A Week In Melbourne CBD As A Grad Student & Uni Tutor On $16,000

Occupation: Graduate Student / Casual Academic Tutor
Industry: Mental Health / Education
Age: 25
Location: Melbourne CBD, Victoria
Salary: ~$16,000
Net Worth: -$55,000 ($40,000 in savings, $25,000 in investments ($12,000 in one fund and $13,000 split across stocks and ETFs). I probably have about $60 in my super.)
Debt: By the end of 2023, I'll have around $120,000 in debt to pay off, which includes the cost of my Master's program and the cost of living in Melbourne.
Paycheque Amount (Fortnightly): $850
Pronouns: She/Her

Rent: $1,794. This is for a 30m2 studio where I live by myself. It comes fully furnished and is the perfect size for someone like me who doesn't really require much space. I was paying about half of this when I moved to Melbourne at the beginning of 2022, but coming into 2023, rent was doubled (I'm assuming to make up for Covid losses). I could easily move in with roommates to save on living costs, but I've grown to learn that being able to have a quiet space to myself is a form of self-care, so I don't think I'd be able to compromise on that. Moreover, it can't be beaten in terms of location and accessibility to public transport, amenities (like Woolies) and the library.
Loans: I won't start paying off my loans until I graduate from my Master's degree at the end of 2023. In truth, my parents are currently helping me pay for my degree and expenses while living here, but I'm choosing to view them as a student loan I am taking out from my 'Mum and Dad bank'. I'm also planning to get a secondhand car in the second half of the year so that I can get to rural placements a little easier, so that will be another chunk of money. I'm choosing not to think about that until the time comes.
Utilities: $50 to $60
Streaming: I'm thankfully borrowing friends and family's Disney+ and Netflix accounts. A majority of my entertainment comes from the local library.
Phone: I paid a one-off payment at the start of the year — $200 for 130GB for the whole year, which is more than enough for me. I had the same plan last year but only ended up using 30GB.
Gym: I have a gym in my building and don't need to pay for access.

Yes, I completed my undergraduate and honours degree in my home country, and I'm currently doing my Master's in Clinical Psychology. 

For my Bachelor's, I received a really generous scholarship from the university which covered my school fees, lodging and gave me a stipend. Along with a grant from the university, it was enough for all four years and funded two exchange programs. 

I'm currently borrowing money from my parents in order to fund my graduate degree. I'm incredibly grateful that they are financially able and generous enough to do so. However, I am going to start paying this off once I graduate and start work next year.

Both my parents grew up quite poor and came from large families (my mum was the ninth child of thirteen). Both of them were first-generation immigrants in our home country. It was only because their older siblings sacrificed going to school and started working early that they were able to go to school and eventually university. Both of them completed their bachelor's and studied for their MBAs in their late 30s. Because of this, they really emphasised university and getting a "professional job" to my brother and I.

Because of their experiences in poverty as children, they worked incredibly hard to educate themselves on financial literacy. They also made it a priority for us. I remember accompanying them to investment classes as a child, talking to them about managing property and was quite involved in setting up my own savings account, investment accounts and insurance. When I was around four, they set up high-yield savings accounts (5%) called the "Dad and Mum bank" to help instil in me the habit of saving. Even at a young age, it was really exciting for me to see my money in the bank grow and it encouraged me to save. 

My parents set up an educational fund for me when I was born, which grew to around $60,000 by the time I went to uni. Because of my scholarship, I didn't need to touch it at all. As a result, they withdrew it all and gave it to me, which I split and slowly divvied into investment funds.

I acknowledge that I'm really privileged to be in this position, thanks to the sacrifice of family members before me, the savviness of my own parents, and their willingness to share this knowledge with me. They have really admirable financial habits and have always instilled in me the importance of "having your money work for you". It's probably the only reason I'm able to do what I'm doing.

I wasn't allowed to work until I finished high school (or junior college, as we call it) because doing well in school was a priority for my family. The moment I graduated, I scored a really good internship with the Education Ministry as an intern teacher at primary schools. I was essentially trained to be an assistant teacher and ended up taking on my own classes after a couple of weeks. This job was really a way for me to explore what industries I was interested in and to narrow down what I wanted to study at university. I didn't expect to be paid so well ($1,300 a month) pre-university, but since I was essentially doing about 75% of what a typical teacher would do, I guess the pay made sense.

