A Week In Fitzroy, Melbourne, As A Student & Legal Researcher On $44,000

Occupation: Student/Legal Researcher/Tutor
Industry: Law
Age: 22
Location: Fitzroy, Melbourne
Salary: $44,000
Net Worth: $4,608 ($50,000 of equity in a property (it's a long story) and $14,608 in my bank account (separated into different pots)).
Debt: At the end of this year, I should have around $60,000 in HECS debt for my law/arts double degree, as well as some international summer subjects that were partly financed by HECS loans.
Paycheque Amount (Weekly): It varies, but usually between $800 to $1,000 per week.
Pronouns: She/Her

Rent: $1,080 for a master bedroom and ensuite in a Fitzroy sharehouse that I share with a couple and a friend. I am very lucky to only pay this much. I partly own the property with my mum, so we control the rent. All of the money I pay in rent goes towards paying off the house, so I see it as an investment. She pays a small shortfall of the mortgage, and the other housemates pay off the rest.
Internet: $20
Phone: $16
Netflix: $15 (My sister and mum mooch off me)
Binge: $10
ClassPass: $50
Gas & Electricity: $50ish
Pay The Rent: $30
Savings Contributions: I aim for $800 to $1,000 a month. But I can't save anything for about four months while school is out and I'm not tutoring. I live pretty bare bones in January when all of my work stops.

I am currently in my final year of a law/arts degree. I put it on HECS and I'll pay for it myself.

My parents were super frugal, despite being pretty well off. They were both ‘new money’, in that their families didn’t have investments and savings and that we've never been intergenerationally wealthy. They definitely taught me how to save. I’ve always been a saver, but I really don’t know much about investing in shares, for example.

It's very bizarre, but I started out as a basketball referee at the age of 12. Back then, the basketball company was registered as a ‘hobby’, not a job, so there were no age restrictions. All of my friends were doing it, so I joined and I used to get $2 per game, paid in cash. The rate went up to $16 once I turned 15.

Not really. We always went on holidays and spent summers down at the beach, but we didn’t fritter money away. There were no fancy clothes or dinners so I didn’t get the sense we were well off. 

Yes and no. I know I’m in a really fortunate position for my age, but I do worry that I’m living above my means, even though I try to save a lot. I wonder if I should be living more frugally to set myself up better for later on, but I’m constantly balancing this with wanting to enjoy my life while I’m young and fun.

I became independent when I moved out at age 21. I pay for everything and my mum only offers to help out with things like huge medical bills (for example, my wisdom teeth removal in a few weeks). But even then, I'll pay for most of it. I don’t like to ask my parents for money. I probably never would ask them unless I was in some real strife. My financial safety net is my emergency fund, which is about $7,500 and the equity in my house if I really needed to pull it out. 

I received an inheritance of $5,000 when my grandad died. I have also received about $10,000 from my dad through a discretionary family trust.

8:00am — Wake up groggy and roll onto my lovely boyfriend, J., who is feeling a little worse for wear. We stayed up late watching Happy Valley last night and we’re paying for it this morning. I quickly get ready and we hop in the car.

9:15am — Arrive back home and make myself a quick brekkie of oats with chocolate chips and a banana. I think chocolate for breakfast is essential to my wellbeing.

9:30am — Log on to Zoom for my first tute of the day. To supplement my income, I tutor English and History to Year 12 students. I love it because it’s as rewarding as being a teacher but with none of the downsides. I tutor a Year 12 girl today in creative writing, then log off. 

10:30am — I quickly clean the kitchen, unpack the dish rack and sweep the floors. 

11:00am — I log on for my next tute. This time, it’s on argument and persuasive analysis. The girl I’m tutoring is a new student and so far, I really like her and her observations. 

12:00pm — My next student cancels! I make myself an egg on toast with avo, as well as a T2 Melbourne Breakfast tea. I pack a bag because I’m heading to my mum’s — I’m bringing a pilea plant over to her that I’ve repotted, a book and some homemade pasta sauce. She lives off of baked potatoes and I keep telling her she’ll get scurvy if she doesn’t eat vegetables. 

4:00pm — I pick up my sister and we drive back to Fitzroy, where I grab some groceries. I drop her off at a bar to meet her friends. I’m cooking dinner for some friends tonight, so I get some mixers, Kewpie mayo, fancy pasta, bread, tomatoes, basil, some salad mix, and some other bits and bobs. I squawk when I see the amount ($53.07) and try to remember that I’ll get paid on Monday. I also grab a bottle of Prosecco ($13.99) at Dan Murphy’s to make limoncello spritzes tonight. I’ve got the limoncello already. $67.06

5:00pm — Arrive home and unpack, chatting with my housemate S. as I load up the fridge. We’re all going to see a friend’s band tonight, which we’re super excited about. I make myself a coffee because I’m feeling a little tired, and half-watch a few episodes of Sex and the City while I curl my hair.

