A Week In Lake Macquarie As A Senior Project Officer On $106,900

Occupation: Senior Project Officer
Industry: Government
Age: 33
Location: Lake Macquarie, NSW
Salary: $119,479 package, $106,934 without super.
Net Worth: $333,504 — my house is worth around $650,000 (so that's $112,000 in equity), $160,000 in superannuation, $6,000 in shares/ETFs, $10,000 in an emergency fund, $5,000 in savings, $2,500 in my daughter's school account, $4,000 in my 'bills' slush account, $40,000 in my mortgage redraw (I don't count $10,000 of that because I won't touch it unless I'm about to become homeless). I also have a significant crystal collection and own my car (a 2016 Mazda) outright.). I am a single mother with one child and I have no shared expenses.
Debt: $537,996 on my mortgage and $6,000 in credit card debt which I pay off at the end of each month (I use it to collect frequent flyer points).
Paycheque Amount (Fortnightly): $3,267.62. I salary sacrifice $150 each fortnight.
Pronouns: She/Her

Mortgage: $2,908 for a double-story home in Lake Macquarie with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. I am single and have a daughter. I do not get child support or Centrelink benefits (except child care subsidy) and I don't share any payments with anyone.
Additional Mortgage Repayments: $250
Rates: $152
Home & Contents Insurance: $191
Water & Electricity: $247
School Expenses: $217 (My daughter goes to a public school)
OOSH (Childcare) Fees: $347
NBN: $74
Netflix: $17
Car Insurance & Rego: $156
Petrol: $260
Phone: $26
Savings Contributions: $350
Pearler (Investing): $170
Daughter's Savings: $65

Only Tafe. My first job was a traineeship which paid for my Certificate III in Business Administration. I also obtained a Cert V in Government Investigations and Statutory Compliance and a Cert V in Customer Engagement through work (both at no cost to me). I obtained a Diploma in Project Management in my own time, which was paid for through the HELP program so there was no upfront cost. My nan passed away and I got a small inheritance, so I used this to pay off that debt.

Not a whole lot. You didn't ask about money — it was rude. My mum was a stay-at-home mum and my dad controlled all the finances. My dad would tell me that I shouldn't take out loans for anything other than cars and houses, and that if you couldn't afford things without a credit card or loan, you should go without.

My dad passed away when I was 13 and Mum didn't even know how to pay a bill (I later learned that there was a lot of emotional and financial abuse in that relationship). As the oldest, I took on a much more involved role than I probably should have and helped mum learn along the way. I remember being at the shops and buying a phone with her, but she wanted the newest one. We argued about it and I told her it wasn't necessary, and the sales rep was like, "Who is the mother here?".

While my mother tried her best, I swore that I would never financially rely on another person and that I'd always be able to fend for myself, which I have done to this day.

My first job was at good old McDonald's at the age of 14. I had a friend who worked there and she got me the interview. I got the job because I wanted to be able to do things on the weekends with friends that mum couldn't afford (I was the eldest of five). I have worked ever since (sighhhh).

The short answer is yes. As a family, we went through periods of extreme poverty and extreme indulgence. As a kid, I thought we had everything, especially while my dad was alive. But I now know that to be his extreme financial control. Sure, he nearly paid off the house, but we never had any memories of going on holidays or doing fun things with him because he just worked 24/7.

I saw my mum come into a large sum of money when my dad died. We lived the high life... until we didn't. She wanted to give her kids the world, and materialistically, she did for a few years. But as she was a stay-at-home mum her whole life, that money ran out quickly. We struggled for a while until she realised she was not going to get above water any time soon. She sold our Western Sydney home and moved us to the Central Coast, where it was much cheaper at the time. As kids, we were so mad, but I completely understand her decision now.

I do. I am hyper-independent and have worked my way up in my career to ensure that I wouldn't have to worry about money. Now, technically, I don't have to. I allocate money towards bills each paycheque and can afford everything my daughter and I need. When a bill comes in, I know the money is there. But that doesn't stop me from thinking about money constantly and what 'more' I can do to ensure that my daughter and I will be set up forever.

