MONEY DIARIES: A Hard Worker With A HUGE Heart!

Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr

Let's get into it.

She's on the Money, She's on the Money.

Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another Shop Back Money Diary Monday, where we chat to one of our Gorge community members. We learn about them, their life, their story, their money and all of the fun bits in between. Today I've got your King on the Mine.

Hello, how are you going, honey?

I am so excited to be here. I know you never get to do the Mondays and they're really good funny hops.

Can't wait to see what it's all about.

Well, let me tell you we have as always an excellent diarist, And she said, I'm twenty eight years old with four children to a joint kinship care with my mum and two of my own. My father moved to Australia from New Zealand thirty five years ago, came for a holiday and met my mum. I grew up with two minimum wage parents who worked multiple jobs to send my brother and I to our local private schools in Sydney.

Hello?

Everyone, I'm very excited to chat to you because it sounds like you've worked your way up and done some incredible things in your time. But first let's start with our structured questions. Shall we money direst, can you tell me what's your attitude towards money?

Well, money actually still at this point scares me. I don't like dealing with money. I find it stressful and having to organize that is just not something that I like. I may like spreadsheets, but actually organizing everything isn't fun. But I think it also comes back from being an environment like I went to a private school from in high school and having everyone have money literally falling out

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. What do you do for work and how much money do you in?

So I'm an RTO trainer and assessor, So I take home fifty seven thousand annually plus I get a fifteen thousand dollars car allowance plus super and then they cover like my expenses, so like if I have to travel to go to a location, accommodation and food, if I have to fly somewhere, all of that's covered as well.

Yeah, that's really good. Awesome that you get super on top of your base with something like that as well.

Can I jump in and ask what an RTO assessor does?

Yeah? So an RTO is a registered training organization, so it's it's like your TAFE teacher, but in like a business perspective. Amazing, So lots of organizations have them. So depending on what they have, they could just be doing a certificate two, stificate three, four diplomas and that's what we assess and train that process generally in like a business perspective. So like I work for a company and I'm a trainer for them individually.

Cool. It's kind of like adult exams, like you're learning to deliver this thing and you're the exam deliverer walking up and down the room, being like are you doing the right thing scary people like you.

Yeah, I don't do it like that. It's very different. But I do like from fourteen year olds because I have people that start at the age of fourteen, So I have younger people and I have older people as well.

That's so cool. You said before that you're saving up and working your way up. What is your big money goal at the moment.

My big money goal at the moment is probably not like some sort of savings goal like most people's. Is is that we would like to renovate our home. So when we purchased our home eighteen months ago, it was a four bedroom kind of project home built twenty years ago, so it's enough to meet our needs. But obviously, going through lockdown and everything, you kind of want to work out that you want to have more in your home so you can have activities and enjoy all the moments

Home renovating is so expensive as well. Victoria's going through the process now and it blows my tiny little mind. How expensive something like flooring, which you know all like I walk on it? How much could it possibly cost? It turns out very expensive? Yeah, wild Now you did tell us you have a share portfolio. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and your investments?

So in the investments, I'm going to claim that it's my share portfolio because it's mine and my partners, but he organizes that. So I was actually brought up in a family lifestyle that shares. We're not a good thing, like, don't touch them, you're all your money lifestyle.

Oh yes, we've had that before.

Ye.

Whereas my partner, his grandfather was a very big share investor. He did very well with it. He worked up high and he retired at the age of forty because of it. So he started his share portfolio about five years ago. And I think we started with about ten thousand dollars, like increased it up and then now I think we're about out fifty thousand dollars.

My gosh, incredible. And you have your super as well on top of that, you said as well, which is awesome. Now, do you have any debts to kind of flip it on its head?

Yeah, So we obviously, we have our mortgage and then that's about eight hundred thousand at the moment because we just refinanced be able to do some renovations yep. And then I also have a novated lease for my car for work because I drive over fifteen hundred to two thousand kilometers a week. Wow, so just needed a car without purposes. And I also have a heck step.

