Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr
the Order Kerney Whalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it.
She's on the Money.
She's on the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on Them, the podcast of millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another one of our moneydarries where I get the absolute pleasure of sitting down with one of our incredible She's on the Money community members and learning all about
their journey. Let's jump straight into it, because this week I got a message and it went like this, Hi V I've gone from living in government housing and moving twenty plus times before the age of fifteen to owning my home and business. I'd love to talk more about my story of breaking the cycle of financial instability I grew up with and building a more stable future. Ah, money, Doris, So I want to talk about that too.
That's so cool. Yes, I'm pretty proud. It's been a journey, but yeah, I'm very proud of us. Life that we've created.
Does sound like a journey, like it sounds like a very hard journey, because like it doesn't sound like and I'm assuming here that there was probably not a lot of support on the flip side is obviously coming from government housing. You don't have the role models that you probably have become for your own kids, which is very very cool. Yes, let's jump into it though, because I'm very excited about this. As always, I start the episode with the same question and people are probably bored of it,
but there is a purpose to it. Money Diarist, what grade would you give your money habits if I asked you to grade them from an eight through to an S.
I have tried to put some thought into this, and I think I would give myself a B minus at the moment.
Be minus. Yeah, your story tells me you're an A plus, so I probably have to argue later.
A few years ago, it probably would have been a bit lower. But we've worked hard and I've got some really good role models now, and I've worked hard to get where I am with my job, and we've got some things lined up for the future, so we know where we want to be. It's just taking some time.
That's very exciting, all right, money Diaris next question is also my favorite. Can you dive in and tell me a little bit more about your money story?
I can so. Yeah. I guess we had an interesting upbringing. I was born and raised sort of in Melbourne, but relocated to Queensland when I was really young, and then ever since then it was probably moving every three to six months. We moved houses my mom and my stepdad. There was no yeah, no stability, changing jobs really frequently. When we moved up, I was under ten years old.
I didn't really grasp what was going on behind the scenes, but obviously as I grew up I could tell that they just couldn't manage their finances themselves and that just continued on for Yeah. I think I ended up moving out of home when I was about sixteen, So from the ages of yeah, six or sixteen, we just moved every few months. I think as long as we were in a home was probably eight or nine months. And yeah, like I said, as I grew up, I just knew
that I wanted to break that cycle. I didn't want that from my future and my kids when it came time, so I just worked really hard. My mum and my stepdad had purchased a business that they just didn't have any idea how to run properly, so of course that ended happened bankruptcy. And yeah, I could sense there was stuff going on behind the scenes, but I didn't know as much as I do now. So yeah, I think
it's shaped me into who I am today. And I weirdly am thankful for those experiences because it has just shown me how I don't want to be as brutals as that might sound. But it's been a blessing in disguise because it's shown me how hard I can work and what I can prove that I can do.
It's epic. I love when people are using their stories and actually like growing from them because I think it's so easy to fall into such a similar cycle. Right, It's been role modeled for you, so it makes sense. And I think a lot of the time, if those are the role models that you've been shown. You just assume that's how life works, and you often find that and you know, this isn't me stereotyping, it's just kind
of the way it is. It's why there's always like a debt cycle, or a trauma cycle, or even an abuse I call in a family like it goes from generation to generation because you literally just learn from the things that are around you that this is acceptable, this is what happens, this is how it is. Like what you could have learned from that is that business is really scary. You will go bankrupt. It will, you know, consume you and be awful. But that's clearly not what
you've taken from it. And I just I get so excited talking to people with this mindset of growth over you know, just status quo and go, well, where did you get that? Because like, your parents clearly didn't teach you that, Like, no, it's wild.
Yeah. I think I have my brother to thank for that. He's about seven years older than I am, and he was the first one to kind of be like, no, this isn't going to be my life. So he went off and he worked away. He still works plying flyout. So I'm really close with him and my sister in Laura, and I've got n for nephews, and we're just we often talk about the way that our parts could have gone, and it's we're both just turned it around and it's
gone the other way. So I adore that Mum's no longer here with us, but I know that she'd be super proud regardless of what she went through.
Yeah, of course she'd be super proud. Like I feel like when you reflect on it, and you know, talk to people who grew up in that circumstance, they always want better for their kids, and they always want their kids to like thrive and flourish. And she's got that, Like, how good is that? That's illeed?
All right?
Well, next question I've got is I want to know. You told us you have a business, So let's dive in. What do you do for work? How much money do you earn?
