She's On The Money - Confessions of a Former Shopaholic

Episode Date: March 30, 2025

This week’s diarist takes us inside a financial journey that will feel very familiar to anyone who’s ever used retail therapy to escape stress. From using Buy Now Pay Later for festival outfits and groceries to hiding debt from her partner (who works in finance, by the way), she found herself in a spiral of spending and shame and didn’t feel like she could tell anyone. That is, until one unexpected lunch conversation changed everything. What followed was a slow and steady journey out of debt, toward confidence, clarity, and a house deposit she once thought was impossible. She’s now paid off $5,000 in debt, saved over $15,000, and learned how to manage spending urges without giving up the things she loves. This episode is for anyone who’s ever used online shopping as a coping mechanism, avoided checking their balance, or felt like they’d already stuffed it. Tap play and remind yourself you’re not behind... you’re just getting started. Ready to binge more relatable, inspiring, and downright juicy money stories? Check out our ultimate Money Diaries playlist. Listen now Join our Facebook Group AKA the ultimate support network for money advice and inspiration. Ask questions, share tips, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded crew of 300,000+. And follow us on Instagram for Q&As, bite-sized tips, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. 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. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri 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 Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

hello and welcome to she's on 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 Diaries episodes where I get the absolute pleasure of sitting down and having a chat with one of our She's On The Money community members all about their journey. Now this week I got an email and it sounded exactly like this. Dear Victoria and She's On The Money, I am a recovered shopaholic. I used to have over $5,000 in debt to payday loans and buy now pay later apps. Even though I had nice things, I felt so depressed because I actually had no money. I was afraid to tell my partner when we were still freshly dating because he works in financial

advice. Last year, I made the decisions to get my finances right. I paid back all my debt and I actually now have $15,000 saved towards a home deposit. What the hell? That's so good. Thank you. Congrats. Oh my gosh. I totally feel that I didn't tell my new partner because I was embarrassed. I I mean, it doesn't help that he was a financial advisor, but I did the same thing. Like I still had debt when I met my husband and I was like, doesn't exist. Can't talk about it. Don't know what you're talking about.

No, that was exactly how I felt. And did you end up telling your partner? Yeah. So we had been dating for a couple of months and we went and grabbed lunch at a cafe and him being in finance, he gets me with a, so what's your financial sitch like? Oh God. Did you just leave? Did you run out of the restaurant never to be seen again?

Because like that would have been my worst nightmare. I thought about it, honestly, like a big sigh in my brain. I was like, oh God, I knew that this was coming. I knew. Yeah, this day was surely to come. I have been busted. I was so afraid to tell him, look, your girl's got a shopping problem and I spend way too much money and I've got myself in this debt situation.

But I did. What did you say? Did you say something like that? I said to him, look, if I'm being honest, it's really bad. I like to buy lots of things and I don't know how to fix it. That's really vulnerable though. Like that's really, and I won't say make or break, it's totally a make or break situation though.

Like, cause he could have been like, well, I'm not interested in this or he could have like shown up. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had said, can't do it. Like that's it for me. but he was actually really really understanding about the situation and he actually said to me look I've been in similar situations myself where I didn't have a lot of money he didn't have a shopping problem but he used the payday loans to get by and then I remember just asking him well like how'd you get yourself out of it because I was sitting there with this man who works in

finance. He's got amazing financial literacy. It seems like. And that would have been really overwhelming. So scary. Yeah. I was like, well, what's changed? Like how did you turn a new leaf? And he basically just talked me through what he did and I tried to apply the same thing in my life and it really worked. Oh my God. I love that. And he like, instead of, you know, you being judged, he actually was like, all right, so this is what I did and this is how I did it. And I'm going to help you too. Oh, what an icon. Yeah, exactly. He actually kind of got, this must be like the finance side of him. He got a bit excited about it. Like almost like, oh, I can help you. Like I've got a game. There's a plan here. It was really cute.

