Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Order
Speaker 1: Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
Speaker 1: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
Speaker 1: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
Speaker 1: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
Speaker 1: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through.
Speaker 1: As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
Speaker 1: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
Speaker 1: 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 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money Podcast. Millennials
Speaker 4: who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another one of
Speaker 4: our money daries where we get to talk with one
Speaker 4: of our incredible She's on the Money community members all
Speaker 4: about their journey. Let's jump straight into it, because this
Speaker 4: week we got a message and it sounded exactly like this,
Speaker 4: Dear She's on the Money. I made a huge life
Speaker 4: change that on paper might sound crazy. I left my
Speaker 4: one hundred thousand dollar job in the city to move
Speaker 4: to the country, where I took a seventy thousand dollar
Speaker 4: pay cut. I was in a job I hated and
Speaker 4: now I work in education support, a job I'm genuinely
Speaker 4: passionate about. It was a bold move, but I couldn't
Speaker 4: be happier. For the first time, I actually look forward
Speaker 4: to getting to work every day. Plus, living in the
Speaker 4: country has brought unexpected financial benefits. We're saving so much
Speaker 4: more than we ever could in the city. It's proof
Speaker 4: that chasing passion over paychecks can be incredibly rewarding, both
Speaker 4: for your happiness and your wallet money. Darrist, welcome to
Speaker 4: the show.
Speaker 2: Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4: First things first, that was so well written. I just
Speaker 4: know this is going to be a good diary. But
Speaker 4: also as seventy thousand dollars pay cut be for real, Like,
Speaker 4: let's be honest, where'd you get the balls for that?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, it was a bit of a tricky one,
Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, money doesn't buy happiness,
Speaker 2: and that was the one thing that was the biggest
Speaker 2: change for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Wow, what was the point? Like if I was crying,
Speaker 2: like walking out of the office being so stressed out,
Speaker 2: what was the point.
Speaker 4: It's so true, it's so true, but like so many
Speaker 4: of us feel so trapped in the cycle that we
Speaker 4: just can't change it. So let's learn more. First things first,
Speaker 4: what grade would you give you money habits if I
Speaker 4: asked you to give them a grade from A through
Speaker 4: to F.
Speaker 2: So currently I'd probably give it a CNUS. I'm not
Speaker 2: the best at the moment, but we are definitely not
Speaker 2: in the worst situation. We have been better with money
Speaker 2: in the past, but right now still just getting there
Speaker 2: with the big obviously the pay decrease.
Speaker 4: Yeah, of course, Now tell me more. I need to
Speaker 4: know a lot more about your money story. Take me
Speaker 4: back and give us a bit more info.
Speaker 2: So going back, I would say with my parents growing up,
Speaker 2: both my parents are very work driven. My mum was
Speaker 2: in the defense Force. They worked really really hard for
Speaker 2: their money. We were quite well off compared to my
Speaker 2: friends and stuff, which I always just thought money was
Speaker 2: just there all the time because it wasn't spoken about,
Speaker 2: because you know, we were quite when then I had
Speaker 2: friends that were not as well off. They were living
Speaker 2: in house commission and all that, which was you know,
Speaker 2: it's great, and it was great that they had that option,
Speaker 2: but I found it a bit odd at the time.
Speaker 2: I was like, what do you mean you don't have
Speaker 2: a beach house down the road like New Sorrento. What
Speaker 2: do you mean? Like I thought everyone did you know'.
Speaker 4: Idle mean you just don't get it right, you just
Speaker 4: lived in your bubble.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was like, what do you mean? Like you
Speaker 2: buy home brand fruit and you don't get like McDonald's
Speaker 2: every Friday night? What do you mean? Like I never oun?
Speaker 4: Oh my god? And do you know what is so funny?
Speaker 4: What do you mean you don't have a beach house
Speaker 4: down near Sorento? That is like I mean, and that's
Speaker 4: probably why you said it. It's like hilariously entitled, Like
Speaker 4: what do you mean? Like, oh, obviously like Sorrento, million
Speaker 4: dollar beach houses? Sure, why not?
Speaker 2: What do you mean you don't have a chalet up
Speaker 2: in Mount Hoforpe, Like what do you mean? Okay? Not really?
Speaker 4: Can I be adopted?
Speaker 2: Is that ad option? Like? No?
Speaker 4: I mean right now, I'm thinking, let's be honest, no
Speaker 4: wonder you could take a seventy thousand dollars pay cup,
Speaker 4: but we're going to learn more about that.
Speaker 2: We didn't actually have a chalet in matt Hope, And
Speaker 2: that was just making it be nice. Sorry, dad, where
Speaker 2: is it? And so that was like the growing up.
Speaker 2: But then I had my first child and I was
Speaker 2: a single mum, and then I learned how money does
Speaker 2: not grow on trees and it's not just endless there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, wow, that would have been a bit confronting coming
Speaker 4: from a well off family to being a single mum.
Speaker 4: You're like, hold up, Like, my spending habits are not
Speaker 4: in line with the lifestyle I currently have.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right. I'm like, what do you mean fortnightly payments? Here?
Speaker 2: I am waiting for my fortnightly paycheck. My friend even
Speaker 2: said to me, He's like, well, you've changed so much
Speaker 2: because you're just like I'm gonna wait to the next
Speaker 2: fortnite to get paid. And because I wasn't trying to
Speaker 2: borrow off my parents all the time, I was trying
Speaker 2: to be this strong independent woman.
