As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a tutor and trainer explains where and how they spend and save.
Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here .
Gender: Female
Age: 27
Ethnicity: Pākehā
Role: Tertiary education tutor and CrossFit coach
Salary/income/assets: $80,000 a year, plus approximately $200-300 per month in CrossFit coaching and clients (which I mostly just do for fun because I love training people – a position I’m lucky to be in!). My husband is a police officer and earns about $110,000 a year. We just bought our first home so our KiwiSavers are below $5,000 each. He also contributes to Police superannuation which we also used to help buy our house.
My living location is: Suburban.
Rent/mortgage per week: We bought a house with my parents to help them pay off their mortgage, so we only have a small one – we’re very lucky. All four of us live in the house. We kind of treated it as a foot in the door to the property market and it means they can retire without a mortgage to pay. Our house on the beach was $1.2 million and our mortgage repayments are about $1,050 a fortnight (not including other bills). My parents pay for their share of the remaining bills.
Student loan or other debt payments per week: All student loans have been paid off and my car loan was paid off with our mortgage money. We also bought a new car with our mortgage money and had to pay off my husband’s credit card debt of about $20k (whoops).
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries: Maybe $200 a week? My husband and I eat A LOT. I do a lot of training so eat about five meals a day. We cook for my parents about three nights a week too and they probably pay us about $50 a week for this.
Eating out: $70ish. We love going on dates and try to do this most weekends.
Takeaways: $70ish. Biggggg food lovers and we usually don’t feel too guilty about buying yummy food when cooking often costs just as much nowadays…
Workday lunches: We use our own individual money for this so I’m guessing for him – maybe $50 a week? He works shift work so I know he’s getting Maccas on his night shifts lol. Mine is probably the same.
Cafe coffees/snacks: $50 combined maybe? I’ll try to limit buying coffee to once or twice a week max. I have a bomb coffee machine at home so I can’t always justify buying. I’m also a sucker for an instant coffee so buying lots seems silly.
Other food costs: $50 maybe – we buy protein and other supplements.
Savings: $5,000 in our “don’t touch” savings. $3,000 in our South Africa trip savings for September (contributing $300 a fortnight to this and recently just paid for flights and accommodation so it’s dropped down). KiwiSaver and Super are low due to just buying a house. We also had our wedding and honeymoon last year. Then a Europe OE the year before. We often save and then spend most of it on travel or the wedding etc.
I worry about money: Rarely.
Three words to describe my financial situation: Secure, comfortable, careful.
My biggest edible indulgence would be: Chicken thighs over breast ANY DAY. Boneless chicken thighs are expensive but I refuse to eat dry chicken.
In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: I only drink occasionally if I have something on on the weekend so maybe like $20 a month.
In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: For both of us, petrol would be about $300 a fortnight. We drive hybrid cars but drive to work each day. I used to work 45mins away. My husband works 30mins away.
I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: Probably around $5,000+. I love buying clothes and activewear. I used to be really frugal with clothing but I am a lot more relaxed about it now (although not reckless). Went to Japan in October for our honeymoon and bought HEAPS.
My most expensive clothing in the past year was: My wedding dress… $2,500.
My last pair of shoes cost: CrossFit TYR shoes on sale for $200.
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: I trade hair appointments for personal training sessions with my hairdresser so that’s technically free. I keep my skincare etc basic. Probably $500 a year. I do have a fake tan addiction though…
My exercise expenditure in a year is about: I get my membership free as I coach. Maybe $800 a year on CrossFit equipment, shoes, sports massage and recovery services.
My last Friday night cost: $20 for a kebab and maybe like $30 petrol driving to Whanganui for the weekend.
Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: Spending $100 to go to one of those pig cafes in Japan. It stunk and made me sad. Would NOT recommend.
Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: My wedding day (approx $30,000).
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Alcohol on nights out/at bars. I’m usually the one taking some vodka and soda water in a water bottle to the bar if…
Read the full article at The Spinoff →
NZ