Welcome to Money Diaries, where we tackle the ever-present taboo that is money. We ask real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we track every last dollar.
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Today: a tutor on an income of $21,000 who spends some of her money this week on instant noodles.
Occupation: Student and Tutor
Industry: Education
Age: 19
Location: Canberra City, ACT
My Income: ~$21,000
Net Worth: $11,400 ($10,000 in savings, $3,200 in shares, $1,100 in ETFs, $1,300 in a micro-investing account, and $800 in super.)
Debt: $5,000 in HECS and Student Start-Up loans. I've just started university, so that's just for one semester.
My Paycheque Amount (fortnightly) $1,040 ($680 from Centrelink and usually $360 from tutoring)
Pronouns: She/Her
Industry: Education
Age: 19
Location: Canberra City, ACT
My Income: ~$21,000
Net Worth: $11,400 ($10,000 in savings, $3,200 in shares, $1,100 in ETFs, $1,300 in a micro-investing account, and $800 in super.)
Debt: $5,000 in HECS and Student Start-Up loans. I've just started university, so that's just for one semester.
My Paycheque Amount (fortnightly) $1,040 ($680 from Centrelink and usually $360 from tutoring)
Pronouns: She/Her
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Monthly Expenses
Rent: $1,312. I live in uncatered university accommodation. It's a terrifyingly high proportion of my income, but campus accommodation is limited, and hopefully I'll find a cheaper place next year. The plus side is that I pay $0 for transport (minus a few cheeky scooter rides!).
Utilities: $172
Spotify: $6 (cheers, student discount!)
Spaceship micro-investing: $2.50. I’m comfortable with my savings, so if and when I find myself with disposable income, it will go towards investing.
Phone: My mum still hasn't taken me off the family plan yet, despite constantly saying that phones are a luxury that we have to pay for after we've finished high school. I'm not complaining!
Utilities: $172
Spotify: $6 (cheers, student discount!)
Spaceship micro-investing: $2.50. I’m comfortable with my savings, so if and when I find myself with disposable income, it will go towards investing.
Phone: My mum still hasn't taken me off the family plan yet, despite constantly saying that phones are a luxury that we have to pay for after we've finished high school. I'm not complaining!
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes! I'm studying an undergraduate degree right now — PhB in science (that's a Bachelor of Philosophy, not a PhD! Unfortunately, I’m not a child prodigy — in fact, I’m a little older than my peers) which is basically a bachelor of science. I have every government student loan under the sun.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Our conversations were usually about us not having any money. The idea of being honest with children about finances can be controversial, but when your children are 13 and somewhat switched on (as I was), there's no point in lying about why you have to wait a few days to go grocery shopping.
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Money was tight because of high expenses, but I'm very lucky to have a smart and educated mother. She was always enthusiastic to answer my questions about resumes, cover letters, superannuation, loans, interest — you name it! As a result, I was pretty financially literate as a child. Mum also encouraged me to speak to my Grandad about investing, since it was something she never had the chance to do herself.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
Working at a family friends' butcher business. My choices were that, or the local IGA (it's a very small town!). I really wanted to have some experience for my resume, plus I absolutely hated asking Mum for money because I knew she didn't have any to spare.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes. My childhood was quite the financial rollercoaster. As a young child, I lived in a dual-income household (one of those being an engineer's income), before living as one of five children with my Mum when she was a single parent, on a highly volatile income. Mum finally got a stable corporate income, which was great.
I loved to earn money and hated spending it — which may sound like a great problem to have (it's certainly not the worst habit!) — but I experienced a lot of anxiety when spending money, regardless of whether or not I actually needed the purchase. I also felt Mum's anxiety, since she's hell-bent on helping her five daughters reach their full potential, whatever the expense (and there are many expenses!).
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Do you worry about money now?
Not really. I'm comfortable with my savings, my income and my employability, but I do have an anxiety disorder, so I'll worry about anything there is to be worried about.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
Depends on how you define it, but I would say this year. I've always been responsible for my discretionary spending and have managed my own money since I was 16, but I've never really had any financial responsibilities like rent to worry about until this year.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Yes! I haven't received an inheritance, but I do have passive income. I receive dividends — about $20 each year (absolute baller!) — and about $300 a year of interest from my savings.
Day 1
8:00am — Wake up and make coffee. I’m in the process of collecting kitchen equipment for my new place and don't have a toaster yet, so instead of toast, I make a sort of fried bread using the frying pan. I whack on some Vegemite and call it 'toast'.
