She's On The Money - To Sublet, or Not To Sublet?

Episode Date: July 13, 2023

It's Fri-yay angels, and to get you in the mood join V, J and B to wrap the week right. Jess shares your Money Wins, Bec brings the Broke Tips and we answer a Money Dilemma about calculating your Super for retirement. Plus, we get a SPICY community D.M about subletting in a share house. Listen in to see who's side you're on! Links Want to try Marley Spoon? Use the code: VICTORIA on sign up and you'll get up to $225 off your first 7 boxes including free shipping on your first box!   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 for millennials who want financial freedom. Today, my friends, it is Friday, which means it is time to get my little team, well, actually not the whole team, it's just Jessica Ricci and Bec Syed together, and we're going to be celebrating you once again, our incredible She's On The Money community. Today, Miss Jessica Ricci is going to be sharing our favorite money wins. Bec has got a sneaky broke tip for us, and she's got a few hot ones from the community as well. We're going to be answering a juicy money dilemma, which this week is all about calculating super for retirement.

And we're going to be unpacking something you slid into our DMs about, which is about subletting in a share house, which I think could get a little bit spicy really quickly. My loves, how have your weeks been? Oh, you, do you want to go first? I just looked at you, so you can go first. Oh, okay, that's all you, Bec. My week, my week, my week has been interesting. it's been honestly I haven't done much this week and for reasons you're going to find out

why soon but I feel good I feel good the week's almost over and I'm ready to have a good sleep I feel that in my bones yeah I love a good sleep recently I bought new pillows this is a very roundabout story about how I bought the wrong ones I did not realize how much the wrong pillow could ruin my night oh no I'm a tummy sleeper yeah so like the pillow was just too lofty yeah She was too tall. Your head's in a different postcode. So I couldn't get comfortable no matter how many times I punched the pillow or made it flat or like flippied it.

No, nothing was working. And also I feel like it was eternally warm. Like there was no cold side of the pillow. So now I have a flat pillow again and everything has been restored. Thank you for caring. I'm a no pillow person. It was legit though. What a money loss.

I bought this expensive lofty pillow, marched my sorry butt back down to Kmart and was like, where's the trashiest pillow? Because that's going to make me the happiest. Yes. In. Anyway, that's how good my week has been. Lovely. Thank you for hearing me. Of course. Jessica Ricci, where are we at? What's your week like? I had a really good day on Sunday because it was my birthday and my week started really well. All of my friends surprised me. I never organize things because I'm scared people won't come because I threw a party when I was little once and two people turned up. And so like, you know what? It could have been my fault. Maybe I forgot the invitations. I don't know. Oh my gosh. No, that is such a Jess thing.

That's probably my fault. It was me. It was me. I'm the problem. It can't possibly be other people. Jessica, absolutely not. No, but anyway, so they all surprised me. It was the most wholesome thing ever.

They also got me a cake, an ice cream cake, which is my preferred kind of cake. Did you know? Well, no, normally I get the pink, white and the traditional one. But they got me a Cold Rock ice cream cake made in my exact Cold Rock order. How did they know that? Well, because it's one of my favourite places and one of my friends and I go all the time because we live really close together and not too far from a cold rock. So they knew it by heart.

Had a cake made in my exact cold rock order. Oh my gosh. It was the best thing ever. Oh, that's really sweet. How cool is that? So if you have a friend that likes ice cream, that is like, it was the best thing I've ever seen in my life. What's your cold rock order?

Bec's just whipping out a pen. I'm just curious. What a coinkydink. It's not original if you copy her friends when she's already had that as a gift. It would always be a great present. If anyone does want a good recommendation, you get cake batter ice cream and Ferrero ice cream mixed together with cookie dough and double mini marshmallows.

Double mini marshmallows. And then they mix it all together and it's a delicious sweet treat. So there you go. If anyone likes ice cream. Bec's written it down. Give that a clap. I'll bring you one next week and you can try it. Oh, you bring me one?

Yeah. It's your birthday. That's not how these work. So cute. That is not how this works. That is not how this works. Jessica Richter. I'm sorry.

Should we move along? Yes, we should move along. Happy birthday. Thank you so much. I had a great day. That's so nice. I feel very loved. That is so nice.

You are loved. You are definitely loved. All right, let's jump into it. Jessica. Yes. It's back on your side of the table. I want to know what's been going on in our community. What are your favourite money wins that have been shared?

This week I have a money win from Kyanne who said, I received a job offer completely out of the blue that is a huge step in my career for me and it came with a nice little pay rise. Money win. And I just love the idea of someone just plodding around about their day and then someone being like, you, ma'am, deserve a job. I love that. It seems lovely.