If you mean family as a financial safety net, then no, not really. My mother is on the pension and owns her house, but lives paycheque-to-paycheque. Three of my four siblings don't have much (if any) savings. I have one brother with comparable savings to mine, who I suppose I could call on for a loan, but he would definitely expect to be paid back.

I became financially responsible for myself at 17, when I got my first full-time job. However, I still lived at home and paid only $100/week in board. I moved out of home when I was around 21, so I was 100% responsible for myself from then on.

Yes. When my nan passed away, I got about $10,000.  I paid off my HELP loan, which was around $5,000. I put the rest towards a car loan.

6:00am — I wake up and get myself ready before my daughter wakes up. I work from home mainly, but I'm still getting used to 'school mum' life, so my weekdays are pretty routine. My pay came in last night ($3,267), so I check my bank account to make sure all my automatic transfers have come out, including $30 towards my daughter's savings account, $160 in my own savings contributions, school fees and OOSH (out of school hours childcare) costs, and $80 towards my Pearler investments (all covered in my monthly expenses).

7:00am — I wake my daughter up for some brekkie. OOSH provides brekkie, but I prefer getting up a little earlier so we can have some quiet time together before the craziness of the day takes over. My daughter makes her bed while I prep breakfast (some toast and fruit). We talk about what books she might be borrowing today as it is library day at school — it's all very new and exciting for her. I hope her love of reading continues well into the future! I do her hair (I’ve already exhausted all my ‘cool’ hairdos and it’s only a few weeks into the school term, help me!) and we leave to do the OOSH drop-off.

8:20am — I get back home and log on to work for the day. I work in organisation strategy, which is a broad term for project work. At the moment, we're working on a massive recruitment campaign (180+ roles all up). I work on responding to emails, proofing job ads and coordinating between hiring managers and corporate.

11:15am — I stop for a break and I do my online fortnightly grocery shop for delivery tomorrow. I find that doing it online helps me stick to my budget as impulse purchases are reduced. It ends up costing $382.70 and comes from my 'bills' slush account. I'll do a top-up shop midway through the fortnight for fruit, vegetables and milk, which will take me up to my $400 limit. $382.70

12:00pm — A lawn person arrives at my house. I have just moved into my house (in the last two months) and the backyard is a jungle. It is so overgrown and I can’t tell what is actual garden and what is weed. I was tempted to get in a bulldozer and just rip the whole lot up, but instead, I've decided to get in a local lawn person to do the lawns each fortnight, as well as an hour of gardening. I'm hoping this will get it all under control.

1:30pm — He finishes up and I transfer $150 over to pay him. I'll only be able to do this temporarily as it pretty much eats up all of my savings and isn't sustainable moving forward. I also check my account and see that the $30 monthly fee for my credit card is due, but because I hit the minimum spend, the fee is waived. Then it's back to work. $150

4:30pm — I log off from work and pick my daughter up from OOSH. The school is only about 15 minutes away, so I get there and back in half an hour. We play some board games until the night routine kicks in. 

5:30pm — Similar to the mornings, once 5:30pm hits, it’s go go go. I cook dinner, clean up, and prep her school lunch and bags. Then it's shower time for her, book, and bed, where I kiss her goodnight. I already miss her little voice in my ear, but I'm looking forward to the downtime that 7:30pm brings each night!

7:30pm — I am very late to the party, but settle in for my latest obsession —  Sons of Anarchy. Much eye candy, much drama — just what I like!

9:30pm — I head to bed. Despite trying not to, I scroll on my phone for too long. I know I'll regret it tomorrow morning.

6:00pm — Into the morning routine. Shower, get daughter up, breakfast, then off to drop my daughter to OOSH. I come home, make a cuppa, and sit down at my computer.