So I work in human resources. I finished school. I took a few years to decide what I wanted to do. I went to UNI and child a degree that it wasn't for me. So then I went off traveling for a year and I came back and I had a real good think about it and In that time, I'd met my partner and he was studying as well, so I kind of really had a good think about what my interests were landed at human resources and I smashed out my degree and before that was finished, I actually
managed to secure the job that I'm in now. So that was my first sort of HR gig as an administrator, just at a local resort here. And yeah, I'm still there today, nearly five years on. Just been working my way through. We've got a small team at a big employee base, so it's taught me a lot. But currently I'm on seventy k plus super very nice. Yeah, so I guess I'm just going to keep chipping away at that. And yeah, excarty elite.
So you've got a full time HR job and a side hustle. You said, do you have your own business? You're going to have to tell us all about that, what's that look like and how does that work?
So I started that when I was on maternity leave with my son a few years ago. So it's a bit of a candles and home fragrance. It was just a hobby that I picked up has something to do in my time at home when I wasn't mumming and it was great. I just fell in love with it because it gave me that sort of creative outlet and just something I could do for myself. And then I just kept at it, kept at it, and everyone was loving them. So I thought, why not turn this into
a little bit of a side hustle. So, yeah, that's kind of grown a little bit from there, and I wanted to set it up in a way that I could when I wanted to commit some more time to what I could. But obviously I knew that I would return to my full time job after my leave was up, so I just let it kind of simmer in the background and I do it ad hoc. But now that I'm on maternity leave with my second as well, I've been able to give it some real love and watch
it grow again, which has been super exciting. But it is just something I do slowly. You know, I've got two kids, so it's a big ask to get it all done.
It's more of a side hustle at this point. It is how much income would it bring in?
I think probably it sits around you know, probably about six or seven k annually at the moment.
Hey, that's very nice.
Yeah, so it's something It helps, Definitely, it helps, and I am just doing it at the moment just because I love it. And like I said, it gives me that creative space away from the kids, not at work, to just have something for me.
No, I love it. I love talking about this because I think so many times when you like speak to people who don't have side hustles or businesses, there's this massive assumption that to start a business or start a side hustle means you have to like go all in and you have to replace your full time income and that's what you're looking for. And the reality is you
don't have to do that. What you can do is just like a little side hustle that nourishes you and keeps you busy and gives you something to do while the kids are sleeping if your mind won't sit still. And six or seven K a year, Like, girl, that's a lot of money. Like you could put that towards a mortgage, you could put that towards savings, you could go on an extra holiday. Like, there's just so much financial freedom that that money brings in addition that you
just go that makes sense. I love it. Yeah, how exciting so talk to me about your big money goals. What are you guys currently working towards.
Ah, well, our biggest money goal at the moment is we're getting married just under twelve weeks.
Oh congrats.
So that's kind of where everything's going at the moment, which is so fine because as much as we're wanting to keep it low key, we still want to enjoy ourselves and enjoy our day. But it's things add up very quick.
It's terrifying, isn't it, And like all the last minute stuff in the last twelve weeks, you're like, oh and I don't have, Oh and I don't have It's so annoying.
Yeah, yeah it is. So I've done my best, but it's still a big money item. So I think once that's out of the way, we haven't sort of planned to go away anywhere, so I'd like to do that for ourselves. But I guess we own our home, but it probably in the next couple of years we're in two minds of whether we sell this space and get something new or we keep there. Since of investments, so I think that's our next big one and just setting up ourselves a little bit better in terms of investing
for ourselves and our kids. So a few things, and it's a bit tricky to just focus on one because I'm I'm a person who likes to do it all at once, which can just get a bit too much.
Totally. Yeah, can I be real pervy about your wedding. I want to know, did you set a budget at the start? If so, how's that tracking?
I set a budget of fifteenth theout it Yep. Like I said, I've done my best. I've sourced what I can secondhand and on Facebook Marketplace, which has been a lifesaver. And even the venue we used is relatively new, so they were about a quarter of the price of what places are. Oh co I'm located. Yeah, so did that well? But it's yeah, it's all the little things. We're probably up over the twenty k at the moment, so yeah, but we're just trying to rain it right in in
these last few weeks. I'm trying to really just focus on other days about and not all of the extra little thing money.
