I Fell Pregnant at 30… While Single and Working 70-Hour Weeks

My name is Satasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman and I'm here to acknowledge country t Glenn youan Ganya, Niana, Kaka yah y and Binahaka Nian our gay In Nimbini, yakarum Jar, Doumayagumika, Dumaga, Ihowaka, Nilewaman damon Immalan Bumba bang gadaboma In and now in Waka ghana on yakarrum Jar Watanadana. Hello, beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank acknowledge and respect the Abiginal people's land that

She's on the Money.

She's on the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that lets you be pervy about other people's money stories for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another one of our Money Diaries episodes brought to you by our friends at sky Weld, where I get the absolute privilege of sitting down with one of our incredible shees on the Money community members and talking

Nice speaking.

I'm excited now before I dive into getting to ask you about your money story, I always ask what grade would you give your money habits if I asked you to give them a grade from A through to F probably C C. All right, I like it. Let's learn it a little bit more about that money, direst, Can you give us a little bit of an insight into what your money story looks like?

So I'm thirty one? Howld it?

I always forget how old I am. Like the other day I told someone that I was thirty. I'm not. I'm thirty four. I'm turning thirty five this year.

I was pregnant from my last birthday, So didn't I couldn't eat my favorite foods.

Yeah, no, no, no, it's like COVID timing. You skipped it.

Yeah, didn't happen. We never went without anything. We got to go one family holidays and it was all pretty good. I had horses from when I was eight, and they are not a cheap hobby.

So I was about to say, like courses to me, and I know that this isn't accurate rich person hobby.

If we didn't have horses, we'd be rich. Yep. I definitely didn't go without. But yeah, I started work when I was I think fourteen, as soon as I could. I started work because I didn't go without anything. But if I wanted anything, extra, or if I wanted a pretty rug for the horses, had to buy it myself.

Yeah, okay, yep, that's fair. I feel like that's a good line.

Yeah. So I worked at a clothes shop regionally in a very small town to start with just like three hours a week, and then did like babysitting and would ride horses for people, so pretty much always had a few jobs.

Wait, you can ride horses for other people as a side hustle. Yes, sorry, How much do you get paid or are you paying them?

Like?

That?

Feels like a good deal if you're a horse person.

At the time, wasn't a lot. I think my pay rate at the clothes shop I worked at was like thirteen an hour when I first started, so the horse money was not a lot. I did polo grooming for a bit, so we'd go away with nine horses and five kids. I was the nanny as well.

Five kids. Nanny to five kids. Yes, my goodness, that sounds like a circus.

Yeah, it was a bit wild. It was fun. But for that I'd get one hundred and fifty a weekend. Not great money, but it was a good time and I got to stay nice motels and love was at the polo every weekend, so it wasn't too bad.

That is quite cool And if you're a horse person, that just feels like a good sitch.

Yeah, And I was in high school, so I was away every weekend.

So moving away from horses And like your first job growing up, what did you want to become? Like, did you go to UNI? Did you finish? Like what was the plan there?

I've never really had a plan for a little bit. I wanted to be a heart surgeon and then I spoke to one and it was twenty years of studies.

Isn't that crazy?

So that put me off real quick. I was like, that is not for me. So then I thought nursing. I did my aion certificate through school, so once I finished school, I started that job and did that for nearly a year, and then I moved again and started UNI to do my RNs and got halfway through, but didn't love UNI and had three jobs which were paying, so I ended up leaving and I bought my first property.

And in between all of that, you have had a baby as well, and you're a single mom, So like, I feel like we need to extrapolate that out a little bit because you're like, oh yeah, and like I did noticing that I bought a block of land and a lot of people are going to think, okay, that's a pretty linear journey. No, sorry, there's there's a baby in the mix, there's single mumm in the list. Tell me a little bit more about that, Like let's speed

Yes, the doctors told me I would not have a baby. I've got fairly bad pcos, so I just didn't think it was an option. And I had ex's in the past and we'd tried and it hadn't happened, So I wasn't then very careful. It's living my best single life and I was meant to have this baby.

Was that exciting or was that overwhelming? Like I have not been in the position where I found out I was pregnant without planning it, And even when I found out I was pregnant after planning it and desperately wanting it, there was this like overwhelming sense of oh no, what have I done? This is a very adult decision, Like I'm just a baby, What is going on?

Yeah.

What does it feel like finding out you're pregnant when you're single and you didn't think that you could get pregnant.