6:30pm — Two of my friends arrive (M. and A.) and we chat while I prepare dinner. I’m a shocking cook, so I’m just doing a pasta with my homemade sauce and a Coles salad mix. A. has brought a baguette, so we snack on that with some butter whilst the pasta is cooking. 

7:00pm — We are all one limoncello spritz deep and the gossip is HOT. My other friend, I., arrives and we have some more drinks. I’m definitely feeling a little tipsy, but I don’t want to buy expensive drinks at the gig, so I have another limoncello. 

8:20pm — We leave to meet other friends at another pre's, and split the Uber there ($16.86, split between four, so $4.22 each). The pre's is pretty chill. I kiss J. hello, who has been here for a few hours. I chat with some other friends and then we walk to the venue, all very excited to see the band. $4.22

10:30pm — The band is on! The crowd loves them. J. buys me a drink (thanks, bank of boyfriend!), but otherwise, I just drink water. I bought the ticket a few weeks ago, and it was super cheap, thankfully. 

12:00am — It’s midnight and we’re all getting tired from the dancing and the booze. J. and I stagger to the nearest Macca’s with two of my friends. I order some nuggets, chips and a drink ($12) and feel immediately guilty because I’m vegetarian. My weakness is chicken nuggets. I order J. and I’s Uber home ($13.90) — the trams have stopped running and I owe him after he bought me a drink at the gig. We don’t really track our split expenses. We just keep a vague idea of whose turn it is to pay. $25.90

1:30am — Pass out in bed and drink a big glass of water to prevent the inevitable hangover tomorrow. 

7:30am — Why do I always wake up so early when I’m hungover? I half-sleep for an hour or so and then J. drives me home early because he has to do a Sunday shift. I potter around my room and watch some Real Housewives, feeling unproductive. 

10:15am — I’m meeting my friend L. for brunch, so I start getting ready. Despite my best efforts, I still look like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards. I speed walk to the cafe and arrive a little late. We catch up and chat about the last few months. She’s not a super close friend so we haven’t seen each other in a while. I get banana bread and a smoothie. I pay the bill and she transfers me later, with my share coming to $20.

12:30pm — I attempt (unsuccessfully) to nap, but give up and make myself a sandwich instead. I chat with my housemates who are also bored and looking for fun, so we decide to go barefoot bowling at Edi Gardens! Channelling my inner older white man, I put on some daggy jeans and slides and we mosey over to the park. 

2:00pm — I pay for our lane ($60 divided by four, so $15 each) — they will pay me back later. It takes us a while to get the hang of it, but it ends up being really fun! They are playing the biggest hits of 2012 at the bowling club so we groove along to Taio Cruz and Flo Rida while we (mostly) hurl balls into other people’s lanes. I buy a lemonade while I’m there as I can’t stand the thought of a beer right now ($3). I’m on the losing team, but I tell everyone that the real winner was friendship and they all cringe. $18

4:00pm — Arrive home, prep for uni tomorrow, and then get ready for a picnic with two of my best childhood friends. I’m wearing a Reformation dress which I’ve had forever and love — it’s a black maxi with red spots on it. 

6:20pm — I pop to the shops to grab some picnic stuff and groceries. I do all my shopping for the week ($66.64), which should mean that I won’t spend money on unnecessary food (famous last words…). My splurge at the supermarket is vegan chicken nuggets, my attempt to atone for last night’s chicken-related sins. I usually don’t spend anywhere near this much money on groceries. $66.64

7:00pm — I get home, unpack the groceries and walk to Edi Gardens to meet my friends N. and E. for bread, cheese, dips and chips. I drink a non-alcoholic G&T which is surprisingly quite nice, but doesn’t taste at all like a G&T. I’ve been loving drinking more non-alcoholic drinks — I don’t even notice that I’m sober. E. has just gotten a new boyfriend, so we gossip about that before calling it a night at around 9:30pm.

9:30pm — Crawl home and cobble some ingredients together to make something that resembles a poké bowl. I pack some away for lunch tomorrow. 

11:00pm — Shower, skincare (Cerave cleanser and moisturiser, then The Ordinary niacinamide and hyaluronic acid) and then lights out. I read about three pages of my book, Saving Agnes by Rachel Cusk, before my eyes start to droop. 

8:30am — Such a good sleep-in, although, I had a dream that J. cheated on me, so I wake up very angry at him. Thankfully, he didn’t stay over yesterday or he would’ve gotten some very stern looks this morning.

