Kale and Facebook Marketplace: What a program manager on $132,000 spends in a week

This article originally appeared in Refinery29 Australia.

Welcome to Money Diaries, where we ask real people how they spend and save their money during a seven-day period, tracking every last dollar. Anyone can write a Money Diary! Want to see yours here? Here’s how.

Today: a program manager who makes $132,000 a year and spends some of her money this week on a secondhand fridge.

Today: a program manager who makes $132,000 a year and spends some of her money this week on a secondhand fridge.Credit:Refinery29 Australia

Occupation: Program Manager
Industry: Fintech
Age: 30
Location: Randwick, Sydney
Salary: $132,000
Net Worth: $316, 874 ($54,499 in my personal savings account, $57,978 in a joint savings account with my husband, $108,822 in super, $84,816 in shares (mostly in Australian ETFs), $2,001 in my maternity fund, $577 in my everyday account, $2,179 in a joint spending account (rent/groceries/utilities come from here), $4,921 in a Raiz account (I’m hoping to get this to $5,000, then I’ll move it into my maternity fund), $594 in crypto ($363 in Bitcoin and $231 in ETH), and $481 on a prepaid Qantas card which is used for everyday spending.)
Debt: $26.99 on my credit card. I’ll pay it off before it’s due.
Paycheque Amount (Monthly): $7,339
Pronouns: She/Her

Monthly Expenses

Rent: $2,607, which is changing to $2,824/month from May. I rent a two-bedroom apartment in Randwick with my husband.
Personal Trainer: $408
Charities: $93 ($31 each to Greenpeace, Bush Heritage Australia, and Seeing Eye Dogs Australia)
Google Storage: $24.99/year
Joint Account: $2,200 (For rent, utilities, groceries and subscriptions)
Qantas Card: $500 (I use this to pay for everyday items like transport and food)
Raiz Maintenence Fee: $3.50
New York Times Subscription: $2. I’ll probably cancel it when it goes up to the regular pricing.

Shared Expenses (Out Of The Joint Account, Split 50/50 With My Husband)

Spotify: $18.99
Netflix: $10.99
Disney+: $34.99/year
Apple TV/Binge: Husband pays separately
Stan/Amazon Prime: My brothers pay for these and we share accounts. I give them Disney access.
Health Insurance: $414.17 (Pregnancy cover is no joke)
Home & Contents Insurance: $114.74
Car Insurance: $82.32
Electricity: $56 (averaged out from the last year. Looks like this is about to go up heaps so we’ll need to change providers).
Gas: $42.98 (As above, averaged out from the last year)
Internet: $99

Savings Contributions

Joint Savings: $2,000
Maternity Savings: $1,000
Personal Savings: $500

Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?

I got a Bachelor of Interior and Spatial Design which I have not used in any way. My parents paid for my university, with the agreement that I would pay for any subjects I failed. They also took advantage of paying upfront and getting a discount (which I don’t think is offered by universities anymore).

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?

My dad was an actuary so money was always a big part of day-to-day conversations, as well as shares. I didn’t get pocket money as a kid, but my parents deposited money into a savings account for me (and my brothers) and also invested in shares on our behalf. I got access to the bank account when I got to high school and managed to spend an insane amount of money (for a 12-year-old) in a short amount of time on dumb things like $5 coffees and hot chips. My parents were able to catch this and have a discussion with me about the consequences of my spending choices.

What was your first job and why did you get it?

I got a job shelving books at the library when I could (I guess at 14 and 9 months?). It was an easy after-school job with a guaranteed pay rise on my birthday each year. I also had a really good super fund, which I’m still with today. I also tutored some kids, babysat and umpired netball. I didn’t get pocket money growing up, so this was for spending money on things I wanted.

Did you worry about money growing up?

No, we were very well off. I never missed out on any activities, we had regular holidays and my parents were able to take advantage of discounts by paying upfront for big items (like braces and university fees). My dad retired at 45 and was able to continue making money on the share market. The only time there was any money stress was in 2008 after the market crash. Money was quite tight and my dad ended up going back to work for a year or two. I didn’t really understand the impact at the time, but tensions were really tight in our household.

Do you worry about money now?

No. I have a great, well-paying job with good benefits that I like, as does my husband. If needed, I could get help from my family. We’re in the process of starting a family (I’m six months pregnant), so I’ve been a bit more concerned with savings and the cost of me not working for a period of time. We’d also like to buy a house soonish (next year or two), but we’re concerned about the cost, given the rising interest rates and the places we want to live. I think in the future, we may also need to support my in-laws, so we should probably start making some moves/having some conversations about what that looks like with them.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?

26. I moved out of home with my husband (then boyfriend) into our current apartment. Before that, I was living at home. I paid a nominal amount each month as rent/board, but didn’t need to contribute to household costs. Yes, I have a financial safety net. We have a fair chunk of savings, but because we are looking to buy a house, we need to figure out what our safety net looks like once we buy.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.

Yes, I received an inheritance of $60,000 in 2005 when my grandfather died.

