She's On The Money - I Grew Up Terrified of Money. Now I'm Saving $2,000 a Week

Episode Date: May 31, 2026

This week's Money Diary is proof that earning more money doesn't automatically make you feel secure. Growing up, she was constantly worried about money. Not because her family was struggling, but because she'd picked up on snippets of conversations and quietly convinced herself there was never enough. So she did what a lot of us do. She worked hard. Really hard. She got her first job at 14, worked multiple jobs through uni, saved obsessively and thought financial security would come from earning more. But after graduating and looking closely at her spending for the first time, she realised something surprising: the problem wasn't how much she earned. It was how little attention she was paying to where it was going. Fast forward to today and she's investing in ETFs, saving around $2,000 a week, planning to buy her first property, and building wealth with far more confidence than she ever thought possible. This conversation is about scarcity mindset, the stories we inherit about money, and what happens when you finally stop being scared of it. SORT YOUR INSURANCE: A big thank you to our partner Skye Wealth for bringing this episode to life. If you're ready to get your insurances sorted, you can learn more about them here.We have a long standing referral partnership with Skye Wealth and only ever partner with people we trust. CHECK OUT THE SOTM INVESTING HUB: Full of our best investing freebies, resources, courses and podcast episodes here. INVESTING FOR BEGINNERS: All our best beginner's investing podcast episodes in one place here.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 Nartarsha 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 - 4451289See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Natasha Bamblett, I'm a proud First Nations woman, and I'm here to acknowledge country. Tii, gilinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawamundamun imalan, mumibangada boma ininyalan waka, gaunan yakarumja, wutunarana. Hello beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal people's land that we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see. She's on the Money podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections,

bringing you the tools, knowledge and resources for you to thrive. 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 stories, for educational purposes of course. Welcome back to another one of our money diaries brought to you by our friends at Sky Wealth, where I get the absolute privilege of sitting down with one of our incredible She's On The Money community members and talking to them all about their journey. Let's jump straight into

it because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Hey V and team, I spent most of my childhood and adolescence fearful of money and in a scarcity mindset. I started working immediately after I turned 14 and I saved as hard as I could. Learning about investing has changed my attitude towards money. I now work as a sole trader in Allied Health and I'm saving around two grand a week to buy my first property next year. I'd love to share the experience that helped to change my attitude towards money. uh money diarist two grand a week economy so funny my queen what are you doing actually don't

answer that I will get to that but my goodness are you proud of yourself I am it's quite funny to hear that come back from someone else saying it but yeah I am quite proud I am very privileged I live at home rent free and have a lot of good things going on that way as well so it's a lot of luck and privilege that come into it too. I don't know. Let's learn about that because when people start to say, oh, there's a lot of luck, there's a lot of privilege. It's so crazy. There also seems to be a lot of hard work. It's crazy, right? Like there just seems to be a correlation, but we all know correlation isn't causation. So let's learn about it. Money diarist, if I asked you to give yourself a money grade from A through to F, what grade would you give

yourself? I'm quite confident in a steady B. A steady B. All right. Well, let's learn more about that. I have a favorite question on this show. Everybody knows that. Let's dive into it. Can you tell me a little bit more about your money story and the things that have impacted it? Yeah, sure. So I've grown up in a standard household, two kids, two parents, mom and dad worked very, very hard. They still do work very hard. We always had enough, but not enough to do everything. So we never really went on a lot of holidays, but they prioritised sport and private education were two big things. They wanted us to enjoy our childhoods and also be set up to have a really good career with my brother and I. And I always kind of picked up on the conversations

around money growing up, I think. Like I always knew when things felt a little bit scarce or a little bit tight. And I kind of, I used to slip money into mum and dad's wallets just so, you to help out. And it was not needed. That's so wholesome. I always thought we had less than what we did. So growing up was kind of interesting. I was so keen to just jump into the workforce. So on my 14th birthday, I applied to a very popular retail company in Australia and I worked there for seven years. When I got my first job, mum and dad said, don't forget to save. So I always saved 50% of my pay and anything extra was like bonus. I think I was earning $13 an hour when I was 14. And at the time, isn't it so crazy at the time you're like, whoa, this is so much

money. It's insane. Cause I could save so well on such a low rate, which was yeah. So interesting. I heard about your savings rates already. So I think you're pretty good at it still. I think the habit kind of continued, but I saved for my first car that I bought when I was 16 and then set the next money goal of just saving until I could find something else I wanted. So I've just been, I guess, saving as hard as I could. I worked two jobs through uni. So I worked in a mix of hospitality and retail or allied health and retail. And I was earning about $1,000 a week through uni, which was quite a lot.