Next I have a money win from Sharon who said, I realised that my local Coles had incorrectly priced a product as per the label and it was actually more expensive than it was meant to be. I brought this to the cashier's attention and after she cited it, we were given the product for free. Oh. Which is apparently their.

That's not what I expected. That's apparently their policy. if it's wrong they get it for free how good is that wow file that one away for later because i feel like i've definitely seen things priced wrong and i've just got me just going to coles and checking for the wrong prices so i can get stuff for free genius that's wrong it's about to be one thing in the whole store next i have a money loss from melinda but it is in good fun she said i broke up with my partner and he wants 100k to go money win i'll no longer have an extra child in a house and then she put a little asterisk and she said not an actual child just

him oh yes baby and savage hundreds of people liked the comment so melinda i'm sorry that he's being what sounds like a bit of a bit of a jerk yes i was gonna say another word and i was like she's a single parent now yeah well not anymore she was single parenting now she's free oh genius i love this for her next i have a money win from alissa who said i got five dollar peter Alexander PJs from the Outlet Centre. We all got multiple pairs. $5? I can never purchase these normally as I can't justify that much on PJs,

but for $5, I couldn't resist. God. We love a Peter Alexander PJ in this team. Yeah, we do. We literally said the other day we were near the outlet and we went, oh, we should go. We should go and then we didn't go. We forgot.

Jess and I don't just have one. We have multiple pairs of matching pajamas. That's very cute. Yeah, we'd love a matching. We'll get them for you next time, don't worry. Thank you. Do you want to join in? I sleep in the nude, but I'm going to try it.

You don't have to sleep in pyjamas. You just wear them. They're like active wear, but for your house. Oh, they're for lounging. I see. Oh, lounging wear. Yeah. Lounge wear, I should say.

You want home with your housemates watching FBoy Island. Yeah, you're wearing your pyjamas. Oh, I do need something for FBoy Island. Exactly. Okay, I'm going to jump on this train. I'm going to do it. Exactly. They did a Macca's collab recently, Macca's themed pyjamas.

That's one I can't get around. Also Barbie, very cute. Oh, the Barbie one I can get around. Okay. The Mac is one. I'm like, sorry, McDonald's. No, nothing was that cute. There was nothing with the nuggets on it either, which I was disdaining.

That's literally the only good thing about McDonald's. Yeah, wasted opportunity. Jesus. And lastly, I have a money win from Rhiannon who said, I got a free bike off Marketplace to ride with my son and partner. It needs new tires and it has a bit of rust, but I'm confident I can fix it up for way less than a new bike. And you can hopefully see this through my cracked screen.

But look, it's one of those cute little aesthetic bikes. Oh, my gosh. I love that. That does not look like it was free. That's very good. We love it when you include pictures. And that's everything that I've got this week. Money win.

Love it. She's good at a money win. Yes, she is. I love it. And picking them out of the group, 10 out of 10, Bec Syed. Yes. You have some broke tips for us this week. I do.

I do. Okay. So the first one is from Cassie who kind of alerted me to what you might call a rewards program of sorts. and one in particular is Grilled. Basically, if you sign up with your favourite Aussie rules team, you will receive a two-for-one coupon on a Monday, I believe. Very niche.

This is all very niche. But niche tips are broke. You've got to be literally creative. Was that English? Yep. Don't think too hard about my commentary today. But it kind of got me thinking about all the other things that are out there and I don't have any examples actually.

I just got thinking about all the other examples out there, Jess, Of which I have no. I have zero of them. Zero. Okay, I do remember Domino's. You know, you get those things in the mailbox. Brooke got one the other day. She got a whole pizza delivered for free.

For free? For free. No money was exchanged. She thought it was a scam, but she did it anyway and turns out luckily for her it wasn't. That is incredible. I would risk my life for one pizza. It was in Perth. Oh, I see.

So I'm not sure if that was in Melbourne, but it was like a letterbox drop. That is amazing. It says I've got a free pizza delivered. And so she got it for lunch the other day and Jess and I were envious. That is amazing. This is the thing, is it? Back of receipts, your mailbox, junk mail sometimes comes in handy. I have one.

If you go through the KFC drive-thru and it's on your receipt, but there's usually like a QR code on the window too where you scan and you give them feedback on your meal and then you get a free meal for your next meal. It's like a free chips and a drink or free something. I can't remember what it is. Can you take a photo of that QR code and put it on stories? Absolutely I can.

What a coinkydink. We are just giving feedback on our meals and then you're saying, I'll get my next one free. We all had a great experience at the Melbourne CBD KFC on the same day. Their feedback's going to go through the roof. If you're doing that, only leave them nice feedback. Yeah, don't leave them mean feedback. I got my car serviced actually this morning.