Speaker 4: Yeap, which is definitely admirable, but it's stressful.
Speaker 2: So stressful. There was times I went to them and
Speaker 2: be like can you help me, like and they were
Speaker 2: like yeah, of course.
Speaker 4: Yeah, which is so nice to have to fall back on,
Speaker 4: but also like it's so nice to also be independent.
Speaker 4: It's hard.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The bank of Dad, I called it and he's like,
Speaker 2: bank of Dad will never forget. He has a list,
Speaker 2: an Excel spreadsheet of money that I owe him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's fair, that's a debt. We'll talk about that later.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And then I got in a relationship with
Speaker 2: my partner that I've been with now for six years nearly,
Speaker 2: which took a big relief off my shoulders of having
Speaker 2: that other person there to help make ends meet and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. And yeah, so we everything improved from there,
Speaker 2: and there was some things along the way that kind
Speaker 2: of obviously we'll go into later of the debt questions
Speaker 2: that kind of made our money story have a little
Speaker 2: bit of an issue. But then we had more kids,
Speaker 2: and when I had my third child, that's when I
Speaker 2: made the career change choice. When I went on attorney
Speaker 2: to leave, I was like, I don't want to go
Speaker 2: back to work to that job. I want to move forward,
Speaker 2: and which I did.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love that. I want to know, like, there
Speaker 4: are so many pervy details I need to know. So
Speaker 4: if you'd gone back to that one hundred thousand dollar job,
Speaker 4: what would have childcare looked like? Like, I know, you've
Speaker 4: got like two young kids and then you've got a
Speaker 4: kid that's at school age, So like, what would have
Speaker 4: that looked like? Because that would have weighed significantly on
Speaker 4: the financial decision as well.
Speaker 2: Hey, oh what have like the phase of ridiculous? A
Speaker 2: lot of people don't realize how expensive childcare is and
Speaker 2: you only get I think a hundred subsidized hours or something.
Speaker 2: So I was having to drop them off at a
Speaker 2: certain time every day would be say seven thirty, They'd
Speaker 2: have to be there only after seven thirty, and trying
Speaker 2: to get to the city job would have been a nightmare. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Wow, And so tell me a bit more about like
Speaker 4: this pay cut. So you've gone from working I'm assuming
Speaker 4: full time one hundred thousand dollars a year to obviously
Speaker 4: less than that. But are you working part time now
Speaker 4: or like what does your work life balance look like
Speaker 4: in comparison?
Speaker 2: So I work part time. I work three days a week,
Speaker 2: which has been a great thing for me mentally and
Speaker 2: for my kids because I have the amount of childcare
Speaker 2: two days a week and we have fun if we
Speaker 2: go to playgroup, my toddler does dance and things like
Speaker 2: I missed out on with my eldest daughter because I
Speaker 2: had to work full time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but you're also single, mum. Like, let's just remember
Speaker 4: the part where you were doing all of that on
Speaker 4: your own, and like, I feel like you were doing
Speaker 4: the best that you could with everything that you had
Speaker 4: at that time, right, Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2: I don't look back and say, oh my god, I
Speaker 2: should have done this or done that. I know I
Speaker 2: did what I could with what I had, and I'm yeah,
Speaker 2: it's harder, and I'll look back at it sometimes, Oh God,
Speaker 2: have done this with her. I'm so sad and a then,
Speaker 2: but look where we are now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, one hundred percent. I feel like we do that
Speaker 4: with everything, right, Like I look back and I go, oh,
Speaker 4: I wish i'd done XYZ earlier. It's like, well, be
Speaker 4: you didn't have the knowledge, then, you didn't have the understanding,
Speaker 4: you didn't even want that then, Like it makes sense.
Speaker 4: But like we're all just out here doing the best
Speaker 4: that we can, right, especially when it comes to kids.
Speaker 4: There's so many like shouldar would have couders, and I
Speaker 4: just think we are all just in the moment doing
Speaker 4: the best that we absolutely can. And you know what, that.
Speaker 2: Is good enough exactly right. There's no manual for being
Speaker 2: a parent. They didn't teach us this in school. I know.
Speaker 4: I'm still in shock that they let me walk out
Speaker 4: of a hospital with a newborn and no license for it.
Speaker 4: Like I couldn't even go and get a car without
Speaker 4: a license, and you're letting me have an entire human
Speaker 4: being like that. That feels illegal, But okay, I agree.
Speaker 2: To that so much Like what the instruction manual to
Speaker 2: get them to sleep?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: Where is it?
Speaker 4: I don't know, but at three am last night, I
Speaker 4: really really would have appreciated having some sort of manual.
Speaker 4: But that is okay. I want to know. Tell me
Speaker 4: a bit more about you exactly, So what do you earn?
Speaker 4: What is your job title? And tell me a bit
Speaker 4: about what you used to earn and what your job
Speaker 4: title was.
Speaker 2: Then, So my current job, I'm an education support worker
Speaker 2: at a primary school. By the days that I work
Speaker 2: and the step that I'm on further salary, I earn
Speaker 2: about thirty k per year for the three days And.
Speaker 4: Is that pro rata from a fifty thousand dollars package
Speaker 4: or is that just like the role is only part time.
