She's On The Money - 5 ways to not go broke this festive season

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

Christmas is coming (we're not sure how either) and to help you navigate your way through this offensively pricey time without sabotaging the savings, we've slapped together our top tips for budgeting ahead of this silly season. PLUS we chat Georgia's dream of becoming an influencer - simply follow her @gkingontour to show your support - we chat Victoria's new plastic hinge contraption (!!) and we mosey through stacks of the usual stuff you love (at least we think/hope/pray you do). Enough from us - go forth and enjoy sweet listener!Looking for the CHRISTMAS BUDGETING PDF? We’ve got you. Click this link and save your copy now!Love the podcast sick and want more SOTM? We had a feeling that was the case. Join our Facebook page to share your money wins and money confessions, follow us on Insta for daily inspo to keep you on track and absolutely subscribe to our newsletter, the written recap of the pod’s key takeaways, including some bonus bits you won’t want to miss.Finally, if you’re in a money mess and need help untangling the muddle - we’ve got you sorted – simply record your question and send it through to us at [e-mail] and you may just end up on the podcast!Your hosts are Georgia King and Victoria Devine.The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Georgia King. I'm a copywriter and journalism student. And every week I chat money and how we can make it work for us with millennial finance whiz, Victoria Devine. Hello, V. Hello, friend. Now, today on the show, we are going to be chatting through everything you need to know

when it comes to budgeting for Christmas, which is wild to me because the Christmas episode was actually the first one I did with Shears on the Money last year, Fee. And I feel like we've come so far. Happy anniversary right back to you. Now, if you are feeling a little bit stressed about how to get through the festive period without draining all of your finances, then this is absolutely the episode for you. Before we do head into our money wins and confessions from the week, though, a little reminder to everyone as well to please vote in the listener choice awards which we

yapped on about a little bit last week yeah like we're being very self-indulgent here by promoting ourselves but genuinely you're all talking about this earlier georgia and literally like i'm so grateful to be nominated for the other awards but really the one i care about is the listener's choice exactly that's because you guys actually get a say and that's important to us isn't it 100% so we'll put the link in the show notes as well so you can click through by just scrolling down the little show artwork and then you'll find it um go friends go please money wins confessions vicky d talk to me oh if you call me vicky d again there will not be another christmas episode with you on it loves it oh do they i don't know i actually know they do because so

many of them respond to our newsletter emails and they always say hey we love this also you have to apologize before we move on to money wins and confessions in our newsletter every week friends georgia king does george's unsolicited recommendations she does did you put one in last week george well no so the newsletter was like really long this week do you know why i know how do you know because so many people emailed me saying where's george's unsolicited recommendation really yes and then they also offered their own suggestions one person saying tuna another person saying that Panna ice cream was on sale at Coles this week. A lot of this good stuff, actually.

Yeah, like all of these things could have been included, yet you chose not to share your unsolicited recommendation. Yeah, look, sorry to everyone who does feel cheated there. I won't let it happen again, and that's on me, and I'll reflect on that overnight, and, you know, it won't. Just watch out. Friday, your inbox, around 12pm, there'll be something sparkly for you in there, guys.

Thank you, Georgia. Feedback is a very big part of She's On The Money's culture. Wins and confessions, talk to me. All right. I have one from a little bit of left field, right? So I have at home an iMac and I have had that since 2012. It was the computer that I wrote my thesis on at Georgia King, which is very exciting. And I stopped using it because the hinge on it broke. So like where the stand is and the screen is, the hinge stopped working. And so I got a quote from Apple to get it fixed ages ago and it was going to be, I think it was like seven or eight hundred dollars. And I was like, it's just

not happening. So for a very long time, I had an empty jar of peanut butter holding the screen up and then I migrated to just using my work laptop for everything. So during ISO, I realized I do really like having a home office, but I would like to have my computer there full time. So I started Googling how to fix it myself. Turns out that's next to impossible, but someone online sells a little plastic hinge that solves the problem perfectly. So instead of spending $700 on getting my iMac fixed which arguably is a great money win. I spent like $40 or something on this little plastic hinge on mine. That is gorgeous. Yeah it was actually really helpful and it clips onto the back and you're none the wiser. How can Apple possibly charge $800 for that by the way? I think

it was because it was completely out of warranty and from watching numerous YouTube videos my friend I've realized it means pulling the entire computer apart and putting it back together which I clearly do not have the skill for so I didn't do it I bought a plastic hinge so that's my money win this week I know you guys are so enthusiastic about it but Georgia King do you have a money win or confession for us that's arguably better than mine look mine is kind of boring as well just kidding yours wasn't boring um so I've been selling stuff online recently guys I've never done that before because I'm lazy I've had this box of clothes sitting in my room since probably year 12 there's a couple of formal dresses in there that are online if anyone is interested