And how much is your heckstep sitting at currently?

I probably should have checked. I think it's about thirty grand.

Yeah, no, that's right close as.

Now.

Money Diarists Mondays are brought to you by our friends at Shopback. Do you use the shop back platform?

I sure do.

We love to see it. Do you have any fun little hack or tidbits for it. We've had a few people over the last few weeks sharing things and I'd be like, I didn't know you could do that? So where do you love to use it?

Pretty much? Just anything I purchase, I just double check shop back first, So like if I'm in store, which is hard, I like to buy things in store obviously to get those endorphins when I buy something. Yes, However, if I do see it online and I can get like ten percent cash back plus this and this, and I'm like, Okay, I'll try it all on and then I'll go and buy it, like sometimes I buy it online in store.

Oh how did you do that? No shame, I'm just like, oh, what do I need?

Just so I don't forget. If not, I won't do it, Like if I'm doing a little bit of me time with kids, it's like, if I don't do it now, it's not going to be ordered. And then with holidays, that's probably my biggest thing that I've taken advantage of. I think it was not a holiday that I planned. It was a family's wedding. I booked Accommodation and I was just waiting for a sale before I kind of

Huge.

Yes, So I think I got about four hundred and fifty dollars back from Accommodation.

How good is that? Is incredible? That is so good and leads really nicely into my next question, which is what is your best money habit.

I'm definitely a person that won't buy anything unless it's on sale, So I will bog buy. So I purchase a particular laundry powder. If it's half priced, I'll buy fifteen. If you know, I drink almond milk, so when the almond milk goes on sale, alba fifty. So I just buy everything. So that's really it's hard to budget when I do things like that because I'm buying for such a long period of time. But I know out of the long run, I'm saving myself so much more money.

Do you have when you're buying such big quanities like that? It makes me think of have you ever seen Extreme Couponing? The video steted TV. It's an American TV show, because couponing isn't really a thing here. I wish it was. I'd be all over it. But they have like these things that they call stock piles, and they have rooms where it's almost like a little mini shop in their house with all of their stuff that they've gotten on sale. Do you have one of those?

Yeah? I do. I go so in our garage, so I have like a walking pantry that we converted when we've got our home and then in our garage. Obviously, my cars don't fit in my garage, which was a bit sad because I wanted one. But I have like two free standing pant trees out there, and I also have like the bunnings like racket shelves with everything there. So I have from nappies to a whole shell for milk, bolg, rice pasta. Everything's there.

If the apocalypse comes, I'm hanging out at your house. I love that. Incredible what is on? I guess the other end of the spectrum, what would you say is your worst money habit?

Sometimes if I haven't bought anything or spent something on myself, I'm very bad at buying things for me. I'll buy things my kids all the time. But then if I do buy something for me, that whole concept of being good and making sure it's on sale goes through the roof. Yeah.

Sometimes though, I feel like if you're not looking after yourself, you deserve a treat as well. Every once in a while, I think mums put so many other people before themselves, and it's like, if you're gonna look after yourself, you might as well do it well every once in a while, Right.

Yeah, it would work if I didn't feel guilty about the purchase afterwards. So that's why if I do it, I just need to do it and make sure I feel good about it and then I don't feel like I'm not justifying it every day.

Well, the cheese of the money team gives you permission to not feel that guilt, girl, so.

Hopefully that helps. Thank you, Thank you all Rightie and Lucky. Last question, what grade would you give your money habits If we asked you to give yourself a great.

I would give myself a bee. So I definitely think I do well that I organized myself and budget, but in the sense of platforms, of organizing my investments and understanding my money flow, I kind of have no idea where everything is going.

