As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 20-something graduate describes the advantages of still living at home.
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Gender: Female
Age: 22
Ethnicity: Chinese
Role: I’m a graduate engineer working full time.
My living location is: I live with my parents and my sibling in Auckland city. I have lived with them forever, so they don’t seem to mind. Asian parents in general don’t really mind you living at home because they know it is tough out there and you can’t really save much money and get a good start in life. They say they are happy for me to stay at home and save as much money as possible until I’ve figured myself out.
Rent/Mortgage per week: I live rent free.
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries: I help out with groceries once a month or so and spend around $100. We split the cooking, [my parents] will do half and I will do half. If I want a treat I’ll grab some muesli bars and chips during my shop and that’s about it.
Eating out: I would say $50 a week.
Takeaways: Around $20 every other week.
Workday lunches: I’ve been trying to cut it down. I go to the office three times a week and I’ll spend around $10 on lunches and coffees once every week. The rest of the time i just bring food from home.
Savings: My savings account has roughly $15,000 in it. I opened it when I was 18.
One thing I’ve realised about saving is: Budgeting is a big one, knowing exactly where your money is going, every week when you get your pay check splitting up the costs and making sure that you have a percentage going into savings as well. No matter how small, it all adds up. I don’t really have any big savings goal yet, maybe a house in five years or so.
I also have a Sharesies account and an Invest Now account and I put in $500 a week to those every week. I’ve done all the research by myself. I’ve been watching YouTube, listening to podcasts and reading books, that’s how I learn to do it. I started in 2020, so it’s been three years now.
I worry about money: Honestly, I don’t really worry too much.
Three words to describe my financial situation would be: I’m grateful. I do think I’m privileged. And I would say I’m doing well.
My biggest edible indulgence would be… Probably going out to restaurants. I like to go and visit new places I’ve never been to, a variety of different cuisines.
My alcohol expenditure per week is… I don’t drink alcohol.
My transport expenditure in a week is… $10 total a week, I get the bus three times a week and I only drive a little bit on the weekends, so petrol cost isn’t too high.
In the past year the ballpark amount I spent on clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was… I haven’t been shopping too much at all. I got a bunch of clothes for Christmas, so in the past year I have probably spent around $300.
My most expensive clothing item in the past year was… a blazer that I bought from H&M for $60.
My last pair of shoes cost… Doc Martins that I got on sale, I can’t remember how much they cost.
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is… This one’s a bit bigger, around $800. Stuff like skincare and perfumes are expensive. I also buy skincare for my mum and dad because they don’t use anything, they only use water. I like Korean skincare because it works well and its cheap.
My exercise expenditure in a year is… Zero. I do exercises at home, free YouTube videos are great.
My last Friday night cost… I honestly don’t go out. The last time I went out, I bought a bowl of chips for $12 and that’s it. My friend paid for my drink. I’d say I honestly go out twice a year, I’m just so busy with work that I’m too tired to do anything else.
My most regrettable purchase in the last year was… Bitcoin. I bought in when it was really hyped around the end of last year. I bought $1000 of it and its at negative fifty percent right now. I haven’t sold it yet, it’s just sitting there and I’m just hoping that one day I can claw back some of it.
My most indulgent purchase in the last year was… Those Doc Marten shoes.
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is… Everything, basically. If I can take shortcuts somewhere, I will. If I really don’t need it then I will try my best not to buy it.
Five words to describe my financial personality would be… A very very frugal person.
I grew up in a house where money was… Tight. We never really had enough of it at any time. My parents really did try their best, but we really didn’t have anything new – it was all hand-me-downs and secondhand stuff. So growing up seeing that, I realised how important money is to obtain things that you want. Because there were so many things I wanted and I couldn’t get any of it. Seeing how hard my parents worked for their money made me see how important it was.
The last time my Eftpos card was declined was… I only remember one time it was declined and it was in high school. The reason was because I don’t put a lot of money on my card, so I just didn’t have enough so I could just transfer some more over. That was just because of me not me checking how much money I had before I paid.
I would love to have more money for… Experiences. I think it would be nice to do more travelling around. Not anything big, even just regional travel, going on tours and stuff would be cool. I just haven’t really had the time to do that, hopefully I can take a short holiday soon. Money is not the issue for me, it’s time.
My biggest financial low was… probably buying Bitcoin. There’s not much other than that, I’ve always tried my best to save as much as possible.
I give money away to… I always donate some money to things like ANZAC Day and the Cancer Society, Breast Cancer, any of those street fundraisers.
In five years I see myself… Maybe with a house. I think that’s it for now. Definitely moving out.
Want to contribute? Send us an email briefly describing your situation at costofbeing@thespinoff.co.nz