get some g king merch me up yep yep i'll sign it for you just kidding no one would be interested in that um but no i have made some money not that much money like 120 bucks but put that in my savings why do you look at me like you're so surprised we are literally the poster women of selling things online side hustling getting extra cash it felt good yeah it feels good but i'm just shocked that you're so surprised it actually worked it's such an easy solution the only downside was postage though I forgot to like put that into the price and it's like ten dollars to post of some mail I didn't I just haven't done that in a long time yeah it is actually quite expensive hot tip for you guys selling online either say postage is included or and say the

price yeah or say plus postage yeah because it often looks more attractive that way marketing Well, actually, I don't know because I'm like now we're heading down behavioral finance road, which is not this episode, but like I'm more likely to buy something if I get free shipping. I would do that. Free shipping. Yes. Yeah.

If you say it's free postage, I'll be like, yes, thank you. That's a money win. If you say it's $4 postage, I'll be like, oh, do I really want to spend $4 on postage? All right. That's a hot tip and a hot tip to all the ladies out there. Bump up your price slightly and say free postage. Clever. It's what would get me buying.

Very clever. Anyway, let's move on. Let's move on. you go first oh no you didn't introduce it all right i'll introduce it guys time for the community shout out it certainly is vicky day you can go first sorry stop that okay all right right i actually have a money win from our friend jessica and i actually really like this one for a number of reasons you guys will see why she said after listening to the christmas episode of she's on the money last year she was inspired to set up a christmas 2020 savings account and she was

transferring $50 and she said sometimes more each fortnight from her pay into it and she created this saver on the 23rd of December 2019 and then she just hit her goal of $1,500 today. She said that she didn't really notice the money being taken out and she's just found out that she also has $200 worth of flybys points which can also help contribute towards food or beverage over Christmas. She simultaneously hit another major savings goal overall today so it's a pretty big goal money win for her that's huge honestly I love this for so many reasons first reason Georgia is that one she hit a money goal fantastic heck yeah they're my favorite two when she was doing her Christmas budgeting it didn't just include gifts it was like food and beverages and I really

like that because a little more yeah those are the things that catch us out like we forget how much we actually spend on extra drinks around Christmas or like if you have to take a plate to your aunt's place like you might end up spending $40 on a cheese platter or you know $25 if you actually do the Aldi challenge but that's not the point is it anyway I really loved that and I hope that you've got one as good as I found look I do mine is from Ash actually just back on that I love when we see posts like this off the back of episodes like she took the advice from last year's Christmas episode and has made she's killed that money goal it's amazing I actually love that because like small things add up and it doesn't feel like a lot when you just

start no but now Jess has $1,500 to spend on Christmas and she's not going to be stressed about it in the slightest and I know that lots of people who are listening to this today are going to be stressed about Christmas which is coming up now so it's kind of just a little kick in the bottom to let you know that you probably should start a Christmas savings account we actually have a savings template or a Christmas goal chart that is going to be dropped or should actually georgia already have been dropped in our podcast group um for you guys to download so you can actually track it and work out how much you need to be saving for christmas whether that's next year or even this year just so you can be on top of it yeah can we hear your money we can the group

mine is from ash so a while ago a girl posted in the group about the my 7-eleven app where you can lock fuel prices to save you money plus you can get some other freebies which is already a score as she said so then she saw a collab opportunity with 7-eleven to promote this app and she scored heaps of money from it she loves it for her i love it for her and she wishes everyone a happy weekend um how does that happen i i actually don't know because i've never seen a collab opportunity for 7-eleven albeit maybe i did accidentally have one the other week because they sent me a box of donuts for halloween honestly i didn't consume any of them you I wouldn't be allowed to do gluten stuff.

But you best believe my partner inhaled four donuts and I'm assuming by how quickly they were gone, it means he liked them. Yeah. I'm happy for you, Stevie. I wonder if I could collab with 7-Eleven. I've got about 150 followers. So if you're listening to 7-Eleven, do get in touch.

G King on tour, we can work together. Should we move on to the main topic of today's show, Bea? We absolutely can. I'm really excited about this one, actually. It should be a good one. Let's jump straight in. All righty, guys. So Christmas, it will come as a surprise to precisely no one,

is an extremely expensive time of the year. And last year, Aussies actually spent a total of $18.8 billion on the holiday. Billions and billions. Billions of dollars. That averages out to be $969 per household. And crazily, another little stat I found was that 5.8 million Australians didn't have enough cash in the bank to cover Christmas and had to actually rely on credit.

Now, that figure did break my heart, V, but it also just makes sense because there is so much pressure at this time of year to spend, spend, spend, and we will talk about that pressure a little bit later on in the show. But before we do that, and before we jump into our Christmas budgeting hacks, talk me through why you think Australians continue to spend so much at this time of year, even though it does seem like our financial literacy has improved so much. I would hope it has. I mean, we've got people implementing our advice from 12 months ago.

