Money Diary: Freelance Writer in Hertfordshire on Changeable Income
One of my favourite pieces of online literature to consume on the sly is the Money Diaries series on refinery29. Published weekly, the articles follow female professionals (and non-professionals) and their week via their purse. Money is such a taboo topic and rightly so, it’s an extremely personal thing. However, inspired by refinery29 and my friend Lily who shares her weeks once in a blue moon, I decided to document last week through the eyes of my poor, battered Chanel purse. And here are my findings!
Sunday
1:30pm. £0.00. Harvey treats us to iced soy lattes before a late lunch.
1:52pm. £0.00. Free parking on Sundays!
1:58pm. £1.20. Before we’ve even managed to get to the restaurant, Harvey pulls me to one side because he’s found a secondhand book market! They’re selling beautiful fabric-bound books for 20p each so I buy 6.
2:30pm. £26.75. Two vegan lunches, sides and drinks at Cultivo Lounge for lunch. The food is impressive, but I am less than impressed by my rocket leaf situation.
6:45pm. £5.40. Transfer money by PayPal to my friend Lily. We’re sending flowers to a friend.
Total: £33.35
Monday
12:05pm. £3.45. Send a small parcel to my good friend Bee.
12:30pm. £30.04. I’m trying to waste 10 minutes before driving to the gym because the free parking only covers me for 2 hours and I’m planning to do both my own workout and a Pilates class. Petrol is SO expensive.
1:15pm. £0.00. Make it to my Pilates class which is included in the cost of my gym membership. A £3 charge is applied if you miss a booking which is great for holding you accountable to actually working out.
4:17pm. £1.98. Louise and I are waiting in anticipation for Kate and Wills to leave the hospital with baby boy and decide to get a McFlurry each while Wills goes to pick George and Charlotte up. How cute is Charlotte’s regal wave?
Total: £35.47
Wearing:
(Zohar blush pink plunging blouse, c/o Tobi;
Levi’s 501 straight-legged jeans similar here;
Half Time barely there heeled sandals, ASOS;
Cloud convertible backpack, The Cambridge Satchel Co.)
Tuesday
8:19am. £1.48. Have to buy breakfast because I woke up late. The staff canteen at this client’s office is a bit of a gamble every morning and I end up begrudging the cost.
12:45pm. £2.95. Such is life that I failed to meal-prep this week and have to buy lunch too. I opt for baked sweet potato with caramelised red onion and feta because it’s the only veggie option. I’ll probably still be hungry.
2:00pm. 60p. Vending machine time. I pick up a packet of crisps.
3:15pm. £16.00. Conducting a mandatory site-walk of New In products for my fashion client. I spot a pair of their new activewear leggings and immediately purchase with free click-and-collect.
5:12pm. £13.00. Have to buy an extortionately priced train ticket to get into town for a press event. Stupidly I panic-buy a return ticket even though I’ll be ‘returning’ to a different station. Curse myself.
6:30pm. £0.00. Treated to afternoon tea courtesy of Le Restaurant de PAUL. It is delicious and should usually equate to £24.95 per person.
8:54pm. £7.50. Pick up my favourite chumaki sushi box from Wasabi for lunch tomorrow. I’m still eating fish once in a while.
9:04pm. £13.00. Buy a single ticket home. How on earth is a single the same price as a return?!
9:04pm. £4.80. My daily Tube charge.
Total: £54.53
Wednesday
8:32am. £1.83. Somehow, I’m charged more for the same breakfast that I had yesterday. But I’m too British and lazy to complain.
7:39pm. £6.60. I have to pick up my click-and-collect order from Tesco and the car park is adjacent to my gym’s, so I hedge my bets and park in the Tesco one, BUT I then have to spend at least £5 in order to leave. Pick up a large avocado, some tomatoes in unnecessary plastic and a Wicked vegan meal ‘for emergencies’.
Total: £8.43
Thursday
10:45am. £10.00. My weekly Barre class costs me £10, which has increased greatly since I started but is still way more cost-efficient than London’s Barrecore classes.
6:14pm. £20.80. Decide to pop by my boyfriend’s place to chill out (I find it hard to unwind after work, as I work from home) and we order a Chinese takeaway: two portions of chilli salt and pepper tofu, sweet and sour sauce, seaweed and a boiled rice. I order it from my Uncle’s place.
Total: £30.80
Friday
10:16am. £18.80. The cost of an all-day London travelcard has gone up again! Can’t wait for another terrible service standing for 19 minutes to the city, but at least it includes both train journeys and all of my London bus and Tube journeys. I’m in London to shoot for the blog.
2:15pm. £5.95. Pick up a vegan falafel wrap from LEON as a late lunch for the train. Immediately regret because GODDAMN why is the vegan cheese replacement rocket salad leaves?!
2:50pm. £7.50. Pay for a day of car parking at the train station. A rip-off but hey, gotta be done.
7:42pm. £0.00. Harvey picks up dinner for us!
11:00pm. £9.99. My Netflix subscription fee is taken out.
Total: £42.24
Saturday
11:42am. £10.02. Back at Sainsbury’s, picking up avocados, vegetables, aioli and wraps for today’s brunch situation. We make crispy potatoes with a Quorn crispy nugget wrap. Delish.
3:23pm. £15.00. Transfer my sister some money towards tonight’s Franco Manca feast. I tend to round up a rough guesstimate instead of calculate exact sums… For the sake of this post, I tot it up and our pizzas would’ve been £14.05. Louise wins again!
Total: £25.05
In conclusion, I literally spend all of my hard-earned cash on food. And not in a luxurious way that allows me to enjoy a dining out experience every time. Most of the time it’s because I haven’t had the foresight to meal-prep in advance to save on the little costs. Another of my awful habits is rounding up payments back to people and losing out pockets of cash here and there.
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