But I was spending... Because you're 22 now, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. So through uni, like that was only a couple of years ago, but that's a lot. It was a lot. It was a lot. That's a lot of hours. I'm just like in my head trying to do some quick maths, but my friend, it is too early for that. That is okay. I was working in retail on Sundays, so I was getting the really good loading rates there. And then I was doing some-

Oh yeah, they were my favorite. Oh my gosh, it was so good. At your workplace, did everyone kind of go, oh, I'm always free for Sundays. Yes. And public holidays were always, always the days. And I was, yeah, spending a lot of money. so a lot of food a lot of like clothes and just blowing it and so it got to last year so my final year of uni and one of my friends just joked about how cool it would be to have more disposable income once we finished uni and that kind of had me thinking it was a bit of like a light bulb moment of how much money am I really spending on things that aren't important and I have the numbers so in July of last year I did the numbers oh you went and found them thank you

in July of 2025 which was like peak placement peak yep everything I spent 815 dollars on food wild like just July just July can I get a little bit more context here I'm real pervy of course did you live at home still yes so you're still living at home and you still spent 815 dollars were you contributing to the groceries no no I was not I was like I'm not meaning to bury you but like this is getting worse I'm burying myself and I'm I'm not sure if some of those was me like shouting a friend and they transferred back I'm not sure how that really looked I'm just looking at the raw numbers yeah yeah but it was a lot of money it was a lot like let's also contextualize this because I don't want people to feel like oh my god like I do something similar

like is that bad if you're aware of it and you're happy with it pop off queen you do you but it's more I think you're saying that you were unaware of this right it was just like money falling through your fingers pretty much and that's why I think it's something that so many people experience and it was just slipping through my fingers exactly right and I was going out with friends and probably just spending way too much when I didn't need to that's unfortunately not the worst in July of 2025 I did spend 712 dollars on retail oh do we remember what we bought we do not we do not and that was a bit of a light bulb moment as well of oh my goodness what is going on here so that's when I did a bit of a deep dive I found she's on the money I found a few different

books and a few different other creators and I've just been binging binging content across the board welcome my friend I am very glad to have you I'm so sorry if whatever I told you on my podcast felt confronting but I promise it was for the best it was it was and yeah I've pretty much cut like 80% of that spending now so yeah I'm much more conscious if we like zoom out right other people might hear that and be like well that would feel trash yeah how does that feel to have like you know gone from cutting your spending down 80% like that kind of feels wild it feels a lot better because I think I was just knowing that I kind of used uni as an out and you know like I'm in my early 20s I can spend the money it will come back and it just wasn't meaningful the fact that

I can't remember what I spent 700 odd dollars on in one month of clothing or 800 odd dollars of food it just makes me think oh my goodness if I got to 65 and I was still doing that I would just not be happy with that it doesn't align with my values as you say so yeah I feel a lot better knowing that my money is now being spent in the right places I guess and I love that because I think so often when people start to you know it gets a little bit confronting you feel like you don't have enough money so obviously in the back of your mind you start thinking I probably should do a budget but a lot of us are so evasive of budgeting because you're like that's going to feel restrictive I'm going to have to change my whole life it's going to be really confronting

it's not going to be very nice but the flip side is actually true you start to feel really confident you start to feel a lot more free because you're like, wow, I'm actually in control of the decisions I'm making. I'm not just making them without thinking. Like I think it's really empowering, but sometimes you have to get to that place. So tell me a little bit about that because you know, you and your friend were talking about, well, how do we get some more disposable income? And then a light bulb went off in your head. I have a sneaky suspicion. If you and I had run into each other even a year before and I'd said hey money diarist you need to do a budget how would have that gone like I knew I should have done a budget I've got friends who have been