That's impact right there. But as you said, Georgia, it is an incredibly expensive time of the year. Aussies spend billions and billions of dollars each and every single year on the festive season. It's honestly on so much more than just the gifts as well. As we know, it's the food, it's the parties, it's the additional travel and petrol money you didn't actually put in the budget. The list of things actually goes on and on when Christmas comes along. And in a year where most of us haven't really been spending as much as we would in usual times, my prediction is that it's probably going to be a little bit more over the top than usual

when it really shouldn't be, in fact. I've been thinking about this, obviously, because we planned this episode. And I think that the main reason we just keep continuing to spend it this time of the year is because it's what we've always done. It's that most of us are so used to dropping hundreds each year without really pausing to question the tradition of it or if we should be spending at this time of the year or if we should be spending less at this time of the year. The other key thing I think is the marketing Georgia which absolutely goes overdrive at this time of the year and it might sound really obvious to those working in sales or marketing of which I know there are many of you but the average Joe Blow it's very easy to become completely overwhelmed

and fall victim to the ads that are literally everywhere that are telling us to spend spend spend spend spend. Look we spoke about the psychology of sales and advertising on last week's show so I won't harp on it too much but if you do want to brush up on why our brains are wired to respond to ads the way that they do I would recommend going back and listening to it and if you've already listened to it listen again listen again or maybe we actually just need another episode on the psychology of spending um but even I as someone who is quite obviously I would say across finance right like I mean I don't I'm not perfect but I do know a little bit about personal finance it's more of a do as I say not as I do kind of mentality but I do find

myself spending more at this time of the year yes I do actually plan for it and I do budget for it in advance because I know historically what my spending has been like over this period but for the most financially savvy of us it can also be a time that we get really swept up I'm not gonna lie I did end up going over budget for Christmas last year because I ended up just doing some last minute shopping and as we all know this isn't a statistic that's real but like i would say 100 of us who last minute shop spend more than they should have oh for sure yeah what do you think that she's on the money stat just so you know legitimate as hell certified by vicky day yeah now do you think that is a pressure of being like i'm so far behind better spend more don't

want to miss anything like is that what that is or not sure move on if i'm being honest i don't know entirely what it is i think it's the psychology behind wanting to give and wanting to share and just feeling like your love ends up being bundled up into an item which it absolutely cannot be but often lots of us feel like genuinely if we don't get a good gift it must mean we don't love that person I'm a bit of a hippie when it comes to stuff like this as well because there are some people and I don't know if you guys are into this this is totally left field this is such a fluffy episode I do apologize but I really like love languages and understanding people's love languages. And some of you are going to have the love language of gift giving, right? So that means

that you genuinely want to give and receive gifts as a sign of affection and love. And that is totally okay. But if that is you, you really need to go above and beyond to make sure that you are staying on budget and that you're really thinking about these gifts so that those gifts don't become just really, really expensive because you feel the need to do that because that's your way of showing love. So for me, I think it's genuinely about just not getting caught up in the hype and just really thinking about it and that is why this week we have created our Christmas spending list so that you can keep track of it and stay on budget and have a little bit of reflection time around how to save the most on this and given there is what just under two months to Christmas

we actually have the time to plan and still buy things online and have it arrive and you know actually we've got time to make sure that we're making the right decisions here back on the love languages thing just for a minute you would be gift givery wouldn't you I feel like that is very much your vibe why would you say that well you have given me a few things if you wrote lattes in the past yeah I'm a bit of a gift giver I'm definitely a gift giver and I'm a bit of a words of affirmation person as well like I really like telling people how much I appreciate them which you probably have experienced as well well jokes on you I've never said anything because I have no appreciation for you I'm also an acts of service person like I feel like all these love languages

if you guys haven't looked into it it's actually really awesome to understand yourself and your partner or your friends and like how they like to communicate and the actions you can do to have the biggest impact on them it's just kind of cool like there's I think it's five I think it's five different love languages it's like words of affirmation physical touch receiving gifts quality time and acts of service and if you can work out what your partner's love language is you can usually get them a gift that they will love the most so like if their love language is acts of service like maybe they'd prefer like a homemade like gift card where you say that you'll do things for them and they'd really appreciate that whereas if someone really likes quality time

maybe you say oh we're gonna go on a picnic and spend an entire afternoon together like I know it sounds a little bit fluffy but it's a really nice way to understand the person that you're giving a gift to so it can be more thoughtful and I really like frameworks I don't know if you guys knew that what's is that like a psychology no I just like having structure to everything I create yeah it's so strange um let's move on that is interesting we can probably link that in the group or in the show notes or something, because it is a real thing. We're not just faffing on here, but we will move on. So let's go to our hacks. So the first one I have here is to plan and use the sales coming up, which we spoke about last week to utilize those discounted prices. Veet, elaborate.