9:00am — Get to sorting through emails while taking a Covid test. My university requires all campus residents take one every 48 hours. It operates very similarly to Santa or the Easter Bunny — I wake up to a small cardboard box outside my door every other morning, but instead of chocolate or gifts, it’s a bit of plastic that tells you if you need to stay in your room for seven days! Thankfully, today's test is negative. I also search through all the pamphlets I collected during O-week to find a bulk billing GP in the area and make an appointment.
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10:00am — Studying. At this stage in the year, I've been lulled into a false sense of security with menial revision and administrative tasks for homework.
12:00pm — Lunch, which is leftover butter chicken (out of a jar because I have conveniently cheap taste). After I munch down on this, it's back to studying. I've decided to challenge myself with a hard maths course this semester. My course has a minimum GPA requirement for the second year, so now is the time to risk a pitiful grade! I need to revise a lot of my high school maths, as I haven't looked at any real analysis for over a year.
2:50pm — I walk to my maths lecture where the lecturer promptly abandons the menial revision and administrative content which has characterised my first week of classes so far. My hand is cramping and I have a list of new symbols to Google the meaning of.
4:00pm — I'm used to grocery shopping for a household of six people, so I'm still buying too much food at every shop. It's left me with too many perishables for one person, so I throw an obscene amount of vegetables into jars with spices and vinegar, hoping to pickle them. I clean up the mountain of Kmart packaging from last week’s haul, which included a kettle, an air fryer and a clothes drying rack. I was lucky enough to drive down from Queensland to Canberra with Mum in her ute, so I could pack most of what I needed, and I haven’t had to buy much stuff since. Surprisingly, some of the cheapest on-campus accommodation is the self-contained studios, so I have my own kitchenette and bathroom! It's a luxury. So far, uni hasn't been too big of a readjustment for me. With a very busy single mum and four sisters, I already know how much groceries cost, how to budget, how to manage multiple commitments, how to fit in time for cleaning and laundry, and how to cook. What I’m not used to is how to cook for just one person and how to seek out more commitments.
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6:00pm — Tutoring. I feel so lucky to tutor high school students as a casual job. The pay, the timing and the work itself are all so much better than most casual jobs available to university students. I’m not familiar with the ACT curriculum, so I tutor students from Queensland online (which means no commute too!).
8:30pm — I finish tutoring. I have a hot date with my microwave and yesterday’s leftovers.
9:00pm — It's time for Netflix (which I do not pay for, thanks Dad!). I’d rather go with the crowd than put effort into deciding what to watch, so I watch the current number one show: Inventing Anna.
10:30pm — Back to studying. For most of my high school years, I could only study late at night. I honestly find it strange not to work late on a weekday. Plus, I can’t think of anything less appealing than waking up earlier than absolutely necessary, especially to study!
11:30pm — Time to read my book — Jung Chang’s epic family autobiography, Wild Swans. I smash a few chapters, then head to bed at midnight.
Daily Total: $0
Day 2
9:00am — Wake up, Wordle, and make French press coffee and toast for brekky.
10:00am — I dig into the endless supply of pre-recorded lectures before replying to all my sister’s emails. I always try to put as much effort into my own education as my mum has. Similarly, my younger sister has a lot of work cut out for her, matching the effort that Mum has put into her promising sporting career (she has absolutely risen to the challenge!). She needs to meet a GPA requirement to qualify for a sporting scholarship, and I really want to see her succeed, so I send her feedback on her assignments so she can get them to a competitive standard. Her latest English essay is entirely legible — I text Mum to let her know all the hard-earned private school fees are paying off!
10:00am — I dig into the endless supply of pre-recorded lectures before replying to all my sister’s emails. I always try to put as much effort into my own education as my mum has. Similarly, my younger sister has a lot of work cut out for her, matching the effort that Mum has put into her promising sporting career (she has absolutely risen to the challenge!). She needs to meet a GPA requirement to qualify for a sporting scholarship, and I really want to see her succeed, so I send her feedback on her assignments so she can get them to a competitive standard. Her latest English essay is entirely legible — I text Mum to let her know all the hard-earned private school fees are paying off!
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12:00pm — I reheat my uni student take on gyros (i.e. pita and tzatziki from the grocery store, 3-star mince, air fryer chips and veggies).