budgeting forever and I've just said like it's the best I know where everything goes and I thought but I know where it goes it goes on doing fun things and buying things I like and going out with friends and whatever else but it was just the moment of when I checked that July statement and saw those numbers, I was like, wait, I don't remember any of this. I don't know where that came from. And that was the moment. Did you hack my account? And you go, it was me. It was me. And I was like, did I buy a $600 dress or something? Nope. It was just lots of small things. And working in retail, I think as well, I was around lots of wasteful spending all the time. People, all of the customers I have were just buying things because they wanted to. And I was part

of that. And yeah. Oh yeah. I totally get that. And do you know what? I even had a moment like that literally yesterday. I was a bit tired and I was like, oh, I'll check my account. I logged in to my banking app and I checked my account and I was like, oh, that's not what I thought it would be at. Cause like in my head, I'm like a massive budgeter as you guys know, but I'm also a little bit of a mental budgeter. So like I know because I've been doing this for so long on average in the middle of the month where I'm probably going to sit with my money and there was much less of it than I thought there was going to be in my spending account and I was like what happened did somebody get my card and like you know put through an extra charge and then I looked and I

was like oh yes I've been traveling a fair bit and you know the airport coffees and the you know additional stuff that I've been spending on has definitely added up but I literally jumped to somebody else must have done this it makes sense Victoria Devine get your stuff together because the problem was coming from inside the house the rest of this month I'm going to be a little bit more frugal but that just means that I'll stay on track like it's not a good or a bad thing it's just a I've got to be aware of it because if I just am more aware of it now till the end of the month, I'm going to stay on track and all my goals are still going to be hit. Yes, I might say no to a few more things. Maybe there won't be a cheeky, sneaky iced latte in my future, but I know next

month we'll be back at ground zero and I'll have my fun money again. I've just got to be a little bit tighter with it this month. Yeah. So money diarist, in your letter in, you said, I now work as a sole trader in allied health, which to go out on your own is a really big step, but you're also able to save two grand a month what do you do how much money are you earning okay so I'm a speech pathologist of course you are and I sole trade or contract for a clinic yes and just for a bit more context I suppose I was working at this clinic for three years as a student very cool and then under an employee kind of contract and then now I'm a sole trader as most of the other speech paths are as well. I was about to say, how did that go? How do you go from, I immediately thought

of my own business and was like, well, I employ everyone directly. I don't know why one of my team members would go from being employed directly to sole trader. Can you explain a little bit about that? Is that how it usually works in your field? I don't think so. Not many other people that I know do it that way. My clinic, it just seems to be what we do at my clinic. I'm not really sure any more than that we typically only work for school terms that makes sense so yeah I'm not really sure I was offered to do contracted workers like to do a full-time salary yeah but then I would not get the school holiday breaks off and I just kind of like the flexibility I like the yeah yeah so tell me a little bit more actually because sometimes when people are listening to money

diaries they go a speech pathologist what does a speech pathologist do can you quickly explain what you do? Yeah, sure. So I'm a paediatric speech pathologist and I work with children aged three to 18, supporting speech development, language development, so like vocabulary, sentences, understanding and using language. We also work on social communication skills. Yeah, a lot of other things, but those are my, and literacy is probably my other main thing as well. So reading and writing. Very cool. And I kind of saw that coming because of how well-spoken you are. like the second you and I got on recording, I was like, she's so well-spoken. This can be a beautiful interview for me to edit. Like amazing. I'm so glad. How good. So tell me a bit more,

you're obviously saving for your first property. You said that your plans are to purchase it next year, but what are your big money goals? Like what are you currently working towards? So I guess the big, big goal is to, in my twenties and thirties, build a bit of wealth so that then in my 40s and 50s, I have options. That's kind of the big overall picture. There are a few ways that I want to build that. So I do invest into shares, but I also thought because I want to move out of home and not be renting. I don't want to move out of home just yet. I'm just not ready. So my thought was to buy a property, rent it out for maybe two or three years and then move into the house when I'm ready to move out. That was kind of my thinking.