No, but also yes. Both my parents have worked for the majority of my life (my mum took ten years off to look after my brother and I), but we are definitely middle to high-income. However, I do feel like there are remnants of their childhood living in poverty that still come up. Things like only ever buying things on sale, eating food past the expiry date, creating homemade clothes, etc.

Nevertheless, I have never wanted for anything, and they continually emphasise that their hard work is so that my brother and I will not have to go through the same childhood as they did. My parents were also expected to financially support their elderly parents and (numerous) older brothers and sisters. So even though we can afford to, we definitely spend under our means. This sort of mindset has been drilled into me from a young age, so I feel like I am constantly vigilant about my spending, even if there's not really a need to.

Definitely. I'm entering an industry that is not the most profitable (although, on the rise, I'm hoping). Even getting into the industry is an incredibly expensive ordeal. Both of my parents are semi-retired now (my dad runs his own business and my mum still works part-time), and will enter full retirement in the next year or so. It's culturally expected for my brother and me to support them financially and I am 100% happy to do so. But I do know that the first few years starting out in my career will be fairly unstable.

I would not say that I'm financially responsible for myself yet. I am still dependent on my family for the length of this Master's degree. Even though I am living overseas right now, I would be living with them if I were back home, with is very normal for peers my age in our culture. My parents are definitely my financial safety net. They know that this degree is necessary for my career and are willing to support me until I find my footing career-wise.

No.

6:23am — I'm up and getting ready for a run. I brush my teeth and splash water on my face. I'm an early bird and try to get my run out first thing in the morning, but it's been getting colder and therefore harder. 

7:40am — I'm back. I ran five miles (eight kilometres) around the nearby park. I'm from a country that uses the metric system, but I like thinking about running distances in miles — I don't know why! My face hurts from the cold. I take a hot shower, eat oatmeal for breakfast and get ready for classes which start at 9am. Today is 'uni day', which is the only day I spend on campus. I'm excited for the weekly meetup with my batch mates.

8:40am — I walk to campus and meet my friend who's buying a coffee at a kiosk. I'm tempted but I hold back because I know I'll need it more in the middle of the day. 

11:00am — First class ends. It's not really a class, but more a conference where students can present about clients they see on placement. We discuss challenges faced, how intervention can be adapted and other reflections. The two cases presented today were really interesting and I have take-home points I can use for clients on my placement as well. A group of us head to the nearby Schnitz for lunch. I buy a wrap ($10.90) and we sit in the sun and catch up on our weeks. $10.90

12:00am — We head to our next class. This is one where we learn about mental health disorders in young children. Feels like something we covered in first year. I think I fell into a food coma because I blinked and class was over. 

3:00pm — Classes are over for the day, but I have a long break in between until I have my tutoring classes. I tutor two undergraduate Psychology classes for the university, but they are at 5pm and 6pm. I buy a matcha latte ($5) from the same kiosk as this morning and chat with friends until my class starts. $5

7:00pm — Both classes are over. The tutorials for this week are really content heavy and I feel like I talked so much. My throat is so dry. My heart goes out to the students who have classes this late — I know I wouldn't want to listen to me rambling on about classical conditioning at 6pm in the evening. 

7:30pm — Get home and heat up leftover chicken noodle soup. I'm hungry and eat too fast and burn my tongue. Blueberry yogurt is the only cold, creamy thing I have in my fridge, so I eat that as well. 

9:00pm — Get ready for bed. I eat some medication to ward off a potential sore throat. I can't afford to get sick right now. I read for about 45 minutes. I'm currently reading The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill. It's about a mystery book author who's in a library when she hears a murder in progress, and bonds with the people at the same table as her. It's part normal novel, part epistolary novel, so I don't quite know what's happening, but I like it! Then it's lights out by 10pm.

6:23am — I'm up again and start my morning routine. I've run out of clean leggings and it's too cold to just wear shorts inside, so I head to the gym at my building and run on the treadmill instead. 

8:30am — Short run this time because I'm not feeling it. I come back up, shower and eat breakfast — two sunny-side-up eggs and toast. My work appointment is only at 10am, so I have time to take it slow this morning. I watch WandaVision on Disney+ while cleaning the kitchen. I'm a huge Marvel fan and have read all the comics since I was a kid, but for some reason, I've never had any desire to watch WandaVision until now. Four episodes in and I'm kind of hooked. 