I picked it up and it was spino to have it picked up and I was nearly sick and the guy was honestly so nice. He was texting me all weekend because it took a little bit longer than it should have. And he was like, oh, like you're going to get a text in a couple of days about your experience. And I said, yeah, no worries. You're a solid 10. And he said, yep, it's actually out of five. Anything below five is a fail. And I was like, good to know. Oh my gosh. Good to know. Is it some people don't, anyway, sorry, continue. That's.

How rude is it though? I was just going to say, interesting fact, apparently when people have to grade on a scale, like any kind of experience, even if people are super satisfied with their experience, they're more likely to go for, if it's out of five, a four instead of a five. Like it's just human nature. It's human nature. Oh, well, it wasn't the best experience my entire life. Yeah.

Because you would compare it to going to Cold Rock, wouldn't you? You'd be like, best experience of my life is going to Cold Rock and getting a custom cake. They're probably comparing everything to like the best day of their entire lives. Maybe having a baby wasn't as good as that, so I'm going to say four stars out of five. But give everyone a five. If you feel like it was good, give everyone a five. They deserve a five.

They deserve it. They deserve it. You can tell you guys have been hard at work today because we're getting impressions, we're getting voices. So today, today Beck and I have done, so we always save the Friday drinks as like a little treat at the end. Love. Just a little treaty treat.

Jess comes in at the very end to record. So she's like, Chipper, you've had a really nice day at work, Jess. Beck and I have done eight hours of straight recording. We're being very silly. We are so silly. So silly. I've had so many coffees. I've had this really bad hot chocolate that I made in the staff kitchen.

One out of ten would not recommend microwaving soy milk. That's a one star. It's always bad microwaving soy milk. You can't stop it either. It doesn't really work. It's a trap. No. Three Coke Zeros.

Like, my body is a temple. To worship Coke Zero, apparently. Exactly. How did you know? Anyway, tell us your best broke tip for the week, Bec. Okay, one more actually I have from Jess, not Jessica Ritchie. Great name, though. who says to squeeze the toilet paper to avoid over rolling to the kind of results in you know

longer use which is actually a really good idea because you know you just like you pull the thing the thing just rolls and rolls you use so much toilet paper you probably go through it and you have to buy a whole new 24 pack in like a few I don't know for me it made me last a week or two um and I'm a single scrunch or fold I'm a scruncher but like how many like squares are you using well this is the thing and exactly as jess says and this is something i didn't even notice i do i i yank it and wait until it stops organically on its own and newton's law or whatever right just stops and if you're a parent like a lot of the time like you're doing it one-handed like i know people like if you've gone to a restroom and you've got a child you're like holding the child

trying to make sure they're not touching something in that toilet they're not supposed to whatever you're doing it one-handed so you would like you just do exactly but if you scrunch it or like You kind of like press it down. So you squish the roll. You squish the roll. So it doesn't like roll as easy. Yeah. And then you get just what you need.

And then you're more like mindful of it. You know what I mean? Which is a really good idea. In the long run, you're actually going to save quite a bit of money. That's great. Thank you, Jess. Not very aesthetic. It's not very aesthetic.

But you know, you get what you get and you don't get upset. Exactly right. Now, my broke tip for this week, what I was going to do was, and this is probably a little bit different, but I'm going to open up my ING app right now and tell you exactly how much money I have in here for the rest of the week. Stunning. So payday is in one week's time. I'm aware. I have $15, 12 plus 21. I have $15 and 33 cents. Oh, did you think that when she was doing 15 plus 33 or whatever she said, I thought it was going to be dollars. It was cents. It's cents. 21 plus 12 cents. You live on the edge. But great quick math. Great quick math. Thank you so

much. So this is, what I wanted to tell you guys is that I do have a few things coming up. that I still want to be doing. I don't want to cancel on everyone because I can't afford to go out because that will make me really sad and I don't want to be sad all week. So let me tell you what I have coming up and how I'm about to make this $15.33 last. I'm excited. I'm really excited to hear this. Okay. Just to preface though, before we get into this, I feel like it needs to be disclaimed that you have a good salary. Now I do, but as I have mentioned in previous episodes I am currently back paying things yeah okay example like all right that's fair yeah all right that's fair because I was like eventually where is this coming from I'm

also bad with money that is no no I wasn't pointing out that you're bad with money I was like we need a disclaimer it's not like this is the norm for you like as in it has been but in the future it's going to be a bit different we're going to track the journey I'm so excited yeah as I say Bec's going through the journey and that's okay like it's okay to have $15 in your Thank you. There's nothing wrong with it. Thank you. And also I should say I'm extremely comfortable with this kind of thing.