1:30pm — I scroll through social media and see that the US and Australian stock markets continue to fall. Unfortunately, I was too young to invest in the 2020 Covid crash and ended up starting my investing journey when the market was at an all-time high. My terribly elaborate strategy at this point is just dollar-cost averaging into managed funds, but I do have an extra 'opportunity fund' set aside for market lows such as this. I buy some units of an ETF I’ve had my eye on for $205, including brokerage. $205
2:00pm — Back to studying, then off to my one and only in-person lecture: maths. Being a woman in STEM, there are definitely barriers for us, but so far I've only really found a barrier in terms of the economics of getting an advanced STEM education. I'd only ever encountered the occasional substitute teacher that had a problem with women in STEM — no one with any real power. However, it takes time and money to cater to students beyond the standard curriculum, which is simply not realistic for most people. Suffice to say, my inner nerd is very excited to be at one of the best STEM universities in Australia — and the world!
5:00pm — After my lecture, I head straight into the city to do some grocery shopping. For all my efforts at organising, I still can’t seem to nail the single weekly grocery shop. At least this gets my steps up. I buy eggs ($4.10), bread ($2.50), milk ($4.43), fresh vegetables ($6.50), and a heap of baking ingredients for choc chip biscuits ($25.80). $43.33
6:00pm — Tutoring. Between my sister and my students, I've spent a large part of the day giving painfully vague answers to avoid being too involved in their assessment tasks. I’m always a little worried that parents of my students will see this less as 'academic integrity' and more 'not doing my job'. At times, I feel like I’m being paid to simply tell students that I can’t do an assignment for them. Thankfully, most parents I work with take a tough-love approach to education, so I haven’t had any angry clients yet!
7:00pm — I can’t quite be bothered to cook a full meal, so I gather what I can and settle on making more chips and fried vegetables for dinner.
8:00pm — Back to studying. I click through the first week of physics content, which has roughly as much detail as an entire year of high school physics. It’s a bit of an adjustment!
9:00pm — I almost always watch Netflix before bed to slow down my thoughts if I don’t have the focus to read, which apparently is terrible for “sleep hygiene” but the consequences haven’t caught up with me yet so I’m sticking with the habit. As usual, bed at midnight.
Daily Total: $248.33
1:30pm — I scroll through social media and see that the US and Australian stock markets continue to fall. Unfortunately, I was too young to invest in the 2020 Covid crash and ended up starting my investing journey when the market was at an all-time high. My terribly elaborate strategy at this point is just dollar-cost averaging into managed funds, but I do have an extra 'opportunity fund' set aside for market lows such as this. I buy some units of an ETF I’ve had my eye on for $205, including brokerage. $205
2:00pm — Back to studying, then off to my one and only in-person lecture: maths. Being a woman in STEM, there are definitely barriers for us, but so far I've only really found a barrier in terms of the economics of getting an advanced STEM education. I'd only ever encountered the occasional substitute teacher that had a problem with women in STEM — no one with any real power. However, it takes time and money to cater to students beyond the standard curriculum, which is simply not realistic for most people. Suffice to say, my inner nerd is very excited to be at one of the best STEM universities in Australia — and the world!
5:00pm — After my lecture, I head straight into the city to do some grocery shopping. For all my efforts at organising, I still can’t seem to nail the single weekly grocery shop. At least this gets my steps up. I buy eggs ($4.10), bread ($2.50), milk ($4.43), fresh vegetables ($6.50), and a heap of baking ingredients for choc chip biscuits ($25.80). $43.33
6:00pm — Tutoring. Between my sister and my students, I've spent a large part of the day giving painfully vague answers to avoid being too involved in their assessment tasks. I’m always a little worried that parents of my students will see this less as 'academic integrity' and more 'not doing my job'. At times, I feel like I’m being paid to simply tell students that I can’t do an assignment for them. Thankfully, most parents I work with take a tough-love approach to education, so I haven’t had any angry clients yet!
7:00pm — I can’t quite be bothered to cook a full meal, so I gather what I can and settle on making more chips and fried vegetables for dinner.
8:00pm — Back to studying. I click through the first week of physics content, which has roughly as much detail as an entire year of high school physics. It’s a bit of an adjustment!
9:00pm — I almost always watch Netflix before bed to slow down my thoughts if I don’t have the focus to read, which apparently is terrible for “sleep hygiene” but the consequences haven’t caught up with me yet so I’m sticking with the habit. As usual, bed at midnight.
Daily Total: $248.33
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Day 3
8:00am — Breakfast juice, pain au chocolat, peaches and coffee for brekky. I feel really fancy having so many different things for breakfast, but it usually turns into an incredibly unromantic, rushed event. Mornings are not my strength.