Speaker 2: That is pro writer for the hours that I work. Yes,
Speaker 2: so it's not too bad for what I do. I
Speaker 2: love it, but Previously, I was an accountant in work
Speaker 2: five days a week, nine to five life. Literally Dolly
Speaker 2: Parton was that song It's Made for You. Yeah, it
Speaker 2: was fain for me, and I spent my days at
Speaker 2: a desk, changed my desk answering e to people being
Speaker 2: quite angry and stuff like that, like.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, thank you, no thanks, not for you, not
Speaker 4: for you. And now you get to work in a
Speaker 4: primary school with kids, being an education support worker. How
Speaker 4: cool is that?
Speaker 2: I love it so much. I actually just finished my
Speaker 2: first term. I cried on the way home because I
Speaker 2: was going to miss the kids for two weeks.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, you're soesome.
Speaker 2: Because like, what are the boys that I will students
Speaker 2: a look after? He actually gifted me some Pokemon cards
Speaker 2: because we bonded over Pokemon, so he went through his
Speaker 2: old cards with his mom the night before.
Speaker 4: Oh when he gave you some, that's so wholesome. Like,
Speaker 4: I hope that when my kids get to school they
Speaker 4: have people that care about them as much as you do,
Speaker 4: Like I want you everywhere, Like I just want my
Speaker 4: kids to go to school and have that type of relationship.
Speaker 4: Like that is so special.
Speaker 2: It is it makes my day every day there is
Speaker 2: hard days. I'm not going to say it's an easy job.
Speaker 4: There's days where I came home and like, oh what
Speaker 4: have I done?
Speaker 2: Why am I? Do we miss this? It's so stressful.
Speaker 2: But then they go in the next day and it's
Speaker 2: a brand new day.
Speaker 4: Totally, totally well. It sounds like life has changed significantly
Speaker 4: for you recently. Tell me a bit about money goals.
Speaker 4: What are currently your big money goals? What are you
Speaker 4: working towards?
Speaker 2: So I have a two step money goal plan. So
Speaker 2: first step is paying off our weddings. So we're getting
Speaker 2: married in November next year.
Speaker 4: Oh I had a November wedding. Good time for one.
Speaker 2: Oh I know, because it's not too hot, not too cold.
Speaker 4: In Melbourne, so yeah, perfect.
Speaker 2: And then it's to buy a house obviously after the
Speaker 2: honeymoon and everything like that. We're just going like, let's
Speaker 2: get there. We've got to improve our credit ratings because
Speaker 2: young me made some inquiries that she shouldn't have made
Speaker 2: on her credit file and they just sit there. They
Speaker 2: don't forget. Equifax doesn't move on holds on forever.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, or at least seven years. Tell me I
Speaker 4: need to know wedding details when you stay pay off
Speaker 4: your wedding. Can we have some juicy dates on what's
Speaker 4: your wedding costing you? How did you do the planning? Like,
Speaker 4: weddings can be like ten grand or they could be
Speaker 4: like two hundred grand. What are we talking?
Speaker 2: We're talking about I think it. When I've done my
Speaker 2: lovely spreadsheet, it was about twenty five to thirty thousand dollars.
Speaker 4: Oh that's pretty good in this economy.
Speaker 2: Oh and for the venue I got, Like, obviously I
Speaker 2: don't want to say.
Speaker 4: No, no, don't tell me like and it doesn't matter
Speaker 4: because most people won't know it anyway. So you've got
Speaker 4: a good venue, got a good deal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's in the city. It's a special place where
Speaker 2: we spend a lot of time as a family.
Speaker 4: Oh, how good. You're going to have to tell me
Speaker 4: off there so that I can have a little bit
Speaker 4: of a look. See. But so you've got like the
Speaker 4: venue that you wanted. You're really excited about it. What
Speaker 4: was the biggest surprise when it came to wending budgeting?
Speaker 2: How much is Celebrate cost?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: Really, I was shocked on how much some of them
Speaker 2: would charge you. I was like, I get what they
Speaker 2: do and all that and they do a lot into it.
Speaker 2: Once they sent me the contract, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this is why you cost this X amount of money.
Speaker 2: I was kind of like, oh wow, that's really expensive
Speaker 2: and a photo boof. I didn't realize how expensive they
Speaker 2: are as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's so true. I feel like I wasn't shocked
Speaker 4: by my celebrant cost, but I'm not surprised, And I
Speaker 4: think it's just because I've had clients who were celebrants historically,
Speaker 4: but it can be anywhere from a couple of hundred
Speaker 4: dollars to like thousands of dollars, and like obviously the
Speaker 4: more experienced one is or the more you've seen them
Speaker 4: on social media, the more expensive they're probably gonna be.
Speaker 4: And like I really doubled down on the celebrant cost
Speaker 4: when I got married money Drest because I got her
Speaker 4: to be the MC for our wedding as well, because
Speaker 4: I remember being like, I just want everyone at our
Speaker 4: wedding to have a good time, Like I don't want
Speaker 4: to put the pressure on like you know, my husband's
Speaker 4: best mate to MC our wedding and not drink the
Speaker 4: entire night, not have a fun time in the entire night,
Speaker 4: and be like time tracking, Like that was just something
Speaker 4: that was important to me because I knew that, like
Speaker 4: in my head, no one really wanted to do that. Like,
Speaker 4: if you've got somebody who wants to do it, fantastic,
Speaker 4: But like I doubled down and so basically paid her
Speaker 4: twice so that she could be the celebrant then be
Speaker 4: the So I remember being like, oh, lots of exper
Speaker 4: but okay.