This is a very, very normal week for me. So at the end of payday month. How are we budgeting though? Like how are we making this stretch? Okay, so let me tell you what I'm about to do. I'm ready. So tonight I am meeting my brother for a drink at the pub. Oh, how?

I'm not going to drink. I'm going to get soda water. And you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to find the pub that I know already does free soda water. Oh, good. So I'm giving a shout-out to Edie's on Ligon Street in Brunswick East. I'm giving a shout-out to a few more. Retreat is also a good one in Brunswick.

Just kind of trial and error. I know which ones. Don't charge me for soda water. I'm going there. I'm going to get soda water. But before I go, I'm going into the office. I'm going into the kitchen. Oh, yes.

And I'm going to find little snacks. We sometimes have bread and cheeses in there that I could probably buy on my own. It wouldn't cost too much. I'm going to make two or three cheese toasties. Stunning. and take these two or three toasties. That's going to last me one for lunch. I like to have two for lunch, but I'm going to, like, spread them out.

One for lunch. Yep. One straight after work. Yep, stunning. One for dinner. Yep, stunning. That's my whole day. And I tell you what, that is free.

There's zero dollars being spent. That's money winning. And delicious. And delicious. And then next I have little things pop up here and there, but that's okay. I'm okay with that because I know that I'd never have to spend money if I'm going to be drinking soda water. This is an issue probably for someone who does drink.

That's when you go back to the $5 wine situation. Now, the next thing I have, the big thing I have coming up is trivia. Me and my best friend host trivia in Rye on the Peninsula. I don't know if anyone will be around. I've got to spend petrol money to get there. How am I going to do this? We are asking. Please.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to find a Woolies petrol station because I don't know if you remember, but I have Woolworths rewards points. I have $10 on that that I'm going to be using on petrol. Genius. Only. You've thought about this. Yes, and that will get me to Rye. Nobody can say she's not the most strategic woman you've ever met. This whole week is going to be free.

I love it. So that will take me all the way to Rye. So I'm going to stay there. I'm going to stay at a friend's house down there until payday. That might be two, three days. I don't mind. I'm willing to stay down there until then. Okay.

As for food. Oh, no. Woe is her. she has to go down to the beach and stay. Oh, that's a real shame. Must be really hard, Brooke. Are you okay? I'm just going to stay on the foreshore.

Oh, no. Like a pauper. Just kidding. It's very, very beautiful. Obviously, this is the joke. For food, what am I going to do? Oh, my gosh. That is a good question.

Bread, baby. Fill myself up on bread and milk. Milk is very, very, very filling. Ten out of ten. So, servo coffees, bread, everything else. cheese toasty butter and jam and this is one that i've said before and i know that you're probably sick of me saying bread i'm not i'm not everybody's obsessed with bread bread bread bread and anywhere you can free stuff free stuff anywhere you can whether that's in your office

whether that you have a friend that you can get food from take away you know when you go to a friend's house and they're like this is something that i was actually going to say next week but you get freebies from your friend's houses they cook stuff and you can't be bothered taking food home and they're like, take something. We've got so much left over. Take it. Yeah. Take it. Say yes. It's like when Jess leaves my house, I'm like, take this, take that, take this. And she's like, stop it. And I'm like, no, no, no. Take Bec's advice. Take it. Take it. It's like shopping for free. It's great. Exactly. Take it. So that's me. And I'm assuming this $15.33 will last me a whole week if I stick to my plan. I have to because I have no other money. So that's that.

And I hope you've learned something here today. Love, love, love. You're a wizard at money. Thank you so much. I'm just very used to being, living off $15. For some reason, it's always $15 and I don't really know why. Always just turns into $15. Maybe it's just spending the same amount of money every month.

There's a pattern there. Like, that's an actual thing. Like, you're probably spending on the same things, the same amount of money on the same things. You would know that if you did a bank account on it. A cliff number. Like, where, I don't know, maybe it's like $50 bucks and when you only see 50 bucks in your account you like really halt back spending and

then the thing that's like yeah yeah like you get to 50 and you're like oh stuff's starting to get really real and then you start slowly slowly and by the time you've like cut back and cut back it's just at 15 and then that's what you've got left maybe that's where it is because I feel like lots of people especially people who live month to month have that like cliff number where they aren't worried aren't worried and then you see that number and you're like oh I better be responsible Yeah. I think so. There's a responsibility cliff number.

