Copyright thespinoff
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher and solo mum describes their financial situation – and why meal kits are a godsend for a busy parent of teens. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here. Gender: Female. Ethnicity: NZ European. Role: Full-time teacher, (full-time) solo mum to three teenagers (13, 15 and 18). Salary/income/assets: $104,000 a year. My living location is: Suburban. Rent/mortgage per week: $650 mortgage payment per week, plus rates and insurance. Student loan or other debt payments per week: No student loan – but only managed to pay it off when I was 40. No credit card since losing my husband 12 years ago. After that I became very focussed on getting a house deposit and buying. Could only afford to buy in a local area which many would find undesirable but which my kids and I have embraced as our home. Typical weekly food costs Groceries: Approximately $280. Always get the least expensive meal preparation kit for the week ($170-$185) so that everyone can help with meals as I don’t get home until late most days. Then about $100 for basic groceries for staples, including breakfast and lunchboxes, cleaning etc. Eating out: On meals maybe $30 a month. We would only all go out together for someone’s birthday maybe, but sometimes I’ll get invited to eat out. I’ll generally look for the cheapest option and drive so no additional drinks and Ubers. Takeaways: $30 a week on fish and chips as a family. Workday lunches: Everyone takes packed lunches. I’m a big fan of cereal, yoghurt and fruit for lunches and have one of those coffee sachets a workday as a treat. Kids all have to make lunchboxes before they go to bed so that they’re ready to get up and go in the mornings. I provide lunchbox things and try to bake something nice on the weekends to go in them. Cafe coffees/snacks: I do splurge $12 a week on a coffee and muffin after my Saturday park run. Other snacks are generally built into the grocery budget. School holidays we might hit a cafe, but it’s to share a bowl of chips or cabinet slices. Going to the movies as a family I’ll still have treats to sneak to the teens from my handbag, buying a bag of lollies and chips beforehand and splitting it up into smaller one. Though I can’t remember the last time we went to one to be honest! It used to be something we did every holidays. Other food costs: Pet food – we have three cats (all rescues) and a dog. Of course they all need specific foods to treat various conditions, but I bulk buy and shop around for the best deals. Savings: I have numerous automatic payments set up. On the day I get paid, money will come in and then go to pay the mortgage, into my bills account (utilities, insurances, rates etc) and the multiple payments and accounts. I also have accounts covering car maintenance, pet expenses, health costs (so I can always take a kid to the doctor at $70 each), school expenses, general savings (which is offset with my mortgage so really just covering that), house maintenance. I also have a “holiday account” which seems to be where we need to take money from these days to cover the cost of living. On payday I also pay pocket money to the kids (they get paid $10 a fortnight to their savings and $10 to their spending and that’s to thank them for their contribution around the house). Whatever is left is hopefully enough for a tank of petrol and the groceries. I worry about money: Always. Three words to describe my financial situation: Managing, basic, limiting. My biggest edible indulgence would be: Meal planning boxes. These seem a little indulgent, but I don’t have the energy to give meal instructions to the teens, or to shop and plan for the meals. We can go without all kinds of stuff, but these make life so much easier. The kids choose the recipes they’re cooking Monday to Wednesday and I do what’s left! I know they’re getting nutritious meals. In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: Zero. I might get a singular drink out once a fortnight after work with friends, but I don’t drink on my own ever and am generally driving if I go to anything. In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: $80 a fortnight for my petrol. There is a car for the kids to use but they have to put petrol in it to use it. I top up Snapper Cards for kids bussing – approximately $20 a fortnight between them. I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: Mine? $500 at the most. I did recently splurge on a new raincoat as I do a lot of walking and was getting wet through from my previous one. I previously frequented op shops and loved Kmart but have pulled back on all of that both budgetwise and trying to reduce clutter. I do like to make sure the kids have good footwear and what they need though. My most expensive clothing in the past year was: I did buy a beautiful new raincoat from a NZ company for $220. It’s actually so good and functional and will get so much use and I wonder why I put up for so long with being soggy after a walk. My last pair of shoes cost: I actually am overdue to buy new sneakers, that’s what I’d buy next and would try to get them for under $150. I haven’t bought any other new shoes for the past year. My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: $180. I get a haircut about 2-3 times a year for special occasions and box dye it myself. I haven’t bought new makeup for a while, but I survive with Thin Lizzy and cheap brands of eye liner, lipstick and mascara. Supermarket brands of moisturisers and BB creams (and part of my grocery expenses). I’d love to go to the salon more often but can’t justify the cost in my budget. My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $120 a year ($10 a month) for an online workout programme that I haven’t done for six months that I really should either cancel or find time for. I walk daily and go to park run each week which is free. I don’t sign up to any of the organised events like local runs because I’d rather keep my $40-60. My last Friday night cost: Nothing. I’m so tired by Friday night. I tend to be at home with my kids, curled up on the couch with a cuppa tea and remote control. Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: I did buy recently some patterned leggings thinking they’d be fabulous on grey days… but they were horrendous. I couldn’t afford the $46 tracked shipping back to Aus to try and reclaim my $80 back so took a gamble with paying $26 for untracked. Cross your fingers for me! Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: I did pay a small fortune to get my old Hills washing line repaired. I would rather repair quality than replace with something that won’t last. One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Food. I can make it go a long way. My kids recently caught me topping up the milk bottle with water, horrified at what they were seeing. I told them I’ve been making 2L into 3L for years. I pad out meals with additional veggies and cans of beans etc. I’m fine with using things past their best before date, though am careful with meat stuff of course. No one wants gastro! Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Thrifty, cautious, independent, competent, restricted. I grew up in a house where money was: Carefully managed. It was at a time when the interest rates were very high and my parents were also very careful and limited with their funds. My parents did an incredible job of making their income go far enough and us still all having what we needed. The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: Not that long ago – but thank goodness for online banking, I just needed to move money around and not walk away from my purchase. In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Better off. The kids will all be finished school… maybe some will have left home and earning decent money themselves. I’d like to think I could afford to have done some holidaying or some renovating but that’s probably further down the track. I’ll be closer to retirement, which is a relief in some ways (having to work less) but also scary in terms of years left to earn a full income towards my retirement. I would love to have more money for: Travelling. Holidaying. I haven’t ever really been able to do it. I wish I could take the kids on a trip overseas to Fiji or the Gold Coast. Describe your financial low: I’m probably in it right now, and have been since losing my husband. Just the pressure to provide everything for my kids (financially, emotionally, parentally, time-wise) while having to work to earn the money. I know it’ll get easier, right? We are all healthy, so we have that. I don’t know how we’d cope if I couldn’t work… and so that drives me to work hard and do my job well. I give money away to: I have been the recipient of much generosity myself and so look for opportunities to give back. I am much more likely to offer to look after people’s kids or help work colleagues move house etc than give money to charities. I try and fundraise by taking part in events where I can ask others for sponsorship. In my retirement I plan to volunteer where I can.
