Hello. My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Order
Order Kerney Whoalbury 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.
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She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another one of our money diaries where I get the absolute pleasure of talking to one of our She's on the Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it, because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Hi, She's on the Money. I live on a cattle station in the Northern Territory, five hundred
kilometers from the nearest Woolies. I've become a keen saver because I have very minimal bills and obviously don't get to go to the shops much. I would love to share my story and unique lifestyle with the community money diarists. This is wild to be like the idea that you have to plan so much to get to woollies. Like you can't just pop to the shops on your lunch break, can you?
No? Not at all?
How long does it take to get to the shops?
Ah? Five hours?
Like you jump in the car and you drive for five hours?
Yeah?
And how often do you do that?
Once a month or a bit over a month?
Oh my gosh? And does everyone just get in the car? Who goes? What's the plan?
It depends. Sometimes it could just be me.
But then sometimes we'll try working in if we have to go to town to pick up parts or something, we're like, we'll just get a store water.
Then yeah, that's fair. So I need to know, like what happens if all these doesn't have the thing that you drove into town to get.
Well, because we do click and collect, we sort of don't find out till after, so you sort of just gotta live without it for another month or so.
No, obviously you can't just get a new roots delivery, there can you. I can't just be like, oh, we forgot the butt, I don't worry about it. You'd literally have to basically make your own, wouldn't you.
Yes, yeah, yeah, I have a checklist I try to follow, so I try not to forget anything.
Oh my gosh. All right, well, I'm sure this is going to come up again. I have so many questions about this life. But before we get there, let's jump into the structured questions that I always like to ask money dost. I want to know, from the top, what grade would you give your money habits if we asked you to give them a grade from A through to F.
Probably a C plus.
C plus all right for someone who literally can't get to the shops easily. I need to know more about this. Tell me a bit more about your money story. I feel like I'm so excited to hear this one.
Well.
I grew up in like not small city, i'd say, with five other siblings. So it was a big family, and so we didn't go without, but we didn't get everything we wanted because it was like, you know, a lot of kids to pay for everything. So we started working at a young age. Me and my twin sister. We started working when we're eleven, just delivering junk maut and I feel like that gave us like a really good work ethic. And then yeah, throughout school, we always had a part time job.
Saving spending a bit.
But as soon as I graduated school, I didn't even go to my graduation. I went down to wa for the harvest and just saved about fifteen grand within three months.
Oh my gosh, I'd.
Chased a binge driver and then my first car, and then I moved to the cattle station.
Like straight after that.
You were like, I do not have a plan to graduate. Thanks, just post me the certificate. I'll pick it up when I'm in town.
Yeah, I'm off.
I was living on a cattle station, always a plan, Like is this a family cattle station or is this you going? This is the life I want to live?
Like?
How did you end up on a cattle station when you grew up in I won't say major city, but like a relatively large city.
No, I don't know.
I didn't know what I wanted to do all throughout school, and I was like, oh, I don't want to be like I didn't the office job didn't appeal to me, and I was like, I want to be like physical, active, working like sort of hard labor, not hard labor, but.
You know, physical on my body.
And then we had a family friend who had a cattle station.
He was like, oh, you'd be like a really good Jilaru ringer. You should come out to mind and see if you like it.
And then I did, and then I really liked it, and I was like, Hey, this is what I want to do, and then just applied at heaps. Even though he offered me a job, I wanted to go to a company one with more employees and stuff like that.
So and then I eventually, yeah, got a job.
I didn't even know that was a thing. So what your family friend was offering was like a family cattle station. And then there are like corporate cattle station. I won't say corporate, but like business cattle stations that have lots of employees. Yes, how'es that work.
I'm a smaller and they might only have like five employees. And then if you like work for a company, normally their stations are a lot bigger, so there could be like ten to twenty employees.
Wow, So tell me more about this where do you live you live on the cattle station? Do you live with all these twenty other employees? Like how does this situation work?
Well, my first year, I was first year ringer and I lived. Yeah, it was like a station with eighteen employees plus another business like a helicopter business on that station as well, so that had like twenty to thirty people living there as well.