Okay, that makes a lot of sense, and we can definitely help you with one of those things. Off the air, But let's go to a really quick break because I have a heap of questions that I want to ask you about, So don't go anywhere. Welcome back to another

I definitely think it impacted me about what I needed in life. I felt like I definitely have to be very materialistic. I needed the newest and the best things. And your social life was very busy, so you know, if you had someone's birthday party that you were going to, then you had to make sure you had a new outfit, you had this, you had to buy them a gift that was you know, above and beyond that anything that you'd probably get gifted yourself. But that was kind of

Peture, you just want to fit in.

Yeah.

Yeah, I just wanted to fit in. And I definitely I went through primary school going through bullying because I was the only girl child that was actually had brown skin.

Oh my gosh, that would so hard already.

Yeah, so when I was at school, like I would come home and like cry because everyone would make fun of me. So then in high school that was like had to fit in, had to fit in. Yeah, So it was very very difficult on that perspective. And then when I finished school, I was not friends. I'm not friends with anyone from high school. Like I, you know, will say hello to people, but I actually never have any good relationships from there. My friends that I made

Yeah, so it's also coloring your relationship with your kids. Now out of curiosity, are you going to send your kids to private school as well or they go to public school?

It really depends on I would like to send my kids to whatever school suits them. So if my kids all go to different schools, then they will all go to different schools. I want to find a school that fits their needs and their lifestyle of what they would like to do in their life. I don't want to base it on a school that I want to go to. So if it becomes a private school, then that's one hundred percent okay if that's the best thing for them. But if it's a public school, it's a public school.

That is such a beautiful answer. I really love that, And as someone who went to public school, like, I feel like they get a bit of a bad rap. Like there's public schools private schools. There's definitely more resources available at private school, but I think there's totally benefits to both And it's a really great perspective to have to say it's going to depend on my kid, because every kid needs different things, So I think that's a great way to do it.

Yeah, and especially having two foster children as well, Like they can't they go to the public system. That's only because of the financial They came into our life very quickly, and it wasn't something my parents had ever planned to add into their lifestyle like they had done kids because I'm a little bit older than what they are. But in that sense that the way that the education we're choosing where they go to high school is based on

Incredible.

I wanted to ask you money Dirist about your journey with investing so you said you grew up in a household that did not approve of shares. How did your perception change with that? Was it purely down to your partner or was it listening to she's on the money perhaps?

What was your story with that.

I wish it was my partner and I believed in him, but it wasn't. So it definitely was she's on the money. So obviously I thought we needed to do something about our budget. I wanted to buy a home. He wasn't like really into buying a home. We used to go on holidays like two times a year and spend like a whole salary on holidays because we lived at home and that's what we could do. So he always did

He's a big commitment. And even then, you can put all the time and effort in the world into it and some of it just comes down to luck.

Yeah, yep. And I was like, I don't care that much to sit there and like understand each of them, like I would like to know the basics, like I'd rather pay someone to do it for me, Like that's just not on my top ten to do list. So that my parents definitely were very like shares is you

Yeah, and you're like, this is an endless loop. That just is not Yah told itself.

So it's never that I don't think I can do anything to help them. I try, but I understand to myself that if I would like something, I need to you know, aim for it and get to that point and through shares, that's hopefully something that we can future for later, so that our share portfolio is primarily going to be for our kids, just so we can start saving and like having that fund so if one day we want to go, hey, we want to buy your car, then we can.

That's incredible. I want to actually ask about your kids and the foster kids as well. That you said you kind of job share almost with your mum, and you said before that they came in a little bit unexpectedly. How did that happen? So how do they come into your lives? Firstly? And then how does that job share work?

So I had my first child here is three now, when we both lived at my parents' house in a granny flat. So I was about six months pregnant and they came into our care. They were about three and four at the time. They were family friends' kids that we used to look after all the time, like every second weekend we would look after them so mum could have a break. So they used to come over for

Not so much paperwork, I can imagine.

And this was three COVID so you physically had to go into locations, so like, I'm like taking a newborn into these places, taking a newborn into coorts, like doing all of that. So at the moment, So we moved out about eighteen months ago, or probably twelve months ago because we renovated before we moved in. So my parents look after my kids during the day whilst I'm at work. In the mornings, we'll drive an hour to their place

Oh my gosh, feels yeah.