It's science. Yeah. Yeah. That's very interesting. That's a great week of tips from you. I feel like that's good. That was really interesting. That was so helpful.

Thank you so much. How good. Sorry it took so long. No. One more good one that I feel like we can actually help you out with. If you have a friend who uses a subscription service, we both obviously love Marley Spoon. They generally do, if you've been a customer of theirs for a while and if you're paying for boxes, which we do, you get like a free box. You can earn credits or it's different

depending on what platform you use. I know for Marley, the longer you're there, the more credits you build up. Yeah, you can't just like send it to new people and everyone gets a free box. Like there's a limit on how many people I could refer. So I'm going to send you a free box, obviously. Thank you. But if you've got friends that have that referral link, like for a free box. Yeah, literally. And you don't have to spend any money. They can just go, hey, Beck, you want to try it out? See what's so good? Here's a box. If you order, normally there's like three or four meals that you get in one of those boxes. If you're a single person, you can halve them, double it. That's like four or five days worth of meals.

Oh my God, that's good. Okay. Genius. That is genius. So smart. So smart. Thank you so much. You're a genius, Jessica. Let's go to a really quick break. On the flip side, I want to talk about calculating superannuation for retirement, which I know you guys cannot wait. And we also unpacking a message that you slid into our DMs about, which this week is all about subletting a share house. So don't go anywhere, my Marley Spoon friends. Welcome back, everybody. Let's take a listen to the Money Dilemma this week. Hi there. Have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve? The She's on the Money team is here to help. Every week, we tackle your dilemmas, both big and small, to answer your most burning

money, career and life questions. To get involved, simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show. Now, let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. My name is Ravi and I'm about to retire next month with a super balance of 1.6. When I check super calculators online, it shows that money will finish by the age of 91, which is fine but my question to that calculator is if we assume five percent return and five percent withdrawn the super balance at the age of 91 should be there but the calculator shows it's gone completely am i missing something thank you yeah take it away yes yep i could say a few things about this one but you know what i don't want to embarrass you guys so what i might

do is, instead of, you know, obviously giving expert opinion, I might throw to one of you too. Jess! I'm going to say, Ravi, I love you. You sound like a delight. Love you, Ravi. I'm so glad that you wanted to ask us. Yeah.

Congrats on retiring, by the way. That's exciting. I mean, next month, there are some gaps that I have had to fill in your situation. Which is exactly why I also don't know what to say. I was about to say, could you guys, like, let me take the reins on this, or is that all good? Straight? I know it's audacious, but I was thinking I might give it a crack at answering this question.

We'll let it slide. Yeah, that's fine. You're retiring next month, which I think is really exciting. And so I did some calculations because you told me that you had a $1.6 million portfolio and that it would last you until the age of 91, but you didn't tell us how old you were. But based on a drawdown rate of 5% and what I think you've done with this retirement calculator, which I'll explain to you why maybe we haven't used it effectively because at the end of the day, $1.6 million should technically still exist at the end of that period of time because his question is really valid. He's like, I've used this retirement calculator and it's saying that if I draw down 5% every single year, I'll

have nothing by the time I'm 91, which if that's the case, what I think you've done is gone to a calculator that tells you, you know, what your retirement income is going to look like based on a 5% estimated earnings rate, which is from my perspective, a really conservative rate. Like that's what makes me feel the most comfortable. When I was working as a financial advisor, that's what I'd work on with my clients because on average it's higher, but I prefer you to be pleasantly surprised than in a financial pickle. So that means of $1.6 million, you'd be technically making a profit each year or your share portfolio would be making about $80,000 a year. What I'm assuming has happened is you've gone to this calculator and you've put down a drawdown amount

of $80,000 and you've also assumed that you'll be making that $80,000 from your share portfolio each year. So that's $160,000 you'd be drawing down. And if that's the case, you're 70 years old and you're about to retire, which is really exciting. However, the issue here is the difference between what your fund will make and what your drawdown amount is. So each and every single year, and this is where it gets a little bit fickle. And to be honest, you have $1.6 million. Please go see a financial advisor. Please. You have so much money. I know you've probably done all of this on your own and that is so damn impressive. So cool. But now is the time to actually get all your ducks in a row because it could be really financially easy for you.

But you have the ability right now, and I'm so passionate about legacy, but you have the ability to set this up for years to come. Like this $1.6 million doesn't need to necessarily go anywhere. However, in retirement, technically you do have to do what's called a drawdown. And most people do 5% of a drawdown, which means you'd be taking $80,000 out as a drawdown of your funds. So taking money outside the super environment, and you would also be taking the profit as your income because you're now retired. I'm going to assume, these are massive assumptions because we don't have your full financial circumstances, if you've managed to get $1.6 million into superannuation, you're probably pretty financially stable outside of super. Is that a good assumption?