Speaker 2: I've done the same thing. Actually, And what I love
Speaker 2: about my celebrant is if there's any celebrants listening. Best
Speaker 2: thing that this guy did was he sent me a
Speaker 2: video of him talking, because you're gonna have to hear
Speaker 2: celebrate talking through the wedding. And I was like, that
Speaker 2: sold on you. You've taken this extra step. Let's go.
Speaker 4: How good is that?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 4: I have more questions. Tell me a bit about this
Speaker 4: goal for buying a house. So you said that you
Speaker 4: want to save for a house deposit. What does that
Speaker 4: look like? Are we buying regionally?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 4: You live out further.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we are looking to actually move further out regional.
Speaker 2: We are quite in a regional built up area. I
Speaker 2: love the country vibe. I love how there is so
Speaker 2: much nature out here and there's so much space, and
Speaker 2: the houses are so much cheaper out here compared to
Speaker 2: where we were living, Like, it's ridiculously so much cheaper.
Speaker 2: Did you get for your money as well?
Speaker 4: Yeah, one hundred percent you do. It's crazy and like
Speaker 4: such a good idea. I love this. And what type
Speaker 4: of time frame do you think that is? Is that
Speaker 4: like save for a home and buy straight after the
Speaker 4: wedding or save for a home and buy a couple
Speaker 4: of years after. I mean, you've got three kids, Like,
Speaker 4: I feel like that's going to take a little bit
Speaker 4: of effort in comparison to, like, you know, straight after
Speaker 4: the wedding.
Speaker 2: Our goal is in five years. We're trying to clear
Speaker 2: up some debt and obviously improve our credit file as well,
Speaker 2: so we're not inquiring for any loans or anything like that.
Speaker 2: We're like, no, everything is getting closed off, don't touch it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we're just going to smash down debt. All right, Well,
Speaker 4: let's go to a really quick break because on the
Speaker 4: flip side, I'm going to ask you about the debt
Speaker 4: that you have, how you got it, what it looks like.
Speaker 4: We're going to be chatting about investment, and I want
Speaker 4: to know your best and worst money habits, because I
Speaker 4: feel like someone who has significantly decreased their income is
Speaker 4: going to have some good money habits that we can
Speaker 4: learn from. So don't go anywhere money dirist. We are back,
Speaker 4: and I want to know have you invested? Will you
Speaker 4: invest what's the plan around that?
Speaker 2: So I use chair Zy's at the moment, I stopped
Speaker 2: buying lunch because I've obviously I changed my job, and
Speaker 2: I put the money that I would have spent getting
Speaker 2: tadash delivered to work into Chazy's.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, you actually did.
Speaker 1: Do you know?
Speaker 4: Their podcast is called lunch Money.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Their podcast is literally called lunch money. And I love
Speaker 4: the fact that you then are investing on their platform
Speaker 4: using your actual lunch money.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I use their roundup feature too, where like
Speaker 2: it rounds up what you spend and that it's invested
Speaker 2: into what ETF and then I don't have to think
Speaker 2: about it and they do everything for me.
Speaker 4: I love that. How did you start where you like,
Speaker 4: I really need to start investing or is this like
Speaker 4: a plan when you left corporate you were like, all right,
Speaker 4: I'm going to take this money and redirect it, because
Speaker 4: that's like genius.
Speaker 2: I believe I got the advice from the podcast about
Speaker 2: the coffee, like if you don't buy the coffee, a
Speaker 2: coffee a day or way, how much could you invest?
Speaker 4: It's wild, isn't it.
Speaker 2: It's crazy. I've got so much in that, I think
Speaker 2: because like four hundred dollars in their last time I checked.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I love that. And how much were
Speaker 4: you spending each week? I have to know, like on
Speaker 4: door dashing lunch. Like don't get me wrong, like lunch
Speaker 4: at work is already expensive, but like having it delivered
Speaker 4: every day, girl, you would have been bleeding money.
Speaker 2: I think it was like at least one hundred dollars
Speaker 2: a week I was spending.
Speaker 4: Oh that's so painful.
Speaker 2: I know it was so bad, but I was just
Speaker 2: like I just want comfort food. All what Menando's delivered? Please?
Speaker 4: Yeah, look I get it. And if you weren't enjoying
Speaker 4: your work either, like that would have been like the
Speaker 4: one thing that you were looking forward to during the
Speaker 4: day or the one thing that kind of like lifted
Speaker 4: your spirits on the days that you were like, oh
Speaker 4: this is not working for me, so like I can
Speaker 4: see how you do it, but and this is going
Speaker 4: to bring the mood down. But it is a really
Speaker 4: slippery slope. Do you know twenty seven dollars fifty a
Speaker 4: day in spending is ten thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, yeah, I know.
Speaker 4: Isn't that terrifying? No, but you're not doing it anymore.
Speaker 4: You're investing, Like that's really exciting. But like I feel
Speaker 4: like for me, it's really easy to spend twenty seven
Speaker 4: dollars fifty, like a couple of coffees and then a
Speaker 4: sandwich out. I've already blown it. Like I spent yesterday
Speaker 4: a sandwich. I've got Subway for lunch yesterday and it
Speaker 4: was like seventeen dollars because obviously I got the cookie
Speaker 4: as well, ob yously, like you're not going to Subway
Speaker 4: and not getting the cookie, That's why I went there
Speaker 4: in the first place. And two coffees Like I definitely
Speaker 4: would have blown twenty seven dollars yesterday. Easy. Oh I
Speaker 4: hate that for us money, Diarist, So you're investing, you're
Speaker 4: using Chazi's. Do you have a bigger plan for that?