8:20am — My credit card is due today. I pay everything for the month on my credit card — the allocation is either already in my 'bills' slush account or I transfer as I go. I do this to collect frequent flyer points. By doing this, I've already been able to have a four-day holiday at Sea World, where my daughter and I stayed on site. Flights and accomodation were all covered for us, so I only had to worry about spending money. I'm trying to do this again and go to another amusement park in Victoria later this year. I make the monthly card payment ($5,260.67), then log on at work and read through my emails. $5,260.67

10:00am — Today, I have a couple of meetings to attend regarding the recruitment campaign. I also need to meet some new corporate staff that will be working closely with me at the end of the cycle. In between meetings, I chuck on a couple of loads of laundry and get them on the line. Sounds menial, but being able to do this during the workday saves my soul on the weekends. I am able to enjoy them so much more because 80% of ‘house things’ have been done during the week.

4:30pm — I log off and go to get my girl. I try to be as present as I can in the half hour I have before ‘night routine’ begins. Luckily for me, the routine is binned somewhat on Fridays. We play games and listen to music. I am not great at ‘imaginative play’, so I'll always try and plant the seed to play board games or cards. She is unbelievably good and beats me more times than I would like to admit. There is no structure to dinner tonight and we just heat up some frozen pizza — spinach for me, ham and pineapple for my daughter. It always surprises me that she's more interested in my spinach pizza than hers — I might have to start buying two of them (but I bet she'll stop liking it then!).

7:30pm — After the bath, book and bed routine, I grab myself a cider and head downstairs to watch some TV. It's really just background noise for me to scroll on my phone. I do some online shopping — there's lots of scrolling but no purchasing. I bought a few big ‘you deserve this’ gifts for myself when I bought this house, so I need to rein it in for a bit. Then I hit the hay.

7:00am — It's finally the weekend and I've promised my daughter a day at the movies. I'm always torn on my weekends with her (she spends every second weekend with her father) as I don't know if we should make plans or just chill and take it easy. I'll usually choose doing something together though.

9:15am — After a slow brekkie, we leave the house to make our 10:00am movie. I pay $40 for our tickets, a small popcorn and a bag of Maltesers. Before the movie starts, we get some photos taken in the photobooth ($7). As usual, I hate the photos, but I know that I want the memories so I pretend to love them (plus we don't have time for a re-shoot!). We print a couple of copies so I can stick some on my work computer. Then, it's off to watch the movie! $47

11:50am — After the movie, I go to an automatic car wash place nearby. The people working there do a quick pre-wash of the car before the machine goes in, which cleans it so much better. $20.35

12:30pm — We get lunch at a fast-food place ($23.10). We're in my mum's neighbourhood, so we drop in to say hello. It’s a hot day and Mum’s aircon is not working. She does NOT do well in the heat and it makes us laugh at how dramatic she is being. Two of my siblings still live with her, so it's good to see them. It's funny that out of all five kids, all three girls have moved out of home, while the two boys remain. $23.10

3:30pm — On the way home, we stop and get slushies because I am a pushover when it comes to my daughter. Plus, it's stinking hot! $7.50

4:30pm — We take it easy in the afternoon. My sister and her daughter pop around, and the girls run off to play and explore my jungle of a yard. While they do that, my sister and I have a few drinks and pick at a grazing platter. We have music on in the background and talk smack long into the night. Then they leave, I do my daughter's bedtime routine, and send myself off to bed. 

7:00am — It's another hot day. We don't have any plans today, so we just have a slow brekkie. I let my daughter watch some TV while I have a shower.

8:00am — Once I am done, I blow up the inflatable pool and make a cheese/fruit platter. Then I settle in for the day with my daughter and pup. We hardly move from the pool all day!

2:30pm — I empty the pool. It's a far harder task than I remember and takes me waaay too long. The dog tries to chase the water from the pool and my daughter still wants to play in it. I am a mess. I can't wait to get inside and out of the heat, which is still going strong even though it's almost 3pm.

5:00pm — I need to make dinner tonight. I usually don't cook on Friday or Saturday nights and we usually eat out for lunch over the weekend, so I just quickly whip up something easy at home — what my mum used to call 'scuzzy' dinners. I loosely plan meals for the fortnight — I buy enough food to make ten meals and then pick and choose what I feel like the night before, which gives me enough time to defrost the meat.

