In our How I Manage My Money series we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals. This week we speak to Maddy Faulkner, 28, who lives in Leeds and works as a freelance ghostwriter. Maddy purchased her first home last year and thinks being single is expensive. She’s not adding money to a pension and spent a long time adding nothing to savings while spending £20,000 to renovate her first home. Monthly budget My monthly income: Before deductions, I’m currently making around £10,000 a month from my work as a freelance ghostwriter and a couple of social media management clients. But the amount I earn can vary a lot and be less. My monthly outgoings: Mortgage, £950; council tax, £110; groceries, £200; gas and electric, £85; water, £60; broadband, £25; subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify, £25; insurance policies, £150; car fuel, £50; cleaner, £90; gym, £20; eating out and takeaways, £200; money into a stocks and shares ISA, £500. The amount I spend on clothes varies a lot. In some months, I’ll spend nothing on clothes, but in others I’ll spend £500! I grew up in a military family, so we moved around a lot. I was able to go to boarding school as it was heavily subsidised due to my dad’s job. I decided not to go to university as I wanted to start earning money straight away. if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mpu_mobile_l1" } ); } if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mpu_tablet_l1" } ); } I’ve always worked in marketing and social media, both in agencies and in-house. My first annual salary in marketing at an agency was £15,000. Looking back, this is quite horrifying and I think pay in agencies can be a bit of a joke. Over the last three years, my salary jumped from £26,000 to £34,000 to £50,000 a year working in-house in marketing. I left full-time employment in April 2026 and have worked for myself ever since. In my first month as a freelance ghostwriter I made £3,000 and in the second month I made £6,000. Last month I made about £10,000. I write content on LinkedIn for founders and chief executives who don’t have time to do it themselves and want to sound like a person rather than artificial intelligence. The money is good but there’s only so much work I can do by myself before having to hire external help, which I want to avoid. I’ve always wanted to work for myself and like the flexibility it offers. I don’t set an alarm in the morning and can go to the gym whenever I like. I can work where I like and have spent time in Amsterdam, Marrakech, Mexico and New York. if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mpu_mobile_l2" } ); } if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mpu_tablet_l2" } ); } But it’s not always glamorous. Some nights I work until midnight and I don’t think I’ll be able to have a holiday without my laptop ever again. I wouldn’t go back to full-time employment, though. Building my own dream rather than someone else’s is a good feeling. I bought a three-bed terrace house in April 2025 for £210,000. I’ve done a full renovation over the past year and it’s pretty much complete, minus a bathroom, which I’m going to have to save for. It’s been a very expensive, long and dusty ride. I’ve spent £20,000 on the renovation so far. Saving for a deposit while renting solo was not easy. It took me a long time to save enough, but I had a Help to Buy ISA, which helped. Buying a home by myself feels like a great achievement. But being single is challenging financially. Having to run a house by yourself, let alone take on something like a massive renovation, is completely and utterly exhausting. There is no division of labour and no back-up when you’re tired or overwhelmed. When I worked full-time, it was impossible to stay on top of every decision, as well as cleaning, cooking, washing, bills and completing all the little administrative jobs that eat up so much time. It’s easier now that I work for myself, but it’s still tough trying to balance everything. I have a cleaner who comes once a fortnight, which eases the mental load. For my sanity, the cleaner is absolutely worth it. As I’ve been renovating my house I haven’t put any money in savings for the past year. I’ve only very recently started adding £500 a month to a stocks and shares ISA with Trading 212. I’m not adding any money to a pension and don’t know how much I’ve saved in them to date. I am not convinced the state pension will exist when I’m older. if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mpu_mobile_l3" } ); } if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mpu_tablet_l3" } ); } I’d just like enough money to not have to worry about checking my bank account. If I can consistently make £100,000 a year, I’d be really happy. At the moment I’m looking at how I can diversify my income because I’m working long hours. I definitely want to reduce the amount of hours I work to get some balance back into my life. I’ve taken on too much but I’m still a baby freelancer so can’t bring myself to decline work just yet. Want to take part in How I Manage My Money? Email money@theipaper.com

Source: The i Paper | Read the original article