9:55am — I walk to the classroom for my second casual job. I support students with disabilities in classroom settings with notetaking. I'm helping to audit a class that's in another allied health major, so I'm really engaged with the content. 

12:15am — Class is over. I walk to the nearby Woolies and grab some random groceries. I buy two packs of pork stirfry, a tub of plain yogurt and chocolate chip cookies ($23.20). I find meat in grocery stores quite expensive here, especially compared to the markets in my home country, but at least it's all pre-cleaned and chopped. $23.20

1:00pm — I get home and heat up leftover fried rice for lunch. I tend to cook two dishes in big batches over the weekend to last me through the week. This is the last of my prepared food. I immediately log on for the tutor briefing, which is where the professors instruct us on how to conduct tutorials for next week. We finish up and I submit my timecard so I can get paid next week. 

3:00pm — I'm free for the rest of the day, which means I can relax and do nothing. That basically means finishing the whole season of WandaVision. Sometime around 5:30pm, I get hungry and cook up a pack of spicy instant noodles. I throw in tofu, an egg and spring onions just for some nutrition. 

8:30pm — My teeth are brushed and I'm in bed. I swear I'm not usually such an old lady but I tend to be a really early morning riser, so if I want to have more sleep, it just means going to sleep earlier. I still read my book for an hour though. I've been into psychological thrillers recently, and this one is pretty good. 

9:45pm — Lights out.

6:23pm — I'm up. I feel pretty good, but still have no clean leggings. Down to the gym for five miles on the treadmill. This treadmill makes a lot of noise and I'm always half afraid it'll break apart while I'm on it. Miraculously, I survive.

8:30pm — Come up, stretch and shower. I have a standing appointment with a close friend who lives five minutes away, so we go to the market together for fruit and vegetables. This is the only way we motivate each other to get out of the house on weekends, otherwise, we'd be potatoes at home. He meets me at my apartment and we walk to the market. 

10:00am — I pick up one kilo of grapes, a head of broccoli and enoki mushrooms for $7. Since we're close to the city, we head to Kmart, where I buy a wire mesh strainer ($5.50) and kitchen scissors ($1.25). I was boiling pasta the other day and tried to drain it by putting the lid on the pot and turning it upside down over the sink, but of course, all the pasta came out. I threw it out because who knows what germs live in my sink. A strainer should save me from experiencing that again. $13.75

12:00pm — On the walk back home, I buy colourful sticky tabs ($4) from Officeworks so that I can keep track of my readings. We also buy bubble tea ($9) because it's a balmy day and why not? When I reach home, I use the pork from yesterday, cabbage and enoki mushrooms to make a spicy pork stew, which I eat with brown rice. $13

3:00pm — I've started rewatching Rizzoli & Isles — a police procedural drama featuring a female detective and medical examiner. I love the female representation in a typically male-dominated industry and how their friendship is portrayed. While watching, I check airline flight tickets back home. I'm planning to fly back in July in between my placements, but they are still over $1,000 each way. I can't bear to look anymore and close the tab. 

6:00pm — I'm too lazy to cook, so I make oatmeal with strawberries I froze two months ago. They're a bit freezer burn-y, but I cover it up with yoghurt and peanut butter. I also Zoom with a friend from high school who's a secondary teacher. We talk about difficulties engaging with 13-year-olds and the differences in how the curriculum was taught when we were in school versus now. I feel so old.  

9:00pm — I'm in bed, reading my book. I make it to the end but am disappointed at the twist. I saw it coming, like, 15 chapters ago. I debate starting a new book, but end up just reading Webtoons on my phone. I accidentally get sucked into one, and read 56 chapters before my hand starts cramping. Lights out at 10:30pm. 

6:37am — I turned off my alarm last night, but I still wake up early. I debate going for a run again, but I decide that I'm hungry and would rather eat than run. I make green tea, toast and scrambled eggs. 

8:00am — Since I decided not to go for a run, my morning is free. I make rough session plans for the clients I'm seeing tomorrow. I'll check in with my supervisor tomorrow and play it by ear. 

