly unwinding a bit. I have a work event in town (transport organised by the brand) and buy some overpriced eucalyptus for a friend whose house we’re going to later (£6.50). Chris’s parents have offered to babysit so we grab a bottle of cider we have at home to take with, catch the tube to East London (£5.60) to the party and the weekend begins!
TOTAL: £12.10
TOTAL over 12 days (with Southampton reimbursement): £276.48
Average: £23.04 a day
Wow. That seems a lot! I don’t think I’ve spent this much money in a while, to be honest. I did expect to spend a lot more than usual due to presents and parties, so we had a bit put aside (from selling things) but the final figure still shocks me as it seems such a huge amount of money.
It IS the most expensive and busiest time of the year, but maybe next year I’ll be thinking about doing more home-made presents!
What I have mainly learnt from writing this diary, is how much of privileged life I lead, that I even have this much money as disposable income; 10-15 years ago this wasn’t the case and it makes me feel proud of what I have achieved for myself. But it does make me think, even when I think I’m not spending much, it can all add up – especially for someone confident with my outgoings, like me! I had fallen out of the habit of writing in my ‘Kakeiboh’ journal, and am definitely going to continue writing down everything to help me feel more knowledgeable with what my outgoings are.
In this busy season, it’s important to allow for extra expenditure and keep an eye on your bank balance, all of the Christmas parties are done for me now – and hopefully I’ll spend the rest of December hibernating indoors in order to save a bit for the end of the month!
You can see more on the process and how it made me feel on IGTV here:
This post was made possible by teaming with NatWest, who want start more conversations around money and spending to help everyone become more financially confident this Christmas.
Bravo Alex!!! I have never seen this level of honesty on social media. Thank you for your lack of snobbery, telling it as it is, and for not trying to sell a perfect aspirational Social Media profile, which quite frankly you have worked incredibly hard to achieve – and could easily and probably more financially rewardingly continue (especially with Peggy!) I have quietly followed you from the start and you have always made me question the status quo. I wish you a very happy and restful Christmas because we will need you in 2020.
Thank you so much, this message honestly means a lot xx
Love your honesty! Christmas purchases can certainly get away from us and it’s easy to forget that (SO guilty over here!). I love the idea of tracking my spending but I’m also guilty for forgetting to put every single purchase. Might be time to start! 😉
It’s those invisible costs that add up, I find – and annoyingly a lot of non negotiables like travel! xx
Thanks Alex.
It’s always interesting and informative to hear how other people allocate their money and what they prioritise, because we don’t really talk about it alot.
Yes, and I think it can help us feel less ashamed ‘I can’t afford it, I’m saving’ x
nice posting
Hello, i really enjoy reading . I was thinking of my budget too…and my conclusion is that i can’t compare my family financial situation to anyone else because we have not the same life. I am struggling with my money because i am in parental leave (finish end january 😅😅😅) me and my girl 2 years old eat at home for all the meals… i have stuffs for my girl to buy and my boy is 9 years … i am around 70€(average) per week…
THANKS YOU FOR THIS POST. The french girl 😀😀😀
Yes, this is so important to remember, comparison is futile but I hope by all of us sharing our different situations (you, on parental leave) etc we will all understand each other’s budget constraints more and be more mindful and understanding xx
I really enjoyed reading this post and I’m going to try this next year. I write down my income and expenditure each month but once I know how much money I have left for myself, I kind of just spend it freely. I do need to be a bit more mindful of my spending. Definitely going to be getting your ebook for some more tips.
This is a great step anyway, I’m always surprised how few people even know how much their expenditure is xx
Yes 🙏🙏🙏
This is amazing Alex, I’m inspired to keep track in a similar way. Although, I’m scared of the numbers.
Never be scared, I think it’s good to look back and think how lovely a life you lead! And then use it to maybe tweak things for the future (if you think it’s necessary) xx
I really enjoyed reading this, and I think you’re right, we all need more openness and honesty about money (also, regarding NatWest – their app is brilliant – we’re saving for a loft conversion and I’m using the thing that lets you set a goal an save towards it). Fab post. Thank you!