9:00am — Physics workshop. I try to hype myself up on the way there, to little effect. I’ve been advised by older students that physics is one of the worst groups to be in as a female — despite all the faculty’s attempts — which doesn’t make collaborative work seems particularly appealing. There are two main groups of undergraduate male STEM students; those that are so interested in a topic that they wouldn’t notice if they were collaborating with a man, a woman or an inanimate object; and the loud minority that needs everyone to know they are innately more intelligent than every woman on Earth. Apparently, the latter end up in first-year physics. I gingerly walk into the classroom with no idea if I’m in the right place. I make a quick judgment and sit with the group of people that I think will be the best to work with. It pays off, and the workshop goes well. I learn that you cannot stop a cyclone with a nuke.
9:00am — Physics workshop. I try to hype myself up on the way there, to little effect. I’ve been advised by older students that physics is one of the worst groups to be in as a female — despite all the faculty’s attempts — which doesn’t make collaborative work seems particularly appealing. There are two main groups of undergraduate male STEM students; those that are so interested in a topic that they wouldn’t notice if they were collaborating with a man, a woman or an inanimate object; and the loud minority that needs everyone to know they are innately more intelligent than every woman on Earth. Apparently, the latter end up in first-year physics. I gingerly walk into the classroom with no idea if I’m in the right place. I make a quick judgment and sit with the group of people that I think will be the best to work with. It pays off, and the workshop goes well. I learn that you cannot stop a cyclone with a nuke.
11:00am — Cleaning and organising my room: my preferred mode of procrastination. For a bonus false sense of productivity, I listen to podcasts that are in some way educational (usually finance related). In keeping a diary, I was genuinely shocked to learn how much time I spend cleaning.
1:00pm — Leftovers for lunch, yet again. One of the best money habits I picked up from living out of town my whole life is that it rarely occurs to me that I can actually buy food for lunch!
1:50pm — I take an emergency instant ramen to my boyfriend (out of the stash he’s accumulated at my place) on my way to a lecture. After a year of long-distance, while I took a gap year and he began studying, we now both live on campus — just a five-minute walk away from each other.
3:00pm — Canberra is not cheap, but I have conveniently cheap taste in Friday night activities, so it’s not too much of a problem for me. This afternoon, I’m making biscuits! I don’t have access to an oven but I've learnt that you can make biscuits in an air fryer (however I don't expect raging success).
4:00pm — I follow up my biscuits with burritos! When I have the time, I love to make meals with a heap of different components, especially ones that can incorporate pretty much anything in the fridge.
7:20pm — An alarm goes off and we all have to evacuate. Rumour has it that someone left their bacon on and it burnt and caught fire. Everyone who's decided to stay in tonight is forced out in their best slippers and snuggies, while the senior residents madly race around telling people to spread out as a large portion of people here are isolating with Covid. Joy!
8:00pm — We make it back inside and I get cracking on my burrito mission. I assemble them (this is a whole event in itself because there’s a real art to it) and head over to my boyfriend's place.
8:30pm — We watch A Serious Man, per my request. It's part of my course as we're looking at responses to suffering in the world. Would you believe that it's not a feel-good number?
12:00am — Bed.
Daily Total: $0
1:00pm — Leftovers for lunch, yet again. One of the best money habits I picked up from living out of town my whole life is that it rarely occurs to me that I can actually buy food for lunch!
1:50pm — I take an emergency instant ramen to my boyfriend (out of the stash he’s accumulated at my place) on my way to a lecture. After a year of long-distance, while I took a gap year and he began studying, we now both live on campus — just a five-minute walk away from each other.
3:00pm — Canberra is not cheap, but I have conveniently cheap taste in Friday night activities, so it’s not too much of a problem for me. This afternoon, I’m making biscuits! I don’t have access to an oven but I've learnt that you can make biscuits in an air fryer (however I don't expect raging success).
4:00pm — I follow up my biscuits with burritos! When I have the time, I love to make meals with a heap of different components, especially ones that can incorporate pretty much anything in the fridge.
7:20pm — An alarm goes off and we all have to evacuate. Rumour has it that someone left their bacon on and it burnt and caught fire. Everyone who's decided to stay in tonight is forced out in their best slippers and snuggies, while the senior residents madly race around telling people to spread out as a large portion of people here are isolating with Covid. Joy!
8:00pm — We make it back inside and I get cracking on my burrito mission. I assemble them (this is a whole event in itself because there’s a real art to it) and head over to my boyfriend's place.
