When the Unimaginable Happens

My name is Aatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman and I'm here to acknowledge country t Glenn Young Ganya Nianar kaka ya Ya bin Ahaka nian Ar gay In Nimbina, yakarum jar Dominyamka Domaga Ithawakaman damon Imlan bomber bang Gadabomba in and now in wakah ghana on yak rum jar Watnadaa. Hello, beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank acknowledge and respect

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 habits for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another one of our money Darius, where I get the absolute pleasure of sitting down and talking to one of our beautiful She's on the Money community members, all about their journey.

Thank you for having me.

Oh my god, I feel so privileged that you want to share your child's story with us and you want to talk to me. Oh, I just I know that that's probably not how but like, thank you for wanting to chat to us.

No, that's okay. I'm very happy to share my story and my journey now that I've been through what I've been through and hopefully educate a bit more to everybody.

Well, before I jump into the deeper questions, what great would you give you? Money? Habits from A three to F.

If I asked right now, I'm a C.

You're a C. All right, let's see what that's about. I need to be canceled, honestly. But money diarist, can you tell me a little bit more about your journey?

So I grew up feeling, you know, not ever worried about money. Both parents. It's worked in local government, so it was always a safe money environment. There was never any issues. I grew up always watching my mom do a budget on a spreadsheet, and to this day she still does it. She still calls me once a month says I'm doing my budget today. So I grew up, you know, watching mom did that, and I have a memory of we won five thousand dollars once in the early two thousands, and that was a huge deal.

Well in the early twent thousands, that's like twenty grand oh.

So my parents like paid a heap off the mortgage, but we got one hundred dollars each meet my brother and I.

That would have felt like a thousand at that point, I.

Went and bought a Pokemon Gold Gain for my game Boy Color and I thought it was the best thing ever. So yeah, good journey of money growing up, always felt safe. Left school, took a little while to get to my career and finally settled in that in about twenty seventeen, and slowly worked my way up and just kept working, taking a few holidays here and there, and then when the pandemic kit, I was very lucky kept my job,

For you'd how did you guys meet?

We met in real life?

Oh? What the hell? Yeah, so through a lockdown you met in real life. That just feels like almost fake, my love.

It was in between some lockdowns, but it was still in the rules where you couldn't stand. You had to be sitting at bars and clubs and all that kind of stuff. So we met like we weren't both planning to go to that establishment that night, but things went that way, and he came and sat at my table because I looked bored.

So whoever you were with wasn't entertainment as much as good.

So we got chatting, swapped Instagrams, and then had our first date a week later.

Kids, these days, you don't swap numbers.

No, we swapped Instagram so he felt a number was too forward and the snapchat was too seedy. So Instagram is where we went.

I like that there's a middle ground for us now.

We very quickly met and spoke about how we didn't really want to live in the big city anymore. And after knowing each other for six months, my lease was running up where I was living in a sharehouse, and he said, well, let's do this. So I moved in with his parents and we knuckled down and saved forty grand.

That's how you saved the forty grand. That's a lot of money to save in a short period of time. Like, yeah, okay, moving in with the brand new in laws. Was that challenging because I feel like I would have been so anxious, like girl, I don't know. I feel like it took literal years for me to go, Oh, I don't have to be so highly strung around my husband's sperience.

It was definitely experience. It's also like moving from a sharehouse to like a bedroom and all that kind of stuff. So putting stuff in storage and downsizing a little bit, but we knew it was going to be worth it to get out and move. So in early twenty twenty two, we bought our house remotely. We didn't actually see it in person. We had to just do a FaceTime because things were moving so quickly that when we saw it

Oh my goodness. Property can be so hard, and that just puts even more pressure on you, Like you just go, oh goodness, Like we're gonna have to do this FaceTime, make a decision really quickly. And I'm sure that they were like there are lots of interested parties, weren't they.

Yeah, there was someone else at the house when they were walking us through virtually. Oh so we very quickly put in an offer twenty grand over asking, but we still bought our first house for four hundred thousand dollars.

Hey that's good.

Yeah. So it was a four bedroom, reasonably like rashly painted, had a pool, had a little shed, had a big yard. So we were like, yeah, compared to you know Sydney to out here. We were like dawn, you.

Like six seven months from a sharehouse to buying a house with a pool. I love this for you.