Day 1

7:30am — Wake up and scroll a bit on my phone. Have a tea and some cereal and catch up on newsletters from the weekend. I also put away the clothes that we had left out drying overnight. It’s nice to start the week with no laundry.

9:00am — Start work. I love working from home. Check-in on emails and Slack before a meeting at 10am. I am doing a presentation on Wednesday, so I make the slide deck for it and send it out to a few people to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

12:00pm — Lunch time. I have a cheese, tomato and kale pesto toasted sandwich. It’s delicious, but the tomato absolutely scalds my mouth. I also cut up sweet potatoes into chips and leave them out to dry for dinner. I find this makes them crispier when baked! Lie on the couch and scroll until I get a call from a nutrition and exercise service I’ve been referred to by my midwife for my pregnancy. It’s free and this call is a check-in to see how I’m going and to think about any goals I want to achieve during my pregnancy or post-pregnancy. It’s a nice service because if you’re worried about anything, they can set you up with diet or exercise plans. Great if you’re struggling with either.

1:00pm — Back to work for the afternoon. Working from home means I often cook dinner/meals while working as I can check on things. I was going to make a mousaka as we got a ton of eggplants on the weekend, but realise we don’t have all the ingredients. Tell my husband I can pick him up if he meets me at Aldi this evening.

4:00pm — 1:1 with my boss. We catch up on our weekends and goals for the week. It’s a nice time to reset and work through any challenges I may be having. She’s the best boss I’ve ever had.

5:00pm — Work out with my trainer on Zoom. Usually, I don’t do Mondays but I had to move some stuff around. I’m super stiff today and I’ve twinged my back, so I spend most of this session stretching and chatting. My trainer is actually a friend from high school, so it’s nice to catch up during the week. He’s also been great while I’ve been pregnant and we decide what we do each session based on what my body is feeling. Today is stretching!

5:45pm — Head to Aldi to pick up some things! We get crushed tomatoes, cornflakes, pasta, bread, yoghurt, beef mince, cheese, muesli (with no coconut as I hate it) and bread. My husband discovers that Aldi has baby items as part of their special buys. We get a baby blanket and a jacket that will make baby look like a little blue bear. $92.95 on the joint account. $92.95

6:30pm — Head home and make dinner — pan-fried zucchini and barramundi, sweet potato chips and some leftover mac and cheese. Watch Taskmaster while eating dinner.

8:30pm — Head to bed as I’m exhausted, but alas, pregnancy insomnia hits. Why am I so exhausted during the day but as soon as I hit the pillow I’m wide awake? Manage to get to sleep at 10ish.

Daily Total: $92.95

Day 2

7:00am — Wake up and scroll. Head out to the kitchen and make breakfast for myself and my husband. Toast with Vegemite, tomato and boiled eggs (I’m looking forward to when I can have runny eggs again!). We have breakfast, tea and coffee on the couch and do the Wordle together as well as Framed (a movie version). My husband is a freak at it and gets so many of the movies in the first frame.

8:00am — We are getting our carpets cleaned today, so I start packing up the apartment as best as possible. I put the plants on the balcony, furniture on the beds, and do a quick vacuum. I also have a quick cold shower as I’m already feeling the effects of the heat today and need to feel up to work.

9:00am — Onto work. Today is quite meeting free which is good. I have some boring admin consolidation work I need to get done that is easier without constant breaks.

10:30am — The carpet cleaner gets here and does his work. He is able to work around most of the furniture, but my husband helps him move our couch. I don’t think we’ve moved it in the five years since we moved in — it’s disgusting under there. Quick vacuum and then clean. The two bedrooms and our lounge/dining room comes to $180 (from the joint account), which is pretty good value, I think! $180

12:00pm — Lunch time. It’s super hot and I’m not doing well, fading fast. I cut up some nectarines to have with muesli and yoghurt for lunch. Before I eat, I also cut up the eggplant, salt it and let it drain in a colander. I start to make the moussaka meat filling but can’t find the garlic we got on the weekend. Have a mini tantrum and ask my husband to go get some from down the road. While he’s out, I start on the sauce – onion, beef mince, tomato paste, tomatoes, spices and beef stock.

12:45pm — My husband comes back with the garlic and some eggs ($22.98 — garlic is expensive!) and also a banana smoothie (he pays) as a surprise for me. I quickly mince the garlic and add it to the beef mix but turn it off as I have a meeting. $22.98

1:20pm — Meeting finishes so it’s back to the meat sauce. Add the rest of the garlic in and set it to simmer. Dry off all the eggplant slices and set them to bake in the oven. I also research and message some sellers on Facebook Marketplace as we need a dryer and a larger fridge for when baby comes. My top dryer choice comes back to me and says we can come to pick it up on Saturday!

2:00pm — Our real estate agent has sent someone to check our smoke alarm, safety switch and blinds as we have just resigned our lease. Everything is fine, however, someone will need to come by later in the week to install a new smoke alarm as ours is due to expire in a couple of months.

