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're with a buyer working in retail in Bristol, who fits a full-time job into four days a week. She undertakes regular international travel for work and has two young children. She and her husband share responsibility for earning money, childcare and housework (for the most part...); they also rent out an annex in their house on Airbnb for some much needed extra cash, making an extra £700 a month.
Industry: Retail – Buyer
Age: 35
Location: Bristol
Salary: £53k
Paycheque amount per month: £2,968
Number of housemates: One husband, one 3-year-old and a 1-year-old
We only have a joint account so in theory I pay half of everything, as my husband and I earn practically the same. The below are the total amounts.
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £1,398 mortgage
Loan payments: £300. £200 per month from the credit card, £100 per month to husband’s parents
Utilities: £560 (including TV, internet, council tax and insurance)
Transportation: I have a company car and drive to work every day. Fuel is around £2 per day so roughly £62 a month.
Phone bill: £50 (for husband and me)
Savings: £100 per month into the children's ISAs
Other: Childcare £1,600. Cleaner £120
Total: £4,290, meaning my half is £2,145.
Day One
6.20am: Woken by a very excited 3-year-old thrilled to have her mummy back after a week-long work trip in Asia. It’s Sunday morning, I got into bed at 12am after a 24-hour journey home, normally I would be totally FML but I am so happy to see the kids I stagger out of bed and go and scoop up the littler one, too.
6.30am: The three of us go downstairs and eat Nutella on toast and drink tea and milk. I give them the gifts I bought them on the trip and we watch CBeebies.
11am: Head to the local city farm to check out the piglets and have a run around. It starts to rain and so shelter in the café (good excuse for some jet lag-fixing caffeine). Lunch for four is £19.50.
2pm: Getting really tired now so I'm chaining cups of tea while doing our online food shop for the week. Normally I plan all our meals Monday to Friday and buy exactly what I need to keep costs down. £45.34 (cheap week as no nappies or washing powder needed)!
4pm: Drag myself to Tesco Express to buy the ingredients for a family tea. Ingredients for sausage and cider casserole with mashed potato £12.40.
8.15pm: Finally think it's late enough to go to bed, phew made it through the day!
Total: £77.24
Day Two
6.40am: Woken by the 3-year-old shouting as she is getting herself dressed and has got stuck in her summer maxi-dress (she’s teamed it with sparkly tights and flip flops; it's February). Untangle her, discuss that we will need to review her footwear and compromise by adding a cardigan. The rest I let go.
7am: Breakfast of granola and tea with the kids, which we already had in the house. I normally work Monday to Thursday but I’m taking the day off to see the kids and recover (haha) from my trip.
11am: After a morning of washing, tidying and negotiating with irrational little people, we head to the science museum in town to meet friends. We have annual membership so nothing to pay now.
11.45am: We are flagging already and decide we need lunch at the café. Sandwich, crisps, coffee for me and snack boxes for the kids comes to £11.40.
3.30pm: Exhausted from running round after the littler one, who has no sense of self-preservation, we leave for home. Kids fall asleep in the car so have a lovely aimless drive around listening to the radio. The car park was £6.50.
4.30-8pm: Food shopping arrives, put it away. Kids fed, bathed, read to and put in bed.
8.30pm: Salmon, new potatoes, peas and homemade tartar sauce for tea.
Total: £17.90
Day Three
6am: Wake up and get everything ready for the day. Husband left at 4.30am for a three-day work trip so I’m lone parenting.
7am: Breakfast with the kids. Cheerios and blueberries. Tea.
8am: Leave money out for our cleaner (lifesaver) £30, and drop the kids at nursery.
9am-4.30pm Normal crazy blur of work, trying to fit a full-time job into part-time hours. Lunch is wholemeal pitta and some hummus that I brought from home.
4.30pm: Run out of the door and drive to nursery to get the kids. Arrive at 5.29pm – they fine you £1 for every minute you are late so it's always a stressful end to the day!
8.15pm: Make a load of pasta to use up some bits from the fridge. Watch some TV programmes that my husband would hate, drink some wine.
9.30pm: Bath and bed
Total: £30
Day Four
7am: Breakfast with the kids. Cheerios and banana. Tea.