the budget has not really changed my opinion on that it did for a little moment with the negative gearing cgt kind of thing but i still think my main goal with buying a house is to have somewhere to live when i'm ready so i think that still stands so i'm still pretty keen on trying to buy a house which is so exciting that is a big goal right so when people say i'm trying to buy a house that's massive like i feel like we say it so flippantly because we live in australia and you know property is the dream but it is all consuming and overwhelming but you also said you're investing in shares and if we then compare that comment to how you grew up it wasn't a bad thing but you said I always felt like we had less than we actually did you know I spent my childhood

and my adolescence fearful of money I had a scarcity mindset like how did you go from being in a scarcity mindset and being kind of scared of money to being like oh v I invest in shares and I'm saving for a property. Like those two things feel quite different, right? And it's not just different. It's the tone in which you delivered it. You're like, oh, I just invest in some shares as though that's the most normal thing in the world, which babe, I'm trying to normalize that. I want to be normal. But for a 22 year old woman to say to me, I just invest, hop off. How did we get here? I think it was just about the mindset and the education around it. I think I grew up thinking investing in shares was a boys club and it was almost gambling. I compared it to gambling

in my head. My parents have invested in property previously before I was born, but so I always considered property as I guess what a lot of Australians do as a safe investment. But then I started learning and listening and reading and I've seen the stats and I realized, oh, shares are equal to, if not a better investment, more liquid, easy to access, more diversification, all those sorts of things and so sometimes I still think I need to hoard money a little bit so then like I've got the money sitting there ready to make my next investment but then I'm like what if this happens what if this happens what if this happens and then I put that money in there I don't want to have to then take it out so I'm still a little bit cautious of how I spend my money and invest

my money but a lot less fear around it now because I know the evidence and the stats where did this scarcity mindset come from because you said upon reflection like we weren't in as bad a position as I thought like I was sneaking some cash all into my parents wallets is it a fair assumption to go you were pretty anxious like and is this yeah you know your personality or is this because there was some trauma around money like what happened to put you into this like scarcity mindset if it wasn't quite as bad as it felt definitely anxious as a child about it I think I just overheard parts of conversations growing up and never the whole conversation and so I would then join the pieces together in my head. But because I was a child, I couldn't join them

together properly. So yeah, I think I always had it in my head of if we can't afford a holiday, like a lot of other families can, we can't afford this thing and this thing and this thing. And that means we won't be able to afford the house and those kinds of things. So whereas when I got a bit older, I realized we were never in that bad of a position. We were fine. But it was just the early, I guess, conversations that I interpreted as a child around money that were just very much we need to hoard it yeah fair fair and that's why I'm like hey what's going on here because sometimes our perception is not reality and that can be really hard to come to terms with do you feel like you've got more work to do on your mindset like you said before like you know

I still feel like I'm kind of hoarding money or are you like no no I like that I do that it makes me feel secure I kind of think so both like I still think that the more I learn the more I'll know how to do better, but I still think I'm doing the best I can with the resources I have now. And I'm okay with hoarding a little bit. I know that the investments that I'm making are going towards a long-term plan and that the hoarding, I guess in itself, which is really deceiving, but that hoarding is also going towards a long-term plan anyway. So it shouldn't really worry me as much as I think it does. I love that. All right, let's go to a really quick break. And on the flip side, I want to talk a little bit more about what your money reality might look like once

you move out. Your investments, because we didn't get into that far enough. Personal insurance and then best and worst money habits. So guys, don't go anywhere. All right, Money Drivers, we are back. You wanted to change your money mindset and it all started because one of your friends was like, we should work out how to have more disposable income. And I feel like that was a really slippery slope for you to go down because you were like, I want more cash. And then all of a sudden your investing in shares. So tell me, how did you make your first investment? What made you pull the trigger? What are we investing in? Tell me your little journey. So I started bulk listening to podcasts. I listened to Shoes on the Money and a few like Glenn James. I listened to the Get Rich

