Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
Speaker 2: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
Speaker 2: Shop Back Money Diary Monday, where we chat to one
Speaker 2: of our Gorge community members. We learn about them, their life,
Speaker 2: their story, their money and all of the fun bits
Speaker 2: in between. Today I've got your King on the Mine.
Speaker 4: Hello, how are you going, honey?
Speaker 2: I am so excited to be here. I know you
Speaker 2: never get to do the Mondays and they're really good
Speaker 2: funny hops.
Speaker 5: Can't wait to see what it's all about.
Speaker 2: Well, let me tell you we have as always an
Speaker 2: excellent diarist, And she said, I'm twenty eight years old
Speaker 2: with four children to a joint kinship care with my
Speaker 2: mum and two of my own. My father moved to
Speaker 2: Australia from New Zealand thirty five years ago, came for
Speaker 2: a holiday and met my mum. I grew up with
Speaker 2: two minimum wage parents who worked multiple jobs to send
Speaker 2: my brother and I to our local private schools in Sydney.
Speaker 2: I have worked since I was fourteen and had a
Speaker 2: variety of jobs in that time, from your standard first
Speaker 2: job and climbing the ranks there, to a career shift
Speaker 2: from time to time to now finishing my university degree
Speaker 2: and studying to become an International Board certified lactation consultant.
Speaker 2: I have a home in Sydney which has doubled you
Speaker 2: in eighteen months, a share portfolio, and of course my
Speaker 2: super just a regular mum doing my best for her
Speaker 2: kids and her family. What a story. Oh gosh, I
Speaker 2: can't wait to hear more. I know we've got our
Speaker 2: diarists here. Hello, how you going?
Speaker 4: Hello?
Speaker 2: Everyone, I'm very excited to chat to you because it
Speaker 2: sounds like you've worked your way up and done some
Speaker 2: incredible things in your time. But first let's start with
Speaker 2: our structured questions. Shall we money direst, can you tell
Speaker 2: me what's your attitude towards money?
Speaker 4: Well, money actually still at this point scares me. I
Speaker 4: don't like dealing with money. I find it stressful and
Speaker 4: having to organize that is just not something that I like.
Speaker 4: I may like spreadsheets, but actually organizing everything isn't fun.
Speaker 4: But I think it also comes back from being an
Speaker 4: environment like I went to a private school from in
Speaker 4: high school and having everyone have money literally falling out
Speaker 4: of their pockets. Their school holidays looks like a trip
Speaker 4: in Europe or something like that, whereas mine looks like
Speaker 4: working forty hours a week just so I could upkeep
Speaker 4: the social agendas throughout the term. So I think that's
Speaker 4: where it started from. So I started up really really
Speaker 4: high and my expectations that's what I had to live like.
Speaker 4: So then over the time, now it's definitely a lot different.
Speaker 4: I'm far from that sort of lifestyle, but that's where
Speaker 4: it started, and that's where I think all my scaring
Speaker 4: and all of that came from.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. What do you
Speaker 2: do for work and how much money do you in?
Speaker 4: So I'm an RTO trainer and assessor, So I take
Speaker 4: home fifty seven thousand annually plus I get a fifteen
Speaker 4: thousand dollars car allowance plus super and then they cover
Speaker 4: like my expenses, so like if I have to travel
Speaker 4: to go to a location, accommodation and food, if I
Speaker 4: have to fly somewhere, all of that's covered as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really good. Awesome that you get super on
Speaker 2: top of your base with something like that as well.
Speaker 5: Can I jump in and ask what an RTO assessor does?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So an RTO is a registered training organization, so
Speaker 4: it's it's like your TAFE teacher, but in like a
Speaker 4: business perspective. Amazing, So lots of organizations have them. So
Speaker 4: depending on what they have, they could just be doing
Speaker 4: a certificate two, stificate three, four diplomas and that's what
Speaker 4: we assess and train that process generally in like a
Speaker 4: business perspective. So like I work for a company and
Speaker 4: I'm a trainer for them individually.
Speaker 2: Cool. It's kind of like adult exams, like you're learning
Speaker 2: to deliver this thing and you're the exam deliverer walking
Speaker 2: up and down the room, being like are you doing
Speaker 2: the right thing scary people like you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't do it like that. It's very different.
Speaker 4: But I do like from fourteen year olds because I
Speaker 4: have people that start at the age of fourteen, So
Speaker 4: I have younger people and I have older people as well.