I work night shifts. I was really hungry that night at work, and my friend was like, you're pregnant. And I was like, no, no, no, like I'm not late. I would normally go like twelve weeks between periods and that was normal, and I was only I think nine weeks. Yeah, okay, And I was like, no, it's fine, Like this is I'm always hungry just before my period. She's like, no, no, no, you're pregnant. And then just as I was about to do handover, I wanted to throw up, which I never do.

She's like a manifesting her pregnancy for you.

Yeah. So I got home, took the test, it was positive, panicked for a minute, and then I just went to bed. I was like, this is a problem for work tonight.

I love that, and You're like, you know what, I'm not dealing with this I'm going to sleep and I will deal with this another time. Yeap, My goodness.

So I woke up, went to work, and then just spiraled a little.

Bit, as you would, because that wasn't part of the plan. No, And how pregnant were you when you found out?

I found out on the Thursday and managed to get in on the Tuesday and they did a scan even so I think I was five weeks.

That's so exciting. I mean, I think that's so exciting. But what does it look like when you're single, You know, you're a nurse, you're doing night shift. Like the lifestyle that you were leading obviously is very different to then finding out, Hey, so in like approximately nine months you're going to have a newborn. What was the shift that happened there?

I was just so unsure about everything. I spoke to my best friend and she was like, no, you'll be fine, Like it's great. She didn't tell me straight away, but she was pregnant at the same time.

God, how exciting.

But I didn't find out for probably another month that she was pregnant. She didn't tell me for a while. I had a feeling she was, though, Yeah, but you.

Never want to be the person that asks. I was the same with my best friend. I remember she came over to my house and I was thinking, there's something different, there's something different, like I can feel the vibe is off because it was.

Just after New Year's and she wasn't drinking, and I was like, I bet. But then I knew she'd been trying for a while, or she'd been trying since August, and I was like, well, maybe she's just been healthy. But yeah, and I was just so unsure because it had just been the festive season and I didn't know I was pregnant, so I was eating all the things you shouldn't eat. I worked over Christmas, but I never worked for New Years, and I do all my drinking

I love that. And on the financial side, like taking on the responsibility of becoming a mum and you're a single mum. So finding out you're pregnant, you were like, okay, cool, So the dad's not going to be part of this. That's a big financial responsibility. Can you tell me about the financial situation you were in when you found this out?

My income was pretty good. I had three jobs. I was working about seventy hours a week.

My goodness.

The money coming in was not the problem. I had pretty much brand new house, had five acres for the horses, like, everything was set up. I just got it set up how I wanted it. I had a spa, and yeah, I had three jobs, so the money coming in was fine. But I had a huge mortgage and a car loan and a personal loan, so that made me anxious.

Yes, what is your specific job and how much money do you earn?

So I'm an assistant in nursing, working age care and at a hospital, and I also do bartending shifts every now and then.

Okay, queen, And you said before that takes like, what's seventy hours a week or it was taking seventy hours a week.

It was, so I was working seven nights a week and then I'd do two evenings at the pub and then I'd go get changed and go to the next job and do the night shift, and normally at least once a fortnight, I'd try and do a double shift at the aged care place that I work at, just because the overtime was very nice.

So good. Yeah, Now tell me you were single, so you didn't have any real financial responsibilities. What possesses someone who's single to work seventy hours a week, like, will be building wealth, will be trying to retire to to morrow? Like what we just like work? What's going on?

So I had a really big mortgage. I went through a financially messy breakup nearly three years ago. Yeah, so I had to buy my land back from him, which was great. So yeah, that added a lot to the mortgage. So reflecting on this, you've got three jobs. What were you earning between the three jobs? I think it was about two grand a week?

So two grand a week like post tax, Yes, my goodness. And then you know what happens when you find out you're pregnant, Like you said that you felt kind of nauseous at your shift at the hospital. Did that become a thing that meant you had to pull back sooner than you thought you would, or were you Okay, how did that work?

I only felt sick that one time, and then probably a few weeks later, I was only nauseous when I was hungry. Okay, I manifest that for everybody, so I didn't really have morning sickness. But I just had to eat constantly. I was so sick of chewing. I love that, but I wish I was in that situation every time the boss came around at night, I was just eating.

Well, you were building a beautiful baby.

And I didn't tell anyone for a while. I told like my best work friends pretty much straight away. So when I was like six weeks and then working in health too, I didn't want to be in any infectious rooms. I only really have to had to avoid shingles. But yeah, I didn't know what to avoid medically when I was pregnant, because it was not on my mind at all. No.