Slow Club. I listened to Emma Edwards. I listened to heaps of them. You got the squad. You got our squad. I did. Yeah. I remember you saying in one of your episodes that you recommend listening to lots of other people to get other perspectives and I was like oh I can do that I've got time so I think it's so funny because I feel like in every other industry people are like oh my god I'm the best like we need like competition I'm like no no no they got the same message as me just written differently and you're going to hear me better if you're hearing the same kind of narrative and you're feeling more confident go chat to Tash go chat to Glenny James like they're going to tell you how to put yourself in the best possible position like how cool is that

absolutely and I listened briefly to some of like the fire movement kind of stuff and it just wasn't really for me I was like oh that seems a bit intense right now so I stayed in it it is it is I sort of stayed in the long-term investing kind of realm and I think I probably listened to two and a half months I was probably listening and absorbing everything like a sponge and then I downloaded a platform and I just started adding some things to a watch list and having a bit of a lookout like doing some more research on some individual stocks and ETFs I don't invest in individual stocks and then I read your book and then I read your other two books and then it was so funny I sat around for ages thinking oh my goodness when do I do this

and then one day I just woke up and did it it was just like didn't expect it I just did it you're like oh actually there is no good time I can't pick a time why not before breakfast exactly and so I just chucked like six hundred dollars into Vass as my first exciting and I remember what you said about if you know your first investment isn't the best it's fine it's just a bit of a learning experience and I thought oh it's fine how good and even just the confidence of being like this is fine it will be fine like I think so many of us get analysis paralysis over making quote the right decision but like yeah not making a decision is arguably worse I'd prefer you to make one that you regret and then we fix because we're fixing than to have never done it

and live in this perpetual state of analysis paralysis now how did you pick the platform that you ended up investing on and what was it so I invest on Perla and I chose Perla because you're going to have to correct my terminology here, but it is a chess sponsored platform. I just liked that. I just kind of liked that if the platform went down, I have access to my shares. I looked into Sharesies. I looked into Perla, Comsec, but I wasn't really wanting to micro invest. I was kind of okay with chucking a little bit more in. I thought, oh, it's okay. I was planning on doing that anyway. And I like the flat brokerage fees. I like that. Very cool.

Yeah. That's kind of... I love it. So tell me a bit more about VAS. You purchased VAS. That is, I would say, one of the most popular ETFs in the country at the moment. Was that the gateway to purchasing more VAS or did you diversify after that? So I didn't buy any more VAS. So I bought VAS once. It is currently worth $536. I then bought VDHD because I thought that kind of diversifies me a little bit. And that's one that I, I suppose, regularly invest in as a one ETF diversification sort of thing. And then I bought Fang as well. I was looking into Fang. Yeah. And that one's actually up 17%. So that's exciting. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. My Fang ETF shares are looking

pretty good right now. Yes. Yep. So I've put this 536 in VAS. There's now 598 in Fang and there is 2000 NVIDIA HG. I love that. A little while ago last year, Brooke from our team and I did an investing podcast together and I can't wait for her to come to Melbourne again and we can have this conversation again because we got more into the nitty gritty of mainly what was in her portfolio, but we discussed what was in mine. And you've mentioned three that are definitely in my portfolio, but because of the current state of the world, everything is everywhere. FANG is up because the current state of the economy is supporting that. But another one that both Brooke and I own is OOO, which is the beta shares crude oil index. And a lot of people aren't very

interested in, you know, investing in crude oil. But for me, it was like, I'm going to well diversify this portfolio. Like I want a little bit of that. It is astronomical what that is up at the moment just because obviously oil is increasing in price and therefore your oil ETF is going to increase in price but it is a very I don't know if the word is fun but it is so interesting how much more in touch with the economy you become once you start investing because you see things move and you're like wait why is that and then you're looking into it and the news makes more sense and commentary online makes more sense and you're like oh well that makes sense definitely like all of a sudden I'm an economic expert definitely definitely and I've

got so many ETFs that are in my watch list that I'm just watching plummet and I'm just like oh glad I didn't invest in that so what do you mean glad you didn't invest in that that is going on sale my friend and it's the state of the current world and like I don't know how many times I have to scream this from the rooftops just because it's going down doesn't mean it's a bad investment it just means it's reflecting what's happening in the economy. And we currently have a world war going on. Yes. There's a few that I was looking at that they are just steadily going down over the span of years. So I was like, probably not a good one for that, but I agree. Get them on sale. Yeah. I feel like we've got to just, you know, make some decisions that are right for us. But