8:45am — I wake up properly and make myself a hot cross bun and my usual oats with a banana before getting ready for uni. I wear some Rollas jeans and a blue oversized men's shirt (which I think looks Matilda Djerf-chic but probably looks more Brighton-Mum). I pack my bag for the day, do my skincare, swipe on some makeup and roll my hair into a claw clip. 

9:15am — Leave for uni in the car. It is such a long drive, so I put on a podcast to keep me company. The episode is called ‘Girlbossing with Otegha Uwagba’ on a show called Sentimental Garbage. It’s basically two very smart women talking about the semantics and connotations of girlbossing and how conflict has been feminised.

10:05am — Arrive at uni, pay for parking ($2.50). Thankfully, parking is super cheap! I sprint to where I think my class is, get lost, ask someone I vaguely know, then get told the class doesn’t start until April. Amazing stuff from me. I trudge up to the law library and procrastinate some uni work that I need to do by marking some student essays that I don’t have to do. $2.50

11:00am — Start doing my ‘real’ work, this time on my gender and the law subject. Ideally, I’d like to work with incarcerated or at-risk women in the future, so I do all of the readings, something I don’t usually do with other subjects.

12:00pm — I book a Vinyasa class for 7:30pm tonight at my favourite studio. It’s much more expensive than the other ones on ClassPass, but I love it. I am one credit short of my monthly allotment, so I pay $2.50 for the extra credit. The rest have already been paid for in my monthly expenses. $2.50 

1:00pm — I wander over to the women’s lounge and heat up my poké bowl. Super simple, it’s just stir-fried capsicum, carrot, broccoli, tofu, edamame, avocado, rice and a healthy drizzle of teriyaki sauce and Kewpie mayo. I’m feeling full and content afterwards, but craving something sweet, so I buy myself a chocolate at the servo ($1.50) and eat it as I walk to my class. Hot girls need their daily sweet treats. $1.50 

2:00pm — Three-hour seminar begins! They’re always such a slog but I prefer going in person to watching online.

5:15pm — I have a Zoom tute with a regular student, so I go to a quiet place at uni to do it. We do some creative writing together. All of the Year 12s generally do creative writing as their first assessment of the year and I’m loving it. 

6:15pm — I zoom home in the car, listening to my audiobook of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin which I’m slaving away at and thankfully nearly done with. I find the writing really grating and the book badly structured, so my attention keeps wandering. I’m trying to listen to more audiobooks because of my long commute to uni, but have only read this and the Prince Harry one so far this year. You have no idea how strange an experience it is to hear Harry talk about his oscillating frozen penis.

7:00pm — Arrive home and quickly get changed. After saying a quick hi and bye to my housemates, I power walk to my yoga class to get a good sesh in.

8:30pm — Yoga is done! Feeling zen but exhausted — it is a very active, strength-based vinyasa class. Dinner is poké (again, how am I never sick of it!), and dessert is some chocolate and peppermint tea. I have a shower, skincare, wash and style my hair, and then hop into bed. I read a little more of the Rachel Cusk book and at about 11pm, I turn my diffuser off and fall asleep, exhausted from my first day back! 

6:45am — Alarm goes off, I have an 8am class. I turn it off and go back to sleep. The class is recorded so I don’t have to be there, but I feel guilty anyway for skipping it.

8:30am — Wake up for real and do a little bit of life admin on my phone and laptop. I pay $10 to rent a van to pick up a secondhand dining table (I just sold our smaller one on Marketplace). $10 

9:30am — Breakfast — oats! I get told off by my housemates for eating them with a fork. Fair enough. I get ready for the day — yoga pants, black top and jumper and then immediately take it all off because I am selling some old clothes on Depop and have to try the clothes on for photos. I pretty much immediately sell a pair of Rollas jeans for $75 that I’ve had forever but are just a little too tight for me now. Score. 

10:30am — I walk down to the post office to post the jeans. I figure if I don’t do it now, I won’t get around to it. The girl who ordered the jeans paid for shipping so it’s free.

11:30am — I pop into the shops to get some more bananas, an avocado and some aioli ($6). So much for “I’ve done my shopping for the week.” To be fair, when I did my shopping on Sunday, they’d run out of bananas and avo. $6

12:00pm — Arrive back home and meal prep for tomorrow. I eat the last dregs of my poké bowl for lunch and start working on tomorrow’s lunch/dinner. I’m doing a burrito bowl-type thing, but it’s not amazing.

1:00pm — My housemates are cleaning out the fridge and they find pasta that is so mouldy, it’s blue. It’s a veritable Cluedo game to figure out whose pasta it is and everyone denies it. 