Speaker 2: That's so cool. You said before that you're saving up
Speaker 2: and working your way up. What is your big money
Speaker 2: goal at the moment.
Speaker 4: My big money goal at the moment is probably not
Speaker 4: like some sort of savings goal like most people's. Is
Speaker 4: is that we would like to renovate our home. So
Speaker 4: when we purchased our home eighteen months ago, it was
Speaker 4: a four bedroom kind of project home built twenty years ago,
Speaker 4: so it's enough to meet our needs. But obviously, going
Speaker 4: through lockdown and everything, you kind of want to work
Speaker 4: out that you want to have more in your home
Speaker 4: so you can have activities and enjoy all the moments
Speaker 4: that you can. So we just want to put a
Speaker 4: pool in and just do some other little things to
Speaker 4: our home just to make it more user friendly for
Speaker 4: our boys and be able to spend more time with them.
Speaker 2: Home renovating is so expensive as well. Victoria's going through
Speaker 2: the process now and it blows my tiny little mind.
Speaker 2: How expensive something like flooring, which you know all like
Speaker 2: I walk on it? How much could it possibly cost?
Speaker 2: It turns out very expensive? Yeah, wild Now you did
Speaker 2: tell us you have a share portfolio. Can you tell
Speaker 2: us a little bit more about that and your investments?
Speaker 4: So in the investments, I'm going to claim that it's
Speaker 4: my share portfolio because it's mine and my partners, but
Speaker 4: he organizes that. So I was actually brought up in
Speaker 4: a family lifestyle that shares. We're not a good thing, like,
Speaker 4: don't touch them, you're all your money lifestyle.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, we've had that before.
Speaker 1: Ye.
Speaker 4: Whereas my partner, his grandfather was a very big share investor.
Speaker 4: He did very well with it. He worked up high
Speaker 4: and he retired at the age of forty because of it.
Speaker 4: So he started his share portfolio about five years ago.
Speaker 4: And I think we started with about ten thousand dollars,
Speaker 4: like increased it up and then now I think we're
Speaker 4: about out fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: My gosh, incredible. And you have your super as well
Speaker 2: on top of that, you said as well, which is awesome. Now,
Speaker 2: do you have any debts to kind of flip it
Speaker 2: on its head?
Speaker 4: Yeah, So we obviously, we have our mortgage and then
Speaker 4: that's about eight hundred thousand at the moment because we
Speaker 4: just refinanced be able to do some renovations yep. And
Speaker 4: then I also have a novated lease for my car
Speaker 4: for work because I drive over fifteen hundred to two
Speaker 4: thousand kilometers a week. Wow, so just needed a car
Speaker 4: without purposes. And I also have a heck step.
Speaker 2: And how much is your heckstep sitting at currently?
Speaker 4: I probably should have checked. I think it's about thirty grand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's right close as.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: Money Diarists Mondays are brought to you by our friends
Speaker 2: at Shopback. Do you use the shop back platform?
Speaker 4: I sure do.
Speaker 2: We love to see it. Do you have any fun
Speaker 2: little hack or tidbits for it. We've had a few
Speaker 2: people over the last few weeks sharing things and I'd
Speaker 2: be like, I didn't know you could do that? So
Speaker 2: where do you love to use it?
Speaker 4: Pretty much? Just anything I purchase, I just double check
Speaker 4: shop back first, So like if I'm in store, which
Speaker 4: is hard, I like to buy things in store obviously
Speaker 4: to get those endorphins when I buy something. Yes, However,
Speaker 4: if I do see it online and I can get
Speaker 4: like ten percent cash back plus this and this, and
Speaker 4: I'm like, Okay, I'll try it all on and then
Speaker 4: I'll go and buy it, like sometimes I buy it
Speaker 4: online in store.
Speaker 2: Oh how did you do that? No shame, I'm just like, oh,
Speaker 2: what do I need?
Speaker 4: Just so I don't forget. If not, I won't do it,
Speaker 4: Like if I'm doing a little bit of me time
Speaker 4: with kids, it's like, if I don't do it now,
Speaker 4: it's not going to be ordered. And then with holidays,
Speaker 4: that's probably my biggest thing that I've taken advantage of.
Speaker 4: I think it was not a holiday that I planned.
Speaker 4: It was a family's wedding. I booked Accommodation and I
Speaker 4: was just waiting for a sale before I kind of
Speaker 4: booked it on shot back or anything. And then they
Speaker 4: emailed me one night and they're like, oh, thirty percent
Speaker 4: shot back.