Drist I need to ask about your twenty thousand dollars budget. We've gone a little bit over, But before then, you do have a five month old sitting on your lap, So if anyone is listening along and can hear someone joining in the conversation. She looks very very cute, Like she's very cute, she's very animated, and I like her contributions. I'm not sure if I understand them yet, but you can come on the show when you're a bit old. Agreed, Agreed,
but tell me a bit more. I'm so pervy about weddings because, like I obviously had one, loved the process. How did you go from fifteen to twenty? Like was that something where you're like, oh my gosh, we completely forgot to allocate ABC or D or is it like decisions that you're like, we assumed that the venue would be you know, X, and it was actually why.
Yeah, it was more the latter. I think it's just that old story of when you say that it's for a wedding.
It's terrifying, isn't it.
Yeah, it's just we kind of assumed that things would cost it at a mountain. They've come back it nearly double what we thought. But it's all things that you know, we kind of need, like the music and the food. Yeah, it's not all of the extras, all of the extra stuff. I've just rained it right in, so I think my partner looks at it and he's like, what are we doing? But I show him what we're actually, you know, sending
the money on and he gets it. Yeah. Yeah, and we're both in a sign nindset like we still want to enjoy our day. It does sting a bit knowing how much money is going into it, but we're just going to push through and just have a bet day.
I love it, And the same thing happened with us, Like I was just consistently shocked at how much things cost. And you know, it's fine because I think once you're on the same page with your partner and you're like, no, we both really want this, like let's just take it step by step. It's okay. But I think it's one of those things that when you're planning a wedding, you're like, oh, it just feels like blow after blow.
Yeah, especially when you do we did want to keep it low cost, but then, like I said, like as soon as you start reaching out to people saying, you know, we've got a wedding coming up, it's yeah, things just add up so fast.
I mean, at the end of the day twenty grand on a wedding is literally a third of what the average Australian wedding costs. So you're not doing too badly. Let's go to a really quick break on the flip side. I want to ask you so many more questions about investments and habits and whether you're in debt. So guys don't go anywhere, all right, money direst we are back and first cap of K I want to know do you invest? If so, how, if not, what's the plan?
So, thanks to She's on the money, I have. Actually I didn't even really know anything about it until a that's six months ago. Probably i'd heard obviously about it, but didn't know enough to feel comfortable. And then just from taking in as much content aday, so I came from the podcast. I've just started doing the micro investing as a beginning sort of steps to get the knowledge set. Yeah, just to kind of get myself familiar with the process.
My partner's across it more. But yeah, I feel like if I needed to be comfortable to make sort of the big step into it, that I needed to understand the process and what goes in. So I started that and just it's really interesting just seeing I'm a log on and kind of see and it's I think it's a great first step for me to take. And I'm really enjoying the platform that I'm using. So it's good.
I love it. How good is that?
All? Right?
Jumping into debts? You own your own house, so I'm assuming there is a mortgage hiding somewhere there. But tell me all about debt. Is that your only debt? If so, so, what is it? Tell me the juicy details.
Yes, we've got the mortgage. I think at the moment it's at about four twenty. We were really quite fortunate. We managed to fix our interest rate just before COVID, so the interest rates were really really low, locked it in under two.
Percent, so unrelatable. Mine's currently sitting at leg six and a half and I literally look at it and go, how did we get here?
Yeah, so I don't know that was just a stroke of luck or I'm not sure, but locked that in for five years. So we're happy with that.
Oh, very nice.
Yes, especially that's taken us through the two maternity leaves. So that's been a big help just knowing this said amount that's going to be paid each fortnite. So that's our biggest one. I own my car. However, my partner actually has a novated lease arrangement on his car, which again it was something I didn't know much about. But yeah, our situation at the time, it was kind of what made the most sense with us, and his work was willing to take that on with him. Cool. So that's
higher than I'd like it to be. It's at about forty k so, but yeah, it works the way that he's got it set up with. I guess the NEVATD lease arrangement, it's a big chance that is paid, but I guess it's what we had to do at the time, so I'm just letting it do its thing. But apart from that, we don't have any credit cards. We only use after pay as kind of like a cash flow tool. It's never blown out out of sort of the budget. But yeah, apart from that, we're pretty on track.
Very cool. What kind of things are you putting on after pay? Because I'm not one of those people that could be trusted with after pay. You quite clearly are, and that's fine, But I want to know, is it like clothes and shoes or is it like, oh, they're the big ticket baby, item, So like what does your after pay usage look like?