also if you see something going down, I even have to do it. I have to basically slap myself silly and be like, Victoria, going down is not the end of the world. Like your share portfolio, I hate to tell you this, I'm so sorry, but over your lifespan, because you are only 22, it's going to crash another seven times before you retire. Horrible. Seven. What the hell? So there are going to be seven times where you're sitting and there's a period of time and your share portfolio has gone a look, let's be honest, a little bit trashy. And you're going to have to be okay with that. It's funny though, because I started investing, I think my first investment was either November or December. And so because of the state of the world, I haven't really seen

it in green. So seeing Fang in green was like, whoa, it can do that. So they've always been sitting. And that's such a short period of time. I feel like we all deserve that confidence boost when it comes to beginning our investment journey. Like I don't want you to invest, and this happens to so many people just because it's the reality of the world, right? you invest and then a few days later like your shares start to go down and all you're doing is like questioning whether you made the right decision or not yes you did we need to zoom out we need to look at a minimum of 10 years returns before we actually make decisions but it feels really hard to do that it does it does and a lot of my friends invest too and it's so funny

some friends definitely follow the more individual company go based on vibes kind of thing and other friends a very like stable ETF and just hearing the conversations around different fears right now is really interesting. Totally. So tell me, I think I know the answer to this and I think that my community already knows the answer to this, but do you have any debt? So I have a HECS debt. My HECS is currently sitting at $30,500 and I keep a credit card with a $6,000 limit, but I pay that off either monthly or fortnightly depending on the vibes. And what type of approach you have to your hex day? Is that something where you're like, I'm trying to smash it down? Is that something where you're like, I just let it do its thing? Like what's your approach? Definitely. I let

it do its thing kind of approach. I think the indexation rate this year is like 2.9% around that mark. So I'm not too worried about it. It'll do its thing. Awesome. Now tell me about personal insurances. You are only 22, but you did say that you have deep dove on so much of the she's on the money content so there's no way you would have avoided me telling you how important it is is this something that you've considered or reviewed yes so I was in contact with Sky Wealth I think it was stop that's perfect like she's a baby but she's switched on I think it was after the episode you released of the money diarist had had cancer and she'd claimed that after that episode and I was like that's it that's the final straw isn't it terrifying it is it was so terrifying

and as a sole trader and I have a bit of medical history so I was like nope just need to get this sorted so unfortunately I'm very good at procrastinating so I took me like a month to get the forms back to them but they're currently doing the I think it's the pre-approval stuff now that they've yeah they'll get back to me next week I think with some offers around that so yeah elite I feel a little bit guilty maybe because you just told me you were anxious around money and then I've been like scaring you about personal insurances, but I'm going to scare you into a better position. So like, I'm sorry about that, but also not sorry. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. I'd rather be protected. So yeah. Exactly. Now tell me, I feel

like you've probably got some really good money habits, but I feel like they've probably also taken a turn for the better since you really started to knuckle down. What do you think is your best money habit I think I'm very savvy and when I did my budget I guess calibration I thought of all the things that would cost me a lot of money that I really wanted to keep doing like having my nails done I still wanted to go out with friends I still wanted to keep doing things that make my life fun so I learned how to do my nails myself that is now a free thing love that I've written a list actually I never buy things not on sale that's always been the case my parents taught me that from the start and I love taking advantage of a good rewards

program oh me too queen like if I can get some stuff for free like it just feels so much better so good the medibank I think it's live better that's a really good program love that one but I'm also I think I'm quite good at using things until they're done like I don't buy makeup that I don't need I'm still using my mum's hair dryer from when she was 14 stop it so it's it's so old so old but it works so if it does the job like you actually don't need a new one and people don't want to hear that but you don't need a new one no and I don't care and I use my $30 Kmart straightener that I've had forever like I'm just so easy going with most things except obviously going out with friends and everything like that but that's fine and I love making things a bit of a game so I do