8:30pm — We watch A Serious Man, per my request. It's part of my course as we're looking at responses to suffering in the world. Would you believe that it's not a feel-good number?
12:00am — Bed.
Daily Total: $0
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Day 4
9:00am — Wake up and heat up a pain au chocolat and hash browns for brekky.
10:20am — I take a Covid test. I’m getting a booster today, so I want to be extra safe and double-check.
10:20am — I take a Covid test. I’m getting a booster today, so I want to be extra safe and double-check.
10:40am — I head off to the pharmacy. I’m still blown away by the convenience of having a 7-day pharmacy just 5 minutes away, but then again, I’m also impressed by any level of public transport as I've come from a small town with approximately one Uber and zero public transport. So it’s not like the bar is very high.
10:55am — The needle itself takes all of one minute, then I have to wait in the pharmacy to monitor my symptoms. I always planned on staying up to date with all my vaccinations so it's pretty relaxed for me, but back home in Queensland, it's much more of a controversial topic.
11:30am — I call my family and catch up on all the exciting things happening at home. There are a lot of family members so it takes a while to get through all the news, even though I only moved two weeks ago!
12:00pm — Reheat butter chicken for lunch. After lunch, I read a few English essays and respond to my students.
2:00pm — I walk to my boyfriend’s place to pick up bread that he's gotten for free from his residential hall. He also got a booster today, so we decide to suffer the potential side effects together with a movie marathon.
2:20pm — I don’t feel remotely unwell but I’m absolutely not going to let that stop me from being incredibly lazy all day. We kick off the day with a Blacklist binge.
4:00pm — In preparation for being debilitated later, I buy orange juice, instant noodles and bok choy from the convenience store. $10.70
4:30pm — I take a break from being a couch potato and work on my maths assignment.
5:30pm — Back to Blacklist, then I prep some French toast for tomorrow. My boyfriend claims the overnight technique is best, so we naturally have to put it to the test. Then, it's back to Blacklist.
8:00pm — We prepare an elaborate meal of instant ramen, bok choy and poached egg over the course of 10 minutes and settle down to eat it up. It's so good.
9:00pm — We're lucky enough to have a private link to a documentary before its commercial release, since my boyfriend knows the director. It’s her first film as a director: a short and powerful autobiographical story about the experiences of trans women. It’s been about two years in the making, and my boyfriend even has a cameo!
11:00pm — The nausea and pains begins to set in. It encourages neither sleep nor brainpower, so the only appropriate thing to do is watch yet another movie: Rush Hour. Eventually, I drift off to sleep.
Daily Total: $10.70
10:55am — The needle itself takes all of one minute, then I have to wait in the pharmacy to monitor my symptoms. I always planned on staying up to date with all my vaccinations so it's pretty relaxed for me, but back home in Queensland, it's much more of a controversial topic.
11:30am — I call my family and catch up on all the exciting things happening at home. There are a lot of family members so it takes a while to get through all the news, even though I only moved two weeks ago!
12:00pm — Reheat butter chicken for lunch. After lunch, I read a few English essays and respond to my students.
2:00pm — I walk to my boyfriend’s place to pick up bread that he's gotten for free from his residential hall. He also got a booster today, so we decide to suffer the potential side effects together with a movie marathon.
2:20pm — I don’t feel remotely unwell but I’m absolutely not going to let that stop me from being incredibly lazy all day. We kick off the day with a Blacklist binge.
4:00pm — In preparation for being debilitated later, I buy orange juice, instant noodles and bok choy from the convenience store. $10.70
4:30pm — I take a break from being a couch potato and work on my maths assignment.
5:30pm — Back to Blacklist, then I prep some French toast for tomorrow. My boyfriend claims the overnight technique is best, so we naturally have to put it to the test. Then, it's back to Blacklist.
8:00pm — We prepare an elaborate meal of instant ramen, bok choy and poached egg over the course of 10 minutes and settle down to eat it up. It's so good.
9:00pm — We're lucky enough to have a private link to a documentary before its commercial release, since my boyfriend knows the director. It’s her first film as a director: a short and powerful autobiographical story about the experiences of trans women. It’s been about two years in the making, and my boyfriend even has a cameo!
11:00pm — The nausea and pains begins to set in. It encourages neither sleep nor brainpower, so the only appropriate thing to do is watch yet another movie: Rush Hour. Eventually, I drift off to sleep.
Daily Total: $10.70
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Day 5
9:00am — I lie in bed trying to convince myself to leave the warm blankets.