Speaker 2: Huge.
Speaker 4: Yes, So I think I got about four hundred and
Speaker 4: fifty dollars back from Accommodation.
Speaker 2: How good is that? Is incredible? That is so good
Speaker 2: and leads really nicely into my next question, which is
Speaker 2: what is your best money habit.
Speaker 4: I'm definitely a person that won't buy anything unless it's
Speaker 4: on sale, So I will bog buy. So I purchase
Speaker 4: a particular laundry powder. If it's half priced, I'll buy fifteen.
Speaker 4: If you know, I drink almond milk, so when the
Speaker 4: almond milk goes on sale, alba fifty. So I just
Speaker 4: buy everything. So that's really it's hard to budget when
Speaker 4: I do things like that because I'm buying for such
Speaker 4: a long period of time. But I know out of
Speaker 4: the long run, I'm saving myself so much more money.
Speaker 4: So that's probably my best money habit that I won't
Speaker 4: buy anything unless it's on sale.
Speaker 2: Do you have when you're buying such big quanities like that?
Speaker 2: It makes me think of have you ever seen Extreme Couponing?
Speaker 2: The video steted TV. It's an American TV show, because
Speaker 2: couponing isn't really a thing here. I wish it was.
Speaker 2: I'd be all over it. But they have like these
Speaker 2: things that they call stock piles, and they have rooms
Speaker 2: where it's almost like a little mini shop in their
Speaker 2: house with all of their stuff that they've gotten on sale.
Speaker 2: Do you have one of those?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I do. I go so in our garage, so
Speaker 4: I have like a walking pantry that we converted when
Speaker 4: we've got our home and then in our garage. Obviously,
Speaker 4: my cars don't fit in my garage, which was a
Speaker 4: bit sad because I wanted one. But I have like
Speaker 4: two free standing pant trees out there, and I also
Speaker 4: have like the bunnings like racket shelves with everything there.
Speaker 4: So I have from nappies to a whole shell for milk, bolg,
Speaker 4: rice pasta. Everything's there.
Speaker 2: If the apocalypse comes, I'm hanging out at your house.
Speaker 2: I love that. Incredible what is on? I guess the
Speaker 2: other end of the spectrum, what would you say is
Speaker 2: your worst money habit?
Speaker 4: Sometimes if I haven't bought anything or spent something on myself,
Speaker 4: I'm very bad at buying things for me. I'll buy
Speaker 4: things my kids all the time. But then if I
Speaker 4: do buy something for me, that whole concept of being
Speaker 4: good and making sure it's on sale goes through the roof. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Sometimes though, I feel like if you're not looking after yourself,
Speaker 2: you deserve a treat as well. Every once in a while,
Speaker 2: I think mums put so many other people before themselves,
Speaker 2: and it's like, if you're gonna look after yourself, you
Speaker 2: might as well do it well every once in a while, Right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it would work if I didn't feel guilty about
Speaker 4: the purchase afterwards. So that's why if I do it,
Speaker 4: I just need to do it and make sure I
Speaker 4: feel good about it and then I don't feel like
Speaker 4: I'm not justifying it every day.
Speaker 5: Well, the cheese of the money team gives you permission
Speaker 5: to not feel that guilt, girl, so.
Speaker 2: Hopefully that helps. Thank you, Thank you all Rightie and Lucky.
Speaker 2: Last question, what grade would you give your money habits
Speaker 2: If we asked you to give yourself a great.
Speaker 4: I would give myself a bee. So I definitely think
Speaker 4: I do well that I organized myself and budget, but
Speaker 4: in the sense of platforms, of organizing my investments and
Speaker 4: understanding my money flow, I kind of have no idea
Speaker 4: where everything is going.
Speaker 2: Okay, that makes a lot of sense, and we can
Speaker 2: definitely help you with one of those things. Off the air,
Speaker 2: But let's go to a really quick break because I
Speaker 2: have a heap of questions that I want to ask
Speaker 2: you about, So don't go anywhere. Welcome back to another
Speaker 2: money Diary Monday and Money Diarist. I want to start
Speaker 2: off by asking you about your private school experience, because
Speaker 2: I think private school is something that can be super polarizing,
Speaker 2: and you said, for yourself, you had two working class
Speaker 2: parents who were working really hard to make that education
Speaker 2: happen for you. You yourself were working as well, and
Speaker 2: you were watching your peers go on these elaborate holidays
Speaker 2: or have money to spend disposedly however they wanted. And
Speaker 2: you said that that kind of shaped your perspective on
Speaker 2: money a little bit. And I just wanted to talk
Speaker 2: to you about what that experience was like for you
Speaker 2: as a child, because that would have had a really
Speaker 2: big impact on you now as an adult and how
Speaker 2: you feel about money.