Yeah. So this one actually ties perfectly into last week's conversation, which was no coincidence. Like we've done this mini series. I hope you guys like it. Where we spoke about making the most of the sales that are coming up so we all know that black friday is coming up and if you have people in mind to buy for have a brainstorm about what they would want i'm not going to harp on about that because we've just spoken about it but if you did miss last week's episode on black friday it's coming up on the 27th of november as is cyber monday which is the following monday and as i said to you guys last week not only can you save money on sales if you're already intending on purchasing that product but it means that if you're planning you're not just buying willy-nilly and just buying

because you've got a discount where you still get that instant gratification of purchasing. So let's plan it. The other part is planning, which we spoke about on last year's episode on Christmas, is to put away money regularly so you can afford Christmas and have designated funds for spending at this time of year. Now, obviously, Jessica, who I spoke about before, did this, who I mentioned earlier in the Facebook group, but we can't all be as organized because we don't have 12 months.

We've literally only got eight weeks now. But if you haven't been as organized as Jess, that's okay. that's what the hacks on this episode are for friends exactly right there v and that does lead perfectly into our next hack here which is to cut back on that non-essential spending which we do talk about all the time but it is very important and it is especially important if you are wondering how you're going to pull off christmas this year because we can put that extra money away and allocate that towards our christmas fund absolutely we say it literally all the time but if you do have trouble identifying where you are spending money unnecessarily then do print out the last couple

of months of your statement so that you can clearly see your spending and then highlight the purchases that you've made that are non-essential. So if you can cut out some or even half what you ever have that you have, whether that is oat lattes or cigarettes, I hope not friends, but also Uber Eats, let's be honest, then you'll be able to put lots of extra cash away each week, which you can put to better use and on things that you actually value as opposed to, you know, extra Uber Eats, which is often a convenience thing. Let's start planning friends. So would you open up a special Christmas fund account? Is that a thing?

So lots of people do do this. And I think it's like it's awesome to have a separate one. I don't have a Christmas fund because it's in my larger, you know, cash hub that I use that actually holds all of my savings for different things throughout the year. But I found that using – I know this is not sponsored by UpBank at all, but I really do like UpBank. You can break down different savers with them.

so instead of opening an entirely new account you can just break down different savings portions of that account and kind of like have a little christmas saver which i really like and you can even put emojis in the um name of it's just awesome in there yeah love it i was at the end okay yeah that's the end that's all i've got sorry um next hack v which i love i love this one but i'll let you explain it it's to say no more often can you talk us through how this can actually save us money yes absolutely I mean no I'm a funny gal sorry um sorry sorry I just think I'm really funny you don't need to go to every single event this festive season my friends this is true of summer generally too and it probably wouldn't be as much of an issue this

year given our COVID limitations but you do not need to go to every festival or concert or Christmas party that is coming up and I know you're probably feeling like you want to because you're making up for lost time but please think about your bank account before you make these commitments catch up with friends a thousand percent but it doesn't mean you have to go out for drinks like let's step back into covid life for a little bit let's do some more cheese platters let's do more picnics like i reckon 2021 should genuinely be about embracing cheaper catch-up options which previously during covid we were forced into exactly right i really liked it but i know a lot of people can actually feel really guilty doing this and I get it because I do too women especially I think have

the tendency to be people pleasers but by saying no straight up and being just really honest about how busy you are or that you just genuinely can't afford it actually has the effect of making people respect you more and I think that that's a way better look than just cancelling the day before or like the day of which is never that sexy oh there's nothing worse than a flake I actually used to be a bit of a flake in the olden days way back when Georgia King way back when it was a bit the high school thing i just wouldn't go to stuff um and it earned me quite the reputation as uh a dickhead um so yeah don't don't do a george in high school i'm not gonna lie though i'm a socially anxious person sometimes which you guys might not have known but i know georgia king knows about me

um so like i actually get a lot of joy when someone cancels a social event on me like i'm oh no that's terrible um damn we can't go um but anyway you have a free night or whatever exactly but moving on people usually get it and we've all been there and i'm sure they've been there themselves and there is absolutely no shame in saying no i just think be really honest and upfront about it there's something so empowering about a friend that's like hey that sounds great victoria but i actually can't afford to do that like the first thing i'd go is like yeah fantastic like i still want to catch up with you though how do we do that yeah like it's it's not actually about the thing with my friends it's about actually having something to do together and

if my suggestion isn't in budget that's fine nothing's set in stone my friends i love that uh the next little point we have here which we did speak about last week very briefly is to opt for handmade gifts yes yes so i probably to be honest wouldn't do this one myself because i do have the craft skills of a first grader georgia it is the thought that counts well it is the thought that counts when I was in grade one I actually everyone in our whole year level got artist of the week and I didn't I was the only one that didn't get artist of the week well okay you being a podcaster now you creative spunky lady anyway sorry so many stories from my past tonight uh okay so what I want you guys to do is have a little think about what you're actually good at