9:30am — Another fire alarm goes off, which I guess is as good a reason as any to get up. I head downstairs and wait in the glaring sun. I consider dropping into one of the cafes on my street, but my pyjamas and socks and sandals combo stop me (a great saving hack!).
10:00am — We’re allowed back upstairs, finally. I make my much-anticipated French toast, served with bacon and coffee (disastrously, I do not have maple syrup).
11:00am — Apparently, my generation is the best with technology and the internet. That's well and truly put to the test with the nation’s favourite website — Centrelink. I log onto Medicare, the ATO and Centrelink, all in one day. Then I read some more essays and give feedback, and write and send a few emails. I don’t charge for this as I already charge $35 an hour for a tutoring session. Given that I have two sessions each week with a student, I'm happy to answer quick questions and give feedback outside of our one-on-one sessions!
12:00pm — I do my laundry using the building's communal laundry space. It’s incredibly uneconomical at $3 per wash (of which I require two because the machines fit approximately 1.5 single bedsheets each), and $3 for drying ($9 total). I then place my first ever click and collect order — I think it would be rude not to utilise such a convenient and free service! ($58.38). I'm making burritos and rice paper rolls, so I stock up on some veggies, sauces, tortillas, mince, cheese and rice paper. $67.38
1:00pm — I begin working on my physics while snacking on all those pickled vegetables in the fridge.
2:00pm — Back to emails and sifting through documents to give to Centrelink. To process a claim, they need an absurd amount of information.
3:00pm — More Blacklist with my boyfriend.
5:00pm — After a whole day of using the vaccine as an excuse to watch Netflix nonstop, we spend a good hour hyping each other up to go for a walk. We walk across campus to Lake Burley Griffin, where we can hear Jimmy Barnes performing on the other side of the lake. It's a straightforward walking path and very difficult to get lost, but on the way back I manage to lead us into a dead end. Oops!
6:55pm — On the way back, I buy coconut milk, zucchini and potatoes from the convenience store ($6.02). Food shortages mean that I will be adapting tonight’s recipe into a vegan-friendly meal. $6.02
7:30pm — We get back to my place and I take one of two showers involved in the deep conditioning process. My hair is the single greatest liability I have.
8:00pm — We cook a Thai curry and eat dinner. It's yum.
9:00pm — Part two of the deep conditioning process commences. We then do face masks, courtesy of my boyfriend, watch Blacklist and fall asleep at midnight.
Daily Total: $73.40
9:30am — Another fire alarm goes off, which I guess is as good a reason as any to get up. I head downstairs and wait in the glaring sun. I consider dropping into one of the cafes on my street, but my pyjamas and socks and sandals combo stop me (a great saving hack!).
10:00am — We’re allowed back upstairs, finally. I make my much-anticipated French toast, served with bacon and coffee (disastrously, I do not have maple syrup).
11:00am — Apparently, my generation is the best with technology and the internet. That's well and truly put to the test with the nation’s favourite website — Centrelink. I log onto Medicare, the ATO and Centrelink, all in one day. Then I read some more essays and give feedback, and write and send a few emails. I don’t charge for this as I already charge $35 an hour for a tutoring session. Given that I have two sessions each week with a student, I'm happy to answer quick questions and give feedback outside of our one-on-one sessions!
12:00pm — I do my laundry using the building's communal laundry space. It’s incredibly uneconomical at $3 per wash (of which I require two because the machines fit approximately 1.5 single bedsheets each), and $3 for drying ($9 total). I then place my first ever click and collect order — I think it would be rude not to utilise such a convenient and free service! ($58.38). I'm making burritos and rice paper rolls, so I stock up on some veggies, sauces, tortillas, mince, cheese and rice paper. $67.38
1:00pm — I begin working on my physics while snacking on all those pickled vegetables in the fridge.
2:00pm — Back to emails and sifting through documents to give to Centrelink. To process a claim, they need an absurd amount of information.
3:00pm — More Blacklist with my boyfriend.
5:00pm — After a whole day of using the vaccine as an excuse to watch Netflix nonstop, we spend a good hour hyping each other up to go for a walk. We walk across campus to Lake Burley Griffin, where we can hear Jimmy Barnes performing on the other side of the lake. It's a straightforward walking path and very difficult to get lost, but on the way back I manage to lead us into a dead end. Oops!
6:55pm — On the way back, I buy coconut milk, zucchini and potatoes from the convenience store ($6.02). Food shortages mean that I will be adapting tonight’s recipe into a vegan-friendly meal. $6.02
7:30pm — We get back to my place and I take one of two showers involved in the deep conditioning process. My hair is the single greatest liability I have.