We were pretty proud of ourselves. A lot of people were still like, what are you doing? But that's what we wanted to do. We didn't want to be in the big city anymore. We want a different lifestyle, and we up and moved up here.

So early twenty twenty two, you bought how long was your settlement was at like normal standard three months?

It was standard, but we had early access so we could every weekend we literally on the Friday night, we'd pack up cars. We'd leave at like four am Saturday mornings, come up, do stuff in the house, see our friends, and then drive back to Sydney on the Sunday.

Hey, not bad, but also you do what you've got to do right or you don't miss those days though. Exciting but also a long slog.

Yeah. So well, I moved up in July twenty twenty two, but my partner was a truck driver at the time, so he kept working in Sydney, so I was by myself at home in a new job too. I got a new job at that time, and I lived up here by myself during the week for the first six months of us moved up here.

So you've been together six months, you buy a house, you live together for another six months. At what point does this man that asked for your Instagram come your husband?

So he then proposed in September of twenty twenty three, and at this point we were pregnant with our first child. So we fell pregnant in the May of twenty twenty three, and he proposed over breakfast, and he organized the whole thing from his truck while he was driving. He got his mum to go by get the ring. He asked for permission with a ten pack of Jack Daniels to my dad's place, all that kind of stuff.

That's so sweet.

Organized it all remotely, and.

Is that like a proposal that you were like, this is so me Yes, oh I love that.

And it was such a random restaurant. He's like, where do you want to go for breakfast? And I chose when he went are you sure? And I was like, yeah, it's.

Just breakfast to do. It's not like we're getting engaged.

But it actually ended up being nice because I was like overlooking a park and all that kind of stuff.

So it's so cute.

So yeah, so that's September of twenty twenty three, and he said, let's get married quickly. I want us to have the same last name, all that stuff before the baby come. So the baby was due.

Because you got you were pregnant in May, right, and then you go.

Yeah, so the baby was due on Valentine's Day of twenty twenty four.

How was your pregnancy because I feel like sometimes.

I was really crook, so and then you know, when you look back and find out why I was really crook. And we got to mid November, so we were getting married mid November, organized it all. We did full DIY on a friend's farm.

Oh my god, girl, you were pregnant and planning a wedding, and you would have been like heavily pregnant.

I was. We got married, I was twenty seven weeks.

That's a lot of weeks, especially if you're feeling a bit trashy.

Like, yeah, so we're in November, I'm feeling a bit crook. Getting follow ups and all that kind of stuff. Went to have a scan on a different part of my stomach, and that part was near where the baby lives, and unfortunately, that's when we found out the baby had passed away. No, I was twenty six weeks.

Twenty six No, Oh my goodness, Like, I don't know how that feels. And you know what, I'm not even going to try and say that I do, because it is so different to anything I've ever been through. But just the idea that you weren't prepared for that like,

I was told I had an interior placenter, so I was told you won't feel much, So me not feeling much was normal. So on the Saturday afternoon, I went, oh, I felt a kick, And then the Sunday I went, I haven't felt much. And you know, if you were told not to don't worry, go in Monday afternoon for a scan on my kidneys and my bladder because I was crooked and that's when they found out. So this is Monday afternoon.

Oh far, I'm so.

So we get up to the hospital this Monday afternoon. My husband's just gotten back from thankfully driving back home not to Sydney. Tell him, jump in the car up to the hospital, get up to the hospital, and they say you have to give birth. No, and I just went okay. That's because I was not educated at all about what happens when this happens.

But you don't know what you don't know, and in the nice way, ever, it's kind of nice that you've not had any experience of this.

Before, reflecting. All I got was a pamphlet sometime in my pregnancy saying still birth might happen to you, and that was it. So I get up to the hospital and we're chatting through when I'm going to give birth, and that's when I dropped that we get married that Saturday, yeap, So we very quickly had to put a plan into place. So that was the Monday night. I went back to hospital the Wednesday and I gave birth to my beautiful little girl.

Did you get to spend much time with her?

Yes? Yeah, and she was the most beautiful little thing. She's got a cutes little nose. So I spent some time with her, and then I had to stay in hospital until Friday. Of course, so my husband went, I need to be busy, so he left and did all the wedding stuff, so the marquee, portoloo, the food, the alcohol, all that kind of stuff. So he went kept himself busy with.

That, honestly, fair Like, I get wanting to be busy, but at the same time, I'm assuming every single person going to your wedding knew that you were having a baby.