Speaker 4: Like is the plan to increase that over time or
Speaker 4: is it what is it for? Is that for your
Speaker 4: home deposit? Is it for like your retirement.
Speaker 2: It is for our retirement for and I do want
Speaker 2: to increase it eventually after the debts that we are
Speaker 2: paying off slowly have gone. I was going to put
Speaker 2: that money into Chasis and just increase it more and
Speaker 2: more so when we retire with got this big, nice
Speaker 2: portfolio and we can relax.
Speaker 4: Yeah, very cute. She's a genius. I love that. Let's
Speaker 4: flip the narrative because I know you have debt and
Speaker 4: I want to know about it. Tell me about your debts.
Speaker 4: How did you get in them, what do they look like,
Speaker 4: and what's your plan to get out of them?
Speaker 2: So I have one good debt, which is obviously my
Speaker 2: hex debt. I love that you always say that's a
Speaker 2: good debt, goes towards education. Might not be in that
Speaker 2: field anymore, but you learned something. But with my other debt,
Speaker 2: we have one really bad debt, this one. If I
Speaker 2: could go back in time, I would grab my partner
Speaker 2: and myself and sit on the couch and say, you
Speaker 2: need car insurance. My partner got the car accident and
Speaker 2: rode his car and the other person's car off.
Speaker 4: Yeah okay, and.
Speaker 2: Currently left on it. We looked the other day there's
Speaker 2: about fifteen thousand dollars left.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's not the end of the world. And you
Speaker 4: know what, that was a very expensive mistake, but also
Speaker 4: a very expensive learning Are you going to do it again?
Speaker 2: No, I make sure that insurance is paid everyone. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I make sure.
Speaker 4: Oh that would have been so strong ressful at the
Speaker 4: time as well. Was your husband.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah he was and we kind of like, I
Speaker 2: we shouldn't laugh about it, but he was getting my
Speaker 2: daughter some cookies for a teacher, and he always jokes,
Speaker 2: now they were the world's most expensive cookies.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, they absolutely were. I don't think I've
Speaker 4: heard of more expensive cookies. What were they made of? Gold?
Speaker 2: Like? Yeah, pretty much? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Oh, how stressful. And then the realization that you didn't
Speaker 4: have insurance. What was that like?
Speaker 2: When he called me, I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: you don't have insurance. He's like, I know, and I
Speaker 2: was like, okay, so what are we going to do?
Speaker 2: And we kind of panicked, But then I remembered that
Speaker 2: most companies will give you a financial hardship agreement. So
Speaker 2: we just called up and said, look, hey, we can't
Speaker 2: afford to pay this. All this money now, can we
Speaker 2: set up a payment plan? And they said, yeah, sure,
Speaker 2: what can you pay?
Speaker 4: Oh that's so smart that you just tackled it head on,
Speaker 4: like you called up. So many people wouldn't do that,
Speaker 4: and they'd just be evasive of it and like ignore
Speaker 4: it and just wait until people were chase them. Like,
Speaker 4: I'm glad that you called and that you knew that
Speaker 4: there was like some type of support available. Fifteen grand? Stressful,
Speaker 4: but you're going to get out of it? How good?
Speaker 4: What's the plan? Are we throwing all of our available
Speaker 4: cash at that? Or are we chipping away? What does
Speaker 4: that look like?
Speaker 2: So we're chipping away? We have got set up a
Speaker 2: minimum repayment option with them, and then every time we
Speaker 2: get a tax return or my partner gets a bonus
Speaker 2: or something like that, it goes straight into that straight away.
Speaker 2: We just put it straight in.
Speaker 4: Smart, get rid of it. And you mentioned that you
Speaker 4: had really bad credit.
Speaker 2: Why made the few mistakes when I was younger, not
Speaker 2: paying you know, bills and stuff like, haha, you can't
Speaker 2: get me. What are you going to do? Oh, we're
Speaker 2: going to put a default on your credit file. That's
Speaker 2: what we're going to do.
Speaker 4: You're like, oh, about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh whoops.
Speaker 4: Oh no, that's so stressful. And how long have they
Speaker 4: been on your credit file? And like, have you been
Speaker 4: working towards or doing anything in particular to help me
Speaker 4: get it up or are we just waiting until it increases.
Speaker 2: I did end up getting a credit card, like a
Speaker 2: thousand dollar credit card, so it's and I pay that
Speaker 2: every month and I make sure that thing is paid
Speaker 2: every month, and that has improved it slowly. And the
Speaker 2: defaults when I checked, I think they've got three more
Speaker 2: years until they've lifted, and then they're gone.
Speaker 4: Yeah, then they're completely off. And I mean tin awa Like,
Speaker 4: as much as that sucks, you told me before that
Speaker 4: your plan is to buy in five years, so that's
Speaker 4: not even going to impact it. We're just going to
Speaker 4: save an invest along the way. And then when it
Speaker 4: comes time to buy and your broken looks at your
Speaker 4: credit score, you're gonna be like, what defaults? I don't
Speaker 4: know what you're talking about. Who are you?
Speaker 2: I know they've never been there.
Speaker 4: They can't see further back than that. They won't be
Speaker 4: part of the credit score. They drop off, which is a.
Speaker 2: Money win exactly.
