As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an arts volunteer describes their between-jobs financial life.
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Gender: Gender diverse.
Age: 41.
Ethnicity: Scots Pākehā.
Role: Unemployed and on the hunt – arts volunteer.
Salary/income/assets: No income, $12,000 in checking account and dropping, $10,000 in PIE funds and shares, $100,000 in KiwiSaver, $1m in equity tied up in the house I live in and a rental property.
My living location is: Suburban.
Rent/mortgage per week: Mortgage payments $600 on main house (with offset mortgage, trying to pay it off faster).
Student loan or other debt payments per week: Paid off student loan at the start of the year! I had it since 2002 so that was a huge relief. No other outstanding debts, I don’t own a credit card.
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries: For two people, $250ish a week. Lots of spices and specialty ingredients. If the dog and cat need food, that adds $50 to the bill. We try to hit up the smaller supermarkets and do things in bulk, but there’s always a regrettable emergency shop run that costs $40 at least once a week. I swear there’s a goblin who lives in our fridge and eats exclusively butter and cheese.
Eating out: We do a group yum cha every few months, $80 for two people. $250 a year for random restaurant outings on birthday / anniversary. We’re keen home cooks and the kinds of foodies who make restaurant quality stuff at home.
Takeaways: $20 every couple of weeks. There’s a local place a block away who do amazing Chinese and Malaysian style takeaways.
Workday lunches: When I worked, I had the luxury of a proper espresso machine in the office and it saved me so much! Now I’m looking for work, I still like to schedule a lunch break for structure. $50 every three months for a bag of coffee beans that I grind and brew at home, and $5-10 a week on ramen fancied up with dried mushroom / spring onion, cuppa soup and toasties, or open sandwich fixings.
Cafe coffees/snacks: Every fortnight I walk the dog and spend $8-10 on a pastry and coffee from a dog-friendly local place. It’s a welcome luxury and a chance to talk with real live humans!
Other food costs: I am a keen gardener and will spend $30 a season (ish) on seeds, bulbs and bits and pieces. When I worked I didn’t have the time to compost, so I spent nearly $400 a month on landscaping bits, supplies and tools. Mitre 10 my beloved! Now I have time and no money, so I put in a lot less money and a lot more physical effort / time arranging seed swaps. Gardening can be breathtakingly expensive, but it comes in waves.
Savings: After a chat with my KiwiSaver adviser, I’m putting in a token amount of the nonexistent money from my dwindling checking account just to feel like I am addressing the KiwiSaver gender gap while I’m unemployed. Once I go back to work I’ll put in a big contribution like I always do. Alas, no spare cash to play with personal investing, just earning what interest I can.
I worry about money: Sometimes.
Three words to describe my financial situation: Entropy, comfortable, paradox.
My biggest edible indulgence would be: I have a serious love of butter. Butter is the soul of curry, it’s something I really miss when I’m forced to substitute it out. Cheese I can live with less of, but I will always try not to compromise on butter. My other unemployment luxuries are peanut butter and malt-chocolate drink, both of which I’ve had to downgrade from Fix and Fogg and Milo to generic versions.
In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: $20 a month for cheap cooking wine – I’m not drinking at all. I amassed a sizeable whiskey collection but when I’m unemployed, it feels weird to drink alcohol? So it just sits there, waiting for the day when I get a job again and I actually need the stress relief.
In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: $20 every damn time I have to go to town for a job interview! (Train and bus fare from the burbs.) Otherwise nothing. I stay home and save money. I will put $50 towards petrol costs when my partner and I go on road trips to see family, but that’s an irregular expense.
I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: $2,500. It’s been a lot less since I stopped earning my own money. I spent another $1,000-ish on clothes for my partner.
My most expensive clothing in the past year was: I spent $350 on an enormous designer winter coat that goes all the way to my ankles and fits a heavy jumper underneath it. Yes I was unemployed, and no I do not regret it for a second. I have to walk everywhere, and not having my legs be soaked is totally worth it.
My last pair of shoes cost: Blundstone Chelsea boots for $300. I now have two pairs, the old worn out ones have become my gardening and dog walking boots.
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: I spent $80 getting my hair done this year. $100ish on shampoo and conditioner, $50 on a hairbrush because I’ve been growing my hair out and I needed the right tools. (We spend like five times as much on the dog’s grooming bill, he’s the beautiful one!)
My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $150 on a pair of sneakers. I used to spend $13 a week on gym and $70 on PT fees, but the gym was near my old work so I cancelled my membership when I knew I was being made redundant.
My last Friday night cost: $15 worth of firewood and $6 worth of power to make cups of hot chocolate. Most of my entertainment’s online these days. When I do go out, I get comps to review shows or help out with performing arts events.
Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: I bought a $100 T-shirt that turned out to have glow in the dark designs on it, which was startling the first time I hung it up and turned the bedroom light off, but also sort of cool? Probably can’t wear it backstage at gigs like I planned, though.
Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: Committing to an $11,000 bathroom renovation just before finding out I was losing my job. No take-backs! I spend a lot more time at home now, and at least I can feel joy every time I go to brush my teeth.
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Not going into debt, even when it’s the sensible thing to do. I had an existential crisis over applying for a mortgage on the first townhouse we bought. I’m financially literate enough to understand and handle the risk of investing, but debt has this weird ick for me. Probably because of my decades of crippling student loan debt.
Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Curious, proactive, foresighted, unbothered, content.
I grew up in a house where money was: The source of all ills and evils and arguments as far as my childish mind was concerned! It started when I was about four and the fallout from the 1987 market crash began to impact my family. We were a household with only one steady earner and a lot of drama around money. My family put themselves into even greater debt to put me through private school and I was racked with guilt over it regardless of my academic achievement. So many hushed conversations about extending the overdraft, the Employment Contracts Act and Rogernomics (early 90s), general struggles where the kids got hand-me-downs but looking back, there was always room in the budget for expensive wine. I didn’t learn responsible money management till after I got married.
The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: For lack of money reasons? I honestly don’t remember. Probably about 10 years ago at least. It used to constantly happen in the early 2000s when I was a broke student, and I felt so ashamed every time. Never again.
In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Hopefully with a job but if not, living sparely within my means and honestly at peace with that! Sometimes you just have to set goals based on reality. Time is valuable too.
I would love to have more money for: Supporting my friends by buying their books and handmade clothes and artworks! And just generally for philanthropy.
Describe your financial low: About 25 years ago – spent five months of hard-earned savings on alcohol in about five weeks and had to have a hard reckoning with myself. Better to do it in your late teens than in mid-life.
I give money away to: Artists and creatives, promising students, donations for friends who need medical help, some folks I know who aren’t in regular housing right now.