Yes, we had kept the pregnancy quiet until twenty weeks. Yeah, and then but everyone so that that's when all our family on what the Tuesday, said are we coming up now? And we said, no, leave us. We'll do this by ourselves. And so we did all the giving birth by ourselves. But friends popped around to the house to check on the dogs, for example, because you just we just dropped everything and ran and I just was told to rock up to the wedding really in my dress, which is what I did.

Stop and what is that like? Because like, you're marrying the love of your life, right, you are the man, I'm assuming of your dreams and that was like something that you look forward to and I'm sure since you were little, you're like, one day, I'm gonna have the big light dress. I'm gonna have a wedding, and like you guys were so excited to get married. It was like September to November.

It was an eight weeks that I planned a wedding.

Yeah, hustling to get married, and like there was probably I don't know, I feel like it's a little bit romantic if you're pregnant and then getting married, because it's just it's a love bubble. Like you're in this bubble of like we're having a baby, we're getting married, We're doing literally everything all at once. What's that like? Like I'm going to cry like I did.

Oh, it was a rollercoaster. I think I had not really been alone until I had an hour before I had to get ready for the wedding, and I just sat there and I just went what has happened over the last week? And one of my cats had come up to me and crawled up and noticed that the like she used to crawl up on my tummy and now she noticed there was nothing there, and that like her look on her face and she's.

A cat, it's creepy.

Hey. Yeah, So yeah, I just kind of I drove myself to hair and makeup and drove myself up to the wedding, got changed at a friend's house around the corner, and then walked down the aisle and we spoke to our celebrant the day I was giving birth and told her what was going on, and she was amazing. She's like, Okay, what are we doing here? What do you want mentioned?

And of course they were, and I bet they just hung out the.

Whole day for no reall one hit me in the face as I was getting photos done. Yeah. So then we got married, and then then after that you then sit down and go, Okay, what do you do. Now we're married, and my husband had to go back into work. You took a few more days off, it went straight back into work. Was actually starting a new job as well, which meant you would be home all the time, which was great. But I remember also having to call my

How do you guys not know what that means?

So that was really that was something to navigate, and they didn't know what the options were. So thankfully now we've been through all the options, they have all the detail because I'm very strong about educating that this is going to happen and for people to be prepared in all shapes of life.

One hundred percent. So that happens, you obviously take some time off work. Then what does life look like after that?

So in Australia, after twenty weeks or if a baby is born over four hundred grands, it's classified as is stillborn and therefore they get a birth certificate and you're entitled to the government benefits. So I had two options, which was the normal paid print or leave that every parent can take, or a still born payout, which is around four thousand dollars last time I checked, which is recently, which for me was about a month's salary. And I looked at it and I went, I don't think I

But you also probably had a bit more freedom and flexibility than the fore grand payout. Is that right?

Yeah, I had the option. Like, my husband has made me a very strong person, and he said, if you're going to take time off, what are you going to do? So I did put in effort to like going to the gym and doing little bit for me, made sure I did everything every day. I'm a very big tailor Swift fan, so I spent a lot of time making friendship bracelets because I wasn't going to get to go to the ears too, because I was due exactly when

Actually yes, oh my goodness, your friend came in clutch.

So I got to come down to Melbourne for three shows and I went to Sydney for three shows, and it's just the most it was the most healing thing because I'm very big, swifty, seen her multiple times and all my friends made me a bracelet with my daughter's name, you stop. So this arm was full of bracelets with her name, which was beautiful. So just it was a very healing time. And then yeah, I actually fell pregnant again just before I left for the ears to us stop, that's.

So special as well? What's that like? Like, what is it like having gone through that and then finding out you're pregnant again because you know again And I'm not trying to make this about me. I think this is definitely a completely different story. But like I am the most anxious pregnant person ever because I I'm just not good at staying pregnant, Like I've now lost four pregnancies, and so being pregnant means that I'm quite anxious the whole time. I'm like, this isn't going to work out,

With my first daughter's pregnancy, I was very much like testing every single day and had to see the line get darker, and it got darker and I got darker, and I paid for extra blood tests to make sure the numbers were rising. But with my second daughter's pregnancy, I don't know why, but I didn't. I kind of got the positive blood test, I went, Okay, we're just gonna sit. Obviously my experience is going to be different.

You're like, you just need that extra hand holding process.

I literally saw my and I'm in the public system. We don't have a private option really where I live.