I love that. I love that so much. Money Darius, before we get any further into the show, I need to ask, if I asked you to give your money habits a grade, what would you grade them from A through to F. Oh, okay. If you'd asked me this like a year ago, it would have been an F for sure. I'd say probably now we're leaning more towards the B plus. So we've gone up quite a few grades. Oh, I love this. You definitely have. Now let's take a step back. I want to know, can you tell me a bit more about your money story? Yeah, of course. So my money story is an interesting one. And it's something that explains a lot about who I am today. My family moved here to Australia when I was 12. And that was for more career opportunities because we were

living in New Zealand at this time in a small town and weren't doing very well financially. But of course, the cost to up and move a whole family to a different country is huge. So when we moved my family struggled quite a lot financially and there were times so my dad was in and out of work so I kind of learned to live life like that and I was always aware about finances I was aware about if we were going to lose our home and things like that like it was always very talked about but that meant that when I grew up into an adult and I had my own money and meant that I had to learn how to spend that in a way and I thought well you know I've grown up where money was scarce and I didn't always have like the brand new things the nicest things

so I wanted to buy it all I wanted everything yeah you wanted to treat yourself I did and I lived in a real treat yourself mentality but it was spending way above my means and I think that's just because that was a world that I hadn't lived before and it was new and exciting I totally understand that and resonate with that. I feel like I even went through that. Like that's, I guess what I've shared before that I got into astronomical amounts of personal debt and it was so hard to get out of, but like, you kind of do go, oh, well, I never had it before. And now I'm an adult. I can treat myself and I can make my own decisions and I'm going to do this. And I'm going to do that. Talk to me a bit more about that. Like, was there ever a point where you

were like, oh, this is a bit much or like, where was the tipping point? Cause you, when you wrote and you said, I used to have over $5,000. Like when it was at 1000, were you like, this is bad or were you like, oh, it doesn't matter. Like at what point did you go, oh, this probably isn't great. I always thought it was bad. Like I always knew I had people telling me it was bad too. And I was like, oh, get off my case. Like it's none of your business, that kind of thing. Like that was my mentality when I was pretty young, like 18, 19 was like, don't talk to me about it. I don't care and then interestingly enough like during COVID I had a housemate and she was really cool and I had like a bit of a breakdown about money because I was like I don't know where all my

money's going I get paid and it's gone seconds later and she was like you should listen to she's on the money what an icon and then I'm like hi it's me at the time I was like no I can't be doing that, that's not going to fix my problem. And do you know what? It's so funny because as someone who went through literally what you're talking about, if you had recommended a finance podcast, I would have been like, get in the bin. Absolutely not. I'm not listening to that crap. Like I'm not having some preachy girl who thinks she's better than everybody else. Tell me how to run my money. And now I'm like the girl telling you how to run your money. Sorry about that how the tables do turn yeah so that's how I felt and then a few years later I was like

oh my god I'm having another breakdown because it's the same thing it's been like this for a couple years now like I'm getting paid the money's gone and then I take another like payday loan again and then it's just a cycle and I felt so trapped and I was like oh my god I can't can't do this anymore that was when I hit the 5k point I was like this is absolutely ridiculous 5K feels like a significant number as well. It's not four and a half grand, it's $5,000. It was five. And I had written it down in the back of my planner.

I'd written down how much debt I was in and I'd broken it down. And I was looking at it like, this is scary. This is bad. I think the beginning of the point where it was like time to change was that when we sat down at lunch, my partner and I, and he was like, well, I've got a plan. And I was like, okay. Oh, thank God. and it was almost like this big like sense of relief like a big breath that I could take because

there was a plan and there was someone that knew how to get me out of this whereas up until then I'd just been ignoring everyone because I didn't think that anyone could help me I thought it was beyond help really yeah totally and so talk me through what then that looked like like your partner said look I've got a plan for you what was the plan how did the plan work was it big and did it involve balloons and champagne or was it slow and steady or like how did that work we took a slow and steady approach to it it was basically because I was feeling like I was stuck in this cycle and I'd have no money when I'd paid everything back he said just do $50 less each week like pay it all back and then the next time you need to draw out like a payday loan $50 less

and I did that significantly over all of my like over each pay cycle and eventually it didn't feel like oh my god all my money's gone it felt like okay only a little bit's gone and eventually got to the point where that was all paid off and I sort of attacked it in chunks so I did like the payday loans as one sort of thing and I did the shopping loans as another thing and it took me about a year to get through all of it but felt a real good sense of relief when it was all done that's when we cracked the champagne yeah good I love that could we talk a little bit more about getting into debt because like there is no way if I sat you down when you were younger and said hey babe so I've got this plan I'm gonna get you into five grand of debt and you're gonna feel