8am-4.30pm. Kids to nursery (it’s a good morning as the big one picked out a sensible outfit and the little one waited to get to nursery to poo), me to work, I eat leftover pasta for lunch as well as free lunch food in a meeting because it was there and this week I really do not care.
6pm: Kids home, everyone very emotional, lots of tears (mainly mine). Both fall off the big one's bed as they are bouncing on it while "helping" me make it up after an early-morning wee incident. Bathed, read to and asleep by 7.15pm.
7.30pm: Clean and change over the Airbnb. It can be a lot of work but the extra money it brings in a month is very helpful.
8.30pm: Put a supermarket moussaka in the oven (it's my treat when I'm home alone), pour a glass of wine and go on the computer to research insurance, buy hoover bags (£16.35) and pay the milk bill (one month: £23.84). God my life is rock'n’roll!
9.15pm: Eat moussaka and watch another programme my husband hates.
10.30pm: Bed
Total: £40.19
Day Five
7am: Same again, Cheerios, banana, tea, tears, negotiations, tantrums etc. Kids successfully in nursery.
2.30pm: Lunch is a cajun prawn & avocado salad with loads of lime that I made at home. I pay post bill at work that has been building up (mainly from online shopping returns) £11.04.
6pm: Home with kids. Greet and settle in Airbnb guest.
6.35pm: Husband home. Hurray!!
7.30pm: Go to spinning at a local community centre, £5.
8.30pm: Turns out I should have added nappies to the big shop after all… Pop to Tesco Express on the way home. End up buying some chocolate as well, £5.55.
9.15pm: Chicken curry made by husband. Back to watching TV we both like.
10.30pm: Bed.
Total: £21.59
Day Six
7am: Granola (I have more time today as two parents present, granola takes longer to eat), tea.
8am: It's Friday and my day "off" with the kids so we can have a bit of a calmer morning.
9.30am: The little one has his second chicken pox vaccine injection. His sister was really poorly when she had it and the two weeks off nursery are a real nightmare with no local grandparents, so we decided it would be best to vaccinate him. He is super-brave and loves hanging out flirting with the old ladies while we wait. It is £65, although the grandparents gave us the money for it in December.
10am: My sister is visiting. She lives in the middle of nowhere so we always go to IKEA when she's around. As soon as we arrive she wants a snack – full breakfast for her and a tea for me. She pays.
11.15am: Back to the restaurant, this time for lunch. The kids and I have meatballs, my sister has salmon and again she treats us. £0
12.50pm: Pick up various bits for the Airbnb including more replacement slats for the bed, which break very regularly. Annoying but they do give them me for free. Glasses, plates, mirror, sheets, etc come to £44.15.
3.45pm: We all walk round to Tesco Express to give the children some fresh air and buy some crisps and dips, olives and prosecco, and my sister treats the children to a few sweets. £15.45.
5pm: Friday-night tea and dancing for the children. I love our Friday evenings. They have treat foods, we listen to music and dance around the kitchen. This week they have fish fingers and corn-on-the-cob and my sister and I have prosecco.
8.30pm: Sister leaves and we have a pizza and I fall asleep on the sofa.
Total: £59.60 (not including the pox jab)
Day Seven
7.30pm: No food in now so husband pops out to buy the ingredients for bacon and poached eggs on sourdough toast. He also buys a paper which we both pretend to read for 10 minutes before admitting defeat. He likes to think we can still have long leisurely weekend breakfasts but we can’t! We’ll just use the paper for lighting the fire. £6.70.
4.30pm: Have to get out of the house so walk to the local Wilko with the kids in the pouring rain (living the dream). We buy a present and card for a fourth birthday party that the bigger one is going to tomorrow – she has a much better social life than me! £10.40
4.50pm: As this is anonymous I will admit that next we go to Iceland a buy a chicken korma for the kids and a spaghetti vongole and a bag of salad for the grown-ups (the vongole turns out to be surprisingly nice, the korma not so much…). The children are brilliant eaters and have such amazing food at their nursery that I don’t feel too bad cheating once in a while! £6.50.
8pm: Kids are in bed and we watch a film and drink some wine.
10.30pm: Bed
Total: £23.60
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