Yahoo Finance ‘I’m 24, earn £30k and live like an animal – this is how I spend my money’
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I live like an animal. If I’m not sleeping in an untidy bed with unchanged sheets, or eating standing up in my kitchen, or working on the near-pointless minutiae of a party in a modern parliament, you can find me whiling away the hours on equally unfulfilling text-to-speech short videos. Such is the life of the recent graduate.
I am telling you this because in the modern world, everything is commercialised and has a price. No activity, even those that are natural and ancient, may be performed without compensation. To tell you the way I spend my money is akin to divulging my soul.
I work in politics as a parliamentary researcher earning £30,000 pre-tax.
Optimistically, I keep MSPs well-informed on prescient details of issues in my assigned topic areas. Pessimistically, I cherry-pick data, misrepresent issues and generate spin in order to help push political grievances.
I am reckless and ill-planned with money. I frequently have to adjust my behaviour mid-month to avoid running out, having to eat nothing and having to walk to work.
Vital statistics:
Age: 24
Post-tax annual income: £24,400
Rent: £700 a month
Job: Parliamentary researcher
Bills: £145 a month, plus student loan repayments
Day 1
I wake up, stirred by the cacophony of alerts from my phone, bleary-eyed and dazed. I remind myself to stop trawling the internet until the early hours. I snooze my alarm and haul myself up later.
Monday is an uneventful day money-wise because I spend most of it indoors working from home in my dressing-gown and pyjamas.
In the evening I go to Lidl to do a shop. I do this habitually and what I buy rarely changes much. My purchases include a discounted roast in the bag, flavoured chicken, some Lidl energy drinks, onions, a beef joint, milk, cereal, chocolate, tortilla wraps, a cheap £5 Bordeaux and a couple of German beers. The total came to £31.56.
The cereal and chocolate I am guilty about. The rest I am satisfied with. The Bordeaux is great for the price in Scotland, and the German beers are nice and distinct, without having the childish aesthetic of craft IPAs. They taste better too.
At some point I roast the chicken and store it in the fridge. I use some of the chicken for chicken, onion, sour cream, lettuce, cheese, chilli oil, and salt and pepper wraps.
Occasionally the sour cream must be swapped out for the Belgian mayonnaise (D&L, £2.50 per bottle) I ensure to keep stored. I am running low though – last time I flew back from Belgium (Ryanair, £51.57) security took my stash.
After Lidl, I go home, drink some beer, and move on to wine. I drink most nights, though lightly – not more than 3 or 4 units.
I also eat some of the beef, raw. Maybe I will cook it and turn it into sandwiches. Raw beef is great, especially with a dash of salt. It can be eaten at a moment’s notice, it has never made me sick, and is extremely tasty and juicy. You can either cut it up into bite-size cubes, or handle a larger piece with your hands and rip chunks with your teeth. I opt for the former.
Total: £31.56
Day 2
I again wake up groggy but this time I have to get dressed immediately and go to work. Bad things will happen if I don’t.
I take the train for my short commute (£3.40 return). After settling down to work, I head to the cafeteria and buy porridge for breakfast for £1. It isn’t very good.
I spend £7.45 on lunch. The prices have gone up recently, even from their previous too-high levels.
On returning home I change and set out again, this time in the car. I keep it a bit away from my flat because I got parking tickets (three at £100 each) when I tried leaving it outside my own place. This happened because I didn’t have a permit, something I couldn’t get until I had everything registered at the flat, which took a while. In the meantime, I suppose Edinburgh City Council expects you to suffer.
I first go to Asda, and purchase some beef mince, chilli con carne sachets, tinned beans, tinned tomatoes, some Chouffe beer, and some cider. The total comes to £19.51.
I buy dinner at the McDonald’s embedded in the Asda. It takes too long to arrive. The burgers cost £6.18.
I then continue on to Ikea, my second trip there in a month. I buy a STORABO carpet, a very large jute rug, a pair of curtains and a hanging rail. It all comes to £226.50, most of which is the rug and curtains.
Total: £257.86
Day 3
I return the jute rug (£150) and curtains (£40) to Ikea. The former was too large, and my computer chair would not wheel around on it. I had not checked the height of the latter, and they were too short. While I’m there, I eat dinner: meatballs and an ice tea (£6.50).
I did not buy a replacement rug or curtains, reasoning that I could repurpose the curtains currently in the wrong place in the room, and that my ugly lino floor can’t be bested for practical chair-rolling.
My costs for the day are otherwise standard: train (£3.40), breakfast (£4.05 – got a drink and hot roll this time), lunch (£5.85 – sandwich & drink).
Total: £19.80 (plus the £190 refund)
Day 4
Similar again with commuting costs (£3.40 train) and lunch (£5.10).
I have drinks after work; four pints at £5.84 each and a £1.05 packet of crisps.
When I get home, I go back out to Lidl and buy, among other standard purchases, a pain au chocolat (only £0.65, a steal compared to Tesco’s £1.10, and the daylight robbery of a local artisanal café selling them for over £3. I yearn to see the place bulldozed out of business by an international, efficient chain).
I also buy some toilet rolls, a pizza, and more energy drinks. Total spend is £10.50.
Total: £49.25
Day 5
Another work from home day.
I am trying to learn oil painting but I am very bad at it. My somewhat dim environment doesn’t help in terms of seeing small colour differences, so I go out to buy a hardware light from B&Q. It cost £55.
I go to Lidl for more incidentals. A beer, a pastry, and another chicken, coming to a total of £5.85.
Total: £60.85
Day 6
I went to cricket training and I got a cider in the club bar afterwards costing £5.10.
I need new glasses. I lost my last pair, to my great annoyance, so I went to Specsavers. I have an abnormally large head, so literally only one, somewhat ugly pair actually fit me. So much for inclusion, dear me. The new pair costs me £120.99.
Total: £126.09
Day 7
I spend most of Sunday sleeping. It is the day of rest, and I use it as such. However, I wake just early enough to walk up Arthur’s seat. I bought a Doom Bar from a store on the way (£2), a meal deal (£3.50), and a vape (£6) to enjoy up there.
Later I shop again at Lidl. Drinks, washing up liquid, washing machine gel, and a pastry all totalling £8.79.
Total: £20.29
Weekly total: £375.70