crippled by it deal and you go yeah deal yeah like that's not how it happens right like you wouldn't have ever applied for a payday loan or a line of credit with the intention of being in bad debt. It was always like blinkers on, we're looking at the grand prize, which is clothes or shoes or something. What were you buying? Like, was it really expensive items? Was it, you know, things that are just adding up here and there? Like, I kind of also want to know, like, what have you got to show for it today? To begin with, it was, you know, a few expensive items, you know, things that cost a couple hundred dollars so shoes clothes outfits for a festival festival tickets like that kind of stuff towards the end if I'm being really honest it got to the point

where it was I'm using after pay to get a Coles voucher or a Woolies voucher to get my groceries yeah because you were just like spending so much paying back debt or not sure where your cash is going that that was the option. And that was like an all-time low. And I remember being in the shops and I overheard a conversation and it was someone saying like they worked at a grocery store and they were like picking fun of someone who asked, oh, do you take afterpay? Literally get in the bin. Literally get in the bin. I literally take out these afterpays on gift cards to get my groceries. And I was like, oh my God, I've become the person they're making fun of. See, you never know who's listening. You never know. And that's awful. Like you never want to feel that way. And

nor do you ever want to make somebody else feel that way. No, God, no. That was like a huge wake up call for me. It was no longer, I was still buying nice things and stuff, but it was no longer just a tool to buy nice things. It was trickled throughout my life. I feel like all of my friends were so used to it as well. Like they'd be like, oh, there's a festival coming up. You don't have money, just have to pay it. It's fine. It's like so normal. And that was the conversation that was around me. Yeah. And then everybody else is doing it and then you don't want to miss out. So you still do it. And I think that that is such a good example of, I say often on the podcast, like personal loans are a slippery slope and it's because of exactly that. It's not like, oh yeah,

I got access to a personal loan and then I was able to buy some shoes and then I just kept buying shoes that you did, but at what cost? At the cost of then not being able to afford groceries. And we're now putting groceries on debt. And then that becomes a vicious cycle because if you can't get on top of that, you are then paying debt on debt, on debt, on debt, on debt. And that feels like trash because you don't feel like you can get out of that cycle because the way that you're getting out of that cycle is going, okay, cool. Well, I'm not going to buy clothes or shoes or whatever. Cool. You've probably banned yourself from that, but I also don't have cash for groceries. So I'm going to get that. But then next month I'm paying back last month's groceries. So how am I paying

this month's groceries? Cause then it just spirals. That's exactly how it went. And it was kind of scary to be honest. It's terrifying. Like, and at the time it's not just terrifying, it feels really embarrassing. It does. And it's not, it's absolutely not. You don't want to talk about it with your friend. Like, cause like just after pay it, it's fine. Cause that's the only conversation we'll ever have about your debt. I'm never going to bring up a breakfast. Oh, hey, babe, have you paid back your afterpay? No one's going to ask you that. Hey, are you struggling with crippling debt? No one's going to ask that. They'll just say, just have to pay it. It's fine. That's why it was so interesting when we got to the point where I was at lunch with my

partner and he just asked me and I was like, well... Oh, yeah. Us finance people are built different. We will just be like, so what do you reckon about the mortgage rates? Oh, what do you pay per month on your mortgage? Oh, this. Oh, me too. We are crazy. We have no shame. that is your brunch conversation yeah like I'm so grateful for it but like you are so right you said something before and I didn't want to interrupt but you said something along the lines of like I was just spending way beyond my means and like that's literally all it means like it's not a reflection of you not being good with money it's not a reflection of anything other than you actually just spent more than you earn full stop end of story like that's the whole story like you

just spent more money than you earned and we can actually fix that. So now you're out of debt. You popped some champagne, am I right? Yes, of course. So it became like we had a bit of a celebration when I made that final zip pay payment. It felt huge. I love this man, by the way, the fact that he's celebrating with you, an icon. Absolutely. I got a good one. I love this. And so you've gone from being in bad debt to now having 15 grand safe for a house deposit. How the hell did you do that? To be honest, I still think that sometimes I'm like, how have I managed that? But it was a case of basically growing my financial literacy and learning that there are more than one ways to save. So I got myself out of debt and then I was

like, okay, great. Like I've got all this extra money, but I don't want to just spend it. I want to save it and so we sat down and I learned about things like the first home super saver yay I'm so proud of you like that week I went to the payroll at my workhouse I need you to set up like salary sacrificing to my super and I've been increasing it like so just like finding different ways to save and things that mean that I can't touch it for shopping like you know it's out of out of mind and I've learned to spend the money that I do get and keep that aside yeah and I feel like I want to talk a little bit more about the shopping side of things because it's not just oh I wanted stuff full stop end of story often and I'm gonna ask you what your experience was

