In this article, Dee our amazing Financielle community member, shares her personal money story with us. From living in a money disaster zone to securing a job with a 45% payrise , she breaks down how she went from financially surviving to thriving.
How would you describe your current money situation?
Fairly comfortable at the moment, which is totally surreal after years of feeling incredibly anxious about my finances. I live alone in my own home, I have zero credit card debt, I have a slight cushion for emergencies and a very healthy-looking pension for my age (I’m in my mid 30s). If the 2016 version of myself met me today, she would think I’d hit the jackpot.
How did you find yourself here?
Years ago I made the decision to relocate to London. It was a huge leap of faith as I had no job lined up, but I have zero regrets. There were several long years of sharing with flatmates, living paycheck to paycheck, plus the odd dicey bout of unemployment – but I gained the right experience & skill set to secure my current job.
I hate the word “lucky” but I have to acknowledge that I have been fortunate – my grandmother left me a lump sum in her will which became the deposit for my first home. This was a huge surprise – I never thought home ownership would be in my future & had no idea about the lump sum. My grandmother was a huge inspiration & I think she’d be so proud of how I used the money she left me.
What was your relationship like with money growing up and has this had an impact on where you find yourself now?
I was an absolute disaster zone! When I was younger, money always burned a hole in my pocket. My parents also had polar opposite attitudes to money (which contributed to their eventual divorce) so finances always had a negative connotation in my mind and talking about them seemed totally taboo.
At university I fell into the trap of a student overdraft (free money right?!). Once my graduate overdraft expired and the interest started, I had to take a £7k loan out to repay it (though I did manage to dodge the ppi they tried to flog to me). I’ve not used my overdraft since, but in my 20s I had to learn the hard way that credit cards weren’t my friend either.
I think from trial and error I’ve learned I have to keep a careful rein on myself when it comes to money. Which makes me a little nervous for the future & using the current excess in my budget wisely! By going through some rough financial times it’s also given me a lot of compassion for how that can feel.
You recently secured a new job congrats! Have you seen a big increase in your income as a result?
Thanks 😊 My income has changed dramatically – it was approximately a 45% pay rise! Even with my mortgage rate going up, my excess is now nearly £1k a month… I remember having long conversations with the recruiter, concerned that while the job seemed great & the interviews went well it surely must be beyond my skillset as it paid so much more. But the recruiter convinced me I was just terribly underpaid in my previous job. My only regret is not believing in myself more and checking my market value sooner.
How do you feel about the increase and has it changed how you budget?
After the initial excitement wore off, I ended up feeling weirdly guilty I was on a much better salary – especially compared to some family and friends. But now I feel good about it – I’ve worked hard in my career to get to this point. I do worry about lifestyle creep. My new job is less hybrid and I started getting the odd uber to the train station when it was raining… and it’s become a bit of a daily fixture 😅 Also my food shop is slowly creeping up (I’m addicted to posh tomatoes now from Sainsburys!) and my sudden ability to afford fun events or treat friends to a really good birthday gift is great, but I worry I’m going to sleepwalk into my old impulsive ways again.
What are your money goals for 2026 and beyond?
I want to save up a larger emergency fund. I’m terrible at leaving money in my savings account 👀 so I want to explore a savings scheme that I can put £250ish in a month and lock it away for a year or so (to protect it from myself 😂). I’ve got 2 years until my student debt is paid off (which is costing me nearly £300 a month!) and then I can start thinking about overpaying on my mortgage.
How has the Financielle community helped you so far?
It helped me pay off around £8k credit card debt before I changed jobs! I’m neurodivergent and never really understood money. Finding Financielle & reading through the playbook was literally life changing – it suddenly all clicked into place! Financielle gave me goals & a framework of how to achieve them. Doing a proper audit on my finances to complete my first budget in the app made me confront my spending habits and remove a LOT of subscriptions that I honestly haven’t missed! When I was paying off my credit card, the community really helped me – my friendship group don’t typically talk about finances etc so speaking to other people who were also paying off consumer debt made a huge difference. It made me feel less alone ❤️
