How I Save: The 21-year-old marketing manager earning £22k with £4,500 saved

There’s a lot of guilt, shame, and panic around the topic of money.

You don’t have enough, you’re spending it ‘wrong’, and you’re kept awake by worries of what exactly will happen if something goes wrong and you need to rely on the measly £400 in your savings account.

We need to get an open conversation going around money. It can have such a negative impact on our mental health, and our collective weirdness around money keeps us all silent, meaning those struggling might not ask for help.

Our weekly series, How I Save, is part of that conversation.

Each week we share how a different person saves and spends their money, then get some expert advice on how they (and we) can save better.

This time we’re nosing around the personal finances of Noah (not his real name), a 21-year-old marketing manager living in Nottingham.

How Noah saves

I earn £22,000 a year. In my savings account right now I have £4,500.

I’m saving for a new house!

The main way I save is cutting down on monthly outgoings and watching what I spend on a day-to-day basis.

I don’t really struggle with saving, but occasionally the need to impulse-buy gets the better of me.

How Noah spends

Monthly expenses:

  • £450 in rent
  • £119 in council tax
  • £56 electricity
  • £32 water
  • £37 phone bill
  • £61 TV, Internet, Phone (Sky)
  • £6.80 Life Insurance
  • £15 contents insurance
  • £34 professional studies
  • £7.99 Amazon Prime
  • £130 vehicle finance
  • £100 car insurance
  • £10 breakdown cover

A week of spending

Monday: Every Monday morning I like to treat myself to a coffee from the coffee shop near work – it’s a little tradition. I get a medium latte for £1.60.

In the evening I spend 50p on a hazelnut chocolate bar. My partner loves this cheap hazelnut chocolate, so I swung by on the way home from work to buy her some.

Tuesday: A new Sky remote for £20. Our remote had broken so we needed another one. I’m exactly happy about this expense but I don’t think my partner could survive without TV.

I was hungry on the way home and got a Mars bar to last me – 60p. I enjoyed it and didn’t feel too guilty.

I spend £23 on a public transport card for the week. I get public transport to work as it’s a lot cheaper than driving.

Wednesday: £5 on a new screen protector, as my old one on my phone had lost its stickiness.

£3.20 on a pot of coffee, as the office ran out so I replaced it.

I go out for a few after-work pints with colleagues and spend £7.80 for two Hop House beers.

Thursday: I spend £6.50 on street food. I feel a bit guilty about this one. The city centre had some food stalls and I had some for lunch rather than pasta from the previous evening.

Friday: Sky movie rental, £4.80. Not a common purchase, but we’d seen a film advertised and rented it on Sky.

Saturday: £35 on an Aldi shop, consisting of a lot of meals that can be cooked in bulk – this allows me to save some for work the following day.

I also spend £24 on a pub meal. It’s our weekly tradition of having a meal out on a Saturday lunch, accompanied by an alcoholic beverage each.

Sunday: I didn’t spend anything. It was a lazy day.

Total spent this week: £132

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