Speaker 4: I love that for you. So I feel like somebody
Speaker 4: who has had to move regionally and drop their income
Speaker 4: significantly is probably gonna have a few good money habits.
Speaker 4: What are they?
Speaker 2: One of them? This is the mum one. Anythink my
Speaker 2: babys need Facebook Marketplace one hundred percent is my favorite place.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, me too recently, like baby stuff is
Speaker 4: so expensive retail be for real. It's actually insane how
Speaker 4: expensive stuff is and how long they do not use.
Speaker 2: It for exactly right. So, for example, this is my
Speaker 2: biggest one I did. Obviously, I had two hunder two,
Speaker 2: so I needed a double pram and the Buggerboo dog
Speaker 2: Key retails for what two k?
Speaker 4: Not even it's more than that because you then got
Speaker 4: to buy the seats and stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got one for three hundred dollars secondhand on Marketplace.
Speaker 4: Three hundred dollars.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what you're.
Speaker 4: Going to be able to sell it for that at least?
Speaker 4: Like if you clean that and then put it on
Speaker 4: marketplace when you're done with that, Like, girl, you are
Speaker 4: gonna get at least three hundred dollars for that, you
Speaker 4: just know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I said it to our partner. I guess I
Speaker 2: still think it's particulous. He's like you go get this
Speaker 2: Pram and I'm like, look at what it does, and
Speaker 2: now he loves it.
Speaker 4: He'd like this PREMS bed and it's a good quality
Speaker 4: one as well. Like, don't get me wrong, you can
Speaker 4: definitely get something you know, Kmart much cheaper, but like
Speaker 4: the quality of pushing a terrible upper hill, like not
Speaker 4: for me.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh. We actually upgraded the wheels as well to
Speaker 2: foam ones and got brand new hoods for an extra
Speaker 2: hundred dollars. So I've spent like four hundred dollars on
Speaker 2: this Pram and it's a double, yeah, and it can
Speaker 2: go down to single and you can use it as
Speaker 2: a bassinet. It's got so many features.
Speaker 4: Did you then sell the pram that was a single
Speaker 4: because I'm assuming when you had your your second baby, sorry,
Speaker 4: your first baby was completely out of prams because she's
Speaker 4: a bit older. But then your second baby, you would
Speaker 4: have got a single prem right because you don't often
Speaker 4: think you're gonna have another baby so close. Did you
Speaker 4: then sell that on marketplace and like put that towards
Speaker 4: the second one?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I did. Actually I sold it I think for
Speaker 2: like fifty dollars, so technically I spent three hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty on the prem if we take that out.
Speaker 4: See, there you go, there you go. I'm helping you
Speaker 4: make this make sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The other really good habit I have is when
Speaker 2: I go to Cohals and stuff and things are on special,
Speaker 2: I don't look at the main price. I look at
Speaker 2: the unit price or per leader like and I'm a
Speaker 2: big Costco shopper as well, but again I look at
Speaker 2: the unit price and do comparison. I don't just go
Speaker 2: in there and go, oh, this is cheaper and bulk
Speaker 2: because sometimes it's not.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've got myself into trouble before at Costco when
Speaker 4: I go in with no plan. This is years ago.
Speaker 4: I don't currently have a membership, but go in with
Speaker 4: no plan and you're like, oh that looks fun, Oh
Speaker 4: that looks fun. And then you walk out and you're like,
Speaker 4: why why I didn't need that? And it adds up
Speaker 4: because often you're buying volume of something that you might
Speaker 4: not need, which makes it really expensive.
Speaker 2: Exactly right. It's so bad. It's a deep hole when
Speaker 2: you're walking to Costco because then when you leave, you
Speaker 2: have to get the giant pizza slice for three dollars,
Speaker 2: or you have to get the drinks like you have to.
Speaker 2: So you're like, oh, I just spend all my money
Speaker 2: on food as we left.
Speaker 4: Rude, Not too rude, Not to like, You've got to
Speaker 4: plan it around lunchtime though, or dinner time and be like,
Speaker 4: all right, if we go after work, that three dollar
Speaker 4: pizza can be dinner instead of having a little sneaky
Speaker 4: snack that we then go home and cook too.
Speaker 2: Exactly right. Oh, you go on free sample day. The
Speaker 2: kids can sit in the trolley and get the free
Speaker 2: samples as you wheel around trying all the foods.
Speaker 4: She's a genius. I love this. Are there any other
Speaker 4: good money habits before I ask you for your worst?
Speaker 2: Also very good at point hacking with flybys and Quantus
Speaker 2: points and Wooly's rewards.
Speaker 4: Oh tell me more, because our community has been asking
Speaker 4: a lot about like, you know, how do you get
Speaker 4: the most bang for your bluck out of points?
Speaker 2: What are you doing?
Speaker 4: How do you do it?
Speaker 2: So for quantus points? I actually be my best friend.
Speaker 2: We do a step challenge each week and the winner
Speaker 2: will get fifty points.
Speaker 4: Oh how cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's something I found on TikTok. Some lady was like,
Speaker 2: this is how I pay for my business class flats
Speaker 2: doing nothing, And so I do that and I get
Speaker 2: daily step counts, weekly steps. There's so many things. Even
Speaker 2: checking your car lights can get you ten quantus points.