are you a bit of a chef who could nail you know a gingerbread house that's probably more baking than chefery but you know whatever um maybe you could bake some nice cookies whip up some nice jams maybe honestly jam is so easy is it jam is so easy to make like let's find a little she's on let's find a recipe let's ask our friend millie padula who's a dietician for a jam recipe and we will post that hot little recipe in the group and you best believe it'll probably be healthy as well because it'll be from our friend millie do you reckon jam could be healthy it's just jam can totally be healthy 99% sugar and a couple of berries yes but okay this is such an off-track episode but I'm loving it um you can use chia seeds instead of sugar so it becomes quite healthy

like let's talk to Millie before I sell a recipe she doesn't endorse um yes I've made it before and I really like it so interesting all right honestly we should all get jam jarring yep chia seed jam okay um other ideas you know you could be artistic you could draw paint knit crochet I don't know people are into that I'm laughing here but people love homemade gifts because they are they're full of love they're a little bit sentimental they're a little bit thoughtful I guess and it's better than just like a scented candle or another body shop moisturizer which I would love the old body shop I'm not gonna lie body shop moisturizer is it is good chef's kiss yeah yeah it is chef's kiss but you know it is also it's what you get for those people that you

don't know you know 100% like I made my part I think I've told you guys this and if you guys would like to know I'm do you know what I'm going to start talking about myself because I actually had a really great chat with my friends from the Outspoken podcast this week. And they asked me a lot of invasive questions about my family life and about my Christmas tradition. So if you want to know what I do for Christmas, head on over to my friends and have a listen to their pod. I'm moving on. What's our next hack, Georgia King? Okay. So the next hack is to set price limits with your friends or family slash whoever you really buy for, and also to consider starting a Kris Kringle. so talk us through these points okay so this one's uh let's be honest a little bit self-explanatory

but they are both really good ways of putting a ceiling on your spending at christmas time so choose a set amount and just stick to it if you have a partner do the same thing things can actually get super out of control at this time of year so take control instead by setting boundaries on your spending your friends and family are honestly going to be relieved as well and chris kringle is honestly another smart way of spending less it's also known as secret santa whatever you want to call it i'm cool with that so basically each member of your family or your friendship group just has one person to buy for instead of several it is often capped at a certain price point as well which we love and it makes the whole ordeal far easier and far more financially

attainable i also think it's a little bit more economical like in terms of just like waste and like getting one present instead of six million presents that you're not actually going to use well that's a massive issue at this time of year the waste would just be ridiculous i should have got some stats for us but i didn't um but yeah that'd be really interesting more stats on another podcast friends yes yes yes another question for you here sorry rogue how much do you think you should spend on your partner i think it varies completely it's completely personal but i do think that you should have a chat no i don't think that there's a ballpark no because like i think i've actually you know what georgia head on over to outspoken the podcast i don't even know if

they've published the christmas episode yet but i'm sure it's coming soon they definitely do deserve some more um subscribers though this is absolutely not sponsored but I actually talked about what my partner and I do for Christmas because we don't actually buy each other big presents we do what's called a Christmas basket so head on over there and maybe you will learn something friends yes good tease it's also a really long story okay love it um okay well that brings us to the end actually here we are so let's recap we've got Kris Kringle yes we've got price limits where you can absolutely yeah and that's going to be different for everyone depending on just what your values are, I guess.

We have opting for homemade. And hitting up our friend Millie Padula. At Dietitian Edition, yes. Yeah, exactly. But like hoping that she has capacity to help us. I reckon. We're just wildly speculating. Yeah, she might not be interested.

She might be done with us. Okay, next one was say no more. Loved that one. Planning, that's an obvious one as well. And then, of course, cutting out non-essential spending in the lead up, which is kind of hard to do right now. It's so hard. There's so many good sales.

now as well it's like yes like there's so many good sales and like this morning get this it's wild i went to my first pilates class of the season same girl oh my gosh i'm so excited but one of the girls across from me i could see the brand on her leggings and her leggings were again chef's kiss amazing i think it said nimble and i don't own anything from nimble yet so i was kind of like maybe i'll look at that when i get home that's terrible for me like i do not need more workout leggings nor do i need to be spending money right now so i think this is just a little check-in for all of you guys who are spending money on yourselves that you potentially don't need to be spending yeah when we've got a bit of a pricey period coming yeah exactly think about it

it can be tempting especially to our melbournians who haven't really had an op to go out and shop 100 percent um i wanted to flag here as well our mates over at aldi you know also not sponsored we're just in love i know but you mentioned before the the cheese board our cheese board challenge it's honestly it's so good like set a challenge if you're gonna go over to someone's house for christmas and you are meant to bring something along what a better idea than to set a budget and try and stick to it yeah 100 100 um and 100 take a shot yep love it oh god also last bit from me i'm gonna wind this up is to also be careful of the boxing day sales which can be very tempting on the old 26th of december you know use the sales if you're gonna buy stuff anyway but