But the public system when you're a high risk pregnancy is honestly like, I won't say flawless, but pretty flipping good.

Well. I was high risked with my first pregnancy too, so it was just very different experiences. So when I got to sixteen weeks and we did another skin they said, it's now your choice. What do you want to do? I decided to come fortnightly. Yeah. So because my first daughters was growth restricted pretty much. Is what she's passed away from is mount nourishment. Well, she was too small. Yeah, my placenta was the issue. It was full of blood clots and therefore stopped.

So you would have had to start aspirin really early off.

Yes, that too. So my biggest thing was seeing her grow. So every two weeks I wanted to see.

I want to see gain. I want to see her longer. Yeah, I see her tracking on the graph.

And the irony is that she was a weak ahead.

Every single mum, mom stops stressing.

I got this. I had kicks all the time, but it was still it was a very anxious time and therefore we didn't announce my pregnancy at all. We kept it to ourselves and close family and friends only. We just dropped on Facebook after she was born an surprised guys, Hey, we've had a child. So yeah, So I got induced it thirty eight weeks, which is I really pushed for because I just had physically had enough.

Honestly, fair like, I'm not gonna lie. I envy those women who were like, pregnancy is so magical, it's the best time, I really worshiped my body. Girl, I've never felt worse in my life, like I trying to roll over in bed, like I did not enjoy it. I couldn't breathe, like I just felt like trash all the time. I vomited on literally everything, like one out of ten ye experience. I envy people, you know what. I say

I enjoyed it, but I was just as last ten weeks, especially once I got past twenty seven weeks, it was still just every week was like, is everything okay?

And even after that point, was her weight tracking well?

Yes, she came out at four point two kilos at thirty eight weeks. She was well and truly.

Did not need those extra a few weeks.

Nope, No, So.

I love that. I love that so much. So tell me a little bit more. I guess you said you didn't go back to work. What do you do for work and how much money do you earn?

So I'm now back in my job, which is an executive assistant in local government. Oh, very cool and I'm on eighty eight thousand plus Sooper.

Oh, hey, that's good. And does that like because it's local government, does it increase every year? Is there like a plan?

Yeah, you have like steps, so I'm I think I'm at that last step now in my grade and we get the like the CPI increase and stuff as well. But at the moment, I'm just doing three days a week with a transition to be back full time in a few months. So tell me about your second daughter. When was she born? How old is she now? So she's seven months old.

It's not fit delicious, she is delicious.

She's got arms like a croissant.

I love that, my baby. So when Harvey was born, he was like three and a half killers, which is like bang on, like standard baby size. And then I swear he ate a different baby and left the hospital and he has been the chunkiest boy ever since. And it is my favorite thing ever, the little chubby wrists.

Oh yeah, she's got those.

She's so cute. I love this. So talk to me about money goals, Like you've bought the house, you've got the pool, You've moved like I guess into state. What is your big money goal? What are you guys working towards.

So in the midst of everything that happened, we also sold our house. We went on this everyone, you guys okay, because we sold a lot of stuff. We sold our house and we moved another thirty minutes north and so now we're on a property that's like half an acre a lot quite at town. But this still isn't the forever. So we're definitely starting to work towards getting some acreage something like five to ten just to have some cows. And my husband communities right on moer.

Oh my god, So tell me about that, because if you're you've sold your house, you moved into this one, and you're like on a little bit of land, are you expecting that to increase in value and then move or like, have you got like little plan?

We spoke at the beginning of the year and like, do you want to do anything in twenty twenty five? We said, no, let's just kind of settle into being parents and all that kind of stuff, and let's just keep smashing out our mortgage, which we are. So we've paid nineteen thousand off the principal already in fourteen months. The way we do it as well, is I've switched to weekly repayments, but we also do forty dollars a

Downe that interest And for those of you who maybe haven't deep dove into like what that actually means interest calculated daily on your mortgage. So the end of the month, they kind of go, oh, you have a thousand dollars interest due. But if every single day you are cutting that down, that at the end of the day means at the end of the month, less interest is owed and therefore more of the money that you've paid off over that period of time actually goes to the real

We looked at it actually last night and we were doing the math, and if we didn't put anything extra, we'd only pay five hundred off the principle a month, and that feels like nothing, but us doing it this way is paying an extra fifteen hundred.

Dollars off stop. That's so significant. Have you calculated how much time that will save you?