So we drive an hour to my parents. We do breakfast and then I'll drop the kids off at school on the way and then I'll go to work and then I normally work later in the night, so then someone will pick up the kids in the afternoon and depending on what activities there are, we'll take them to like swimming, rugby training, basketball, and then my partner will get home and we'll make dinner for everyone that's there.

Oh my gosh, it sounds lazy.

Love.

Yeah, like a full Brady Bunch situation. And I mean, hats off to you and your mum. That is not an easy situation to find yourselves in and to put your hand up and say yeah, like we'll help these people is just incredible. So I'm so impressed, honestly and thankful that there are people like you or who are willing and able to do stuff like that to help

Absolutely not. So my mom takes all the payments because they live like with her, So I kind of am the assistance in other things, but it definitely doesn't cover everything. So we still have to pay school fees even though we go to our public school. Yep. So at the beginning they offered to pay for uniforms and stuff like that, but ever since they haven't offered They also, I know with our local school provide the school with different grants.

Ah, say, congratulate him for us.

We will. So it's really exciting that, like, he has these opportunities and everything, but if we didn't do that.

For him, he wouldn't get that.

That's not something that is in the tickbox kind of formula of what the requirements they give.

Yeah, oh my gosh, it's so hard to think about the opportunities I guess that are available to some people and not to others. And yeah, it's really special that you are providing that for him. And I think that perspective as well of Hey, like, maybe academics aren't your thing. As someone who grew up in an environment where like my education and the schooling process that I went through was very academic focused, as someone who is kind of less inclined that way, I know that it can be

Thank you.

To shift the conversation back to you, you said before that you're finishing off UNI and you're studying to become board certified. How long have you got left? What does that look like? How are you going juggling study and your certification alongside working, alongside being a mom to so many beautiful kids.

It's definitely a juggle. So after having kids, I realized that breastfeeding and support for women postpartum is pretty much nonexistent, and I definitely went down the rabbit hole of exploring options to be able to provide that support and nurture women postpartum. The saying that it takes a village to raise a baby is one hundred percent through but no one realizes that taking a village doesn't mean coming over

Just bad timing.

Yeah, I was like, probably not a good time to do it right now. So hopefully I'm going to finish that off this year. So I am fine, like just it's done. And then I am currently also completing a Certificate four in breastfeeding Education, which is done through the

That's amazing. I love that and I mean, I haven't had children, so I'm probably definitely not qualified to speak on it, but a lot of my friends have actually who have had kids, have said that breastfeeding was way more challenging than they thought it was going to be. Like you kind of have this idea that it's going to be easy. The baby just knows and there's the boob, there's the baby, it's all happy and it all works. But that's actually not the case, which is kind of

Yeah, especially like I would say I would be a younger mom, like I was twenty five when I had my first child, and I think, you know, having been the first person in my friend group to go through everything and not knowing anything, you are definitely guided by the system. And yes, I feel like our hospital system has its place, but unfortunately sometimes they don't provide the

Wow, I feel like I have learned so much this money Diary. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for joining us, and really incredible to hear all the things that you're doing. Let us know when you are qualified, because we'd love to be able to share that with our community. I think that's really special. But George, I think that's all we've got time for. Did you want to wrap up the important bits? Absolutely?

Firstly, I just wanted to say thank you as well to our money dire So that was amazing, and I think the thing that I really took away was just how caring you are. You are an incredible person, and as just said earlier, we are so lucky to have people like you in our community. I've got like goosebumps. That was just a really beautiful story, and thank you for sharing it with us, and good luck in the future.

Thank you so much for having me on the show. Guys. It's been a really good experience.

Yay, all right, guys, here's boring stuff. The advice shed on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider out your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision. And we promise Victoria divine and she's on the money.

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