like but often when people say look I'm a recovering or a recovered shopaholic there's a lot more going on there than just wanting some stuff because we want stuff but more often than not people are chasing that dopamine high. Like it is the only thing you think about. It's the only thing, like you've got something, you've got a package in the mail and you're thinking about when you're going to get the next package and what else you're going to order. You live it, you breathe it. Like it's all you're thinking about when you go to bed. Talk to me about that side of the shopping spiral. Was that how you were feeling or was it literally like, I just spent more than I earned or are you chasing dopamine? Like what did that look like?

No, it was like an addiction. Like I was always buying something new and it was, like you said, when you wait for the package, you know, you're so excited, you're tracking it every moment. Like you're getting these emails in your inbox of all these new sales and stuff. And like, to me, that mindset still hasn't disappeared, if I'm honest. Like I still get that. It doesn't. I'm sorry to ruin that for you. It's not going to go away. we just have to reframe it and work out how we channel that yeah so like I find myself often now instead I'll just start a big online cart and I won't buy anything I'll just add everything that

I think's cute and then often a couple days later I'll look at that cart and be like I don't even really like that like yeah that's fair that's a humbling experience isn't it you're like oh that could have easily ended up in my wardrobe without further consultation yeah exactly so like that side of things doesn't change and I still often feel it but it's about having the impulse control to like hit the purchase button or not. And is there a particular time or a particular experience that you go through where that's stronger than any other time? Just before bed night time it's like when you're scrolling and you see things on Instagram or you see things on TikTok and you're like oh that would be cute and then you open your online shopping and it's

like, it's a whole spiral in the evening because you've done your day of work and you just want to like unwind and shop. Yeah. That's so fair. I so get it. I need to know more about you though. So I want to know now, what do you do for work? How much money are you earning? Alrighty. So I am a facilities and asset coordinator for a clinical research company and I earn $80,000 a year. Talk to me, what is a facilities and asset manager? I'm so sorry. Am I completely out of the loop? I also didn't know what that was until like a year ago. So basically we look after buildings, the maintenance in them, we organize all of that and anything inside them. So medical equipment, making sure that's all serviced and up to date. Oh, cool. Yeah, that's

what I do. Oh, that's kind of fun. And you enjoy what you do? Yeah, I love it. It's great. It gives me some stuff to do. And is that 80K including or plus super? Oh yeah, plus super, sorry. Oh, very sexy. So now talk to me, you obviously had the big money goal of getting out of debt and you killed it. And then in your submission, Ian, you said, I also now have $15,000 to go towards a home deposit. Talk to me about that. What's that look like? Is that your big money goal at the moment? Like how far have we got to go? Tell me all the stories about all the goals. Okay. So we are actually very close. So this is a finance goal between myself and my partner together on joint income, which is very exciting. Our goal is 70K and we are on track to be there

by November, December this year. No, you're not that soon. Yeah, I know. It's very exciting. And then what's the plan? Is that like a 20% deposit? Is that 10%? Like what are we doing once we hit the 70 grand? Okay. So 70 grand is just under 10% for what we're looking at. And we're going to cop the LMI basically just because here in Perth, like the housing market has started to rapidly grow. So we want to get in there as soon as we can, because if we waited and saved until we had 10, 20%, there'd be no chance of getting into a home. Now, how'd you learn that? Because that's something that I talk about on the daily, right? Because I own a mortgage broking business. Did you speak to a mortgage broker? Is your

partner just really financially savvy and knew how to do the maths and work out what LMI might look like and what would that look like? Where'd you get this information, my love? My dad is a mortgage broker. Oh, winner, winner. I was like, where are you getting this? Because a mortgage broker has clearly had a chat with you about the importance of LMI and whether we pay it or don't pay it, because some people are so avoidant of it. But it can mean sometimes you can get into property quicker. And like, I just finished recording another money diary because I don't think it's a secret that I sometimes do a couple in a day. This money diarist bought her house for $375,000