6:00pm — Alas, it's Sunday and it's time to get back into it. Tonight's menu is stroganoff. Did I mention I hate cooking?! I do it because I have to, but if I had to choose between paying for a private cleaner or a chef, I would pick a chef every day! I don’t eat meat, but I cook and prepare it for my daughter.  I don’t mind eating things that the meat has been cooked in, so we both eat the same thing (I just don’t dish up any of the meat for myself). My mum used to cook like she was cooking for an army and our portions were far too big. I am better, but haven’t quite been able to break that habit. There are always leftovers that I either use for work/school lunches the next day or freeze for future use.

6:45pm — After dinner, my daughter has free play while I get everything tidied up and ready for the week. I make school lunches and pack her school bag. I set her uniform and my clothing out for the next morning. And I have breakfast prepped on the bench, ready to go. By planning everything out the night before, I find it just makes for a much smoother morning and gives us plenty of time to chill out and chat.

7:30pm — After the bath, book and bed routine, I pop downstairs to settle in for my other obsession, MAFS. I am not a fan of reality TV unless it is trashy and drama-filled (preferably British, but Australian shows also go alright). I don't want to watch any of that trying-to-find-love BS! Then it's off to bed.

6:00am — Back to the grind. After our morning routine, I drop my daughter at OOSH and come home to make a cuppa and start work for the day.

9:00am — One of the members of our executive team is returning after a prolonged period of time off, so my morning is blocked out to draft the ‘returning’ brief to get them up to speed on all the changes that have happened while they've been gone.

12:30pm — I work on it until lunch, when I see that the Newcastle Fringe Festival is coming up. They have a number of kid's programs, so I buy some tickets for my daughter and me to see Mr Snotbottom, a comedian for kids. This should be interesting... $46

2:00pm — My afternoon is spent doing emails and finalising a policy review. I go outside and throw some toys to my dog to get away from the desk and feel the sun and fresh air. The only thing I probably miss about going into the office is being able to get up and walk around — whether that's to see a colleague on the other side of the office, to get a coffee (I don't drink it, but I like tagging along), or to just go to the office kitchen. Once I get this school thing down, I think I will probably start heading into the office once a week, but because it is not expected, I really am procrastinating at actually committing to it. 

4:30pm — I log off and go and get my daughter from OOSH. They are long days for her, in addition to starting school just generally. She’s been a daycare kid since she was nine months old, so the transition hasn’t been too bad so far — she’s fairly used to this kind of setting. But I can tell she is just that little bit extra tired at the end of the day. Being Monday, it’s the transition day from a busy weekend, so when we get home, we just chill out and have a snuggle and chat before I go upstairs to make dinner. The TV parents her while I cook.

6:00pm — While we eat dinner, I ask my daughter to tell me what her favourite part of the day was, and her least favourite part. I use this firstly as a tool to get anything out of her, and secondly, to talk about the feelings or emotions she might have had on that day. If I just ask her how her day was, she'd just say "good" and move on. She tells me that her favourite part was "playing" and we talk about what she did and about some new friends she made. Her least favourite part was that she got time out, which made me laugh because I can only imagine the adjustment it is for my strong-willed girl needing to stick to the many rules that school comes with. We chat about what happened and what she might do differently next time, but end the conversation with me laughing and thanking her for telling me. 

7:30pm — Night time routine for my daughter starts, then I chill out and head to bed.  

7:30am — Morning routine, then I drop my daughter at OOSH. Then I come home, make a cuppa, and it's back to work.

9:00am — I have a couple of meetings again today, but my morning is fairly free! I action emails, send off some briefs for approval, and verbally offer some roles to candidates (finally!). I put some washing on in between.

12:30pm — I have lunch. It's very boring and I need to plan better for myself. My daughter? No worries — gourmet lunches and filled with snacks for the day. Me? Just a cheese stick, a cuppa and some crackers.