1:45pm —  I leave to go to the library.

4:00pm — After studying for a while, I start tutoring. My favourite student meets me at the library and we have a lovely wholesome session in person. Then I do a Zoom tute in another room with another student. All wrapped up by 6:15pm. Yay.

6:45pm — Arrive home from the library, give myself a quick spritz of perfume and brush my teeth, then race out the door with two of my housemates to go to pub trivia! We’ve just started a new team and it’s been so much fun. 

7:15pm — The pub is pumping for a Tuesday night. Everyone is so excited for Trivia. J. is there already and he tells me about how his friend made him go and look for a radio station $50,000 prize after work, so he’s been on a wild goose chase. They didn’t win, obviously. I get a veggie burger for myself and a beer. $33

9:30pm — We come second, losing only by a point! The disco queen trivia lady gives us a slab of beer for our efforts. Bummer. J. and I head back to his place and snuggle up, falling asleep around 11:30pm. 

7:15am — I wake up at J.’s house and try to get moving as quickly as possible. I hate mornings. I hop in the car and get home, stopping past my mum and sister’s house to drop off a SIM card that I ordered to my house. She’s just gotten back from overseas and asked me to sort out her phone plan. Older sister things. 

8:15am — Home finally. Traffic was awful this morning, but the long drive did mean that I finished Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow! Thank god! I also listen to the newest Shameless episode about David Letterman. I zoom around getting ready for work and pop some hot cross buns in the toaster — no time for a proper breakfast today. I speed walk to my bus stop with half of a hot cross bun hanging out of my mouth. I top up my Myki with the app on the way ($10). This should last me all week! Make it to my stop in time, but of course, my bus doesn’t come. $10 

8:50am — Bus is still not here. I text my boss to tell him I’ll be late to work and he tells me not to stress. I stress anyway. 

9:15am — Arrive at work 15 minutes late and pop into my boss’ office for a quick meeting about where all of our matters are at and what we need to do. I really like my boss, he’s been a great mentor for me over the last two years. He gives me a funny little legal research task and a chronology to start on, so I get cracking right away to make up for being late. 

9:45am — I send M. $68 for tickets to a Julia Jacklin concert tonight. I didn’t think I’d be able to go because I was supposed to get my wisdom teeth out, but thankfully, my operation was postponed. I get excited for Julia and listen to her music while I work on the chronology. $68

10:45am — I make myself a coffee on the fancy work coffee machine. Saves me soooo much money on takeaway coffees, and I’m getting kind of good at latte art (if ‘good’ means artful squiggles). 

11:30am — I’m getting bored with the chronology, so I buy myself a new audiobook ($15) to listen to while I do it. It’s called The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner. $15

12:30pm — Lunch with the gang, i.e. the other mum-aged women who work as assistants. I love them so much, they’re so wholesome but gossipy and gorgeous. They all call me ‘chicken’ and ‘darl’ and I love hearing about their marriages and kids. 

5:00pm — After doing odd jobs all afternoon, I am so keen to be done for the day. I catch a different bus than my usual (tapping on), and take a longer walk home, for about 20 minutes. The sun has come out and everyone is outside, drinking and chatting. I arrive home, shower, eat a quick burrito for dinner, get changed and then head out the door again to meet M. before the gig. I am wearing a Realisation Par silk sheer top with a black bra underneath, black flares and my Dr. Martens.  

7:15pm — I meet M. at Chin Chin and buy a Bloody Shiraz Spritz ($17). Bit of a splurge. As if taunting me, a finance influencer I know sits at a table close to us. We walk over to the gig at about 8:45pm and an older woman asks me if she knows me. I tell her no, that I just have one of those faces (I was once mistaken for Kevin McCallister from Home Alone, big deal, I know). $17

10:45pm — Julia Jacklin was SO good! Such an incredible voice and such beautiful songs. I am feeling a little reflective, so I decide to walk the 45 minutes home from the CBD and listen to her on Spotify. I share my live location with J. Home safe, I curl up into bed and doze off at around 11:45pm.

8:30am — I wake up really calm and clear-headed, thanks to the sleep-in. I debate for about an hour whether I should make the trek to uni and eventually decide against it. I do my skincare, put on comfy clothes and decide to have a slow day — no makeup, study, workout, tutoring, home. 

9:30am — I watch a bit of Real Housewives while I tidy the house, feeling focused. I load eight extra credits onto my ClassPass ($20) to last me until the next cycle. I’m still figuring out what exercise is best for me and have been trying various free trials in the last few months to see what actually sticks. I might have to upgrade my ClassPass subscription, but $80 per month seems like a lot. I book a Pilates class for later. $20

10:30am — I hop in the car and head to the library near my house. I settle in at the top floor and put my headphones on, ready to work! 

