The London Diaries: the copywriter living at home

Job: Copywriter

Time living in London: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I lived in London Bridge and then Waterloo for a year. Now I live at home with my mum.

Area: Sutton

Pay range: £25,000 - £30,000

Relationship status: Single

Rent: £100 – a token gesture.

Monday

Due to the pandemic, I’ve been working from home since March which has been a great opportunity to get extensive wear out of my pyjamas and gym gear. I logged into my work emails after a two-week break to find 80 emails – a daunting start to a Monday. Thankfully, I get CCed into a lot of emails so a lot of it wasn’t relevant anymore.

I work as a Copywriter which is a really busy and varied role. I get to work with lots of different brands to create, edit and proof copy ranging from medical to fashion schools. I feel really privileged to be able to do what I love for a living: write. However, the job can be stressful, particularly as we’re a small team so if one of us is away, it can make a big difference.

I hope in the future I might be able to write for a newspaper or magazine and have a bit more creative control over what I write. In the meantime, I try to pick up a bit of freelance work to boost my income and to give me experience of writing for different brands and companies.

Total spend: £0.

Tuesday

The day kicked off a bit later than intended – working from home means you can wake up 10 minutes before you’re due to be online. At lunch, I completed an online workout so that after work I could focus on sorting out my bedroom, ready for my mum to paint.

As per usual, I ended up ordering several books from Waterstones costing around £28 (free delivery though!). Despite having about 30 unread books in my room, I can’t stop buying.

Total spend: £28.

Wednesday

After a day of work, I ended up meeting a friend for a drink in one of Sutton’s many local bars (think more Wetherspoons, rather than The Ned).

While living in London, I really enjoyed the freedom of being able to have dinner or drinks in the city. I rented a room in Waterloo which was so small that dinner guests had to sit on the bed to eat. Since the lockdown, I’ve been living at home with a view to hopefully putting a deposit down somewhere in the next couple of years (probably not inside any Zone though given my income vs. house prices).

Before the lockdown, Bar Elba in Waterloo was one of my favourite haunts; it was great for me when I was dating because it was only a stone’s throw from my house so if things weren’t going well, I had an easy escape!

Total spend: £15.

Thursday

Decided to brave an early morning gym session which means sleepwalking into town and getting onto the stepper for 20 minutes before hitting the weights. I used this as an opportunity to start my working day in my local Café Nero (which was great until a child screamed during my weekly catch-up with my manager). Usually, when I’m in the office, I nip out with a colleague at around 11am to pick up my daily coffee from Prufrock Coffee in Holborn, but chain coffee will have to suffice for now!

Total spent: £3.

Friday

Friday’s are always big days at work – we have to get company-wide comms out by 4pm which can often be a bit stressful but at least you feel a sense of achievement when you log off!

After a long week, I headed to Clapham to meet two schools friends at Sugar Cane to enjoy their happy hour (£5 cocktails!) and dinner. We then nipped next door to Bar Social; I think by 11pm that evening I was about 70% rum. I would usually avoid my bank balance for a few days but seeing as I agreed to keep a diary of my expenditure, I can say that the total spend that evening was close to £80.

Total spend: £90.

Saturday

Saturday mornings are dedicated to spin classes – I’m not sure anyone actually enjoys them, but you feel great after! After that, I went to meet a university friend for dinner in London at one of our favourite vegetarian restaurants, Mildreds, and have our quarterly catch-up about the latest books we’ve been reading. We wolfed down their Grilled Roman Artichoke and Gyoza Dumpling starters. I then enjoyed the tasty Levant Chick’n Kebabs – a guilt-free (minus the money I spent when I should be saving and the glass of wine afterwards) meal.

Total spent on food and drinks: £54.

Sunday

I try to have one day at the weekend completely free to pursue my own projects and get some errands done before the week ahead. After a long walk and a coffee in town (and potentially the purchase of a new jumper from H&M – but that’s between me and HSBC), I spent the afternoon writing for a freelance project and reading my book.

Total spend: £22.99.

Expenditure

Groceries: N/A

Dating: N/A

Drinking: £97.50

Rent: £100

Travel: Currently nothing! Usually, approximately £300

Gym: £37

Dining: £66.50 (ish)

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