8:00pm — We cook a Thai curry and eat dinner. It's yum.
9:00pm — Part two of the deep conditioning process commences. We then do face masks, courtesy of my boyfriend, watch Blacklist and fall asleep at midnight.
Daily Total: $73.40
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Day 6
8:00am — I start my day. I must admit, I do appreciate hybrid courses. I can get my day started earlier without actually having to leave earlier. I munch on some hash browns with hot sauce for brekky.
9:00am — I have a computer science lecture online, followed by more studying. To my surprise, computer science has turned out to be my easiest course. I don’t have any programming experience from high school, so I've chosen to do one of the easier courses — a beginner's guide to Python.
12:50pm — Some classes are, incredibly, in person, so I'm forced to leave my room for once and head off to the lecture hall for maths. The audacity.
2:00pm — Back to my room where I make a chicken sandwich for lunch.
2:30pm — I madly rush to make all the 5pm deadlines on weekly assignments and quizzes. I had assumed, based on absolutely nothing it seems, that this would be a much easier task than it turns out to be. They take me over an hour to do, despite rushing. I'd planned on being well and truly done with the day by now. Lesson learnt.
4:35pm — I have a comfortable 25 minutes left before the deadline, and I’m done with studying for now. I walk into the city to pick up my first Coles click and collect order!
4:50pm — There’s more or less the same people outside the shopping centre at all times — some buskers and some homeless people.
5:00pm — With less than two decades to my name, I am already the shameful owner of hundreds of reusable shopping bags, and I don’t intend to add to that number. I awkwardly gather my groceries out of a trolley and into tote bags, as the Coles staff patiently waits for my ungraceful bagging effort to end.
5:05pm — As I walk past the last stretch of the mall, I see a girl outside the shops asking for cash. She approaches me and explains how she’s getting her own place soon, but needs somewhere else to stay for a few nights. She has a very quiet voice, it’s a loud area and I have to stand away from her as she's not wearing a mask. From what I manage to hear, she repeats her story again about three times, but never explicitly asks me for cash. I tell her that I don't have any money on me. The truth is that I carry almost one of every note and coin with me at all times — just to be prepared. I’m sure there’s many strong opinions on what to do in this situation, but at the end of the day, I have no idea of what you should do. It’s so much easier for me to lie. She asks if I'm able to buy her a cold drink at the KFC ten metres away. We head over and I grab her one ($3.25) — it's easier than handing out cash. $3.25
5:30pm — I arrive home to a parcel from my friend in Queensland. She's one of those people with a talent for giving simple, yet personal (and greatly appreciated!) gifts. This parcel includes stickers, so many types of chocolate, all different types of noodles with Japanese packaging (luckily my boyfriend can translate the descriptions for me), and a handwritten note on a postcard. I'm feeling very loved, and get stuck into some choccies while watching Inventing Anna on Netflix.
7:00pm — I love working out to manage stress, but I also find gyms one of the most anxiety-provoking environments. So as usual, I just follow a YouTube video in my room.
7:30pm — Cool down and clean my room. I have leftover Thai curry for dinner.
8:30pm — I study to make up for all the things I thought I would complete this afternoon instead of learning that quizzes take about twice as long as I've predicted.
10:00pm — Netflix, then bed at midnight.
Daily Total: $3.25
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Day 7
8:30am — Staying true to myself, I’m cutting the morning routine a little fine with a nice sleep-in. I skip brekky (note to self: always stock convenient breakfast foods). I meet my boyfriend for coffee (his shout), gulp down the caffeine, and power walk to my physics lab.
12:00pm — The lab finally ends and now that my head isn’t swarming with propagating uncertainties, I realise I am quite hungry (turns out breakfast is important, I guess). I power walk home.
12:15pm — I throw together a burrito bowl for lunch and finish watching the last of Inventing Anna. The protagonist learns the heartbreaking truth that we all must face at some point: sums upwards of one million dollars are difficult to get your hands on.
1:16pm — I’m clicking through emails and scanning my lab results when I get a text from Centrelink: "Your claim has been approved”. I rush to my laptop and open up MyGov. Since I moved, it’s just been me and my savings account against the world. Now, after 13 weeks of uploading every type of financial document under the sun, I have pending payments in my account. Hallelujah! The payment include my Student Start-Up loan which is $1,000 each semester and added to your HECS. I go into a click frenzy trying to find out what my actual fortnightly payments are. Finally, I see that I’ve been assessed as a dependent (of my Mum) which means I receive far less than I had budgeted.