Speaker 4: I definitely think it impacted me about what I needed
Speaker 4: in life. I felt like I definitely have to be
Speaker 4: very materialistic. I needed the newest and the best things.
Speaker 4: And your social life was very busy, so you know,
Speaker 4: if you had someone's birthday party that you were going to,
Speaker 4: then you had to make sure you had a new outfit,
Speaker 4: you had this, you had to buy them a gift
Speaker 4: that was you know, above and beyond that anything that
Speaker 4: you'd probably get gifted yourself. But that was kind of
Speaker 4: the environment that you kind of dealt with. Obviously, there
Speaker 4: were other girls in similar situation as myself, but I
Speaker 4: think when you are a teenager and going through.
Speaker 2: Peture, you just want to fit in.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I just wanted to fit in. And I definitely
Speaker 4: I went through primary school going through bullying because I
Speaker 4: was the only girl child that was actually had brown skin.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that would so hard already.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so when I was at school, like I would
Speaker 4: come home and like cry because everyone would make fun
Speaker 4: of me. So then in high school that was like
Speaker 4: had to fit in, had to fit in. Yeah, So
Speaker 4: it was very very difficult on that perspective. And then
Speaker 4: when I finished school, I was not friends. I'm not
Speaker 4: friends with anyone from high school. Like I, you know,
Speaker 4: will say hello to people, but I actually never have
Speaker 4: any good relationships from there. My friends that I made
Speaker 4: were actually people that I worked with. So one of
Speaker 4: my best friends that I've been friends with for like
Speaker 4: fifteen years now was someone that I met when I
Speaker 4: was fourteen that we work together. We still work together
Speaker 4: now within the same company, just doing different roles. But
Speaker 4: we both went to private schools. But we both don't
Speaker 4: have that perspective of that, like we need to up
Speaker 4: one each other all the time. It's like, oh, what
Speaker 4: new thing do you have? It's like we're both like,
Speaker 4: how can we save about money, How can we you know,
Speaker 4: do the best for our kids and be able to
Speaker 4: give them everything without thinking that they need the newest iPhone,
Speaker 4: the newest iPad or anything like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's also coloring your relationship with your kids.
Speaker 2: Now out of curiosity, are you going to send your
Speaker 2: kids to private school as well or they go to
Speaker 2: public school?
Speaker 4: It really depends on I would like to send my
Speaker 4: kids to whatever school suits them. So if my kids
Speaker 4: all go to different schools, then they will all go
Speaker 4: to different schools. I want to find a school that
Speaker 4: fits their needs and their lifestyle of what they would
Speaker 4: like to do in their life. I don't want to
Speaker 4: base it on a school that I want to go to.
Speaker 4: So if it becomes a private school, then that's one
Speaker 4: hundred percent okay if that's the best thing for them.
Speaker 4: But if it's a public school, it's a public school.
Speaker 2: That is such a beautiful answer. I really love that,
Speaker 2: And as someone who went to public school, like, I
Speaker 2: feel like they get a bit of a bad rap.
Speaker 2: Like there's public schools private schools. There's definitely more resources
Speaker 2: available at private school, but I think there's totally benefits
Speaker 2: to both And it's a really great perspective to have
Speaker 2: to say it's going to depend on my kid, because
Speaker 2: every kid needs different things, So I think that's a
Speaker 2: great way to do it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and especially having two foster children as well, Like
Speaker 4: they can't they go to the public system. That's only
Speaker 4: because of the financial They came into our life very quickly,
Speaker 4: and it wasn't something my parents had ever planned to
Speaker 4: add into their lifestyle like they had done kids because
Speaker 4: I'm a little bit older than what they are. But
Speaker 4: in that sense that the way that the education we're
Speaker 4: choosing where they go to high school is based on
Speaker 4: their requirements. So one of them is definitely not a
Speaker 4: educational learning kind of kid, Like he's great with sports,
Speaker 4: so like we're going to focus on schools that are
Speaker 4: sports focused and all of that. Like he's never going
Speaker 4: to be a UNI student or anything like that. Like
Speaker 4: we know he knows that, so we want to make
Speaker 4: sure we give him absolutely everything that if he would
Speaker 4: like to be a rugby union player, then we'll give
Speaker 4: him every stepping stone to get to that place.