11:45am — I get back in the car and zoom toward the Pilates studio. It’s a hard class, but in a different way — my arms are SO sore afterwards. I think I’ve pulled a muscle, so I mope to my housemate about it, but surprisingly he has little empathy for me. I have a shower and wash my hair, leaving it curly and unstyled. 

1:00pm — I do some stretching while I eat my less-than-ideal packed lunch. I give up on it halfway through and put a few frozen spinach and ricotta pastizzi in the oven. I eat them standing up in the kitchen — SO much better. I tidy up, sweep the floors and wipe down all of our cabinets. I make myself a coffee and drift back into my room to finish my lecture and do a bit of tute prep for a new student on Sunday. 

3:00pm — My mum comes round for a cup of tea. I lend her a black silk skirt for an event she has this weekend and she gives me a few pairs of Bonds socks (?) that she saw in the supermarket and “thought of me”.

4:00pm — Hop onto another Zoom tute.

5:00pm — I am doing an in-person tute at 5:45pm, so I get in my car to drive there. I manage to avoid the bulk of the traffic but still arrive about five minutes late. I am tutoring the Russian Revolution, so we listen to Rasputin by Boney M whilst I deliver the slides. Her 12-year-old brother comes into the tute halfway through with platinum blonde hair and has a tantrum because he dyed it wrong, which spices things up a bit. 

7:30pm — I arrive home and cuddle up in bed for a bit with J., who has come over. I’m super tired but feeling content, so we spend a while catching up in bed, no need to move. I get up to go and make some shakshuka with some leftover veggies (my favourite chill night dinner), but J. convinces me to Uber Eats some Betty's Burgers. We haven’t had proper takeaway for ages, so I agree and we order it (Vegan Burger for me, Classic Betty's for him and chips to share, of course). Then we start season three of Happy Valley while we wait for our food to come.

9:30pm — Devastating news. Betty's Burgers has run out of vegan burger buns. They send me a vegan patty wrapped in lettuce as the ‘bun’. I almost cry. J. laughs at me and we find about 30 minutes worth of jokes about my sad little lettuce burger. I log onto Uber Eats to get a refund, and click the option that I didn’t get what I ordered. I’m usually never one to ask for refunds or send food back, but I know that Betty's doesn’t foot the refund bill, Uber Eats does, so I don’t feel as guilty. I pay $48 for our dinner (J. is paying for our dinner on Sunday), but I get my $18 back. It doesn’t replace the burger-shaped hole in my heart. $30

11:30pm — I do my nightly skincare, teeth and at around midnight, J. and I drift off.

8:00am — Sleep in! J. kisses me good morning and I start to get ready — I really don’t want to be late today. I do my skincare, simple makeup and get my outfit sorted before running to the tram stop. The tram arrives, naughtily, I don’t tap on — it’s packed and I would have had to jostle people to get to a Myki machine. I listen to the new audiobook on my commute. I like it so far but it’s still too early to tell.

9:01am — Queen of never arriving to work bang on time. I make myself a coffee with the machine and chat with the new receptionist. Melbourne is so small and it turns out we have a bunch of mutual friends, despite living in wildly different areas of Melbourne. I used to work with her boyfriend, so we swap stories about him. 

9:15am — Run through all of the emails I missed and call both of my bosses for a quick catch-up on what our intentions are today. I end up getting a nice mix of legal research, admin and chronologies to work on — and one of the bosses even wants me to draft a letter, which is huge! I knock off the easy admin stuff early, which is probably not the best game plan because now I’m stuck with tricky stuff for the afternoon. 

12:00pm — The sad little sandwich that I half-heartedly meal prepped yesterday is not looking very appetising. I think: life is short, I got a free burger last night, so I should treat myself to sushi. I go for a short walk around the CBD and grab some vegetarian rolls, which hit the spot. $10

1:00pm — Legal research is hard! I feel good and focused today, but it’s infuriating when I can’t find the specific authority that I need. I make a cup of tea and steal a biscuit from the communal cookie jar, hoping it will inspire me. 

4:30pm — Knock off a little early. Both of my bosses have left so I figure that I can too. I catch the tram home. I tap on. 

5:15pm — Get home, have a shower and chill for a bit. I have a friend’s birthday party tonight in Highett (so far away!). I grab a bottle of Chandon for my friend and a bottle of non-alcoholic wine for me (I’m driving). $35

12:00pm — After the party, I drive to J.’s house and snuggle up in bed, before falling asleep around 12:30am.