don't just do it because it's a massive sale which is what everyone does on boxing day it's ridiculous and that is all from me vicky d round us out okay well just that's five times i've called you that sorry all right georgia before you hustle me on into the listener question i wanted to just add that this christmas is going to be a special one because it's been a little bit of a weird and isolating and difficult year for so many of us for lots of listeners they're not actually going to be able to spend time with their families this year so to all of you we are sending our love and we want you to know that you're part of our family but now we can have our listener question let's do it hello lovelies i'm currently 5k in debt and it is bad debt as you girls will call it but i don't

want to be a sting this christmas as i love giving and i would hate to miss out just because i've made some silly decisions in the past i know you'll say not to rely on a credit card but i don't feel like I have much of a choice. Any ideas you have of not leaning on credit at this time would be amazing. What's the answer to this one, Bea? I think this is a really interesting one because I know so many people are going to be going into this Christmas in debt. So for me, it would actually be about making a budget, understanding your cash flow. And I mean, never rely on credit if you can avoid it. It's going to be unavoidable for some people. I'm not going to sit here and be like just don't do it because it means that you actually miss out and

like I think it's a very challenging space right the advice here is obviously do not rely on credit but if you cannot put food on the table or get Christmas presents for your children or family this year without relying on credit like that's okay like and I want you to know that that's okay I'm obviously not endorsing it as a really great long-term solution but if it's something that you actually need to do, fantastic. But don't go crazy just because it's on a credit card. Still have a budget, still put in place limits on things. Talk about to yourself even just what you want to spend. Are you spending $50 a gift? Treat your credit card like you're spending your savings because you are going to have to pay it back. And the longer you take to pay it back, the more

expensive it's going to be. And also understand that this is probably a really good time to go, all right, do you know what? I'm not going to feel guilty about putting Christmas this year on the credit card because it is the last time I'm putting Christmas on the credit card and really knuckle down for the new year create just like Jessica your Christmas savings goal so this is not a situation you find yourself in next year but I do not want for even two seconds people to think that because I'm against credit cards it means you shouldn't be using them at Christmas time so many of us have been through such challenging years that I just think it's so naive and so yeah it's just not appropriate for anyone to have the opinion that that's a hard no

yeah like if you need it my friend I'm with you but we need to create a plan that you are no longer reliant on that in the future does that make sense Georgia yeah yeah it does and it is hard because you know the kicker with credit cards is that you get them for the right reason or maybe you don't but sometimes you do and then you can let it spin out of control but if it's if it's a lifeline for you. I think that that's a really good thing, right? Yeah. Look, they're not the devil that often people make them out to be. Nobody gets a credit card with the intention of going into heaps of personal debt. Not one of you that is listening that is in personal debt is going to say, oh, well, actually I got this because I have, I just have always wanted to be in debt, Victoria.

Like it just doesn't happen. So I think it's just being really aware that you are using this as a tool to achieve your goals and your values, but it is not a sustainable option. Hi, I'm 24. I've got a new house and a new nose, and this is my money diary. I'd say my attitude to money has always been a really positive one and a really valuable one. My grandparents on both sides of my family, they were immigrants to Australia and literally started with nothing. So they had to build from the ground up and worked really, really hard and therefore instilled that sort of attitude onto my parents. My dad has been a small business owner ever since I could remember. So I've always seen him work really hard and value money in a very

different way. And the way that he looks at investing has sort of shaped the way that I feel about money. I remember when I turned 15, he sort of turned around and said, cool, you're at the legal age now, you need to start working. That's exactly what I did. And my main motivation at the time was that I actually wanted a nose job. That was something that I've been really self-conscious about since I was an adolescent preteen type of thing. So when I was suddenly thrust with the opportunity of having a job, I was like, oh my gosh, I could have a nose job in a year, like not really knowing how much a 15 year old actually gets paid and that kind of stuff and that was in high school I started working weekend jobs at a cafe and my dad was

the one that actually said like say for example I got paid $100 a week he said nope $70 is going straight into savings you can have the remaining $30. I remember I hated him at the time for it because everyone else that had my all my friends that had part-time jobs or casual jobs were able to spend their money freely and I almost thought that I was doing like slave labor type of thing all the child labor working really really hard and not seeing a result but I was really really grateful because by the time that I turned 18 I realized that I needed a car so once I had purchased my car my next goal was going to be the rhinoplasty because everyone had said to me there's no point in getting a nose job like save for other things there's no point but I figured

my mental health was something that I valued more than the next milestones or the traditional milestones. I was able from 18 till just after my 21st birthday, I was able to save enough for my nose job, which at the time cost $15,000. It's a huge amount for me to part with, but at the end of the day, that definitely aligned with my values because when I had had it done, my entire mindset had changed and it actually made me a more confident person. And it certainly hasn't stopped me from working towards other savings goals as well. Because yeah, I think mental health above all trumps those like expected milestones that I was meant to meet and things like that. What does she do to earn money? How much does she earn? And how much is sitting in