I feel like that's a pretty good guess. I doubt that in retirement, you need $160,000 tax-free. so you're going to talk to your financial advisor about putting that to work are you investing it yes obviously tax is going to come into that at that point if you're going to make money from your money you do have to pay once it comes out of the super environment but what I would be doing is going and having a chat to a financial advisor to make sure that your drawdown amount and the amount of money that you're making makes sense because if you've just done your calculations you are correct. After 20 years, that amount of money completely disappears because there's, you know, if you divide $1.6 million by 20, you actually get 80 grand. So all of that makes sense.

But what you need to do is talk to a financial advisor about making a plan for what your money does once you have it in your hands. And this is ultimately, guys, the dream position that I would want everyone to be in when they retire, right? Hey, Bec, you've got more money coming in than your lifestyle needs. So I obviously don't know that as gospel for our friend Ravi, but Ravi, if you want, shoot us a message and I will set you up with one of the financial advisors that I know and I trust to make sure that you're in the best possible position because at the end of the day, that money isn't just going nowhere. Like it can be put to work and that $1.6 million, if you're drawing it down, the probability of you actually getting through $160,000 a year

might not need that much so like maybe you're getting through eighty thousand dollars of it and we take that other eighty thousand and invest it into something else so that hopefully you can live beyond 91 years financially comfortably yes exactly what i was gonna say i know what happened on the way into the studio is jess dropped her notes and i picked them up and i was like oh i'm gonna take credit for this i see um yeah it happens all the time actually yeah yeah please don't tell anyone i can't trust myself not to yeah but i'm not going to today okay you can steal jess's notes next week if i find them again my lips are sealed baby i feel like though we're gonna have some good things to contribute from our notes for this week's community dilemma yes yes yes all right

jess are you ready ready i think you're excited about this i am okay so this week we got a message and it reads like this. Hello for exclamation points. I have a roommate dilemma. Good to see a few people struggle with this, not just me. So my housemate is off on placement and she'll be gone for the next two months. We've told her we aren't comfortable with her filling the room with a random person as we've had bad roommate experiences in the past. We told her she doesn't need to pay for any bills, but she's getting really annoyed at us because she says she can't afford the rent as it's a volunteer placement and she really wants us to fill the room. I don't want to be rude about it and I'm trying really hard to be empathetic,

but if this was something we knew would happen prior to her moving in, we honestly would have said no. Are we being unreasonable not letting someone move in as it means her finances will be tight? I feel like we are being good by not making her pay bills while she's gone. I'm super conflicted. I feel like Annalisa and I have different opinions on this because I can see And nodding along to something that I'm like, oh, you look so grumpy. She looks cranky. I'm scared to say what I think now. You can go first.

Okay. I'm scared to say what I think. I am not scared because the look on our producer's face is the same look on my face. Is she going to get us? Yeah, we're both going to get you. Hold on, hold on. I'm going to sit on my hands and my toes and zip my mouth shut because I think I'm going to get in trouble. All right, take it away.

Look, you know that I like to be nice to everyone because I can definitely, you know, everyone's living their own reality. No one deserves being roasted. So I'm not about to roast anyone here. Why not? But. Yes, she is. But sit down because it's about to get real hot.

And a little bit toasty but not roasty. No. So the person who wrote in. Yes. I can understand the discomfort there. I can totally understand that. unfortunately though subletting a room is i don't know in a share house a normal thing to do i can totally understand not wanting a stranger in there but don't be slack what don't be mean just let

someone else live in there while she's gone absolutely not wait wait wait wait wait but this is the other thing oh i'm so opinionated about the no but this is the other thing they said that they wouldn't let this housemate they wouldn't have let them move in if they knew that they were going to have to sublet in the future. Yeah, absolutely. So they were open to having another person in the room at some point if they knew that this person was going to like kind of float in and out or whatever they needed to do.

I just think that subletting is fine. Like if you all interview a new person and you say, okay, this person is going to move in for six weeks, we all like this person, it'd be the exact same process as getting a whole new housemate if this other person decided that they can't actually afford it and they need to move out. You're doing the exact same thing, interviewing, posting pictures, doing all this stuff, whether this person moves out.

Yep, so that person. Or sublets. That we've just picked, Jess. They can stay forever. There is a line down the middle of this table and Bec and Annalisa are on one side. If I cross it, you're going to. Give me a mic.

Can you come on? You can get on a mic. Jump on. Jump on. I want to hear what Jess has got to say because I feel like I'm on Jess's team. I feel like it's worth noting in a housemate situation, I think there are two different kinds of housemate situations you can live in.

