Cosmopolitan UK – September 2019

COSMOPOLITAN · 71

AS TOLD TO JENNIFER SAVIN. *NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED

SPEND IT

WHERETHE

MONEYGOES

BEST

TO

WORST

BUYS

HELLYESI loveChanellip

balm[£31].Whenit runsout,

I havetoreplaceit immediately.

Mysisterthinksit’sa ridiculous

amounttospendon“Vaseline”.

HELLNOA triptoDubaifor

£840,whichI thendidn’tgo

onbecauseeverybodyelse

droppedout.Gutted.

SOLICITOR

Bigcityfirmspaythebest.Atmine,

wehavea yearlypayreviewandyou’re

prettymuchguaranteeda raiseand

bonusprovidingyouhityourtarget

(howmuchyougetis dependenton

performance,butlastyearmybonus

was£2,000).Sincequalifyingtwo

yearsago,I’vereceivedbotheverytime.

FingerscrossedI’venotjustjinxedit...

...ismyannualsalary

(which,post-taxand

pension,isaround

£2,550a month)

k

I definitelyhavea “buyit

now,thinkaboutit later”

mindset.Whynot?I could

dropdeadtomorrow.My

firstbigpaychequewent

onChanelsunglassesand

a LouisVuittonhandbag,

whichI stillusemostdays.

Growing up,

I loved the TV

series Ally McBeal

and thought that

working in a law

firm like her would

involve performing

dance routines

to Barry White in

the bathroom with

your colleagues.

In reality, it’s long

hours, high stress

and demanding

clients. You need

to develop a thick

skin. Fast.

My most recent

extravagant

purchase was a

pair of fringed Gucci

mules for £540,

which I got online

after a few wines.

The first time I wore

them, to our firm’s

summer party,

they got trashed.

In the morning my

boyfriend was like,

“Er, I think your

shoes have seen

better days.”

They’re currently

being repaired.

Ever wondered

how a high-

flying legal eagle

splashes their

cash? Grace,*

28, from

Birmingham,

showed us a

month’s worth

of receipts...

£860 goes on my mortgage and

household bills each month.

£175 I’ll usually drop between

£100 and £200 on a night out.

£500 goes on my car, insurance,

contact lenses, phone and travel.

£300 I aim to spend no more

than this on clothes, and mainly

shop in Zara or small boutiques.

£355 My boyfriend and I just

bought our first house so a lot of

our cash is going on renovations.

£360 Oh... and last month

I bought a Laura Ashley

chandelier for £360.

34%

7%

19%

12%

14%

14%