I think so far, we've already cut three years off the loan.

Stop it, and you haven't even lived there that long.

We've only been here fourteen months in this house.

Yeah, and you've cut three years off. So by the time you guys move again, you'll probably be like twenty year mortgage or something.

Hopefully.

Yeah, Oh my goodness. I love this for you. Do you have any other big money goals that you're currently working towards.

That's the main one, is really just finding the forever home as nice and as quiet as it is here. It's a I don't like the layout very much, and it's obviously very cold, and we've got just fireplaces and gas heating, and I'm like, I just want some doctor their con and I'd love to go on a proper holiday. We went on a honeymoon when I was eight weeks pregnant, with my second daughter, and that was not a vibe. And we're on a cruise, which was probably not the best.

To you, like, how can I make this pregnancy worse exactly?

And it was one day I went, am I sea sick and my morning sick. I don't know, I'm just sick.

Oh No, Like, I'm not gonna lie the idea of being pregnant on a cruise. Girl, you just really wanted to watch it well burned.

I really I don't know what I was thinking. But anyway, because we booked it before we felt pregnant, like I think it was like in December, after everything happened. Really, let's book our honeymoon.

What a great trip. And then you get pregnant. You're like, I'm actually perpetually seasick, and now I'm going to get seasick. This is perfect?

Is great?

Oh I love that pet, Money, Doris, So let's go to a really quick break because I have a lot more questions and we'll get to them in a hot minute. All right, money Dorist, we are back, and I feel like your priority is clearly smashing down your mortgage and you are really good at it. But do you have any investments? If so what are they? What do you think about investing?

I am in the middle of a bulk listen of the backlog of shares on the money, so I feel like investing is definitely front of mine at the moment. I have just started a SHARE's ease yeah great in the last week. But outside of that, I have just my SUPER at the moment and.

Working in local government, do you get more super than the average, Beth?

I think it's twelve percent.

Yeah. And how's your super tracking? Are you happy with it? Have you been looking at it?

Yeah, I've been checking it and I did notice a little dip. Obviously, I haven't had super paid pretty much all of this year yet because I've been on Central Link since the beginning of the year.

How annoying because Sendlink has just updated to paying it super as off July, so you just missed out on that. I'm so sorry.

And I'm not planning on any more babies, so it won't be any pregnancy is not for me anymore.

We are done.

I'm too and done. So I'm at sixty five thousand.

Oh my god. Okay, you're doing really well for your age.

When I looked back, is I've only been doing Super for ten years, just because when I started, I was late to the game. I didn't start working till I was about eighteen because I had some big surgeries when I was younger and I couldn't do much, So I didn't start working until I was eighteen, and it really with all the fees and stuff, I didn't really start getting Super until twenty fifteen.

So, hey, look.

Sixty five over ten years, I'm pretty.

Happy, pretty well, even though it's tiny, that additional percentage that gets paid, like it does pay off over time, like it doesn't like a lot. You're okay, I guess it's better than a kick in the pants. But then you look at it after ten years and you're like, oh, actually that did significantly contribute to my returns, which is very very nice. Now talk to me. I need to know more. You bought another house, but we have no information on the debt that you carry. How much did

So the house we're in now we bought for five hundred and sixty five thousand, and that's on half an acre, four bedroom house. I'm so envs And we had a ninety k deposit from the sale of our first house. So we bought the house for four hundred thousand dollars and eighteen months later we sold it for four hundred and eighty two thousand dollars.

Very nice. And you guys had that forty thousand deposits, so you basically flipped that in eighteen months to be from forty to ninety.

And we added like an air con to it and all that kind of stuff. And then we now owe four hundred and seventy five thousand on this house.

And how does that make you feel?

I think we're doing really well.

I think you're doing really well as well.

I'm pretty happy with it.

I'd prefer not though.

No, I'm still waiting for the day we win the lotto because my husband wrote in his wedding vows that we would.

Well call me when that happens, because I have a few good financial advisors that are literally with stuff like that. It's coming, so you'll need their details.

Right exactly exactly it's next week.

Do you have any other debts?

So at the moment, I have a credit card debt of about eleven thousand dollars and it's not pretty, but it just shows that you kind of need that little bit of support, especially when on paid Printally, I was.

Going to ask, like, what's that made up of? Is that going on paid parental leave? In your diary that you wrote in you were like, I really want to talk about, you know, the awareness of financial systems. Did you win to debt after having your first daughter?