like every month I do a no spend week awesome and that's fun I think it's fun I'm doing a slightly altered version of the wardrobe project where I'm just doing one thing a month that's curbed my spending really nicely and I just love setting little challenges for myself so it keeps it fun adore tell me a little bit more about that because you know you're not spending on you know frivolous I don't know if the right word is frivolous because I don't want people to feel judged if I call things frivolous but like I'm so good at buying a new blush at Mecca when I already have a blush at home but I also am so aware of how much I spend when I go out and you're kind of like the opposite you're like no no no I was spending money on food and drinks and that all

added up is that something that has always been the case or is it something that you've always been conscious of because you're like no I don't want to spend too much money like where were you going when it comes to I guess budgeting for different areas in your life I never really knew how to use makeup so I never fell down the rabbit hole in high school of buying lots of makeup only last year did I learn and so now I've got like three products I use until they're dead that's fine see I wish that was me I was on YouTube at like 15 watching Juicy Star 07 sell me every single MAC eyeshadow under the sun like no 15 year old needs purple eyeshadow they don't I'm lucky I never fell down that trap but I also used to swim I used to swim morning

and night so I was like when am I going to wear the makeup yeah that's a good point but I think I love spending time with friends and usually that's been going out for food going out you know drinking going on like a little trip or whatever it's been and so I've tried to sort of rein that in a little bit you know whether it's having pre-drinks before going out for drinks so that don't need to really buy as many or whether it's like using Eat Club is one that I've been doing lately. Love Eat Club. And sometimes just saying to a friend, let's just go for a walk instead of let's go out for a $30 meal. And it all adds up. It really does. And how frustrating is it? In March of this year, I spent $212 on food and going out. So I've culled it.

Hey, that's good. I've culled it, which is nice. And it's really gratifying, isn't it? Like when you can start going, all right, I see how this works. It is. And it's so annoying, but it's fine. Very true. Now, Money Dice, let's take the mood down. What's your worst money habit? So I've got a bit of a list for this. I'm unfortunately always down for a social outing. I will be the first person to suggest bottomless brunch or to suggest going interstate or something. You're the first one. You're like, I'm the one that's trying to save. I'm the one that should be saying go for a walk. Also, did you want to go to bottomless brunch? And then I would be like, yes, queen, I do. The minute someone mentions going for brunch,

I'm like, let's make it bottomless. It's fine. Perfect. Once I fall off the wagon, I guess as such, I feel like, for example, in April, my little car died. I had to buy a new car and I didn't have to, but I wanted to make sure I could still get a trade in on my old car. So I just got rid of it before it like died. And so then I bought myself a new car. And once I'd done that, I'd blown the budget. So then it was like, I'm just not going to bother with the budget anymore. so that's a bad habit right so you just like threw the baby out with the bath water yep pretty much pretty much yeah cool so you were like I get back on track no I'm going further off track pretty much I saw the fork in the road and I ran the other way pretty much yeah pretty much and then

I was like oh I'll get back on track in May and I have and it's fine but okay okay yeah but just for that month I was like oh it's already blown and what are we gonna do in the future like is that's something that you're like, I'm super aware of how I do that and I want to change? Or are you like, nah, YOLO? I think it's more about, I just didn't even open the budget spreadsheet for April. Once I bought that car, it was over. So I think I just need to be a bit more disciplined and just open the spreadsheet. And once I open it, then I'll do the inputs and then it's fine. Honestly, so relatable. Yeah. I usually come from it in a nonjudgmental way. Like I don't like to judge my spending. It's more just acknowledging it. Yeah. But the car

pushed me over the edge so yeah okay okay perfect and I have another bad one too I have another bad habit what car did we buy though before you tell me your other bad habit like how do we make decisions at 22 like what's the car that a 22 year old female is like looking at I bought myself a Corolla Cross okay smart yeah I liked it because it had quite low k's it was relatively new not brand new but relatively new it's a bit bigger good fuel economy and it looks pretty it does look pretty. And I also heard that you bought a secondhand car. Is that correct? Why didn't you go new? I just think it loses so much value the second you drive it off. And the price of a brand new Toyota Corolla Cross was just not in the budget. No. And the second you drive it, it's

not new anymore. And sorry, that car was new to you. So it's the same to me. And it still smelled new. Like it smelled brand new. It did. It still had the new smell. It was so good. So good. I love And I also love that when we're trying to be economical, savvy women, we're like, you know, we're going to make smart money decisions. We're also like, did the car smell new though? That's like really important too. And it still has new car warranty on it. So I've justified it a lot of different ways because my old car had so many problems this year that I was just piling money into it. And now to me, it's just better this way. So tell me a little bit more about the other bad money habit you said you had? I think I'm slightly organized, unorganized chaos. So for example,

