How much are we all earning? How does your profession add up? How are women your age spending their money? Is everyone in debt? And is the cost of living crisis biting everyone?
It’s time for some honest, candid conversations about money and budgets as we steer down a recession – so welcome to our series ‘Money, Honey’, where we’ll be diving deep into the bank accounts of wahine across the country to truly get a sense of what’s going on in our piggybanks.
Up this week it’s Tracey, a 45-year-old Auckland Logistics Coordinator on $68,000 a year – and click here for our previous instalments!
Name: Tracey, 45
Location: Waiuku, Auckland
Living situation: I own my home with my sister and live with her, her 14-year-old son and my four-year-old daughter
Job: Logistics coordinator
Salary per year: $68,000
Any other income: A few cash jobs helping my best friend’s partner with his painting business
Take-home pay per week: $1031
Investment returns: N/A but I really want to begin
My situation: I live with my daughter, my sister and her son in South Auckland. I bought my home with my ex-partner almost 20 years ago, and retained it when we split by buying him out of his half. Because we bought so long ago our mortgage is ok by today’s standards, and my sister pays me rent which helps. I’d say that I’m proper middle class Kiwi with my salary and my situation. It’s not perfect but we get by.
Monthly budget:
Rent/mortgage: $1,200 a month. My sister pays $600 a month in rent, I pay the rest.
Food: Around $600, again with my sister paying the same – we try and budget $300 a week for food for the entire household but this is getting tricky with the whole cost of living thing and 14-year-old-boys are bottomless pits! We’ve had to pull back on luxuries and brands a lot and we’re trying to be smart with the shopping list and the meal planning so there’s no waste. Sometimes we do Bargain Box and that’s been quite good, as has shopping at local fruit and vege stores. It’s so much better than the supermarket!
Bills: My half of the household bills is around $450 – the usual power, water, streaming, internet etc, as well as my house, car and contents insurance (I got a great deal when I bundled these, shop around!).
Childcare: $1280 for day care – thank God school is not far away but then I have no idea what I’ll do with my daughter when it comes to school holidays. Why the hell childcare is so expensive…
Debt payments: $800. Life would be so much easier if I didn’t have this hanging over me every month.
Savings: $400 a month – $200 goes out straight away with each pay and goes into an account I can’t touch unless I give the bank 30 days’ notice.
Spending: $640 – this includes takeaways, a wine out with my girlfriends, nails, kids’ clothes, doctor’s appointments, you name it.
What’s inside your bank account?
Savings: $2,612
Kiwisaver: $98,307
Anything else: I have $23,855 left of debt to pay off and $83,006 on my mortgage.
How do you approach budgeting? Back in the day I was shit at it – hence the massive debt. Now I’m careful as, because I have to be because I sure as hell am not going to be ‘that mother’ that puts her own needs before her kid. I’ve always been a single mother – my daughter’s dad was never in the picture – and I don’t get any help, so it’s on me to make sure I’m giving her the best that I can. I’m lucky that my former partner and I bought a house so long ago, so we don’t need to worry too much on that side of things although interest rates definitely took a hunk out of the ‘fun money’ last year.
Are you a spender or a saver? These days I’m trying to be a saver and I don’t really spend money on myself that much. I’m not a fashion person and I don’t need new or fancy stuff, so I’m sweet there. But what I do spend is on activities or socialising, especially with my daughter.
Do you have any debt, and what is it from? I honestly wish I could tell you what my debt is from – years of being stupid with money, in a sad relationship and trying to spend my way out of that sadness. I figured ‘you can always earn more money’ as I reached limits on credit cards and things, but I never did, I’ve been in the same job for 11 years. It was when my daughter came along that I changed my tune, and have been diligently paying off my debts as quick as I can without having us suffer day-to-day. I consolidated most of it into one loan which has made it a bit easier to get my head around.
How has the cost-of-living crisis affected you and your spending? It’s mostly food and interest rates that affected us – we pulled back on fancy food and focussed on home brands and bulking out stuff, and with interest rates… well, what the hell are you going to do there?
What are your financial goals? Step one, I want to get the debt gone. That’s my biggest goal and I’m working my ass off to achieve it. Then, I want to speak to a financial advisor about using that money to invest. I might be a bit late to the party, but I want to do it for my daughter .
What’s the best thing you’ve bought in the last three months? A year-long Zoo pass for myself and my daughter – it’s such good value for money, and we’d go at least once a month.
What’s the thing you regret buying the most in the last three months? Expensive storage containers for the pantry because I went through a bit of a baking stage and flour kept getting everywhere but in a moment of weakness I fell for some Instagram advertising, and I could have just gone to The Warehouse.
What (if anything) are you saving towards? A debt-free life! And when my daughter is older I’d love to take her to the Gold Coast and do the theme parks.
Aside from the big stuff (rent/mortgage, bills etc) what’s your biggest source of discretionary spending? Kids’ stuff – the activities, books, day care supplies.
Do you worry about money? It feels like I do every minute of every day.
How much money (honestly) do you think you’d spend on an average day? During the week it’s not much – I only occasionally will buy a coffee at work, I always take my lunch (I work in an industrial area so it’s so much easier to take a sandwich).
Where do you think it’s worth spending money, and where do you think you can save it? Activities, because you never regret memories.
Do you have any money-saving tips you’d like to share that work for you? Really, truly think before you get into debt that isn’t necessary. I beat myself up for the position I’m in sometimes and while I try my best to remember that you can’t change the past, it annoys me I’m not where I want to be. Living within your means is the best tip I could give.
What’s the first and last thing you would cut from your spending if you had to make some savings? The first is probably my nail appointments, but they make me feel great and my mate does them for me cheap. The last is my one bottle of wine I allow myself a week. I’m a single mother, trust me it’s needed!
If you’d like to contribute to a Money, Honey story (anonymously!) please email [email protected] – the more we talk about money, the more we demystify it!