How funny, I’ve not even used that section of the app!! But I love the online banking x
Thank you so much for putting this together, you never EVER come across people being so open about money and talking about their expenses. Super educational as well, makes me put in perspective my own spending. Please keep doing these from time to time. Love, Diana x
Thank you – yes it might be nice to get in the habit of these, and probably nice to do when it’s a cheaper month! xx
Loved this, reminded me of Refinery 29 money diaries. Would you mind telling me your Ebay name to search you in future? Thanks 🙂
Yes, I love those so much! I don’t share my ebay details as it has my name and address attached to it, sorry! xx
Excellent post Alex! Thank you for being so honest and it has really given me inspiration to do a similar thing, just to track where my spending is going. I’m fairly good and really draconian when it comes to our household outgoings but not so much when it comes to my personal spending. I’d like to echo what someone has commented above – you stand out in a crowd on instagram for keeping it real, being honest about finances and I appreciate it so much. I imagine there are lots of opportunities that come your way which would pay brilliantly but you don’t feel are a fit and I for one really do appreciate your integrity. It also means when you do an ad or a partnership I want to support it wholeheartedly. Have a wonderful Christmas x
Oh thank you so much! I purposely chose to work with brands that would help spread positivity this Christmas, rather than encourage buying new, so this means a lot – and it has been a great experiment for me, too! xx
Wow, It’s much amazing and inspiration too. I loved your way to work on.
Wow! Never seen someone break down their expenditure like this, am totally impressed & inspired. Will give it a try & am already scared of my own break-down. Gods job & wish you & your Family Happy Holidays from Germany.
https://www.oriwo-design.de/
Thank you and merry Christmas! Don’t be scared – it’s a good thing! xx
Thank you so much for sharing this Alex! You’ve really honestly inspired me to start looking at my own family finances more closely. I found it fascinating to read about a married couple who still split food bills and pay each other back etc. I am married and we just have a joint bank account that we both put our money into and all expenditure comes out of it, so we don’t have the concept of owing each other anything. It was a deliberate decision we made when we got married as it’s what our parents did and we really wanted to feel like we had family finances and not think about the singular. Reading your piece though has made me reflect that I think it makes keeping track of minor, daily spending harder, as we both have bits coming out here and there. I always think my coffees will get a bit buried as they’re in with his too! But of course it’s no good thinking that way. You’ve really made me think about the pros and cons of the two different approaches – good food for thought. Thank you!
There’s definitely no wright or wrong, it’s what works! I often find it’s harder to keep track with everything in ‘joint’, so we use that only for bills and mortgage etc – we never worry about ‘oweing’ each other etc, and generally it evens out, and I often just end up transferring £5 ast the end of the week etc! xx
Absolutely loved this article, Alex!
Thank you so much xx
This is a great post and I appreciate the honesty. I am planning on not buying any new clothing for 2020(!) and hope that this will really help my finances and my impact on the planet, I wonder if this is something you have thought of doing? I notice that you tag a lot of your clothes as old and it is honestly more inspiring to see how you style clothes from past seasons and still look current, rather than buying everything new.
As a side note, I think it would be very enlightening to learn how much gifted items total if you were to do future spending diaries. This is not necessarily something I see a lot of in your posts but other bloggers seem to receive thousands of pounds worth of gifts each day and I think it gives a really unrealistic ideal, especially for younger more impressionable people.
Yes, you will notice that clothes weren’t in my spending pattern here, as I haven’t bought much in the last 6 months at all, and it has made such a difference to my bank balance. In terms of gifting, I turn down most gifts as it’s not conducive to how I work, plus I don’t have the time to tag brands or worry about disclosing – it makes it easier to decide how much something is ‘worth’ if I pay for it (albeit sometimes through work, for instance travel etc for city guides is a work expense). I talk more about gifts and how much it accounts for my income (sometimes I go to work dinners etc, so it saves me money on food etc) in my e book. In this article I paid all these expenses xx
This was really interesting, not just in terms of spending but also the relationships we have (financially) with our families, including spouses. Every couple is different and it would feel odd to me to split bills with my husband of 20 years. We put some money each into a joint account and everything comes out of there. Anything left over goes to joint savings and we each save to the joint savings too. On the family side, my husband and I are earning more than most, so we are always trying to pick up the bill whilst being mindful that that can be insulting too. It’s a tricky line to tread. You’ve presumably read The Money Diaries on Refinery 29? is talking about money the last taboo?
Yes, it’s interesting – splitting money with my husband is probably the question I get asked the most – it started when were both barely managing to live and pay rent, we couldn’t afford a joint pot and knew neither of us could afford to ‘lay out’ for one another, so it made sense to always pay each other back. The conversation has never felt petty, just practical! Yes being mindful without making the other person feel ‘poor’ is another conversation. Yes, love refinery29’s money diaries – always interesting that they’re anonymous, which means it probably is the last taboo! xx
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