So it was like big. But yeah, so it was like really good.
You just had like a single room accommodation, eight dinner with everyone every night, like yeah, work, live, play all together. Didn't really get a break from everyone, but it was like so good. But now I me and my partner, he oversees a cattle station, so like I'm overseer support. So it's just us too on like an outstation with normally one employee, but we don't have one at the moment.
Oh my gosh. So now you just get to work with your partner every day.
Yeah, how cool.
Yeah, that's that's a lot. Like I'm not gonna lie. I adore my husband, but I don't think I would be able to say that if we worked together. Lots of people always ask me like, oh my gosh, does Steve help out with business because he does work in like a marketing space, and obviously that's important for what I do. And I'm always like absolutely not like keep away from what I do. It will not be healthy
for our relationship. So I'm impressed. If you can get through that, you must be a very very solid couple. Tell me more about this you mentioned before, For like you thought about becoming a Jillaru or a ringer and then you became a first year ringer. What is that job? How does that work?
So like Jillarou is like a female station hand like starting out, and so like ringers just like a station hand.
They're just like two different words for it.
But yeah, it was like really hard because I was obviously so green. I didn't I didn't grow up on a farm or anything, so I had no experience. But like, if you just have a good attitude and a good work ethic and show that to your employees, they'll be keen on you because they can teach those skills.
Yeah, one hundred percent. I feel like that is across the board for any area. Like if somebody has good work ethic, like I can teach you the technical skills. But if someone does not have good work ethic, Like it is almost like pulling teeth. You're like, I don't care if you have the best technical skills. If I have to pull teeth with you, I just I can't do it, whether you are the employer or the employee, Like there's nothing worse than working with a colleague who
has bad work ethic. You're just like, why am I putting all this effort in? So I can see why, especially when things are a little bit harder, especially when you're remote, Like work ethic would be running rings around any type of technical skill.
Ere can Yeah, most people out here know, like you have to have a good work ethic, So everyone comes out here to work hard.
So tell me now about how much you earn and what your job is today.
So I'm overseas support and I own fifty two thousand.
Five hundred plus super.
A year, and my job, like now that I'm overseers support is like anything like I do all the garden we do, like diesel return data entry as well as my string processing cattle, Like I just do whatever they need me to do, Like with my partner, help him do put troughs in like I do bor runs or walk the grater somewhere like I just do everything and anything really wow, So it's kind of like you've taken over the farm and you're the boss of the farm,
Like you just have to make sure everything happens, is that right? Yeah, as well as like cook the cook for us, but like normally we have someone here, but we might have like another station rings come stay with us for a couple of weeks, so it could we like cooking for ten people.
Yeah, oh my gosh.
And you're doing that as well as everything else on the farm.
Yeah, Oh my gosh.
Are you exhausted? Like what are your hours each day when.
We're mystering, It'll be like dark till dark, so twelve hours plus and then if it's like yeah not mustream, but it's not the off season, it could be yeah, still twelve hours, but it could be like ten hours. Nothing really less than ten hours really, oh my gosh.
And are you super tired at the end of the day or are you just enthusiastic about getting back into it the next day?
It depends.
I guess like when we're flat out for like a month my stom, you do get pretty tired, But then it's like so fun, so you're like you just try to go to sleep, Like as soon as dinner is finish, have a shower, just go straight to bed.
Yeah that's so fair. So tell me more about this salary, because fifty two thousand dollars is I would say, for twelve hour days not that much remuneration. Do you get paid in any other way? So is housing included? Or like, what do your bills look like? How does that work?
Yeah?
So housing and foods all paid for, so we don't pay anything to do with that. And then yeah, I literally don't have any bills other.
Than my car on my phone.
Oh how good?
Everything sort of supplied.
Yeah, so everything's supplied. And then of that salary that you make, you're basically able to save it or spend it on whatever you would like.
Is that right?
Yeah? Yeah, that's right.
And tell me what does the future look like? Are we doing this forever? You're obviously in love with somebody who oversees the cattle station, so I don't think you're going anywhere too quickly, but like, what does that look like in the future when it comes to income and what does it look like in terms of I guess lifestyle.