during COVID and is now worth $950,000. And if she had waited until she had the 20% deposit, do you think she would have got that? No. No, that's the thing. And I'm not saying that all property grows like that. That's absolutely not the case, but it's just, it's so important to understand what risk actually means and is that risk of LMI worth taking on? Yeah, exactly. So we've just decided that with where we are, it's, we don't mind taking that on. It'll fast track our process into getting into a home, which is the major goal. I'm obsessed. I love that for you. And then you've got like an area that you're going to go shopping and have a look at, and you kind of got

an idea of what you guys want to buy. Is that right? Yeah. So we've been having a look, like my guilty pleasure is looking at the housing market on almost a daily basis. I'm not even shopping for a house right now. And I have the real estate and domain notifications popping up on my phone on the daily. I regret nothing. It's like, okay, this is what you're working towards. This could be yours. And I love checking the sold section and I'm like, oh, I would not have paid that. Victoria, you don't have $6 million. You were never even close. Yeah, exactly. So we've got an area, like sort of an area in line that's close to his family and my family. And we're looking at a four by two. This is so cute. Oh, I love it. And then

the goal is to buy a home have you thought about goals after that or have we just got like our heads down bums up and we're just getting that done and we can talk later or are there other things happening along the sides so right now it's hustle hustle hustle house is the goal but we have discussed like what our goals are like after we've obtained the house because we're actually saving so much now but even with the mortgage like our cash flow will increase when we so you know we want to do a little bit of travel because we have put that off while we've been on this savings journey as well and I just got engaged actually a couple weeks ago I did spot that on your finger and was going to ask us I was like boyfriend um show me that ring show me show

me yes oh my god that is so cute thank you it was his name no it wasn't it was and I think that's so sweet. Nana had good taste. I know. I'm so thankful. Be for real. And that cut, what's it called? Is it a marquee diamond? Yeah. Yeah. That is very on trend at the moment. It is. I'm like, oh, thank you, Nan. And it's set gorgeously. Thank you. So the plan for her wedding, what does that look like? So we're giving ourselves a couple of years until we get married so 2027 is the goal because otherwise it's just going to be too difficult to save that amount because weddings are expensive and even if you don't want to go crazy wild with it they just are they just are expensive I like that you seem to have your head screwed on about this as well

because like you can just get so swept up in like but I just got engaged and I really want to get married but you have so much time ahead of you and like that would just put unnecessary financial pressure on you. Exactly. So we're just focusing on getting into the house and then the wedding will come like in due time after that. Oh, I love this. See, she met him in debt and now they're getting married. I know. It's crazy. And I wouldn't dream of getting in any debt on the wedding. No, no, no, no, no. I feel like you're not able to marry into a financial advisor's family and get into debt on the wedding. Like that's just not going to happen. I don't think even if you wanted to try it, your partner would be like, absolutely not. Absolutely not.

no no yeah yeah so I feel like he's gonna keep you kind of on the straight and narrow too I think so yeah I love that so let's go to a really quick break on the flip side I want to talk about investing I want to talk about debt a little bit more and what your good and bad money habits are so guys don't go anywhere all right money diarist we are back and you've just gotten engaged to a financial advisor let's talk investments are these conversations that happen around your household or is it all just about saving for a property? Like talk to me. Okay so I had no clue of investments prior to but I have since then learned a lot so I now invest in a couple of things. I use the Raise Roundups tool. Yep love. And I only started that recently and

that's sitting at a couple hundred dollars now so that's a really good little one that I don't even notice comes out of my account really. And then the other one that I am invested in is a high growth index fund with Vanguard. Yeah. Love. Who told you to get that? That was also my partner. He suggested it. So this man is setting you up for future financial success with or without him, an icon. I think so. Like I'm just so thankful for the education because it's not something that the average person knows about. And I am the average person when it comes to finance. I had no clue that there's this whole other world of investing, of like ways to save. I mean, like my savings right now are sitting in an

investment portfolio. So that will grow. And that's just really exciting to look at and go, wow, I did that. It's just so gratifying going, this is not who I thought I'd ever become. And I'm really proud of who she is now. Like, isn't it cool to just step back and be like, holy moly, like I didn't think I'd be here. Big time. Like I had no idea that I was going to be somebody who actually had savings. That's sexy. That is very sexy. I love that. Money Darius, talk to me about debt now. Do you think you'd ever go back into debt? I don't think I would ever go back into shopping debt or anything like that. I do still have a car loan that I'm paying off.