I am a sole trader. I don't know how to do my BAS. I have only just reached out to an accountant yesterday. I only just figured out I need to put money away from my HEX. Like it's kind of unorganized chaos sometimes. And I think I just need to learn a bit more about everything and then I'll be fine. But I just kind of sometimes just see what happens. So I think BAS is due next week I don't know how to pay it oh do you know what I don't think anyone likes paying it like I have a whole system I transfer my tax money into a separate account that way I know it's not mine from the get-go I still don't want to transfer it I've done the same things I've got the money set aside for it it's just the actual like getting it to them I just don't know how to do it because

it feels yucky doesn't it you just go oh like I don't it does and I think that's that's definitely a bad money habit is that I sometimes just think oh that can wait and then bass is due next week so bit of an organization I find budgeting kind of tricky as a sole trader like I feel like I know where it's going but I'm not sure how much needs to go where yeah so that's fair that's fair and that's where maybe you could tighten up a little bit on budgeting and work out what that looks like are you currently operating from separate business accounts or is all your money just going into your personal accounts I've got two business accounts one for GST and the other girl that's about all I know I love this now you said look I'm probably a solid B and I feel like

you're doing really well you're so young you have so much opportunity like if I zoom out a little bit girl you're gonna be so rich it's gonna be great like I know that life doesn't feel that way right now but like with the money habits that you have skip forward 50 year old you is gonna be a baller it's going to be amazing but why a b why didn't you rate yourself an a and what would it take to get there do you think I think more around the consistency of my budgeting I think I just need to find maybe a bit of a better system I don't know if my current spreadsheet is really ticking on my boxes so I think I'll just have to have a bit of a play around with that oh I'll give you my money masterclass done I will set you up with that straight after this like if that's all

it's going to take. Like I will set you up with a money masterclass after I'll send you a login, no worries. But like that spreadsheet, girl, if you like a spreadsheet, it does everything for you. All you have to do is put in all of your different numbers. This is what I'm spending V and it will spit out, all right, well, this is what's in this account. This is what's in that account. It will tell you the percentages of different areas that you're spending in. Oh, I love that. Automation is key here. And then you can just copy from the spreadsheet what's being transferred into different bank accounts and automate that for yourself and then wham bam thank you ma'am you

have a whole cash flow system stop it that's awesome thank you so much I'm like I feel like I am obviously biased I made it I wrote the whole thing but it's pretty damn good and then there's a whole heap of videos in there as well actually side note I said to my team the other day I was like oh the money masterclass I like recorded all those videos so long ago like should I re-record them and they were like no they're doing really well like they're good videos and I was like oh like I'm a bit embarrassed like should I go watch them and I went and watched them and I was like this girl knew what she was talking about I'm not re-recording those but there's a lot on like money mindset and thought processes and patterns that I think could also help you know really

solidify how you're feeling and you know help point you in the right direction especially at 22 so I will organize that for you if that's all it takes thank you I've got you I think just a bit more organization around the board and maybe a bit more self-control when it comes to going out with friends do you know what you're 22 if I was saying at 22 I wish I had more self-control I wouldn't have got myself into an astronomical amount of personal debt but also maybe I wouldn't have had as much fun and then we wouldn't have she's in the money it's about the journey yeah we're not she's on the fire like we're not trying to like save every single dollar and not enjoy the journey like I think enjoying the journey is half the fun true you're right very very true money

diarist this has been so fun thank you for doing a money diary with me and sharing your you know thoughts and what you're up to with our community I think that a lot of people are going to listen to this and be like wow I wish I was more like her at 22 and then a lot of people your age are going to be like oh my gosh I could do that too so this is going to be an epic episode thank you so much thank you thanks for having me 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

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