Speaker 2: Incredible.
Speaker 5: I wanted to ask you money Dirist about your journey
Speaker 5: with investing so you said you grew up in a
Speaker 5: household that did not approve of shares. How did your
Speaker 5: perception change with that? Was it purely down to your
Speaker 5: partner or was it listening to she's on the money perhaps?
Speaker 2: What was your story with that.
Speaker 4: I wish it was my partner and I believed in him,
Speaker 4: but it wasn't. So it definitely was she's on the money.
Speaker 4: So obviously I thought we needed to do something about
Speaker 4: our budget. I wanted to buy a home. He wasn't
Speaker 4: like really into buying a home. We used to go
Speaker 4: on holidays like two times a year and spend like
Speaker 4: a whole salary on holidays because we lived at home
Speaker 4: and that's what we could do. So he always did
Speaker 4: the savings and did his portfolio, and he does. I
Speaker 4: think it's like the day trading kind of thing, Like
Speaker 4: he looks at it every day and he's like heavily
Speaker 4: invested in it. I was like, I don't have time
Speaker 4: for that.
Speaker 2: He's a big commitment. And even then, you can put
Speaker 2: all the time and effort in the world into it
Speaker 2: and some of it just comes down to luck.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yep. And I was like, I don't care that
Speaker 4: much to sit there and like understand each of them,
Speaker 4: like I would like to know the basics, like I'd
Speaker 4: rather pay someone to do it for me, Like that's
Speaker 4: just not on my top ten to do list. So
Speaker 4: that my parents definitely were very like shares is you
Speaker 4: lose money, that's not how you future proof yourself. And
Speaker 4: I think living week by week, they still do live
Speaker 4: on credit cards and they buy things I feel outside
Speaker 4: of their means and don't accommodate for anything, and that's
Speaker 4: super stressful for me because I'm like, why did you
Speaker 4: just do that? Yeah, And they will complain about money,
Speaker 4: but then we'll go buy a brand new TV.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're like, this is an endless loop. That
Speaker 2: just is not Yah told itself.
Speaker 4: So it's never that I don't think I can do
Speaker 4: anything to help them. I try, but I understand to
Speaker 4: myself that if I would like something, I need to
Speaker 4: you know, aim for it and get to that point
Speaker 4: and through shares, that's hopefully something that we can future
Speaker 4: for later, so that our share portfolio is primarily going
Speaker 4: to be for our kids, just so we can start
Speaker 4: saving and like having that fund so if one day
Speaker 4: we want to go, hey, we want to buy your car,
Speaker 4: then we can.
Speaker 2: That's incredible. I want to actually ask about your kids
Speaker 2: and the foster kids as well. That you said you
Speaker 2: kind of job share almost with your mum, and you
Speaker 2: said before that they came in a little bit unexpectedly.
Speaker 2: How did that happen? So how do they come into
Speaker 2: your lives? Firstly? And then how does that job share work?
Speaker 2: Because obviously having two kids of your own is a
Speaker 2: big time commitment in and of itself with the school runs,
Speaker 2: if you go into different schools and all those kinds
Speaker 2: of things, and then you've got another two that you're
Speaker 2: helping out with as well. What is that all like?
Speaker 4: So I had my first child here is three now,
Speaker 4: when we both lived at my parents' house in a
Speaker 4: granny flat. So I was about six months pregnant and
Speaker 4: they came into our care. They were about three and
Speaker 4: four at the time. They were family friends' kids that
Speaker 4: we used to look after all the time, like every
Speaker 4: second weekend we would look after them so mum could
Speaker 4: have a break. So they used to come over for
Speaker 4: three four days every fortnight. And then at the point
Speaker 4: it got to the point where the youngest one who
Speaker 4: came into my care first, she had severe allergies, so
Speaker 4: she was allergic to pretty much life and had really
Speaker 4: bad exma that her skin was scabbing, and you know,
Speaker 4: she couldn't do anything. It was a very miserable life
Speaker 4: for her. So her auntie had taken her to the hospital,
Speaker 4: and then she wasn't allowed to go back home with
Speaker 4: her mother because they thought it wasn't the right place
Speaker 4: for her. So they asked my mum if she would
Speaker 4: like to take care of her. So obviously that was
Speaker 4: a discussion as a family that we had to have.
