by After my A-Levels at a bog standard comprehensive school, I went to Sheffield University to study chemical engineering
I graduated as the last cohort in the UK on a full maintenance grant, with no tuition fees. The system was better then – a working-class boy like me could graduate, provided you were smart enough.
The Blairite “revolution” means that anyone can go to university provided they are willing to pay. The result is a lot of debt-laden disenfranchised kids who work in call centers and never pay back the loan, or for those who would have one anyway, a salary penalty for the next 30 years.
Along with my degree, I worked in India, Pakistan and the UAE, getting chartered and completing an MBA in my spare time. I worked in property management, then operations management, taking on my first role as managing director at 33.
I went on to work for a number of major global engineering companies, before joining my current UK-based employer, which specializes in areas such as pharmaceuticals and energy.
I benefit from a salary sacrifice scheme of electric cars at work. It gives me a 50pc discount on the normal lease cost, so I got a Porsche – much to the amusement of many of my friends and colleagues.
I also pay £128 a month into two stakeholder pensions for my two grown up children. I started when everyone was born, so both have pots going into their first jobs of around £40,000 each. I will stop these payments this year.
I also send my mother a monthly “pension” of £378. My father was ill-advised to transfer his British Steel pension and did not provide a widow’s pension, so when he died at 66, the annuity stopped paying.
Vital statistics
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Age: 53
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Annual income after tax: £131,418, excluding bonus £100,000-£200,000
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Mortgage: £2,700
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Position: Chief Operating Officer, Engineering and Construction Consulting
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Bills: £891 (water, gas, electricity, broadband and council tax)
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Donations: £3,076 (wife’s car lease, dog insurance, mobile phone, and savings)
Day 1
I start my week with a 5.10am alarm and jump in the car. My commute is almost free, as I charge my Porsche Taycan overnight on a tariff of just 7.5p per kWh. My 26 mile journey to the office costs less than my daily £3.70 Starbucks with an extra shot.
I skip breakfast because I’m trying to lose some weight for the summer holidays, but coffee is my weakness.
I withdraw £120 in cash from the bank on my way in to replace what I “left in the chicken”, which is our change bowl in the kitchen. The drain unblockers are coming at lunchtime.
My oldest child from my first marriage has just started work at a law firm in downtown Birmingham. They live with their mother and commute three days a week to the city. When they’re apartment hunting, they’re using hotels and this week it’s over £180 a night, so I buy them three nights in an apartment for £232.
At lunchtime my stomach sinks so I get a chicken salad sandwich and a bag of crisps for £4.40.
Today is also my first wedding anniversary, so I take the evening off and drive my wife to the jewelery quarter to commission a diamond engagement ring. It is made to order, so I am asked to leave a “nominal” deposit of £1,450. Ouch.
With the evening traffic, we eat out at our favorite Indian restaurant before coming home. The meal sets me back £74.30.
Total: £1,884.70
Day 2
I’m working from home today after rescheduling an offsite client meeting. My wife announces that she needs to pay her credit card bill, meaning “pay my credit card bill” of £1,500.
Lunch is a homemade sandwich from the scrapings of our fridge. Over lunch, I attack my home “to do” list.
After fixing the drain yesterday, I order one meter of flexible pipe to line a split pipe; eBay comes to the rescue at a cost of £13.37.
I finish work, close the laptop and make dinner from ingredients already bought, together with a bottle of white Bordeaux, before an early night.
Total: £1,513.37
Day 3
Up and on the road before 6am, I drive to our pharmaceutical hub in Manchester. The traffic is terrible. Since the pandemic, everyone seems to be driving like they’re playing Mario Kart. Roadworks are endemic and the M6 and M62 are car parks. The road infrastructure in the UK is simply broken.
I make it to my EV charging point at just after 8am. Porsche has an arrangement, so I can charge quickly at 31p per KWh. I add up to about the 200 mile range for £9.86.
While I wait for the car to recharge, I grab a sneaky McMuffin and a large black Americano from a nearby McDonald’s for £6.08, which will put me towards expenses. I make it to the Manchester office and pay £4 for parking.
I work through lunch because the business is in high growth mode, saving cash and calories for later. I steal 30 seconds to buy a manhole cover to go over my now unblocked drains for £27.90. While I’m online, I also get an inspection essay cover for another drain related project for £12.46.
Leaving Manchester to tackle the M6, I ran into a massive traffic jam. I pull over for sustenance, but WH Smith has given up on sandwiches. Tragically I buy a shortbread pork pie and a bag of crisps for £4.63.
When he’s home it’s a quick supper of fish salad-finger wraps, bath and bed. The eating habits of industry leaders.
Total: £64.93
Day 4
I’m back at the office again and my daily Starbucks is free because I “earned a reward” by leaking my secret information and installing their app. I understand that my free coffee is a cumulative spend of £50 at three points per £1.
I have lunch in the office, spending £4.40 on a chicken salad and crisps sandwich. I should try to do something healthier, but I’m six hours into my work day and ravenous.
I’m down to the last strip of disposable contact lenses, so I trawl the internet and buy six boxes for £131.34, which will last three months. There is a scheme in the works that offers annual optical care cover of £130 for the maximum claim, so I accommodate that. The cost is now £1.34.
My under counter lighting in the kitchen went a few weeks ago, so I get some LED strips to fix it for £42.57.
I go home for a chicken salad made from hand-made ingredients. I have a quiet night in and another soon, because I have a big presentation this morning.
Total: £48.31 (after costs)
Day 5
I drive to school for a rare fall of my eight-year-old stepdaughter. My wife and I are attending a client in the center of Birmingham today. Traffic is a nightmare again, going to school and driving to Birmingham especially.
Every second driver seems to be an Uber driver, with their own special Highway Code. Avoiding multiple collisions, we drive through a Starbucks to keep our nerves at bay and spend £7.15.
After the presentation, the team and I debrief in a nearby coffee shop. After ordering five drinks, I’m told the card reader doesn’t work. Fumbling for my wallet, I find a few tenners and some for £17.70.
After the drive home and some email browsing, we pull out a bottle of Pouilly Fume and enjoy sitting outside now that spring has finally arrived. The wine was so good that we opened a second bottle, along with an alfresco snack before retiring to bed.
Total: £24.85
Day 6
It’s the weekend – hooray. I spend the day leisurely, busy with DIY tasks and laundry. Drain repairs and sheep maintenance are the main activities. We use 4G CCTV to monitor our lamb shed so we can keep an eye on them even if we are out, in bed or feeling lazy. It guzzles 4G data, so I need to top up online for €10 (£8.84) for 30 days.
We are running a new electric fence to divide the “big field” into a small nursery parcel for the new lambs and their mothers. When I run out of a car battery, I invest £43.99 in a solar powered solar panel to avoid lugging car batteries up and down the hill. Let’s hope it works and the sun keeps shining.
Total: £52.83
Day 7
We had intended to be out of town this weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but my wife’s concerns about lambing convinced us to postpone the trip. I canceled the hotel bookings earlier in the week, so the refunds totaled £510.99 in my account.
My wife claims that for what we were going to pay for a weekend in the UK (once we added a few swanky dinners), we could do a long weekend city break in Europe.
We turn off the not-so-hyper-personal internet and the plan quickly escalates to an all-inclusive week in Turkey. It costs £1,011.58 for the two of us, which I’m told would be “rude not to book” at a “bargain price”.
We eat a frittata thrown together made with eggs from our own hen and margins and sod from the fridge. We washed it down with mineral water, as we have now decided that we urgently need to shed some beef before our mini-break.
Total: £1,011.58
Weekly total: £4,600.57
As told to Rob Bán.