I had a friend who did radiology and she basically had to tell them the second she got pregnant, because obviously that's not ideal in terms of a workplace. And I was like, oh, I wonder what that looks like. Do you have to tell them immediately or can you just like drag it out as much as possible. I mean, I didn't tell the internet that I was pregnant until I'd had the baby.

Yeah. Well, I wasn't going to tell anyone. And then there was a suspected shingles case at the nursing run, so I told the bosses there pretty quick.

Actually, Hi, I didn't want to tell you this, but now I'm forced.

Yep. And I was like, oh, can I just not go there? And I think there was a COVID outbreak at the same time in a different area, so I was like, where can I go?

Yeah?

What can I do to avoid this as much as possible?

Yeah? And they were really good.

And then fast forwarding through your pregnancy, obviously you've got to have the baby. At what stage did you go on maternity leave and what did that process and that like kind of period look like for you.

So I worked as much as I could. I had three weeks off, so thirty seven weeks I think I went on leave. I went on leave a little bit earlier than I wanted to because she was breached for a little bit and then she went the right way, so the doctor said, finish up a bit early and just rest.

Yeah, and then she flipped yes, so I didn't have to do the where they flipper. Oh no, see I did that and that was traumatic. Yeah.

I was in there ready to do it.

Ah, and she was like quick, quick, flip flip. We don't want to do it. Yeah, how stressful. Yeah. At thirty seven weeks, I had to go and get Cami flip. And then I was so excited that she'd flipped back because this was my second baby and I was really hoping to have a vback birth and it was all really good. They flipped her and I instant relief, Like, because it was quite uncomfortable, you were probably feeling the same. Ye,

Know I didn't know how well. I just hadn't been pregnant before and she was always so active. Yeah, okay, and I just had nothing to compare it to. I was uncomfortable anyway, so yeah, I just had no idea.

I think because I'm so short, she had to do arms and legs out the side and like basically like I watched it and it was vile. And I said to my husband after I said, I feel nauseous, and he's like, oh, do you want like some medication. I was like, no, no, no, like, I feel nauseous because I just watched that and it happened in my own body.

And oh, ignorance is bliss. I didn't have a birth plan. I think that's what got me through. I had pelvic girdle pain pretty bad, so from about twenty I think that started at twenty six weeks. So from then on, I didn't do any double shifts because it was just I couldn't walk. But I was still trying to do the seven nights a week just to keep paying the bills because I hadn't moved at that point, and the mortgage at the time was I think eleven hundred a week.

So doing it on your your own and was still worth Oh my goodness, you are a weapon. I love this. So you've moved house, you've settled down, You've made some really big money decisions because you've decided, all right, this baby is meant to be here. I'm meant to be a mom. I'm so excited for this. You've, you know, moved heaven and earth literally and you're still working like seven days a week, which, by the way, that's low key psychotic. I love it. I respect it, but that's

Being able to not work as much. At the moment, I'm working five nights a week, got mom here helping, oh lovely to watch her overnight that she's on a waiting list for surgery. So the days are a bit tricky. Yeah, because my baby's so active, and.

How old is your baby?

Now nearly seven months.

And when did you go back to work?

About a month ago? Yeah?

Okay, And how is that going?

Work? Itself? Is good? Yeah, because she sleeps at night, so I don't feel like I'm missing anything. But yeah, during the days tricky. And then finding the balance with mum not being in too much pain and me getting enough sleep that's a bit harder. And I also have ten pets.

Ten pets. Sorry, why didn't you tell me about this to begin with? Tell me what are your ten pets?

So I've got four horses, one sheep, and two dogs and three rabbits.

Oh my goodness, I love that. But that would cost you a lot of money per month to feed them. Yeah, what does that budget look like at the moment.

It's not too bad because I've bought ten acres with a lot of feed on it.

Oh my goodness.

So I'm only feeding one horse at the moment and the rabbits.

Yeah, okay, and tell me a bit more. I know that you live regionally. I don't want to know where you live, but I want to know what does ten acres cost where you are? Because I feel like saying I bought ten acres in my suburb that's never going to be financially possible. What does that cost and what does that look like?

It cost me four hundred and twenty thousand, and I'm very I'm basically I think it's like a two kilometer walk, oh my goodness, not that I do walk, but from the block to the small town I live in. It's got like a food works, a pub, it's got everything you need, but not a lot. And then it's about fifty kilometers to the main town where I work.