I think so. I think we did. I had to cut back on a lot of things. I kind of went I had about one thousand dollars a fortnight drop going on to Centerlink. I got a couple of leave options from work and I used those around orygment even

For in now, which actually makes me. I own a mortgage broken company. So I see that stuff all the time, and it makes me so angry because you could have worked with the same company for ten years and then taken parental leave and had a legit central ink income. You could have been the most financially savvy person. You could have saved for the last ten years to take this period of time, so financially you're not behind, but the banks like you have no money by It's not true,

I went back to work early.

Oh, that's the last thing you needed. Was that really painful to go back to work.

I wasn't ready to go back to work. I was due to go back after six months, and I went back after four and I feel like I probably needed a little bit more time. But it's just the way everything fell. And I believe everything happens for a reason. So it's okay, but it was really disappointing that the banks were just like, sorry that you've had a loss and sorry that you're on Centerlink. They wanted proof of savings that we couldn't. You know, it was tens of

I'm so sorry. That part of it makes me so angry because it's like, where's the leniency? Like anyway, I won't go on and on about that, because I absolutely could so I want to dive a little bit further into this eleven thousand dollar credit card debt. Talk to me about that. Is that something that gives you the eck?

That's the plan is to start smashing it out as my income increases going back to work. I've redone my budget that I've been doing for years that haven't really followed. It's been there on and off, but I've pulled it back up and gone, no, no, I need to help smash this out as well. So I'm changing. Like, it's not really a percentage, it's just kind of working out. Okay, there's going to be left over here that goes straight

Food.

I mean, thankfully she wasn't eating for a while, but she's just started eating so adding in food, fuel, all that kind of stuff, plus just enjoying your life.

So babies are just expensive, like nappy is expensive, and they add up wipes and like, who knows you might be using formula. I couldn't believe how expensive formula.

He's forty dollars a ten at the moment a week for her.

That's the same as what Harvey was on. And it's kind of like even if you look at the cheaper ones, Harvey refused them. I tried to be like, oh, I did all my research. I was literally on chat GPT being like the national value of this versus this, because like, you know, you don't want to do wrong by your kid. I get that deeper one and he's like, what is this? Absolutely not? And he also would not take anything less than the bloody thirty dollars bottles, Like he refused.

Oh yeah, I had to switch bottles. She didn't like the bottles bottle.

He wasn't drinking out of it.

There was just ruda. I bought you this beautiful new bottle. Not interested.

I tried to buy the Audi nappies because all of the mum's on my Facebook group were like, oh the Audi nappies are great, go and buy them, and I'm like, slay, like ten out of ten for us. They leaked everywhere. I was like, what is this? Why do I keep trying my hardest and being picked?

It was just building up slowly. But it's just things like you know, she grows so quickly, and next to it, you're having to go buy the next size up and.

You want him to look through as well.

Like yeah, well, yes, she's a bow girl.

Yes. Honestly, it was a money win for me when I gave birth to my son and they said it's a boy. I remember on the first day, I thought this is going to be great for our bank account as opposed to me them like is that a dress?

Can I I'm just gonna go. Let me just have a look at that.

I'm a boy mum. And still if I wire past country Road and see the little girl outfits, I'm like.

Oh what is that?

That is the cutest thing ever. I can't look away. If I had a little girl, I'd be done for. I'd be canceled.

I'm starting to find a dress for a wedding we've got to go to in a couple of months, and it's just like, oh my gosh, she's only ever going to wear it once. Oh, but it's so cute.

I'm on your team. Please any pictures because I live vicariously through girl Mums money direst Talk to me. I feel like, yes, you're in credit card debt, but I feel like it was inevitable given the situation. Talk to me, though, what do you think your best money habit.

Is definitely become a points queen.

Oh okay, I love your skip.

So that was the reason to get the credit card in the first place. For things like I've switched to shopping at Wally's to get the everyday rewards. We're flying for this wedding interstate, so we've been like saving up the points for that kind of stuff. But everything we go to buy, we go can we get points somewhere from this one year for flight? We just did all fly bys one year and then that at Christmas with eight hundred dollars in flybys points. So that was how we went Christmas shopping.

Oh, your genius.

So we're very much into points.

People like, it's a dollar here, a dollar there. Yeah, and over a year it becomes eight hundred bucks. It's eight hundred dollars you didn't have before, isn't it.