Speaker 4: She couldn't really make a decision by herself, and I
Speaker 4: said to them like I'm more than happy to help,
Speaker 4: like whilst i live at my parents' house, which I
Speaker 4: obviously not having my own kids at the time, didn't
Speaker 4: realize what I was putting myself forward for. And then
Speaker 4: also the justification that her brother wasn't coming with us,
Speaker 4: so we would still have to liaise with the mother
Speaker 4: to do visitation and stuff like that. So she we
Speaker 4: said like okay, one person, like it's fine, like she'll
Speaker 4: be okay. And then a few months later the brother
Speaker 4: came into our care because something happened. And then within
Speaker 4: like six months, so I then had my child and
Speaker 4: then I was at home, so I was doing like
Speaker 4: morning school drop offs at daycare and primary school, every
Speaker 4: day pickups, then organizing swimming lessons, organizing like all the
Speaker 4: Sentlin things because they are in foster care, they go
Speaker 4: through Senilin. Had no idea how that program worked.
Speaker 2: Not so much paperwork, I can imagine.
Speaker 4: And this was three COVID so you physically had to
Speaker 4: go into locations, so like, I'm like taking a newborn
Speaker 4: into these places, taking a newborn into coorts, like doing
Speaker 4: all of that. So at the moment, So we moved
Speaker 4: out about eighteen months ago, or probably twelve months ago
Speaker 4: because we renovated before we moved in. So my parents
Speaker 4: look after my kids during the day whilst I'm at work.
Speaker 4: In the mornings, we'll drive an hour to their place
Speaker 4: because we live an hour away. Joys of Sydney property prices,
Speaker 4: can't afford to live near them.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, feels yeah.
Speaker 4: So we drive an hour to my parents. We do
Speaker 4: breakfast and then I'll drop the kids off at school
Speaker 4: on the way and then I'll go to work and
Speaker 4: then I normally work later in the night, so then
Speaker 4: someone will pick up the kids in the afternoon and
Speaker 4: depending on what activities there are, we'll take them to
Speaker 4: like swimming, rugby training, basketball, and then my partner will
Speaker 4: get home and we'll make dinner for everyone that's there.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it sounds lazy.
Speaker 1: Love.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like a full Brady Bunch situation. And I mean,
Speaker 2: hats off to you and your mum. That is not
Speaker 2: an easy situation to find yourselves in and to put
Speaker 2: your hand up and say yeah, like we'll help these
Speaker 2: people is just incredible. So I'm so impressed, honestly and
Speaker 2: thankful that there are people like you or who are
Speaker 2: willing and able to do stuff like that to help
Speaker 2: out families in need. It's just amazing. In terms of
Speaker 2: the financial aid that you get from the system, is
Speaker 2: there still a significant financial burden that falls to you
Speaker 2: or is everything kind of covered because I imagine things like
Speaker 2: swimming and like they're once not needs, and I mean
Speaker 2: they're so important if you are able to do that
Speaker 2: for your kid, for development and confidence and all those
Speaker 2: sorts of things. But I can also imagine that from
Speaker 2: like a courts perspective, they wouldn't maybe account for that
Speaker 2: kind of thing.
Speaker 4: Absolutely not. So my mom takes all the payments because
Speaker 4: they live like with her, So I kind of am
Speaker 4: the assistance in other things, but it definitely doesn't cover everything.
Speaker 4: So we still have to pay school fees even though
Speaker 4: we go to our public school. Yep. So at the
Speaker 4: beginning they offered to pay for uniforms and stuff like that,
Speaker 4: but ever since they haven't offered They also, I know
Speaker 4: with our local school provide the school with different grants.
Speaker 4: So because they are Torres Strait Islander as well, they
Speaker 4: receive grants at the school, and because they are classified
Speaker 4: as foster children, they also receive grants. I've learned that
Speaker 4: those grants for a teacher ade don't actually go towards
Speaker 4: the children, because that's how the public school system unfortunately works.
Speaker 4: It goes to those that are in need. And if
Speaker 4: he's not classified as in need, even though he being
Speaker 4: there brings those requirements, they don't get access to them.
