As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an op-shop-loving dad explains his approach to spending and saving.
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Gender: Male.
Age: 33.
Ethnicity: Pākehā.
Role: Part-time self-employed gardener, full-time dad.
Salary/income/assets: I earn $25k a year approx and my partner earns $100k as a full-time university lecturer.
My living location is: Suburban.
Rent/mortgage per week: We pay $450/week on our two-bed house mortgage, it’s the two of us plus our two-year-old son.
Student loan or other debt payments per week: We pay $23/week on an interest-free heat pump loan. I have approx. $50k of UK student loan debt but the UK has an earnings threshold before you repay the loan, and I don’t earn enough so don’t pay anything.
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries:We spend $150-$200 a week at the supermarket, $30-$50 at the farmers market. We try to prioritise organic where we can, and don’t eat meat.
Eating out: We might get beers and chips with friends every other Friday. Averages out $30/week.
Takeaways: Rarely. An occasional takeaway pizza if we’re feeling lazy, once every couple of months.
Workday lunches: I make lunch at home every day, and my wife has leftovers most days. She maybe spends $10 a week.
Cafe coffees/snacks: $0 for me. My wife has maybe one a week if she has a meeting at a cafe. $5.
Other food costs: We have a large back garden with vege beds. We probably average about 50% of our fruit and veges coming from the garden across the year, which saves a lot of money – particularly on things like herbs and leafy greens which grow abundantly and easily. I’m very lucky though in that I spend one day a week “working from home” and looking after our garden.
Savings: 30% of my income goes straight into savings, my wife has a generous Kiwisaver deal with her university, and I squirrel away any surplus each week to boost. We also put a bit of money away each month for our son and our godson.
I worry about money: Rarely.
Three words to describe my financial situation: Comfortable, lucky, privileged.
My biggest edible indulgence would be: Organic groceries which are three times the price of non-organic.
In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: $30-40 for both of us. We’ll probably have a bottle of wine, a couple of beers and a cocktail.
In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: My fuel is tax deductible as I’m self-employed, our other car is electric, and my wife cycles to work. Because our EV charging just comes out in the electricity bill, it kind of feels like our transport costs are zero. Though those road user charges for EVs are just coming in…
I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: $100? I love going to op shops, and avoid buying new where I can. The only new clothes I’ve got recently have been gifts.
My most expensive clothing in the past year was: Honestly, it might have been a jacket that cost me $8.
My last pair of shoes cost: This is different. I love Allbirds, and they’re the only shoes that ever seem to last for me. I only look for ones on sale though. I think my last pair of waterproof winter Allbirds cost me $170.
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: $0. My wife is my hairdresser and I trim my beard once every few months.
My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $0. Being a gardener, my job is pretty much exercise enough, otherwise I’ll go jogging or do YouTube workouts.
My last Friday night cost: $35? Couple of beers at the pub and shared some chips with my son.
Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: A $30 tabletop electric juicer to experiment with making cider. Used it once and it’s sat there doing nothing ever since, and it was really slow. Not sure I’ll bother with next year’s apple harvest.
Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: A good-quality breadmaker. We make heaps of bread, ready and fresh for breakfast in the morning and it’s saved loads of money for us, and reduced our plastic waste too.
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Clothes.
Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Bit obsessive on internet banking.
I grew up in a house where money was: Comfortable, but not showy. My parents were very well off when we were growing up but they chose to invest that so that we could go to a private school in the UK. We didn’t have fancy cars or lavish holidays, but we also had more than enough.
The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: Not sure. It’s happened occasionally but only because I’ve put different money into different accounts and used the wrong card.
In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: It could go either way. If my partner stays in tertiary education, we’ll be very comfortable, but it’s an increasingly stressful and insecure environment to work. If not, we might have to be more creative.
I would love to have more money for: I’d like to pay down our mortgage more, and we’d like to build a sleepout so our son can have his own space when he’s older.
Describe your financial low: We’ve always had the bank of Mum and Dad to either lend us money, or just to be there so we know we could be bailed out, but I’ve never needed to use it, really. We might get to the bottom of our savings if we invest in something, but we’ve never had to go in debt.
I give money away to: We give $100 to our church each month, and $150 a month to a few different charities.