We're not sure yet, Like we would love to do it for a few more years, but we don't know if we want to have a break and then have kids and then come back.
Right, Yeah, we're not sure, but like it's a yes, so good.
But if we did want to continue, then you can like look into managing a station, which is like the next sort of big opportunity. Then it doesn't really go much higher than that, but like the pay would go a little bit higher, but not like huge, but you'd probably get more benefits, like your desil paid for, a car supplied and everything else.
Yeah, so when it comes to a job like this, I'm making the grand assumption that it's really a passion job, Like you've got to be really passionate about it and want to be able to do it. Because I think a lot of people listening, and this is not offensive in the slightest. I don't think they just go money direst For that amount of money, you could not pay me to do twelve hour days on a cattle station five hundred kilometers from a wallase like that just feels
like a lot. But for you, like you are beaming right now, You're like, but I love it, is that right?
Yeah, Like it's just for the laughst are so different and unique, but it's so fun and you get to experience so much, like so different to living anywhere else really and learn so many skills.
I want to know so much more about this, But that is not a Money Diaries episode. That's just me being super pervy. I need to know what are your big money goals? What are you currently working towards.
Well, my closest one will be a new.
Car, which I've got twenty grand in savings for that, but I want a good reliable food drive, so roughly going to spend maybe like forty grand. And then I've also got a house deposit account which i'm saving from when I've got seven grand in.
That, so oh how cool? Yeah, what does that look like in the future, a house deposit If you're living out on a cattle station, I'm assuming it's not a property that you're planning on moving into in the immediate future. When are we planning on property or do you have a plan for that at all?
Maybe in like three to four years.
Yeah, when I have more stable like assets like my car will be reliable, and then I might yeah.
Use it as an investment property eventually yeah, And.
Is that something that you would purchase with your partner, Like I need to know, like did you meet him out on the cattle station? Like how did you two get together? Because I feel like this could be a cute, little remote love story.
Yeah, we did.
Actually we met him my first year and he was like a ringer on this station and then like we lived and worked together and.
Then I like we didn't think much of it. Like I didn't.
I was just like there to work and like learn so much. And then and then once we went by, and then we were like started like talking and hanging out and like spending more time together as soon as we knocked off work, and then we're like, oh yeah, and then we just started dating.
And this is a thing.
I love it.
I love it. And how long has he been working on cattle stations?
Ah? This is his sixth year.
Oh my gosh. And does he have a very similar salary to you or is it a bit more because he's an overseer.
Yeah, he's on like twenty grand more than me.
And is that like a normal step up. I'm just I'm trying to like work out what the career progression for your type of role is because you know how you said, oh, you could go up to a manager. What's the difference between like an overseer and then like a cattle station manager.
So like he oversees the property and all the life work that happens and everything, but the manager might like do the finance side and order certain like contractors and stuff like that, like proper right.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's like the more business decisions when you're a manager, right.
Yeah, where he does like all the work decisions.
Yeah. I love that. I feel like it's so interesting learning about other people's lifestyles and like how that works. Because you know, even at the start of this you said, oh, yep, I was going to be a jillaru or a ringer, and I was like, I have no idea what either of those things are. Please tell me, And don't think I'm silly for asking please.
No.
Definitely not money dires. Let's go to a really quick break on the flip side. I want to talk to you about debts and investments. And I feel like you've got some pretty good money habits because you can't get to the shops very often, so guys don't go anywhere. Money Diarist. We are back and we are talking about your life living on a cattle station five hundred kilometers from the nearest woollies. And my next question I want to know about is investments. So tell me about whether
you invest or not? And if you don't, do you have a plan what does that look like in the future.
I have one hundred and fifteen dollars an ETFs, but I also salary sacrifice into my souper fifty dollars a week.
Oh how cool.
How long have you been doing that?
Last year I think I did forty dollars a week, and then this year I started doing fifty dollars a week.