So unfortunately, I'm not fully debt free. But that one's a bit of a large one that is going to take a bit of time. I've got a year left on that one. Oh, okay. That's not too long. You'll be out of it before you get married. Yeah, which is exciting. So there's that.

And then I've just started Juni, so a hex debt may creep up on me as well. But that's education. That's very different to a debt for shopping. I think so. I love that. So talk to me a bit more. I reckon you've developed a number of good money habits over the last few months. What do you think your best money habit is? I would say that my best money habit is probably the fact that when I get paid now, the first thing that happens is my money goes into my investments, into my savings. that happens before anything else. It's like highly prioritized now.

I love that. And do you still have any bad money habits? If so, what are they? Please spill. Oh, look, I work in an office, so I buy a lot of coffees. The way that I've managed that though is that I can salary package a meal and entertainment card. Oh, smart. So I use that as like my coffee and lunches allowance. Yeah. Oh, how good. At least you're being smart with it. Because like, I think for some of us, we're like, I shouldn't do this at all. And then every week we're still doing it. At least you're being smart with it. Yeah. And then I don't want that guilt of like feeling bad for going to get

a coffee and stuff because it is also quite like a social thing and it helps when it comes to work and the people that you work with. So I wanted to be able to like go get my coffee and it not feel like I'm being bad. Yeah, no, I love that. And I love that it's like kind of built into your budget it that way. And it just makes sense. Money Diarist, talk me through a little bit more about this B plus. So at the start of the episode, you were like, I reckon I'm a B plus. And like, girl, you have come so far. You said 12 months ago, you would have been an F and now you think you'll be a B plus. But like, what do you think? Like, I feel like you're well on the way. Like you've got this house deposit savings. You've got shit together, basically. Like what would it take for

you to say, V, I'm an A? Like, what do we have to change? I think I'm just afraid to give myself an A in case I fall back into it. I'll give you an A. If that's it, I'm going to give you the A. I think you're doing so well. You have changed so much. All your habits are so good. I'm like, I don't want to argue with her because she's had really good growth over the last 12 months. If you're saying it's just because you don't want to give yourself an A, girl. Girl, you are an A and you need to give it to yourself. Thank you. Just in case I fall into a bad habit, I don't want to like disappoint myself or. You can fall into a bad habit. We can go backwards, but then we can go forwards again. We can go back and forwards. Like there's no perfect,

like I don't know if people pay heaps and heaps of attention to the grades on the show, but for me, it's a lot about personal growth. It's not so much about grading because like, there's no real criteria, right? Like I go, how do you feel about it? And you go, I reckon I'm a B plus. They go, great. Tell me about it. And then we get through this show and then we get to the end of it. And more often than not, you know, we've had some people who are genuinely pretty on the money with their money habits and their grade, but then we get people like you consistently who we're women and we consistently undervalue ourselves and go, oh, we'll just be a little bit behind. Like I wouldn't be an A, I wouldn't want to give myself

an A. And then we reframe it and you go, hold on, probably being a little bit critical or a little bit harsh because it's not a set instance. There's no criteria. There's no she's on the money criteria and there never will be of how to create an A, but it's how you see yourself. And I think it's just give yourself the credit, babe. You deserve to. Pop more champagne more often. Thank you. Thank you. I love it. Oh my goodness. I wish I had more time to chat with you because I think that we'd get on so well in real life, but unfortunately we are running out of time. So thank you so much for sharing your money. I'm obsessed. Like I just know that other people are going to listen to this and go, oh my goodness, I can so relate to this shopping habit

or even our conversation about spiraling out of control and then we're buying grocery vouchers. Like it happens. It can happen to the best of us. And I think that you are so articulate and come across as so intelligent that it's like can literally happen to anyone, guys. Like it's a slippery slope. And when I say that, it's not. Oh yeah, it's a slippery slope. You'll end up buying heaps of shoes that's not it at all no and so I think this has been a really beautiful story to like share that with people and then also share that like so many things I've gotten out of this you can get into a relationship and be in debt and it'd be fine how many times have we like thought oh no I can't do that I shouldn't be dating I'm in personal debt next minute here I am and I'm

married to the husband that I met on tinder while in debt I just feel like I have learned a lot from mute. I'm really grateful for it. So Marnie Dice, thank you. And I just know that the community is going to be as obsessed as I am. Thank you so much. It's been so nice to be able to share my story. Oh, I'm so grateful. Thank you. 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. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of MoneySherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.

Thank you.