So very much into points and just any way that we can get some more points.

My team and I really like doing the like double stack. We're doing the points, but then we're also making sure that when we accumulating points, we're also using cash back, so we're like shot back, cash rewards, literally any of it. Who's giving the best discount or the best cash back, we'll use that. And I would like some Flybys points to boot thank you. I think I've been on shop back for I want to say three or four years now smart and it's sitting at four hundred and seventy dollars.

But like even I did a shop the other day and I got twenty dollars back and it was like a Bond's order or something for one hundred bucks. And with I think it was only a few days ago, so with their sales and everything and end of financial year, I got twenty dollars cash.

Backe and that money just like stockpiles over in the side. Then you'll have a couple of hundred bucks to make a decision with money wien. That is a good deal on the flip side though, tell me what do you think your worst money? Howit is?

Food?

Yeah? Same girl? Are we eating out? Are we cooking expensively at home? What does that look like?

Now? We're going through a drive through?

Because do you follow me on Instagram? By chance?

Yes?

Have you seen how many times I go through the McDonald's drive through? You can't stop, won't stop.

I think as soon as I also was not pregnant, it was like, give me the soft serves and the milkshakes.

That's fair.

And also, I mean you'd think living thirty minutes out of town means that you don't have the temptation of the drive through. Now every time I go to town, it's on the way out of town.

So how do you say, notice some GPAs For.

Me, it's like a vanilla milkshakeh.

A vanilla milkshake?

Do you know what?

I don't think I've ever had a vanilla milkshake? Does it just taste like soft serve?

Pretty much?

Okay, maybe I need one of those on the way home.

Just we're going to see that on the store tonight, you will.

I'll be like the money dist today, not naming names.

So definitely, yeah, food and sometimes with concerts and stuff. It's like I've got to be there. Not that I go to many, especially even regionally. It's a whole thing to go to a concert and.

Then back to Australia. I just know that credit card would absolutely be slammed. I'm onto you.

Well, going back a little bit, I did that whole tailor thing, six shows. I did all of that funder two grand, which I'm pretty impressed, with a lot of nose bleed seats. Yeah, so you're still there, which didn't matter. I feel like it didn't matter how far back you where. It was still the same vibe. I didn't sit on the floor all but I sat probably every angle of stadiums and didn't matter I was you were in the room. It really didn't matter.

I love that for you so much. Is there any other worse money habits to share? I feel like that's probably sufficient.

I think so.

I feel like you're killing it though, Like you are an EA in local government, which is really secure job eighty eight grandy year plus super and it's good super. You've been through a shitload and to only have eleven grand of like credit card dead and also you're like within the process of like upgrading your home at some point, I feel like you're fine. Yes, that would probably be stressful when you look at it at three am, because

Maybe we'll bump up to a B.

I feel like a B is far more reasonable. Like, also, it sounds like you and your husband are really savvy when it comes to finances, Like you planned a wedding in eight weeks with deer. Do you remember what you spent on your wedding? Because I have a sneaky suspicion it wasn't one hundred grand I.

Think we spent eight c She's sadly my dress cost My husband's outfit costs more than me because he needed new boots, new jeans, new shirt, new hat. I wore the same boots I always have, and my dress was I want to say, one hundred and sixty.

Dollars on my what that is money?

We and I'd bought it for my pregnant body because I still and I still had a bump on my wedding day because I hadn't gone. I think the most of that eight grand was probably the celebrant and the alcohol, and even that we had so much leftover.

And so did you guys cater I'm just so pervy. Did you guys cater that like yourselves? Because you said that it was at a friend's farm, right.

Yeah, so my father in law, Owen's a butcher shop.

Okay, nice.

So we had literally the ovens, did all the meat everything. So one of our friends did all the catering. We just ran it on generators.

I'm a cea, but you're a genius. I love it. I love it. I hope that in the future, when you're back down for a future Taylor's with concept, we get to run into each other in person, because I just feel like you and I are going to get along, Like I think that you are a queen, and I'm just so excited to share your story at the same time as just feeling like we need to be talking about these topics so much more, like we shouldn't just

Yeah, completely agree.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Thank you for being an avenue to be able to share my story. I appreciate it.

Of course, of course, you guys are always safety at Money Darst. It has been a pleasure. Thank you so much. I know that the community is going to love hearing from you as much as I've loved hanging out with you today.

Thank you.

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