Oh how good. And that's on top of your regular contributions. Yeah, did you make a plan for fifty dollars or was that you just going all right, I know I need to contribute more to this, or I really want to contribute more to this fifty dollars is what I can afford? Or is that you like working backwards on a specific plan, or like how does that work?
Nah?
Well, last year I just like I was like, Oh, I should just do it because I know I want to have like try to have like four kids if I get that privilege.
Four babies Yeah, you came from a big family, so that makes sense.
Yes.
So I was like, I'll be out of the workforce for a bit, like I need to, and while I'm young for it to compound. I was like, I'll just do it now, like while I don't have pips of bills and I I'm not fuss that it's not coming into my bank account. And then I think I got like a little five percent pay rise, so I was like, oh, just put extra in there as well.
I really like that you're thinking about superannuation contributions while you're so young and you know how old are you again, twenty So you're twenty and you're thinking about the time that you're going to take off for like maternity or parental leave, and that's just ah, I love it so much. I want to like hug you because it's just putting
you so far ahead. I could tell from your demeanor that you're like, oh, I don't really invest that much, but like you're twenty, you already have some ETFs and you're adding extra to souper with the thought pattern that you're like, well, I want kids one day and I don't want to be too far behind, Like do you know how far ahead that puts you, Like you are so far ahead of most people who are you know, much older than you, who maybe have a bit more
cash but haven't got the plan for it. Like I think that you're under selling how good you are at money, my friend, thank you. I'm obsessed with it. And tell me about this kid's plan. Is this something where you've said to your partner, by the way, four kids, that's the plan, because that's a lot of kids in this day and age.
I know he's like, oh, three, and I'm like, no, it has to be even, we have.
To have four, has to be even, does it. I feel like I'm a new mum. I can't stop talking about it, so please excuse me.
Gratulations.
Thank you. I know a lot of people are always like in the first year, don't even talk to me about second babies, don't even talk to me about you know, when the next one's coming. And I'm loky, like, so, how many of these are my allowed, Steve, because like I would like more of these, like not just yet, calm down, like, don't worry, I'm not trying to scare you, but like these are real cool, real fun. They are so fun, so I think that's a really cool plan. Tell me a little bit more. I want to know
about debt. Do you have any debt? If so, what is it.
No, I don't have any debt at all.
And you never went to UNI, so you don't have a hextet. You're completely clean. All you have is all your savings and your ets and your super so you're well above I love it. Tell me about your best money habit. I feel like, living remotely, you're gonna have to have a few of them.
Yeah.
Well, because we only go to town, you know, every so often. I try to, like look at the specials the week before. For the town we do go to get our food only has a wool worse.
It doesn't even have a cold.
But before we go to the next town over, which is another three hours, which sometimes we do.
In addition to that five hour drive. Yeah, so it takes you five hours to drive to the nearest woollies. And then if you're like I'm actually a Cole's girl, that's like an eight hour drive.
Yeah.
But like, because that town that only has like a worse might not have all the parts we need, so we might go to the next town over. If you have to pick up certain parts and stuff. So then I'll be like, oh, look at the catalogs as old as that sounds, and go to one shop for like our personal stuff like deoda because that's so much money, face wash, body wash. And then I might go to the other one to get like toothpaste and stuff, just to try and like, yeah, keep everything.
Cut down the costs. Yeah, especially if you're already heading there. I feel like that's really smart. I have to know you mentioned catalogs, and like I just remember when I was little going through the catalogs, like I had no idea what I was buying, but like Mum and Dad did bring them in and just like put them on the bench with their mail, and I'd be like, wow, look at what's for sale at Woollies like when I was ten. Right, but that has to come in the mail.
Are you telling me that out there the posty drops off the Coles catalog but not your groceries? Like what is going on?
No? I look on the online cattle.
Oh okay, all right, all right, all right, But.
We do get the male plane so that delivers our mail every Friday.
It's a whole plane. Yeah, what Yeah, And it just arrives on your cattle station.
Yeah, we have an airstrip, so it just lends on the airstrip and drops our mail off and then goes to the next place.
And do they stay for like a cup of tea or something or are they just in out?