And yeah, yeah, okay, how cool is that? All Right, We're going to take a really quick break, and on the flip side, I want to dive into what your debt looks like or what you're doing for investments, and then I want to talk about your best and worst money habits because I feel like we can learn a lot from you. So, guys that don't go anywhere, all right, money direst We are back, and I want to talk

A very long term investment. Yeah, not planning on moving anytime soon. Just an increase in value and.

For investing across the board. Your she's on the money girl. You know I'm gonna ask could you invest in any other way?

I've got a very small amount in shares is I think just under two hundred dollars I've put in, But I've got three dollars in the earnings bit, so a tiny little bit in there. When I get a bit of spare money, I started.

Yeah, we love to see it, but also that's the hardest part, Like actually downloading the app and starting to put money in, I think is actually like the biggest hurdle to investing. And I understand why you haven't prioritized it. You've just gone through literally so much. Where's the money going to come from to invest?

Yeah? So I just put in little bits, probably like fifty dollars every now and then sometimes I put in like five dollar.

Love, and what does your superranuation look like? Because I feel like so many of us forget that that's a legitimate investment and you've been working since you were fourteen, so I feel like that might be plodding along nicely.

I just checked it and there's just over eighty four thousand.

Okay, that is really good for your age and better than the average for your age. So that's looking very sexy. We like to see it.

Yeah, that's good. That makes me feel a bit better. And I've just started putting in five dollars a week, so like topping it up a little bit. Yeah, I think I'm putting ten dollars extra, like I've just started that.

Yeah, that's very cool. And are you doing that through your employer or are you just like chucking some extra cash in there just a transfer. Yeah that's fair because I feel like it is a bit of a commitment when you're like, oh, I really want to do that, but what if I need the cash, like I might just manually transfer it. Make sure that you're keeping track of that, though, because at tax time you can claim those contributions, like the tax on those contributions back. So

Yeah, because I have quite a big tax bill from last year, so I'm maybe that's a big goal at the moment, trying.

To smash that down.

Yeah.

Yeah, fair. So talk to me about debt. You mentioned that, you know, when you found out you were pregnant, you had a car loan, you had a personal loan, you had a mortgage. What does your debt situation look like now?

Yeah? So I sold my last property and had enough of a profit from that to pay out the car loan and the personal loan.

Oh how good's that?

Yes? Very good?

And sorry I need to backtrack. That's the property that you had to buy your ex partner out of. Yes, and you still made a profit.

Oh how good is a relief? Yeah? Love? So, Yeah, paid out the other debts I put down I think one hundred and ten thousand dollars deposit on the new property. So the mortgage is three hundred and thirty on that. And because of the timing of going on leave and everything, I had to borrow a little bit more through a personal loan just to build like a grunny flat on the block of land. Yeah, so I've got I think it's eighty thousand in personal loans and three hundred and

But the personal loan is kind of a property loan but not is that right? Yeah, yeah, you wouldn't say, oh, it's because I am shopping. It's actually just a part of building your home.

Yes, And with the timing of it, because of my pacelips, I couldn't refinance the mortgage at the time.

No, you wouldn't have been able to because you would have been on matt leave.

Yeah. Hopefully now I'm back at work, I can refinance the personal loan onto the mortgage, just to reduce the repayments.

Yeah, and you absolutely like not giving advice because I'm not allowed to do that, But as someone who owns a mortgage breaking business, I believe you're able to as well, because you would have had. Banks are real tricky with maternity leave. They're like, no, no, no, we won't give you a loan on maternity leave. But then when you come back the second you're back in full time working, you're basically good to go again, so you don't have

Yes, He's told me. I just need a pacelip from each job. Yep, easy, easy, because of how I get paid. I'm still waiting on the pace lips.

Yeah, yeah, fair. I was like, please fix that up soon because you'll be saving so much.

In interest totally next week.

Yeah, okay, okay, I love that. And to talk to me, there's obviously a lot of responsibility in your life. Horses, bay Bees property. Do you have personal insurances if not? Why not?

Yes? Through my Super yep. Cool, I've got income insurance, death and total permanent disability.

Yeah. And is that something that you've revisited since having a baby or is it something that you're like, that's life admin, Victoria.

I double checked that the payouts would cover the mortgage, very nice, and they do so yeah, I've just left it yep, but yeah, everything's covered.

So I love that. I get so angsty when people are like I just have it through Super and I'm like, yes, okay, that's perfect, like good stuff. But do you know how much is in there? And most people will say, oh, no, I just assume it will be like enough, and I'm like, most of the time it's not. But you've done your due diligence and made sure she's good. I love that. Please everybody do that.

