Money Diary: A University Lecturer on £46,000

Refinery29

23-07-2025

Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We're asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we're tracking every last penny.
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This week:"I'm in my mid-50s and work as a uni lecturer in the North of England with my two cats. For many years, I was a lawyer working in charities, which was a rewarding career in many respects, just not financially! Ten years ago, when I was really struggling to pay the bills, I started teaching fitness classes at my local gym. This has now become an extensive side-hustle. My current financial goal is to pay off the mortgage on my flat before I turn 60, while still enjoying life and travelling occasionally."
Occupation: Uni lecturer and fitness instructor
Industry: Higher Education
Age: 54
Location: North of England
Salary: £46,000 (Lecturer salary is £43,000, supplemented by part-time fitness instructor income).
Joint income: N/A
Assets: £3,000 instant-access ISA, £60,000 pension, £140,000 flat (mortgaged for £70,000), £1,000 Bitcoin, £6,000 car.
Debt: £70,000 left of my mortgage.
Paycheque Amount: £3,000
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Monthly Housing Costs: £555 mortgage payment, £114 council tax, plus £294 service charge.
Utilities: £222
Number of Housemates: Two cats.
Monthly Loan Payments: None.
Pension: Yes, I pay in £360.
All Other Monthly Expenses: £19 auto-insurance, £20 broadband, £22.64 mobile phone, £125 support to ex-husband, £20.49 life insurance, £29.99 skincare subscription, £17 private dental care, £13 monthly bank account fee, £30 pet insurance.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, one BA paid for with a combination of scholarships and income from work. Then, I did an MA paid with student loans, including a loan I took out to do a fellowship abroad. I then did my law qualifications on scholarships.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Not many conversations about money. There was a sense that money was tight because we were a large family, but we did not have specific conversations.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
Babysitting for neighbours, so that I could have pocket money. I spent it on outings with friends, as well as albums or singles from The Cure or Siouxie and the Banshees.
Did you worry about money growing up?
We always had a lot of good food and a lovely big house and garden, but it was clear that my parents were anxious about money.
Do you worry about money now?
I worked in charities until my early 50s, so my income has always been relatively low. In addition, I separated from my husband in my late 40s, which meant that I had to sort out my own housing and start again. My husband kindly gave me enough to make a down-payment on a shared-ownership flat, where I now live (and have staircased up to 100% ownership).
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
No one is supporting me. I suppose if a catastrophe struck, I could ask my ex-husband or some local close friends to help me out, but thankfully, that hasn't been tested.
No, nothing.
Day One
8 a.m. — It's a marking period at uni, so there are no classes to teach on campus today. After enjoying a lovely lie-in with the cats, I get dressed and go outside for a stroll and get a matcha latte with almond milk, £4.50. I live near a newly renovated park and I treat it like my garden so I steal some wild cherries from a tree (I don't take them all).
9 a.m. — I get back to the flat and start marking. I use a Pomodoro video (music with timed intervals) to help me keep focused.
1 p.m. — Lunch is a pre-prepped salmon salad enjoyed with some TikTok scrolling. I tell myself that the scrolling is research, since I follow some fitness instructors to get some ideas for the class I'll teach tonight. I also indulge in some online shopping and buy vitamin supplements, £16. Then I dive into more marking. Powering through!
5 p.m. — I finish work and walk to the fitness club, where I teach a weights-based class set to music. The walk takes me about 45 minutes through some suburban neighbourhoods. I have taught at this gym since 2021 and I teach a variety of classes with a great range of people. The management there are lovely and allow me to do my own workout in the weight room afterwards. Working with weights has definitely helped with the menopause symptoms.
8 p.m. — I get the bus home because I'm tired, £2. I have a sort of second supper when I get home, watch reruns of Friends on Netflix, then crash.
Total: £22.50
Day Two
8 a.m. — I get an early start because I want to skive off early today. Just for a change of scenery, I decide to try to get some work done in a local cafe, which means of course, buying another matcha. I spend about two hours in the cafe and to my surprise, get a fair amount of work done. On my way home I get some top-up groceries, £13.50.
12 p.m. — Marking the same coursework over and over can make you feel like you're in a time loop. I'm too lazy to go outside again, so I play with the cats and put some laundry on. Being too lazy to go outside means there's no possibility of spending any more money and I manage a passable lunch of leftover pasta.
2 p.m. — I am mulling over getting an extra qualification as a yoga teacher, so I am looking at a course being offered in my area. It's expensive, over £900, but would it pay for itself over time? I decide to keep it under consideration for a while.
4 p.m. — I have an afternoon full of meetings, starting with dissertation supervision sessions, and finishing with a meeting about a new assessment I've designed. I then finish work at 4 p.m. so that I can walk to a yoga class. The walk is about an hour, including a shortcut through a park, so it's a lovely way to get some fresh air after a long day cooped up inside.
6 p.m. — The class is harder than expected, literally everyone else in the class can do headstands! I hold my own (but use the wall for headstands). I get the bus home afterwards. The yoga class is £10 and the bus £2.
Total: £25.50
Day Three
7 a.m. — I need to teach on campus today, so I get the train into the city centre. My favourite thing about my flat is that I can see the railway station from my kitchen window and it's a very easy stroll. I don't have to teach until 9 a.m., but I get the early train to avoid the crowds, £8.60. It's nice to get onto campus and see everyone, and they provide free tea and coffee which encourages socialising in the break room.
12 p.m — I don't get a whole lot of time for lunch today because I'm meeting with a student, however, I do treat myself to another matcha, £4.50. It adds some glamour to my home-made sandwich.
