As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an account manager explains where their money goes. This instalment of The Cost of Being is brought to you by Westpac.
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Gender: Woman-ish.
Age: 38.
Ethnicity: Pākehā.
Role: Account manager.
Salary/income/assets: $70,000 salary. Husband is a contractor, so anywhere between $40,000-200,000 a year. Yes this makes budgeting a nightmare. Recently bought a house, which has about $300,000 equity in it. Personal shares of $3,000, KiwiSaver of $9,000 (after using it for the house deposit), husband has shares of $80,000. Savings of $35,000.
My living location is: Urban.
Rent/mortgage per week: $1,000 per week on the mortgage, which husband and I share. Also in the house but not paying mortgage/board is our 17-year-old.
Student loan or other debt payments per week: No debt apart from the mortgage, and one shared credit card account with a limit of $2,000. We pay this off in full each month.
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries: $450 for three people, including one teenager and husband who works out a lot, and eats a lot. We’re pretty bougie with our groceries. I’m gluten-free, and any meat/animal products we use are as ethical as we can get them.
Eating out: Rare – maybe $120 per month? We don’t go out too often, and about $40 per person per outing is pretty usual.
Takeaways: $100? UberEats once a week (or fortnight) is pretty usual.
Workday lunches: Maybe $30? I try to bring lunch from home every day, but ADHD/lack of leftovers sometimes stymies me.
Cafe coffees/snacks: Between $0 and $15. We have a decent coffee machine at work, but I’m a sucker for a dirty chai with almond milk.
Savings: I try to save $1,000-2,000 per month from my pay. This is very dependent on when/how much my husband has been paid. On good months, we can save $4,000 from his pay. On bad months, we’re just paying the bills. We’re saving to pay down the mortgage as fast as possible. I’ve also just paid for a small holiday this coming January – my daughter and I go on holiday with my side of the family for a couple of weeks.
I worry about money: Sometimes.
Three words to describe my financial situation: Better than ever.
My biggest edible indulgence would be: Whittaker’s Hazella, and a dirty chai with almond milk.
In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: $10 – we don’t drink much, so that’s more like $40 once a month for a box of beer or two nice bottles of wine.
In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: $50 – I mostly walk to work and have a hybrid, so petrol is actually only about $80 a quarter. The largest expense would be the occasional Uber, and my daughter’s transport card.
I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: $800.
My most expensive clothing in the past year was: $200 – a winter coat on special (that I got my mum and sisters to buy me for Christmas/my birthday). I wear it all the time, it’s so good!
My last pair of shoes cost: $47 – a pair of boots on sale.
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: Probably about $1,500 all up. A little makeup (mascara, eye liner, a lippy), and I get my hair cut and coloured every few months. Skin care is mostly sensitive skin moisturiser. The biggest expense would be sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner. I’ve tried a lot throughout the years, and this is the only one that consistently works for me.
My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $200 for sneakers that I use to walk as much as possible, $300 a year for yoga classes run through work.
My last Friday night cost: $80 – we really went hard on the pizza and sides.
Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: A box of purple hair dye that washed out in two washes – it should have lasted at least 12.
Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: A gluten-free basque cheesecake from Sabato.
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Clothes and entertainment. I’m happy with TV, and I’m picky with the quality of most clothing for what it costs.
Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Struggling with the ADHD tax.
I grew up in a house where money was: Sensibly spent but not tight for my childhood. Then in my teens, my parents divorced acrimoniously (because of my father), and my mum was absolutely skint, but made it a fun challenge getting by on very little. She’s a legend. It was an eye opener for me – my husband and I have shared accounts and also our own savings and spendings, and we do a weekly check-in and re-focus for the week ahead.
The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: The other day – I forgot to transfer money from the allocated suffix to my eftpos account. Splitting my money out into bills/savings/spending is the only way for me to keep track of it.
In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: With the mortgage under 50% of the value of the house, hopefully looking at helping our daughter into a home.
I would love to have more money for: Early retirement – I’d love to work four days a week so I could spend more time with my husband. Sometimes it feels like we don’t get time for each other between work, our daughter and family.
Describe your financial low: My husband and I had our daughter young, and we’ve had times where we’ve been in and out of work, and struggling with rent. There’s been times where, if we hadn’t had family to rely on, we’d have been homeless.
We’ve been trying to buy a house for the last 17 years. For context – the amount we had as a deposit for the house we’ve just bought was the same as the total cost of the first house we looked at buying. Home ownership felt out of reach for the longest time – it finally came together because of KiwiSaver, good luck on the stock market, and family/inheritance.
I give money away to: Charities, family where I can. Unhoused people too, if I have cash on me. I can spare it, and it might make their day a little easier.