It kind of changes every so often. We've got a couple of big dogs that you know, require their monthly big food order, so we kind of put that on and budget it into our sort of cash flow process, and that's like a pretty regular one, just to break it down that sort of upfront cost at the I mean, it's been a few wedding things, but I do have a wedding sort of account, and it's just that we're paying into each fortnite so it just assists us with that sort of Yet, like I said, that cash flow
of if I needed it, sort of, I don't know now because the wedding's coming up. It just allows me to kind of work it that way. But we're good with it. It's never been something that's blown out, but I guess I would like to get to a point that we don't need it at all.
But it's a helpful tool in your situation, and I feel like some people can be trusted with it and some people can't. I'm in the bucket of can't, and that's okay. But it's always interesting because obviously, if you're using it correctly, it doesn't implicate you financially in any way, like you're not up for more interest or you know, you're not in a pickle. But a lot of people like me would just go down a slippery slope, like genuinely feel like, hey, they so there's just two hundred dollars,
you could have it for fifty bucks a day. I'll be like, that's the money in like and of all people, you would think that I'm educated enough to know the difference, and I am, which is why we don't use it. But I think it's it's cool to see how other people using it because it can actually be a really
effective cash slow tool. And I'm not saying go get it because it's a great tool, but more you know, obviously in your circumstance, you're about to get married, you have a lot of costs, you have two tiny humans to look after. Like I'm assuming it takes a little bit of a weight off.
Yeah, yeah, it does help. But like I said, I would like to get to a point that we just don't use it at all. But at the moment, it has been a great little tool.
Just when we will, you absolutely will, all right, tell me what do you think your best money habit is.
Best money habit. I think it would be putting time between my purchases. Obviously that's something you talk about a lot of the podcast, but it is something that I think relates back to sort of my money story and how I was brought up. We just kind of had to make do We never kind of were able to go out to the shop and you know, just grab
things what we wanted at the time. So I do put a lot of thought in between a purchase, and I'll often sometimes it bugs me because I'll go out to buy something that I need and I'll come home and say, oh, like without it, and just think that it was something I needed, but I actually just couldn't do it at the time. So and it does get tricky with the kids because I do there is things that I need to go out and get, but I'll have to come home and think about it and then
I'll go back. So I think it is a helpful mindset that I have because I don't make those big impulse purchases on the spot. But yeah, I think that is probably my best one moment.
Do you think that that weighs heavily on you as well? Sometimes because I came picking up this tone of like, I'm going to the shops, I'm looking at it, and it's not because I'm good at money that I say, let's put twenty four hours between me and my purchase. It sounds and like I'm obviously not trying to diagnose it here, but it sounds a little bit like you're maybe anxious about those purchases.
Yes, yeah, I do get anxious. Like my partner and I've worked really hard to get we don't have a heap of savings at the moment, but we do have a little bit of a safety net on the side that I don't like it to get below a certain amount, and that's just because of how I was brought up. We didn't have that. It's just to feel sort of somewhat secure and that, you know, if things just happen, it's life come I think issues come up, or the
kids need something urgently. So I do get anxious about purchases. It's probably anything under that fifty dollar mark. I'm generally okay. Anything more than I tend to really have to think about, which in some instances is good because if I'm at the shops with a friends, I'm not just one to grab things off the shelf and be like, oh that's fine,
I'll just I'll make it work. But I definitely have a level of anxiety about just sort of random spending that I haven't accounted for because I just worry about, you know what if XYZ comes up and we don't have that cash flow there to be able to cover it. So yeah, it's a tricky one. I'm trying to get
better with the anxiety around it. But I think it also is something that I might just live with the level of because yeah, it's just how I was brought up, unfortunately and that sort of you know, it's really things are scarce at times, so we just had to make do. But yeah, it's something I'll work out.
To dive into this a little bit more because I feel like it's probably so relatable. Do you have a budget, Like are you writing down a budget each month? Or like have you got a system.
We've tried a few and I just don't think we've quite nailed it, and I think, yeah, it's something that we do our best to stick to, but I think we kind of tend to stretch the budget a little bit too far in terms of allocating funds, so we don't leave enough for ourselves out and then of course that means and we're dipping into areas that we shouldn't be. So I think we just haven't find that correct sort
of process for us. It's always something that we try to review and look at, but yeah, again, we just haven't found the correct way. And it's a goal of mine for this year to get it right on track and find a way that works the best for us so we don't run into these sort of pickups along the way.