Speaker 4: What, Yeah, how good is that you're like staying safe
Speaker 4: but also like getting your steps up. I feel like
Speaker 4: I've been obsessed recently with getting my steps up. I
Speaker 4: feel like, as a mum, you're just like I'm on
Speaker 4: the cow all the time. I posted on my Instagram
Speaker 4: story that I've just completely lost my butt. My butt
Speaker 4: is the shape of the couch that I have been
Speaker 4: sitting on. So like, getting my steps up is good,
Speaker 4: but now you're going to motivate me that I get points.
Speaker 4: I love this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and another one that I didn't know was the
Speaker 2: best way to do it. You know how Flybys when
Speaker 2: you go to the Col's Express, you can get like
Speaker 2: four cents off per leader, or you can actually get
Speaker 2: eight points per leader for Flybys.
Speaker 4: Oh, I didn't know that. You have done a lot
Speaker 4: of research, my friend.
Speaker 2: And it's the better option. The lady that served me
Speaker 2: at Coal's Express was like, you are a genius because
Speaker 2: you actually get more for your money this way. No
Speaker 2: one knows that.
Speaker 4: How good? I love that. Well, now everyone know she's
Speaker 4: on the money, knows that, and we are very grateful
Speaker 4: to you for that money. Drest, Let's flip the narrative.
Speaker 4: What do you think your worst money?
Speaker 2: How it is even though I'm not getting it for
Speaker 2: lunch being a mum, uber eats and daughter. But I'm
Speaker 2: so tired, and I know it sounds so bad.
Speaker 4: I get it. I get it. I just to make
Speaker 4: you feel better. I ordered pizza last night for dinner
Speaker 4: with my husband. It was Monday. That's not even like
Speaker 4: a Friday night like treat. That was me being like
Speaker 4: I can't be bother cooking, and they looked at my
Speaker 4: husband and he's like, don't look at me. I don't
Speaker 4: want to cook, and he's usually great at cooking. So
Speaker 4: we did pizza on a Monday night. It happens. It
Speaker 4: happens to the best of us.
Speaker 2: It happens. And like sometimes I come on the way
Speaker 2: home from work, I go, I just don't want to cook,
Speaker 2: and I'm breastfeeding still as well, so I get hungry.
Speaker 2: So and of course I want to get on the
Speaker 2: MACS app and breastfeeding.
Speaker 4: Like, there needs to be an entire podcast episode of
Speaker 4: budgeting for my breastfeeding, spending and eating like I eat
Speaker 4: so much, I spend so much, Like I'm on my
Speaker 4: phone at three am because I'm breastfeeding. I don't make
Speaker 4: the rules. I do deserve that new dress. I do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And people say breastfeeding is free, it is not free.
Speaker 4: How much was your breast pump?
Speaker 2: I got that actually secondhand, but if read.
Speaker 4: Her Facebook marketplace, Honestly, I don't know why people aren't
Speaker 4: buying breast pumps secondhand. You use them for such a
Speaker 4: short period of time and you probably did the same thing.
Speaker 4: You can just replace all the valves.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got a Spectra S one for sixty dollars
Speaker 2: second hand.
Speaker 4: Sixty dollars. That's a couple of hundred bucks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, and she only used it for thirty hours,
Speaker 2: so it was basically brand new.
Speaker 4: That's so perfect. And I mean, how many mums buy
Speaker 4: a breast pump going this is what I'm going to do,
Speaker 4: and then go JU know what this isn't for me,
Speaker 4: and then get rid of their breast pump on marketplace
Speaker 4: like genius. I feel like everyone should for babies just
Speaker 4: be looking more on marketplace.
Speaker 2: Don't go get a brand new, don't get a new
Speaker 2: bascinet just go on marketplace. I love it so.
Speaker 4: I adore it. I want to do more deep dives
Speaker 4: into like how we can budget have kids but like
Speaker 4: still get the bougie things that we want because I
Speaker 4: feel like, you know, when you see their Spectra breast pump,
Speaker 4: you're like, well, that's really exp but also I could
Speaker 4: get it for sixty bucks and that's actually cheaper than
Speaker 4: the one it came.
Speaker 2: Up exactly, and then just buy the parts online. You
Speaker 2: can get like Amazon knockoffs for the Spectra brand for
Speaker 2: so much cheaper.
Speaker 4: Yeah I did, don't tell Spectro, but I went and
Speaker 4: bought all the Amazon parts because I needed like a
Speaker 4: different millimeter size and all of that fun stuff. But anyway,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of conversation to be hard about saving
Speaker 4: money while being a mum. At the start of this episode,
Speaker 4: you told me you think you're a C minus. Tell
Speaker 4: me what it's going to take to get to an
Speaker 4: A plus and what's the plan.
Speaker 2: I think the plan would be obviously be debt free.
Speaker 2: Get rid of that big debt, which is going to
Speaker 2: slowly disappear copy slowed down, not completely stuck, because I
Speaker 2: know one hundred percent there's still going to be that
Speaker 2: one occasional uber eats and do it ash and I'm
Speaker 2: not going to hold that against myself.
Speaker 4: We've got to be reasonable. You can't cut things out,
Speaker 4: especially if you're enjoying them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty much. I think to get there obviously, be
Speaker 2: debt free and have a decent emergency fund because at
Speaker 2: the moment we only have like a little one and
Speaker 2: things do happen and you need to have that there
Speaker 2: for that one moment because what if something has happened
Speaker 2: and not panic.