her bank account right now? I am an osteopath. I am relatively new to the profession. So my wage is currently at 52,000 a year, about that. But because it's quite a physical job, I only do about 30 hours a week. Prior to us buying our house at the end of July, in my savings account, I had about $65,000. I've got three separate accounts. In my everyday account, I have got about $3,500. That's just where my wage goes into and then I disperse it from there. I've got a savings account which has $4,000. It used to be a lot bigger than that prior to me just buying the house. And then my fiance and I have an account together that's for a travel account and that's got about seven and a half thousand. What is her attitude towards investing? Does she

invest? Well, one, I don't currently invest. I do want to invest in the future. I think investing is a really awesome concept. The idea of having a passive income is something that just absolutely fascinates me. I was never exposed to investing in, I'd say, the traditional way people expect investing which is like the shares and stuff like that I was more exposed to property investing but I don't think in this current climate is something that I'll be able to achieve and especially not with my current wage and my fiance's current wage but I certainly do want to look into property investing because I see my dad now living on primarily a passive income through his property investing and I really really admire that and I aspire to be like him in that way so I've been

exposed to investing, but in probably different ways. What debts does she have? I have my HECS debt. I think it's currently sitting at $38,000. That's the, yeah, that's the only debt that I actually have. I've never had a credit card. I've never had a car loan. I have never had any other personal loans. I am very against that because I feel like if I have those options available to me, I will just spend. So yeah. You know, you have got one other debt, right? What's my debt? The one we've just been- Oh my God, my mortgage. Oh my God. I keep forgetting that that's a thing. Oh my gosh. What is her best money habit? Definitely the fact that once I set my mind to it, I can save. But other than that,

which I feel is relatively evident in my habits I would say that I have a real knack of if I want something I will find the cheapest way to get there without compromising on quality like for example I wanted a really nice tv unit and all of the tv units that are really really good quality are somewhat over a thousand dollars but I had found a lady on instagram that was doing refurbishments and I was able to get this massive beautifully made tv unit for about three hundred dollars so I was really stoked about that and what's her worst money habit I spend a lot on takeaway food and coffee and just general lifestyle things that include food in my head I equate food to necessities and essentials when like it's not essential for me to buy a croissant and a coffee

every single morning but that is something that I'm just like yep I've got the money there I'm gonna pay for it so I'd say that's my definitely my worst money habit because I could probably save a lot more or put that towards another nice thing like a nice shirt or really good skincare or makeup but definitely takeaway food is the worst thing for me what is her big money goal prior to actually having the house I'd say that my biggest money goal was actually being a homeowner so I was very very excited to be able to achieve that with my fiance but I would say short term more a family car we're still quite young so we're not planning a family anytime soon but ideally would like to, if we want to upgrade our car, we're thinking a family car would be the

net thing. So we're saving for that at the moment. And what grade would you give her money habits? I would give my money habits a B plus. The reason why is because other than saving really well, I feel like that's where my good money habits sort of end. So because I have been able to live at home and I haven't had much expenses, I know that once I am actually out of home, I'm going to have a bit of a shock as to what budgeting is actually like and, you know, what bill paying is like and those kind of expenses. So I think I'm going to come to terms with the fact that I can't save as much as I am used to saving. So I think I have a lot to learn in that regard. So that's why I'm putting myself at a B plus because, you know, I don't necessarily

invest yet and I don't know what quotations real world spending is going to be like. V, 24, new house and new nose. Talk me through. I love it. I really liked it because she was obviously spending in line with her goals and her values and something that really shines through here, which is kind of like the message that we wanted you to get out of this is that everybody has different values and everybody has different goals and they are all valid. And I think that if you want a new nose, you want some new boobs, girl, I'm here for you. If you budget for it and it is aligned to your goals and values and it doesn't put you in personal debt, like these are the things that are important. If a new nose is the thing that you need, fantastic. I'm so here

for it. And I loved that she was just like, no, my self-confidence would benefit from it. Like that's to me really important. And sometimes I think we forget how important our mental health is and how money can actually help us achieve mental health, like positive mindset, which I think is really important as well. So sometimes I often see people in our community putting far too much pressure on themselves to save and invest when they have other things that they really want to spend their money on. And so that's where values come in. It's not just always financial values and how rich you can get. Yeah. And that's like a big money goal that she worked towards for a long time. And she was saying that when she was a teenager, her dad made