But yeah, I love it because I think I can fix that for you. I'm going to gift you our budget and cash Flow Masterclass with if you've seen it online. I'm biased because I made it, so I think it's really good. But it is the most comprehensive way of managing your budget that makes sure that we're taking into account like fun money and annual expenses as well as those day to day costs. So I'm going to give you that because I think that that is going to
help set you up properly. There's a singles version which won't apply to you, but there is a couple's version as well that breaks down all of it and includes a whole section for kids as well. So like, I feel like there's not an area I haven't thought of, and historically when there has been, I've just gone in and switched out all of the information to update it because I'm like, oh my gosh, I didn't include XYZ because it wasn't a priority for me.
Yeah, that's amazing.
I think that'll be helpful. And for those of you listening at home who might be interested in doing the Money masterclass as well, I'll pop a discount code in the show notes, but it will be POD five zero and it'll give you fifty bucks off, which is a money win. But I just when you said that, I was like, oh, I think I can help here if you've got like a system that hasn't worked, like I've
got one that works for literally thousands of people. But now you have to tell me in exchange for that, what your worst money habit is.
Oh, my worst money habit would be ducking into the grocery store probably three or four times a week. I do my weekly shop, but then I have to, you know, do the little top ups. But that just blows out every time I'm there. So I just and again, I think it comes back to we're not correctly budgeting for, you know, the big weekly shop, so I'm ducking in to grab bread and milk, and then I need something for the kids. So it's it quickly adds up to be an extra, you know, sometimes up to one hundred
dollars a week that we haven't allocated for groceries. So I need to pull that right back. That would definitely be the worst one. And I know when I'm doing it as well, but you know there's things that I can't not get along the way.
So yeah, absolutely, like kids need what they need and it's frustrating, all right. Tell me at the start of the episode, you said, I think I'm a B minus, but I have learned that you have changed your entire money story. You've got an epic full time job. You're a little side hustler, Like even when your kids are asleep, You're like, I'm not going to rest. Rest is for the wicked. I am going to start a little side hustle business. I need to know, one what would it
take to get you to an A plus? And two why do you think B minus is reflective of where you currently are at?
So I think to get to an A plus, I need to get our sort of budget and cash flow just set in a way that works.
We're on it.
Look at us, We're on it.
This is a problem solving money diary.
Yeah. I think I'll feel a lot more confident with where we're headed if we can get that nailed down. So that's exciting because I think that'll I think, yeah, this is really going to help with that. And I really want to focus more on investments this year or investing. Sorry, I think now that I've doabbled in the micro investing. Once the wedding's out of the way, that's sort of our big focus. Yeah. Yeah, So it's all exciting and
it's all attainable. It's just we've got a few things to knock out of the park first, and then once that's.
Sortid you said you were going to knock it out of the park and she's like, hey, yeah you are, Mama. She's so happy. It kills me. She's just like beaming on camera. No one else gets to see it. Don't be sorry. It's the best.
Yeah.
I think once so few things have thoughted, I'll feel pretty proud and pretty stoked, and I think i'll be more of an A plus then but yeah, I think my b minus is that we've got all these sort of plans to get to these places and then sort of the budget and cash flow this at work, so there were a few steps back. It's kind of two steps forward, one step back. But it seems that we just can't quite get there, and we've maybe not had the right tools in place, or I've not known enough
about what you know, the investment world. So I'm putting by listening to the podcast and doing my own external research. I'm excited to sort of focus on those airs more.
And yeah, love love love, Oh my gosh, I feel like you are well on track, like everything has been set up and you are working towards it. But I feel like you have achieved so much and I'm so proud of where you've come from and where you are now. And I know that your mum would be so proud, like you know you said before, like you know she's not around, but I think she'd be proud. What do you mean, think you know she'd be proud, she'd be
over the moon. You're exactly where she wishes she could have been when she was, you know, bringing you up. And I think that that's just such a beautiful thing as well, but unfortunately that is all we have time for today. I am genuinely so grateful for this story. I think it's been fun and engaging, and I've loved learning about your wedding and where you've come from and
what your plans are for the future. And I'm genuinely so excited to give you my money masterclass because I'm like, hold on, I think this could really help, Like I actually think this will get your stuff together so that you feel like an A plus sooner. So I'm very happy about this. So thank you so much for sharing your journey with us, and I hope our paths cross in person in the future at some point.
Thank you so much for having me, and I'm really excited to do the course. Thank you again.
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