No, they just drop it off walk back to their plane.
Oh my gosh, the next place. That feels so novel to me? Can you tell me? You probably don't think these things are novels, so you might not have any off the top of your head. But like, yeah, how else does life work out there in a way that I wouldn't have anticipated? So obviously, having the male delivered, I would have just assumed that they didn't deliver it. I would have assumed that you had a po box in town and you had to go in and get your own mail, because way back when I lived in Tasmania,
that's how my grandparents did it. Like mail didn't happen, you had to go to the post office and that's fine, But you have a plane that delivers it, and I just didn't see that coming. So how else does life work out there that might surprise us?
Yeah, well we have to get our own killers.
So I process all the meat like mince dice, stake it that. So you normally just go to the shops and get your beef like that, but we have to do it all ourselves.
And is that a process that happens and then you just get given the meat to process or are you part of that whole process?
Yeah, so we'll go put a kr down and then cut her up in the paddock and then hang it for a week or two and then process it.
Wow.
I feel like it's so important to talk about this stuff too, because that's literally your livelihood. But also I feel like there's this massive disconnect between where our food comes from and how we purchase it. Like I know a lot of people that would say, well, if I had to do that, I would just wouldn't eat meat. And I feel like that's I don't know, it's not a bad thing to say, because that disconnect is protecting
us in a way. But I also think it's just really cool that there are people who are so connected with the land and so connected with you know, the life cycle of something that they can process the whole thing and go all right, well, now that's in my freezer as a food source in the future, you'd also save so much money doing it that way.
Yeah, so when we do order from town, we don't.
We might get like a little bit of a chicken, and that's really it for meat.
That's fair because you're like, we don't have chalks out here.
Yeah, we have some that lay eggs, but yet not for eating.
Oh no no. And if you've grown up on a farm or ever lived regionally and ever had to process a chicken that is older, like, you don't want to eat that one, Like, it's not good. It's not good. They need a lot of slow cooking. It's not for me. It's not for me. Tell me a bit more about your worst money habit. So I know that you said at the start that you're a C plus, and I'm just thinking there must be some bombshell terrible money habits that make you a C plus. That all we really
need to give your pep talk. So you need to talk to me about what you think your worst money habits are.
I don't budget, which is really bad. I think I need to like, yeah.
Get onto that.
And then I also I find it hard to budget because like I don't know when I'm going to town next, so I'll get a paycheck every two weeks, and then I'm like, oh do I how much should I put into that account? And then I'll go to town and I'll spend like because oh no, we need this and this and this. So it's sort of like hard to figure out what to budget. So I just don't And I need to automate my accounts as well.
I don't do that either.
I feel like those aren't the worst money habits. I feel like I could compare in contrast, but we should never do that. But I feel like just not being that good at budgeting when you don't have that many overheads is not the worst. But I do want to know about I guess your grocery budget. So if you're going into town, you said maybe once a month or just over once a month, how big is your spend at the shops? Like what does that look like? And what are we like are we purchasing all fresh stuff?
I feel like it would all go off within the first week. Like, I've just got lots of questions about this process. So first tell me about the budget and then tell me about the strategy to keep fresh things fresh.
Yeah, so roughly would spend like maybe or like seven hundred eight hundred a month, but like it also depends on like the expensive stuff that we run out like oil or coffee or stuff like that, and then the
fresh stuff. Yeah, we buy, but it does like go off after around two weeks, but we try and like wrap it in paper towel and like as soon as we get the store it and head back home, I'll like go through it all and try and make it last even longer, like do things to make it last even longer, wash it all and then wrap it and baby how I put it in sealed containers and stuff like that.
Yeah that's fair. I feel like you'd have to get really crafty with that because I don't know, I'd feel like by the end of that month, I'd be just really craving fresh stuff. I'd be like, oh my gosh, like just put some lettuce on my plate. Does it get like that?
Yes, it does.
When you go to town and you're like, oh, I'll get some raspberry, is like you just you do crave fresh fruit and.