her ferret away most of what she would earn. I do like that. I like it too. It teaches you good um just good lessons young on how to manage your money and then she would have been strides ahead of her mates who would have just been you know spending it up yeah 100 or whatever yeah but in saying that we still enjoyed it like i was good at spending when i was younger my dad used to give me brilliant advice to save did i take it no sorry dad i love you but um i wasn't a very good listener as a teenager so some of us took it and some of us didn't but i think the most important thing here is if you were a spender when you were younger like there's always time to change like there's even a post recently in our Facebook group I think she's 23 yeah is it too late to change it's like

my friend there was no such thing as too late like whether you are 23 33 or 103 like you can change your money mindset you can change your values and you need to stop comparing yourselves to others yeah like focus on you my friends but also I don't know maybe you're gonna ask me this I thought that her judgment on herself was a little bit harsh. As in the grade she gave herself? Yeah, the grade she gave herself. Oh, okay. I thought it was a bit harsh because she came across,

and maybe this is like obviously it's Money Diary, so I don't know her deeply, but she came across as really financially literate and she knew about investing and she knew about savings, but it wasn't in her budget at that point. My friend, just because it's not in your budget doesn't mean that you are lower down on the rating. Like to me, she sounded like an A.

like yeah you're right you're not investing yet but there's a reason and a really good reason why you're not investing and you seem to have a really good level of insight and understanding of her personal situation and to me that's an a that's not you know what she rated herself as so i think that's important to point out as well because you don't have to be an investor to be an a plus yeah but you can just be really good at managing your budget and your cash flow and actually being really on top of your personal finances and to me that's really important yeah you don't need the million dollar share portfolio absolutely that's not what creates an a plus an a plus is someone who really understands their financial situation embraces personal finance

and is totally on top of it and i think sometimes people get really carried away with the idea that you have to be a savage investor to be really good at money you don't like yes that could align to your goals and values but it's not always possible for all of us and that's okay too Mm-hmm. One more question here, V, before we head off or head into the wrap for today. I wanted to ask you a little bit about what you think of saving lots of money when you're still living at home. I feel like sometimes there can be a bit of a judgment about that because that is obviously a very privileged position to be in, to be 24, still living at home, having spent your whole life there so you know you're not paying for bills or bored necessarily what do you make

of people who might judge people who have a house because they have been at home that whole time does that make sense as a question it really does and this is something that frustrates me I don't know how to address this as clearly or succinctly as I'd really like to but I think when privilege occurs it's important to acknowledge it but it doesn't make you bad like privilege. Fantastic. I'm so happy for you that you had that opportunity. I wish that opportunity on everyone. It's just not possible though. So I don't think that people are bad people because they have privilege and I don't think it makes them less understanding of other situations. I think it's just more about when privilege rubs me the wrong way is when people

don't understand their privilege and when they aren't grateful for it. And I think that that's the most important part here for me it's not about who was privileged or not like at the end of the day we are privileged because we are Australian full stop end of story but then there are so many other layers and complexities that come into privilege whether that's whether whether that's you come from a wealthy family or your parents helped you out financially or maybe you just had you know have a higher IQ so you're able to get a more complex job like all of these things play into privilege and there's just different levels of it and i just think that often we can get really hung up on other people being privileged and feel bad for ourselves but at the end of the day

like i just think that it is what it is unfortunately the world isn't fair and we need to just embrace what's right for us not necessarily compare ourselves to the situations of others and whether they've been lucky or not all righty v um yes you said that well as you always do but it is time to wind up today's show okay but georgia just before we head off we'd really like to acknowledge and pay respects to australians aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for sharing and for caring on the land which we are able to learn we pay our respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness now to the boring

bit that no one probably listens to uh i think i do though really yeah because it's just i'm just always interested to see if you mess up the numbers so mean now the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision and we promise vicky d just kidding victoria divine Ryan is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management, Proprietary Limited, ABN 34132463257, AFSL 339151. Did you like that?

I want you to wrap it next time. You're going to have to come up with a wrap. Okay, I'll do it. And thank you to Ryan John who puts up with a lot with us, doesn't he, V? He does. He's our producer, as you guys would know by now. Keeps us in line, Georgia. Keeps us on track.

He does. Good on him. Your turn. Oh, thank you. I promise, guys, I'm actually not as mean as Georgia tries to make me out to be. No, she really is, guys. Oh, my God. So we would love it if you joined our Facebook group, which is where I'm not very mean.

It's also where our community shares money, tips and tricks every single day, free of judgment. Just search She's On The Money on Facebook and join us. If Facebook's not your thing, you can also find us on Instagram. We're at She's On The Money, A-U-S. and this is another not subtle pointer to scroll down now that our episode is done and vote for us. I mean, don't vote for us if you don't like us, but I'm assuming you probably might be friends

if you're at this point of the podcast and vote for us in the listener choice of the Australian Podcasting Awards because it honestly means the world to us. It would. What should we do if we win it? Oh, my gosh, we're going to have a Zoom party. I think we should have a Zoom pre-party. Oh, all right.

We'll work it out. cruises some body body sees you know what that's done that's the episode hi guys