1:30pm — My first meeting is up — a yawn fest about finance. Throughout school, maths was always my strong suit, but corporate finance is just not my jam! After, I jump into another meeting on structural changes within the organisation.

3:30pm — I clock off a bit early using some time in lieu that I have and go to get my hair done 3:30pm. I touch up my colour with only a gloss as I am booked in next time for a full-colour correction (I'm thinking of going back to red!). My hairdresser, who is now a friend, has been with me for the last five years and has seen every change I've made — brown, black, red, purple, even blonde! I am very boring in what I wear (every shade of black) and I don't wear very exciting makeup, so my hair is the one thing I've refused to give up on as a 'me' thing. While my hair processes, I scroll on my phone and see some ads for MAMMA MIA! The Musical in Sydney. My mum loves ABBA, so I get some tickets for us to go for her birthday ($469.65). I think she'll love this surprise. My hair gets finished and I pay $180. $649.65

5:45pm — Getting my hair done means that my OOSH pick-up is slightly later than usual. I forget about cooking dinner and just take out a meal from the freezer (spag bol) to reheat. We eat and then my daughter and I head down to the lake. I'm so happy that I'm just a five-minute drive (or a 15-minute walk) away. After moving to the Hunter for a couple of years to build myself back up after separating with my partner, it's really nice to be back close to the water. It's something I won't take for granted again.

7:30pm — Nighttime routine kicks in as soon as we get home, then I chill and head off to bed.

6:00am — My weekly mortgage payment is due to come out today — $727 (covered in my monthly expenses). Then it's the same old morning routine, drop-off at OOSH, and back home to start work.

9:00am — I make a cuppa and block the morning out to get a large number of recruitment ads to the hiring managers for review. We have a new template to try and attract more candidates, fingers crossed. I also have to get attendance numbers to my boss for a Pride event we are holding before my 1-on-1 meeting with them at 10am. After that, I have two other meetings back-to-back and jump on emails in between.

1:00pm — Lunch. I eat at home whenever I work from home, so I save a lot of money. As a part of my grocery shop, I buy dedicated 'work' snacks for morning tea, and I keep my breaks and eating pretty structured as if I was in the office. I find this keeps me from grazing all day or wanting to pop to the shops. I do need to do better with lunches though, as sometimes I'll just skip lunch and survive on morning tea until dinner time. But other days, I really need to talk myself out of popping out to get sushi!

4:30pm — I clock off at 4:30pm as usual and do the normal afternoon routine. It seems robotic and repetitive, but it really does help keep everything on track. 

7:30pm — After dinner, I clean up and then do the bath, book and bed routine. Then I rush downstairs for MAFS. It's dinner party night — my favourite! The drama is high and I think I might love it as it compensates for my peaceful, but uneventful life. I wouldn't have it any other way! As I am sure many other parents will relate to, this is a stage. There will come a time when my daughter no longer wants to chat with me about her favourite and least favourite parts of school, or spend the arvo hanging out with me. To think that I have a 5-year-old at school is just outrageous to me, especially considering I gave birth to her only yesterday... didn't I? She will be a sassy teen in no time and until then, I am going to soak up every minute. 

When I moved out of home, I did so with my then-boyfriend. Eventually, we saved up a bunch of money by ourselves with no direct financial help, but we did need to move back home to speed up our saving. We eventually bought a block of land, built our first house, got married, and had a child. With the equity in our house, we also bought an investment property.

Then, as the tale goes, we split up.  

We sold the investment property and broke even (we had only bought it a year prior). We split everything else 50/50, including savings and furniture. We had no debts other than mortgages. We sold our main home with a pretty hefty profit and after splitting 50/50, ended up with around $110,000 each.

I bought another house in the Hunter Valley by myself just before the housing market started to peak (in December 2020), and ended up selling it in December 2022 when the stars aligned (and just before the market started to trend down). With a profit of $170,000, I was able to buy my current home in Lake Macquarie, back closer to my family and friends.