2 p.m — An afternoon of teaching workshops and seminars. I teach a variety of levels: undergrads and post-grads, with some challenging material. I've taught these modules a few times now, but every group will have new insights and ask me new questions. It is great to see how enthusiastic students can be, particularly since most students have to work quite a lot of hours in order to fund their studies nowadays. I stay after the last workshop to answer some questions. When I get back to my desk I've got a great plan to mark a few courseworks, but I decide I'm out of steam and I close my laptop instead.
7 p.m — After getting home, I do an online Pilates workout and then go for a walk. The walk takes me by the local Tesco, where I top up my grocery shop with some salmon and vegetables, £12.
Total: £25.10
Day Four
6:45 a.m. — I am covering for someone at the gym this morning, so I get there for 6:45 a.m. and teach two classes. On these work-at-home days, I like to cover classes when I can. I am absolutely not an exercise-in-the-morning person, but I power through and end up having a lot of fun. Teaching at the gym does not feel like work. It's like working out with friends, but I get to choose the music. Afterwards, I reward myself with a matcha and then sit in the sun until it's time to start marking again, £4.50.
12 p.m. — Another day working at home, marking and having meetings. Just before lunch, I power through quite a lot of marking and I decide to reward myself. I buy a second-hand skirt on eBay for £11. Thankfully, the afternoon has a variety of student supervision meetings and staff meetings, so I get a mental break from marking. The cats muscle in on one of my supervision meetings, strutting back and forth in front of the camera to the delight of my students.
7 p.m. — I go back to the gym to teach an evening class. I drive this time, stopping to top up petrol and fill my tyres with air, £15. When I get home, I remember that I'm meant to travel to another city tomorrow for work, so I get organised and buy a train ticket online using my work's travel booking system, expensed.
Total: £30.50
Day Five
6 a.m. — I travel to another city to teach today, about 90 minutes by train. It's an early start; my first lecture starts at 9:30 a.m. but I get the earliest train at 6:15 a.m. The tech in our satellite campus can be unpredictable and I like to get there early to iron out any issues. Thankfully, the trains are running on time. I'm armed with good podcasts and I get a matcha latte on the way, £4.50. I get to campus very early and have time to catch up with some colleagues before the students arrive.
12 p.m. — A good friend of mine lives in this city, so we take advantage of the opportunity to meet up for lunch. She kindly meets me near campus and we go to a sushi place which feels very posh. She is retired and the busiest person I know. I grab another coffee on the way back to campus because I can feel myself flagging. The total for both comes to £16.
5 p.m. — After teaching seminars throughout the afternoon, I speed-walk to the rail station and get the train home. The station is absolutely heaving. There's some kind of event going on, but I manage to catch the express train and I even find a seat. It's payday and I do some online banking, putting a £300 overpayment into my mortgage. Once home, I have an early night (for some reason, the travelling always tires me out).
Day Six
10 a.m. — Saturday after payday, so I'm feeling rich. I start the day with an online Pilates workout, then head to the spa for a gel pedicure and brow lamination, totalling £70. I also get some sandals at a charity shop for £3.99. I stop briefly in the local art gallery, where there are landscape paintings of my neighbourhood from the 1950s. In some of the paintings, I can pick out my block of flats. I marvel at how much the area has developed since then: there used to be so many trees and sandy banks! I realise I have lived here for five years already and (hopefully) will never move house again, so one day I will be looking back on 2025 as the olden days.
12 p.m. — I get a takeaway falafel sandwich on the way home because I can't face the boring salad in the fridge, £9. I spend the afternoon cleaning the flat and changing the cat litter, while binge-listening to Dubai Bling. Two indoor cats means a lot of cleaning. I wonder if I need to get them some more scratching posts because they're shredding the dining room table. I then spend an hour or so planning fitness classes for next week. I try to incorporate some new moves and music every week.
6:00 p.m. — I head out to Tesco's for the weekly big shop. It's high this week because I'm stocking up on laundry things and cat litter. Possibly the least glamorous Saturday night activity but the marking period is always like this, £82.
Total: £164.99
Day Seven
8:30 a.m. — I teach my regular Sunday-morning classes at the gym, two in a row. We get a pretty good-sized crowd on the weekend and the mood is very relaxed and social compared to the rushed weeknights. I get in a mini-workout afterwards and cheekily use the fitness club's steam room and jacuzzi. The jacuzzi might have been a mistake because by the time I drag myself out of it and get dressed, I just want to go back to bed. I walk home the long way, through a park. I wasn't planning to buy anything but when I see a coffee van, I decide it would be rude to just walk by. I stop for a latte and some sunbathing before heading home, £4.50.
12 p.m. — The marking period is so busy that some marking needs to happen on a Sunday afternoon. I tell myself that getting through some coursework now will take a bit of pressure off the coming week. I put some music on and keep myself focused for as long as possible, finally breaking down late afternoon for a nap. I dream about marking coursework, but in the dream, each coursework is different and some of them just contain cryptic diagrams instead of words. I think I need a holiday.
6 p.m. — I head out for a walk and then catch a film: a studio recording of Macbeth, £9. I realise it's been nearly 40 years since I read the play. I remember being confused about the plot in school, thinking that it was Lady Macbeth who did all the killing. Watching it again, I can see where I got that idea. The film is terrific: fast-paced and spooky. When I get home, I find the play online to read again.
Total: £13.50
The Breakdown
Conclusion
"When I separated from my husband and moved to my flat over five years ago, it was, of course, a big change. I kept hold of the idea that somehow things would work out okay. Taking up teaching at the gym was a good decision: it's kept me active and it's given me connections and friends in this new community. I am working quite a lot lately, but it's with the goal of paying off my mortgage by the time I'm 60. This does not leave a whole lot of time for socialising, which is especially apparent when I look back over this past week! I might need to think a bit more about work-life balance and maintaining relationships. Overall, however, things have worked out okay so far, touch wood."