Speaker 4: So like swimming lessons is ye not paid for and
Speaker 4: they aren't a cheap expense, but we have a pool,
Speaker 4: so we believe swimming lessons is a requirement. I myself
Speaker 4: used to swim like four mornings a week, so like
Speaker 4: that's just the norm for me. And then like sports
Speaker 4: as I said before, the eldest boy, he is not
Speaker 4: an academic child. He never will be. He doesn't enjoy it,
Speaker 4: and which is absolutely fine. He is great at sports,
Speaker 4: so it was really exciting. He had his rep rugby
Speaker 4: tryouts for the Great Above because he's too young for
Speaker 4: his like reps doesn't exist for his age, and he
Speaker 4: actually made the team on the weekend.
Speaker 5: Ah, say, congratulate him for us.
Speaker 4: We will. So it's really exciting that, like, he has
Speaker 4: these opportunities and everything, but if we didn't do that.
Speaker 2: For him, he wouldn't get that.
Speaker 4: That's not something that is in the tickbox kind of
Speaker 4: formula of what the requirements they give.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my gosh, it's so hard to think about
Speaker 2: the opportunities I guess that are available to some people
Speaker 2: and not to others. And yeah, it's really special that
Speaker 2: you are providing that for him. And I think that
Speaker 2: perspective as well of Hey, like, maybe academics aren't your thing.
Speaker 2: As someone who grew up in an environment where like
Speaker 2: my education and the schooling process that I went through
Speaker 2: was very academic focused, as someone who is kind of
Speaker 2: less inclined that way, I know that it can be
Speaker 2: really disheartening to experience that. So I think the fact
Speaker 2: that you're going, hey, if that's not for you, that's
Speaker 2: so cool, Like you have other awesome skills, yeah, and
Speaker 2: let us support you. What can we do? I think
Speaker 2: that he and all of your other kids are going
Speaker 2: to grow up and have really, really fantastic lives because
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: To shift the conversation back to you, you said before
Speaker 2: that you're finishing off UNI and you're studying to become
Speaker 2: board certified. How long have you got left? What does
Speaker 2: that look like? How are you going juggling study and
Speaker 2: your certification alongside working, alongside being a mom to so
Speaker 2: many beautiful kids.
Speaker 4: It's definitely a juggle. So after having kids, I realized
Speaker 4: that breastfeeding and support for women postpartum is pretty much nonexistent,
Speaker 4: and I definitely went down the rabbit hole of exploring
Speaker 4: options to be able to provide that support and nurture
Speaker 4: women postpartum. The saying that it takes a village to
Speaker 4: raise a baby is one hundred percent through but no
Speaker 4: one realizes that taking a village doesn't mean coming over
Speaker 4: and holding the baby for five minutes. It's coming over
Speaker 4: and doing the washing for mom, cooking food for mom,
Speaker 4: like letting her sit there and taking that time and
Speaker 4: that bonding that's required. So after not realizing because there
Speaker 4: was such a non existent I was studying a Bachelor
Speaker 4: of Commerce in Human Resources. So I think I have
Speaker 4: like two subjects to go. I've just been pregnant or
Speaker 4: having a newborn. Every time a semester with start.
Speaker 2: Just bad timing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was like, probably not a good time to
Speaker 4: do it right now. So hopefully I'm going to finish
Speaker 4: that off this year. So I am fine, like just
Speaker 4: it's done. And then I am currently also completing a
Speaker 4: Certificate four in breastfeeding Education, which is done through the
Speaker 4: Australian Breastfeeding Association. So I decided to do that to
Speaker 4: gain knowledge for myself on my own breastfeeding experience and
Speaker 4: being able to advocate for myself within my workplace and
Speaker 4: return to work and be able to continue to complete
Speaker 4: that which obviously in my industry in some places it's
Speaker 4: not really a normal thing, so be able to provide
Speaker 4: that in for my place and then also for other
Speaker 4: places as well well. And then once I've done that,
Speaker 4: I want to start my journey to become an International
Speaker 4: Board certified lactation consultant. Unfortunately, it is a really difficult
Speaker 4: niche to get into if I'm not a nurse or
Speaker 4: a midwife. Because it's an international certification. There's certain like
Speaker 4: either take grade units or Uni degree units required and
Speaker 4: then clinical hours as well. So Australia doesn't have the
Speaker 4: foundations that for example, the US do. So in the
Speaker 4: US they have like centers that primarily there for people
Speaker 4: to study to become an IBCLC and then you can
Speaker 4: do the whole program through them. So yes, you may
Speaker 4: pay like five to ten grand to do it, but
Speaker 4: that whole certification can be done, Whereas in Australia, if
Speaker 4: you're not a nurse or a midwife, it's a lot
Speaker 4: of a more tedious process to get there. So I can,
Speaker 4: like I've added some units into my degree because I
Speaker 4: had electives to kind of go towards it, but then
Speaker 4: I'll have to work out how to do the other ones.