Veg Yeah that's so fair. So tell me about the planning that goes into your grocery list, Like is it very extensive or do you now have a down pat or does it take a few hours, Like I know you're going through catalogs to work out what you need to purchase. I just feel like that would be a lot of planning that I've never had to do that far in advance.
Yeah, it is.
So I have like a list on the fridge of whenever I run out of something like continents or whatever that I might not buy every time, I write it down there.
And then I also have like a checklist that I print out every.
Time when I'm doing my store, and I will to have like the basic necessities that I make sure I add every single time, and then go through the catalogs while I'm on the computer, and I'll like look at what's on seal and I might get this this time and not the next time, depending what's on sell and.
Stuff that's fair. I feel like that would just be a lot of work in addition to all the work you're already doing. Yeah, so I need to go back. You said at the very start, like obviously part of your role is mustering and you know, basically doing everything around the farm. But then you said, I also do all the cooking, So tell me when you're doing all the cooking is that your job to plan? Or is that your cattle station plans all the meals and you
just cook it? Like, how does that work if you've got ten people to cater for, Like, is that then your job as well?
Yeah?
Yeah, I've got a plan breakfast, lunch, smokeo, dinner.
Oh my gosh. And you're basically the chef around here as well. That's crazy. Yeah, I can't even think of what I'm having for dinner when I don't have my Maley spoon in the fridge and you're here being like, well, I've planned every single meal for ten people. Victoria's sit down to me, that's terrifying. I love it, though, but we need to talk about this C plus. So tell me a bit more about why beyond you know, not budgeting and maybe needing to automate your accounts, Like what
else do you need to improve? Because I feel like C plus that feels hush, my friend.
Maybe like with my invest in, like ets, I need to be consistent with them and do it every week or every month.
Probably I feel like you're maybe being a bit hush on yourself. You're still twenty, which you know, to me is a baby, and I don't mean that in an offensive term. I mean, You've got so much life to still live and so much opportunity ahead of you. I'm like, oh, my gosh, she's only at the start of this journey, because I know we've obviously lived eighteen years, but you
don't have a full time job. You're not contributing to your super properly before then, you're not like, you know, thinking about investments and what our life will actually look clack. I just feel like you're at the very start of this journey and you've just got such a bright future ahead of you. C Plus, I feel like is really I don't know, I feel like you need to be
kinder to yourself. I'm going to make it a bit easier though, because I am going to gift you our budget and Cashflow master Class so that you can budget and you can plan, and it will tell you how to automate and it will let you budget literally everything
into it. And I feel like because it's flexible and I'm not trying to sell you on it, because I'm literally giving it to you for free, but it like allows you to budget on a fortnightly, weekly or monthly basis, so you can kind of like plan around, like, all right, well, groceries a monthly, so pick that from the drop down lease st door. You know that's actually a weekly cost for my phone that goes out, Like you can like be a little bit flexy and hopefully that makes you
feel like you're a bit more in control. But I just feel like C plus. I'm not gonna argue with you and say you need to grade yourself higher, but I feel like C plus, my friend, you're not in any debt. You are saving for your first home already. You've already got like twenty thousand dollars in a savings account for a first car or a new car sorry,
because it's obviously going to be a bigger one. You're putting extra into Super because we're already thinking about these four kids that you want to have in the future. And you're like, oh, I don't really want to get behind on my Super, like that's important. I just think you're so far ahead, and I think you're really harsh on yourself, and I don't love that. But again, I don't like arguing with our diarists. I just want them to see their value and I want them to see their worth.
Thank you. Maybe a bee but yeah, maybe a bee. Yes, yeah, I've got a bit to do.
All right, Well I'm gonna let you do that, because unfortunately that's all we have time for. I've adored having this chat. I'm just so interested in learning about the way people live differently to me. I feel like it adds so much value to our community. I feel like we've just had like a chat with a friend who's just out on a remote cattle station, and that's really cool, Like you don't get to do that every day. So
thank you for sharing that with us. But also thank you for sharing you with our community, because I know that they're going to have loved hanging out with you for the past half hour as much as I did with you. So thank you, Money Diarist, thank you so.
Much for this. Thank you.
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