I personally have lived in multiple share houses, never with somebody I didn't know. And that is a choice that I made. Bec, I think your experience has been you've lived with a whole roving group of people, people coming in, people coming out. That's a bit more the norm for your situation. So I think that's probably an important distinction to make up front. And to me, it sounds like they're three friends. they moved in, they knew each other. They're going for kind of like, we feel like we're going

to live well together. That's the choice that they have made. My vibe on this is you knew you were going to go on placement. Do you know what I mean? Like if you're undertaking a degree, you know that placement's coming up and I completely agree. It is ridiculous that people should be doing unpaid placement. My boyfriend did it last year. Yeah, absolutely not. That's a completely different conversation. Completely different conversation. I completely empathize with her and I understand what a financial strain that can put on you. That being said, I'm of the opinion that your financial situation should not impact the people that you're living with. And this is a conversation that we have had before. I can just leave. That's fine because I'm on the

same page as Jess. Whatever Jess says, agree. Especially because she knew, I think that's something that should have been discussed when they moved in. Hey, I'm going to go on placement. I'm going to need to sublet my room because I'm in the same boat as her friends. If I was living with two of my friends and they said, hey, we want to put a random in here for two months, I would say I'm not comfortable with that. And that is my own personal reasons, my own personal comforts and anxieties and whatever. But I think that they are entitled to leave. Like you've moved in on an agreement that the three of us are going to live together for 12 months. That's the other thing. I'm operating under the assumption that they're on a 12 month lease, not a month to month

lease. So we've gone, yep, me, Beck and Victoria, we're all moving in together for 12 months. Yeah. That's the agreement that I've entered into. A lot of the time, at least in Victoria, subletting is not necessarily allowed. A lot of clauses do not allow it. True. So again, depending on their clause, depending on their situation, that could be a factor as well. I would not be comfortable with some random person moving in. And I understand how they have said, Annalise is like, get me on, get me on, get me on. Like, I understand both sides, but I think in the same way that I've said this for other situations, you signed a contract saying the three of us are going to do this. We're going to be responsible for this. And if you were

concerned about that at the start, I think you maybe needed to have a little bit of forethought. I think not having her pay the bills to me seems like a good compromise. That's what me and my partner did. He paid his rent as per normal while he was paying to live on placement somewhere else and I paid our full utility bills. Right. I feel like that's a good compromise. Give me the mic so I can take it away. It's a rare, rare moment where I jump in and she's on the money to talk about this. Because you know what, J.Rick?

It's Annalisa here, by the way. Hi. Hi, Anna. Hello, welcome to the show. Hey, so, J.Rick, I also completely agree with you. And Victoria. And Victoria. I haven't said anything officially.

I've not gone on the record. For once. For once. My house is a home, not a hostel. Literally. I would like to say, Jessica, I do completely agree with you And now at my age, no way would I put up with that. But what I would say is, okay, say you are good friends

and you have moved in together. Yeah, why on earth did she not bring this up at the start? But there are two types of housemates in my long checkered history of share houses, right? And I have had some absolute nightmares. Are you a good housemate? I'm a fantastic housemate. Do you think everyone says that, though?

Everyone listening says that. But anyway, let's stick on the topic. I used to have a housemate that stole my underwear and I'm sure she'd say she was great. Yeah, well, let's stick on the topic. But, you know, we always had the housemate that would do the flaky thing and be like, oh, I actually have to move out tomorrow and it's on you to find a new person and whatever.

Also unacceptable. Exactly. But there's a very, very big difference between perfect and even legal and what is the right thing to do and what actually happens in share houses. And what this chick should have said is that she was going to go on placement. Look, for some reason she didn't, but she is your friend. and what I would say in this situation is she's probably not just saying she can't pay the rent because she just wants to keep some extra money it's like actually a difference between maybe

doing it or not doing it and yes it's not she left it way to the last minute but if you trust your friend she can organize all of the what do they call it interviews for people to come in you pick someone you like and if they don't find someone it's two months also i mean it's that's eight weeks it's very very quick you don't have to say yes to anyone you don't like and you're like okay if we can't find not a freak to move in then sorry you gotta pay yeah it's just in my experience that gap between perfect normal stable adult life and share house life yeah is there is a whole lot of movement in between and it's really hard and it gets very mucky and yes i have lived with the biggest chaos lords on the planet and you don't want

to entertain that in your house, but I just also think this person's your friend, you've moved in with friends, like maybe you can help them out. Not let a toxic vibe in, but it's short term and vet that, you know. But it's hard because if you've picked a friend to move in, like you've cultivated a safe space from my perspective. Well, then you pick the wrong person because your friend's lying to you. Oh, yes.