1:30pm — Panic. It’s pretty routine at this point since so many unpredicted costs have come up or sources of income have fallen through in the 15 months I spent preparing for university. If anything can make you forget the privilege of having the government shell out thousands of dollars for your education, it’s the Centrelink interface.
1:50pm — I call Centrelink while I go through all the documents I gave them and try to find out why I was assessed as a dependent. Did I get something wrong? I must have. My panic intensifies and I hang up. I go through everything with a fine-toothed comb; even the legislation regarding qualifying for certain payments. I cannot for the life of me find a mistake on my end, but I can’t get on hold now because I’ve got a lecture.
2:55pm — It’s time for my maths lecture and I decide I'm too panicked for a lecture theatre of 500 students. I log into the live stream, and wouldn’t you know it, a sense of panic does not make set theory easier to learn.
4:00pm — It’s getting close to the end of the workday, but I won’t sleep without knowing what’s going on with my Centrelink payments. I call them up again, give all my details to a robot again, and get on hold. I work on my maths assignment with the amazingly random collection of hold sounds in the background.
4:45pm — Someone picks up! I explain the situation. I go back on hold while she goes through my documents. Finally, she tells me that I should definitely be classified as independent and that they just need an extra document from me. I find it bizarre that they didn’t just ask for this one extra document given how many times my claim was paused while they requested more information from me. My panic finally subsides.
5:15pm — I call Mum to celebrate (and also to stop her worrying about me). We catch up about everything happening in corporate America with her job.
6:15pm — Time to actually earn money with an evening of tutoring.
8:30pm — I finish tutoring and have leftover burritos for dinner with my boyfriend.
9:00pm — We study for a few hours before watching more Blacklist. I fall asleep at midnight.
Daily Total: $0
12:00pm — The lab finally ends and now that my head isn’t swarming with propagating uncertainties, I realise I am quite hungry (turns out breakfast is important, I guess). I power walk home.
12:15pm — I throw together a burrito bowl for lunch and finish watching the last of Inventing Anna. The protagonist learns the heartbreaking truth that we all must face at some point: sums upwards of one million dollars are difficult to get your hands on.
1:16pm — I’m clicking through emails and scanning my lab results when I get a text from Centrelink: "Your claim has been approved”. I rush to my laptop and open up MyGov. Since I moved, it’s just been me and my savings account against the world. Now, after 13 weeks of uploading every type of financial document under the sun, I have pending payments in my account. Hallelujah! The payment include my Student Start-Up loan which is $1,000 each semester and added to your HECS. I go into a click frenzy trying to find out what my actual fortnightly payments are. Finally, I see that I’ve been assessed as a dependent (of my Mum) which means I receive far less than I had budgeted.
1:30pm — Panic. It’s pretty routine at this point since so many unpredicted costs have come up or sources of income have fallen through in the 15 months I spent preparing for university. If anything can make you forget the privilege of having the government shell out thousands of dollars for your education, it’s the Centrelink interface.
1:50pm — I call Centrelink while I go through all the documents I gave them and try to find out why I was assessed as a dependent. Did I get something wrong? I must have. My panic intensifies and I hang up. I go through everything with a fine-toothed comb; even the legislation regarding qualifying for certain payments. I cannot for the life of me find a mistake on my end, but I can’t get on hold now because I’ve got a lecture.
2:55pm — It’s time for my maths lecture and I decide I'm too panicked for a lecture theatre of 500 students. I log into the live stream, and wouldn’t you know it, a sense of panic does not make set theory easier to learn.
4:00pm — It’s getting close to the end of the workday, but I won’t sleep without knowing what’s going on with my Centrelink payments. I call them up again, give all my details to a robot again, and get on hold. I work on my maths assignment with the amazingly random collection of hold sounds in the background.
4:45pm — Someone picks up! I explain the situation. I go back on hold while she goes through my documents. Finally, she tells me that I should definitely be classified as independent and that they just need an extra document from me. I find it bizarre that they didn’t just ask for this one extra document given how many times my claim was paused while they requested more information from me. My panic finally subsides.
5:15pm — I call Mum to celebrate (and also to stop her worrying about me). We catch up about everything happening in corporate America with her job.
6:15pm — Time to actually earn money with an evening of tutoring.
8:30pm — I finish tutoring and have leftover burritos for dinner with my boyfriend.
9:00pm — We study for a few hours before watching more Blacklist. I fall asleep at midnight.
Daily Total: $0
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