Speaker 4: But at the moment, I'm kind of just educating myself
Speaker 4: and putting myself out there to try and help other
Speaker 4: mothers and be that support system which I don't think
Speaker 4: is out there at the moment.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. I love that and I mean, I haven't
Speaker 2: had children, so I'm probably definitely not qualified to speak
Speaker 2: on it, but a lot of my friends have actually
Speaker 2: who have had kids, have said that breastfeeding was way
Speaker 2: more challenging than they thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2: Like you kind of have this idea that it's going
Speaker 2: to be easy. The baby just knows and there's the boob,
Speaker 2: there's the baby, it's all happy and it all works.
Speaker 2: But that's actually not the case, which is kind of
Speaker 2: crazy to think about. I didn't know that obviously, not
Speaker 2: having had children. So yeah, I think more education is
Speaker 2: never a bad thing, and that's a really cool thing
Speaker 2: to be pursuing. And I love that you're kind of
Speaker 2: changing your future to suit what you learned as a
Speaker 2: new mum. That's incredible.
Speaker 4: Yeah, especially like I would say I would be a
Speaker 4: younger mom, like I was twenty five when I had
Speaker 4: my first child, and I think, you know, having been
Speaker 4: the first person in my friend group to go through
Speaker 4: everything and not knowing anything, you are definitely guided by
Speaker 4: the system. And yes, I feel like our hospital system
Speaker 4: has its place, but unfortunately sometimes they don't provide the
Speaker 4: best breastfeeding knowledge to mums. It could just be what's
Speaker 4: best for their hospital and what their protocols are, because
Speaker 4: there are protocols that they have to follow, they have
Speaker 4: rules and regulations that they must abide by, and it's
Speaker 4: not what's best for you sometimes it's what they have
Speaker 4: to do. So understanding that, Like, I'm surprised and many
Speaker 4: people are that I breastfed my first for so long
Speaker 4: and did so well without any intervening, whereas with my second,
Speaker 4: I was more well aware, more educated, and luckily I
Speaker 4: did because our breastfeeding journey probably would have ended a
Speaker 4: lot earlier because we had a lot of issues throughout
Speaker 4: the process. My kids like to not like me to
Speaker 4: have dairy, So thank you so much. It's been a
Speaker 4: long time since I've had an ice cream. Oh no,
Speaker 4: So yeah, Like, if I didn't have the knowledge or
Speaker 4: the information about how to go through that process, I
Speaker 4: would have just been like, oh, okay, I'll just do this,
Speaker 4: and that's not what I wanted to do. Like, I
Speaker 4: am one hundred percent grateful that I've been able to
Speaker 4: breastfeed my children. My second is now eighteen months and
Speaker 4: we're still breastfeeding. So I have the opportunity to express
Speaker 4: during work and he has bottles with his caregivers when
Speaker 4: he's at home.
Speaker 2: Wow, I feel like I have learned so much this
Speaker 2: money Diary. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for
Speaker 2: joining us, and really incredible to hear all the things
Speaker 2: that you're doing. Let us know when you are qualified,
Speaker 2: because we'd love to be able to share that with
Speaker 2: our community. I think that's really special. But George, I
Speaker 2: think that's all we've got time for. Did you want
Speaker 2: to wrap up the important bits? Absolutely?
Speaker 5: Firstly, I just wanted to say thank you as well
Speaker 5: to our money dire So that was amazing, and I
Speaker 5: think the thing that I really took away was just
Speaker 5: how caring you are. You are an incredible person, and
Speaker 5: as just said earlier, we are so lucky to have
Speaker 5: people like you in our community. I've got like goosebumps.
Speaker 5: That was just a really beautiful story, and thank you
Speaker 5: for sharing it with us, and good luck in the future.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me on the show. Guys.
Speaker 4: It's been a really good experience.
Speaker 5: Yay, all right, guys, here's boring stuff. The advice shed
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Speaker 5: Thank you so much guys, to see you on Wednesday.
Speaker 2: See then