2:30pm — I’m faded. The heat today has killed me. I go lie on my bed and try to nap through the worst of it.

4:00pm — Last meeting of the day. The updates today are more to do with other people’s work so I can listen in and continue with my work. Manage to finish my project by the end of the day. Success!

5:30pm — Now that we’ve secured a dryer, we need to secure a car to get it. I think the petrol station down the road might offer a ute hire, so we walk down to check. They don’t. Head across the road to Bunnings to buy some straps and see if they have a trolley to lift it. We buy the straps ($14) but hold off on the trolley as it’s $90 and then we’d have to store it. It looks like we can hire one from Kennards Hire (as well as a ute!), so we’ll just sort it out tomorrow. $14

6:30pm — Back home and make dinner. I cook some zucchini and end up having it with leftover mac and cheese. My husband has leftover curry. I was going to make the moussaka but decided that it would be better to just prep it and leave it in the fridge. I’ll make the bechamel sauce and cook it for dinner tomorrow. My husband cleans up. We usually split the dinner chores this way.

7:30pm — My sweet husband runs me a bath, lights loads of candles and puts on spa music to relax me. He’s very paranoid about me having too many hot baths with the baby, so it’s quite chilly. I add some extra hot water and some epsom salts to soothe my aching body – my back, legs, and swollen feet.

8:30pm — Disaster strikes! My dryer looks like it might be snatched out from under me! The seller messages me to say she’s had lots of requests and someone has offered more money. I think they’re moving on the weekend and need it gone ASAP. We can’t get there until Saturday, but I offer to match the other buyer and pay $50 more. She agrees and we make a plan. The dryer will be $850, but considering new ones are about $1,500 and it’s only a year old, I still think good value. A seller also messaged me back about a fridge and luckily it’s in the same area as the dryer, so we’ll just pick that up on Saturday morning too. It should be $400.

9:00pm — I head to bed. My active brain strikes again, but I just scroll and hope I fall asleep soon. My husband comes to bed and I ask him to turn the fan down a bit. He turns it down one point (it’s a Dyson fan) and five minutes later, I need to vomit. I think I just got hit with a horrible wave of heat stroke. I have a big glass of cold water and head back to bed with the fan on the previous setting. Manage to fall asleep around 11pm, which is very late for me.

Daily Total: $216.98

Day 3

7:00am — Wake up and scroll for a bit. My husband comes back to bed and we cuddle before getting up. I make tea and some muesli with nectarine and yoghurt for breakfast. I also make my husband Vegemite and tomato on toast as he is horrible at eating while he’s at work, so if he can at least start the day off right, that’s something.

8:00am — General clean up. Put away dishes from last night, make the bed, and get the grocery box back, ready to give to the fruit and veg people. Then I sign on at 8:30am to listen to the company all-hands meeting.

9:00am — Work starts for real. Pretty meeting-heavy day today.

10:30am — Work out with my trainer. I’m feeling better today, so I do more bodyweight exercises while I can — lunges, squats, planks, rows and core/pelvic floor holds. Finish off with some foam rolling, then back to work.

12:00pm — Lunch time. Sign up for Uber Carshare and verify my identity. I don’t need it now, but it’s a backup if I need to hire a car in a hurry next time. Call Kennards Hire to ask about utes and book one and a trolley for Saturday all day ($139). My grocery box has also arrived, so I unpack that. Then I make myself a cheese, tomato and kale pesto toastie. The grocery box includes another huge bunch of kale. I’m not a fan, so will need to figure out how to use it so it doesn’t go to waste. $139

1:00pm — Back to work. I have meetings/presentations for the next 2.5 hours, then I have the rest of the afternoon to do some actual work.

3:00pm — I need a snack, so I have a tea and a Tim Tam, as well as a pack of chilli and lime corn chips we got as a sample with the grocery order.

5:30pm — I finish work and do some general cleanup. We use a service called Recycle Smart that picks up two free bags to recycle every two months, booked for tomorrow. They’ve just started collecting soft plastics, so I set out all I’ve collected and a bag of clothes (mostly socks and underwear) that are too holey to be worn. I also give them a pair of my old sports shoes to collect. While I’m in the mood, I take out our garbage, recycling and compost. I cut up and steam some pumpkin and sweet potato to be used tomorrow to make some muffins and make a bechamel sauce to finish off the moussaka.

7:30pm — Dinner time, and this moussaka is one of the most delicious things I’ve made in a while — RecipeTin Eats strikes again. Watch Taskmaster while I eat and squirm as my baby has decided to spend this evening moving a lot — it’s very uncomfortable. Hopefully, he chills out a bit before bed.

9:30pm — I want to go to bed, but baby is still in an uncomfortable position. I Google how to get him to move and end up doing a weird belly dance with my hands above my head. It sort of helps, but not a lot. Decide to see if lying down with a body pillow will help. Act like I’m going to sleep and maybe I will. Eventually fall asleep around 11.

Daily Total: $139

Read the rest on Refinery29 Australia here.

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• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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