Speaker 4: But it sounds like you're well on the way, Like
Speaker 4: you are getting rid of this debt, you're channeling all
Speaker 4: of your free cash flow to it, like you've got
Speaker 4: this plan, you're paying off your wedding. It sounds like
Speaker 4: you've been really savvy with your wedding. You've got an
Speaker 4: epic venue and you're only spending between twenty five and
Speaker 4: thirty grand, which at the moment the average Australian wedding
Speaker 4: is about sixty five thousand dollars, so you're already winning there.
Speaker 4: I just feel like you're on the path to being
Speaker 4: really financially secure, like not today, Like you feel obviously
Speaker 4: a little bit like we've got places to be, you know,
Speaker 4: people to see, things to do. But like it sounds
Speaker 4: like you're well set up. And the thing I love
Speaker 4: most about this is you're really happy, like you're enjoying
Speaker 4: your life. Like I am pretty sure so many of
Speaker 4: us will swap to your situation where you're like, no, girl,
Speaker 4: I love going to work. Like I cried on the
Speaker 4: way home because I was gonna miss going to work
Speaker 4: for two weeks. Like you're living literally the dream. And
Speaker 4: then on the flip side, yeah, you've got some debt
Speaker 4: and you're working through it and you've got a plan.
Speaker 4: But like I think so many people would swap to
Speaker 4: that situation instead of being completely debt free and miserable.
Speaker 4: Like I feel like that's really really positive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely is. And like obviously, like I said,
Speaker 2: I love my job and everything, but it isn't easy
Speaker 2: and like, yeah, I don't know, I'm lossful words. I'm
Speaker 2: thinking about my job now. I'm just like, oh gosh,
Speaker 2: school holidays is to hurry up and be over soon
Speaker 2: go back.
Speaker 4: But that's so nice, And I think that it's nice
Speaker 4: to see a different perspective someone who's been willing to
Speaker 4: slash it. Like at the start, I was like, oh
Speaker 4: my gosh, where did you get the balls to cut
Speaker 4: your income? Like I feel like for so many of us,
Speaker 4: and you're my age, or I'm a bit older than you,
Speaker 4: you're thirty one, but I feel like by the time
Speaker 4: you're thirty, if you're earning six figures, you're like, I've
Speaker 4: finally made it. Like it feels like in my head,
Speaker 4: six figures for me was always a goal. I remember
Speaker 4: writing down my goals when I was like twenty two,
Speaker 4: twenty three, and I was like, by the time I'm thirty,
Speaker 4: I want to be earning six figures. And for me,
Speaker 4: that was such a pivotal moment when I hit that number.
Speaker 4: I remember thinking, oh, I earned six figures, and I'm
Speaker 4: very grateful for it. But this is not how I
Speaker 4: thought it would feel. This is not how I thought
Speaker 4: it would happen. I thought this was going to mean
Speaker 4: that I was like, really really doing well financially. I
Speaker 4: thought that I'd have all my stuff together, you know,
Speaker 4: and to be in a position where you earn that,
Speaker 4: it's very hard to step back and go, well, actually,
Speaker 4: I'm really happy to take less for my mental health,
Speaker 4: for my happiness of my family, for you know a
Speaker 4: better work life balance, and you've done it, and you're like,
Speaker 4: might not on paper look great, but I'm so happy
Speaker 4: and I'm thriving. And I think that lots of us
Speaker 4: can learn a bit from that, Like even if it's
Speaker 4: just stepping back a little bit and going well, actually,
Speaker 4: I could step back and maybe take a ten k
Speaker 4: pay cut or a twenty k pay cut for my health,
Speaker 4: for my happiness, for my lifestyle. Like that's not the
Speaker 4: end of the world. I feel like you've got it sorted.
Speaker 4: I feel like you might be smarter than most of us.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I think like one
Speaker 2: of the things is have you seen that video on Instagram?
Speaker 2: It's like you only have small children for three years
Speaker 2: and then it's done.
Speaker 4: Yeah, got me in the fields.
Speaker 2: Yeah. That one was my breaking point and I was like,
Speaker 2: he's so right, it's done. And then another one came.
Speaker 2: I was like, you only got one life, why not
Speaker 2: be happy? And I was like, okay, Instagram, you're coming
Speaker 2: at me from all the directions.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I do feel like my algorithm personally victimizes me
Speaker 4: quite consistently, and that's okay. I'm dealing with that. But
Speaker 4: I do see all of those at the same time
Speaker 4: as feeling personally victimized by them. I also feel like
Speaker 4: it's helping me be present, and it's also reminding me
Speaker 4: to be grateful for the period of time I'm in.
Speaker 4: Like it's so easy to get to a three am
Speaker 4: feed where you're like, oh my gosh, I can't think
Speaker 4: of anything worse, And like then I look at Hovey
Speaker 4: and I'm like, I'm not going to be able to
Speaker 4: do this forever, and there's going to come a time
Speaker 4: in my life where all I wish for is one
Speaker 4: more time like this. So I hope that I'm enjoying this.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I think that enjoying the journey is.
Speaker 2: Very very important. Definitely, it definitely is all.
Speaker 4: Right, Money direst It has been an absolute pleasure, but
Speaker 4: unfortunately we've been talking for forty minutes and that is
Speaker 4: all we have time for today. It has been an
Speaker 4: absolute pleasure, and I know that our community has loved
Speaker 4: all of your pervy details but also understanding that it's
Speaker 4: proof that chasing passion over paychecks can be incredibly rewarding.
Speaker 4: So thank you for your time. I have had an
Speaker 4: absolute blast getting to know you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
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