So, I mean, there's that too, right? Whoa. Sorry to get dramatic. Yeah, no, I get what you mean. Because then, like, where's that friendship going to be after this then when they're like, ah, no, you know, is that in tatters? There are other options though. Like you can get grants to help you pay for accommodation.

I know James had a good portion of his covered. It also depends, I guess, on what she's looking at for her alternative accommodation. Like has she found a really affordable place, you know, for her second home while she's on placement like my partner was staying in quite frankly a trash heap like it was a two meter by two meter box with like a little square window like it was not a nice place to live but he's like well it does the job and it's cheap af and it's pretty much covered by my grant so that's it so i i feel like there are other options here that shouldn't necessarily mean

that you have to put two other people out on something that should be a last yeah definitely yeah I feel like it's all fair and coming from different areas and I think it it honestly depends on the personality of the people that you're going to live with right sure so like I could have already guessed that Beck you'd be like yeah that's fine someone else can come live with me yeah I already knew that Jessica would have just been like hard no I think you already knew both of you that I wouldn't have been comfortable with that yeah and I think it's about kind of the stability that you're trying to create in your share house I know that Jess and I are very similar in that it was never really just a share house that we didn't care about no like to me

that's my home like I have spent money furnishing it I have you know invested in different things you know there's been arguments along the way of who needs to buy the dishwashing detergent and all of those other things but I'm the type of person that furnished it and put you know photos on the wall and these are my things. This is my home. I'm like, it's not to me a hostel where people come and go. Like I always moved in with people that I assumed we would have a long-term housemate relationship with. So if someone had turned around and be like, oh yeah, I'm just going to sublet my room. It takes me a lot to be comfortable with somebody. That whole idea that now I need to find time in my schedule to interview people, to potentially move into my house that I

might be comfortable with for only eight weeks, I feel is not fair. It should have been a conversation we had at the very beginning where maybe now listening to this, if you're moving into a share house, have that conversation with your housemates before you move in. Be like, hey, what if any of us goes away? Yes. What if you go on holiday? Your finances are not your housemates responsibility. And yes, it's placement, but like, I don't know, three of our team members recently have done eight-week stints in Europe. I'm not saying that that's akin to placement. There's a lot of privilege and there's a lot of discussion, but just because your room is open doesn't mean that someone necessarily comes and

lives there. Like you, as you said, Jess, you've signed a lease, you've moved in on the premise that you've committed to that for 12 months. If the circumstance is that you can't commit to that anymore well maybe you give your housemates the option be like hey cool well I'm not going to be able to afford it giving you notice now I'm going to move out you're going to need to find a new housemate and that could be the reality of the situation because at the end of the day I just think for me one thing that I always looked for when I was not living with my parents anymore was stability and I didn't want people coming and going from my home or like using my stuff or I don't know I'm not the type of person that was cool with that flip it over to my little sister

she's so good at making friends like it wouldn't matter who it was and where it was but i think you need to be really aware of the personalities that you're moving in with because i already knew that you'd be fine with a beck and i knew that dress would be a hard no like it was not a surprise when your opinions came out i was like yeah okay this makes sense right but you've built a certain environment too like what if the three friends like you're the kind of friends that like you get ready together every friday night like you walk around in your undies because you're all fake tanning like there's a level of comfort there that I think you develop with people that are your friends that even if you find a person who's a non-freak who is perfectly lovely bringing

them into the home is still going to be disruptive of course and I don't think yeah I don't think anyone I mean we do need to finish this episode but I don't think anyone wants to say that it's cool or great for a home to be disrupted I just think in the practical everyday reality of living in a share house, there are going to be times when it's not as good as what it always is. I don't know. Oh, my gosh. I have empathy for both sides. I'm not promising another list that I'm not going to deliver on.

Please don't. I have written those lists. We need to get them online. We should make a list of questions to ask your housemates before you move in with them. Oh, my God. Housemate checklist. We're not giving you a date. We're not giving you a date.

Follow us on Instagram and we'll announce it there when it's ready. Randomly. We will release it when we're comfortable. Yes. That's a great idea, though, because we've done a lot of these housemate episodes now. And you know what? I feel like this is the spiciest housemate content ever. Like not necessarily this, but like this podcast has gone rogue on.

I feel like one of you heard that we talk about housemates and you're like, oh, by the way, my housemate dilemma is. So yeah. Anyway, guys, that is all we have time for today. I hope you have the best weekend and we'll see you bright and early for a money diary on Monday. Bye. Bye.

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