And then I've got separate horse insurance, sorry, horse insurance if I have an accident with the horses, because my superinsurance doesn't cover if I get hurt with them. Yeah, I've got separate insurance that covers horse related injuries if that happens.

That is news to me. I didn't even know you could get horse insurance.

Yeah.

I love that. All right, Well tell me because I know that I'm running out of time. You've got a baby that you need to get back to. You are pretty good at money. I feel like your work ethic is second to none, working seventy hours a week and then trying to maintain that while pregnant. Like, girl, you are a weapon. I love this. What do you think is your best money habit?

Well, in the past, if I've had a big bill, I would just pick up an extra shift. I don't know if that's a.

Habit, but I think it's a positive habit.

Yeah, I'll just pick up an extra shift. Now it's a bit harder to do that, so I'm trying to build up the savings a bit more.

Yeah, no, love that, And I want to be real pervy now that you're back at work, obviously, care of a child is a lot. Are you planning on sending her to daycare or are you planning on, like what does the care pathway look like moving forward? Because I feel like you've got such a big work ethic that being back at work is important to you as well as financially important to you. But like you mentioned as well that your mum's having a surgery soon, so that

I think I've worked out once I refinance the person loans, I can do four nights a week, and I think the seneling payments would make up the difference and I'd be slightly better off working less than if I worked five days a week and center to daycare yea for the five days. So I think that's the plan once the refinancing is done.

Talk to me just like side note, I'm always so pervy on like I am in a very lucky position where my job can be done during business hours. So for us, daycare works. But you've done a lot of night shifts and stuff, and I'm sorry daycare isn't actually open from seven pm. Tell me about how that works or like the options that might be available to you, because obviously you're like, Mum's going to be here and you know that will work better, But how do you

Still a lot to work out. Locally, there is childcare. I think they open at eight thirty, which wouldn't allow me to do a morning shift locally.

Eight thirty, that's wild, most people are starting work.

Yeah, very small town. Yeah, okay, all right, so locally childcare and shift work wouldn't work. But if I go into the main town, I can drop her off at six thirty, okay, to start work at seven, But then it's a lot more travel.

Yeah, absolutely, But is that a bad thing? I don't know. I've just got lots of questions. But is that a bad thing if you're already heading in there, Like, I don't know, it's just a bit chaotic.

It's a lot to work out, especially with fuel prices. Oh yes, at the moment, and the night shift, I get paid a lot more than day's shift.

Yept.

Lots to work out there.

Well, I wish you the best of luck. Tell me, I want to know, what do you think your worst money have it is? I don't know if you've got any. You seem pretty switched on.

I think I'm getting better now that I can't just pick up a double shift. I need to. I'm very good at online shopping and having nice things, so I need to get better at saving.

Yeah, very fair, very fair.

And having a backup plan because already I just had a week off work because my baby was sick.

Yeah, and that's rough.

And because I've just started back, I've got no.

Leave so yeah, okay, And that I feel like that's where it starts to really become a challenge because you don't have that second co parent to kind of lean on and negotiate. All right, well, I've taken leave from work, it's your turn. Rah rah. Like you end up in a bit of a pickle because you're like, well, it's

Yeah, need to stick to the budget.

And I don't think that's a bad thing.

No, it's a very good thing. I'm just not used to doing it.

I'll set you up with a money master class, but I want to know because we've just had this very cool conversation, Like you're thirty one, didn't think you could have kids, got pregnant, get to do it on your own, was working seventy hour weeks, and like you've hustled up all of this just cool stuff in your life. And you're like, oh, I think I'm a C. If I had read this story back to you, would you go that lady's as c or do you think that maybe you're being slightly harsh on yourself?

Maybe be harsh on myself. But I definitely need to change my habits now that I have a child, And that's okay.

But that doesn't mean that you're bad at money. It just means we need to change the way things work because what previously worked isn't going to work anymore. And that's cool. But that doesn't mean you're bad at it. I feel like a c that's not representative. Like, I'm just super proud of you. I just think this is so cool, the fact that you're like, Nope, I can do it myself. And you know, my biggest problem is

Thank you.

I love it well. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us and with the She's on the Money community. I have a joed getting to know you. It's been really fun. But at the same time, I'm just I'm really proud that there are such cool people and such cool mums in our community just like hustling it up, you know, like sorry when you said I bought back my property from my ex and then you know, still made a profit on it when I sold it three years later, Like you're switched on. I love this.

Thank you. The advice shared on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of money.

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