9:45am — I head out to go to church, which starts at 11am. I'm a Christian and have been since I was 13 years old. My faith is a really important part of my life and has brought me through really difficult periods. Finding a church that I could call home when I moved to Australia was definitely a challenge, but then I found out that my home church was also setting up a branch in Melbourne. Unfortunately, it's an hour away by train, but it's a journey I make every week because it's a breath of contact with something familiar and is something that anchors me when life gets stressful. I've also been really privileged to be really involved in this church planting, and while it's still a really small congregation, it's nice to know everyone by name. I walk to the train station and tap on with my Myki card — I topped it up with $30 at the start of the month. 

11:00am — Church starts. I'm helping out as technical support, so I do the slides for song lyrics and adjust instrument and mic volumes for the worship people. I tithe every week, but it's a really variable amount, depending on how much I'm prompted to give. This week, I tithe a nice number — $88. 

1:00pm — Service ends. We typically have lunch together as a church for whoever is free and wants to. Today, we go to a nearby restaurant that serves communal-style Asian dishes. One of the church elders orders for all 19 of us, so there are a lot of dishes. I eat braised pork ribs, a tofu and mushroom dish, sambal kang kong, soy sauce chicken and steamed fish, all over rice. We split and it comes up to $16 per person. $16

3:00pm — I head back home. On the way, I stop at a Chemist Warehouse for some skincare stuff. When the weather gets cold, it gets dry and my skin can't bear it — especially coming from a really tropical and humid country. I buy Cerave Moisturising Cream and Burt's Bees Eucalyptus Flavour Lip Balm. I don't know what it is about minty flavours like eucalyptus but it reminds me of the medicinal balms that my mum used to rub on my chest as a kid to put me to sleep, so I always find the smell of it sleep-inducing. $18.80

5:00pm — I get home and cook noodles for dinner again. I throw in frozen dumplings, egg and more chopped cabbage. I'm eating early because I'm meeting friends for ice cream this evening. 

7:30pm — I walk to the ice cream place and everyone is already there waiting for me (oops!). I live the closest to the shop, but I'm somehow always the latest. I buy a double scoop — pistachio and ube ($8.05). It's been a while since I've seen these friends — they're all grad students, but studying a whole range of different things. We chat about the rising cost of living and plans for graduation. I don't realise that it's getting to 10pm (aka my bedtime) until someone asks us if we're going to vacate our seats soon. We hustle out of there and say our goodbyes. $8.05

10:15pm — Bedtime routine. I debate reading for a bit, but end up scrolling through some new Webtoons before lights out.

6:17am — I'm up. I always wake up slightly anxious on placement days. Morning routine and brew a cup of green tea. I don't tend to eat breakfast on placement days for some reason — I'm never hungry. I pack a bagel with cream cheese for lunch

7:45am — Out the door and walk to the tram stop. It takes me 40 minutes by tram to get to the clinic. I tap on and have music blasting the whole way. As I ride, I look at all the op shops we pass and try to make plans to visit them on my free days. 

8:20am — Reach the clinic. It's my sixth week on placement, and I'm still getting to know people and their roles. I don't really have a set client load yet, so making myself known to other clinicians and letting them know that I can be of service is really important to get referrals. I make sure to say good morning to everyone I pass and try to make small talk. 

10:00am — I shadow another clinician for two home visits with her clients. Along the way, we chat about how I'm finding the placement. She has previously gone through a similar pathway to me, so it's interesting to learn from her and get advice on how to manage my expectations of placements. 

1:00pm — I meet my supervisor to discuss the session plan before my session at 2pm and eat lunch as we talk. We agree that it's important for this client to be responsive to his needs and to be flexible with how the session goes. 

2:10pm — I'm done. I always overshoot because I'm bad at managing time. I get down to writing the notes from the session. I get distracted because someone has brought around baklava, so of course I have to grab a piece.

3:30pm — I manage to sit in on a medical review with a psychiatrist and her client. I always find it really interesting to see how other clinicians interact with clients.

4:30pm — Nothing new is really going to happen now. I spend the last 30 minutes of the workday checking emails in my placement, student and staff accounts before saying goodbye to everyone. 

5:00pm — Tram home. 

5:45pm — I'm tempted to grab a rice bowl from a Japanese don place near my house, but I remember that I have leftover brown rice and pork stew in the fridge which I can eat for free. 

6:30pm — I'm showered and the food has been heated up. Before I sit down, I throw in a load of laundry. Laundry facilities are communal — I do one load of wash ($4) and dry ($4). I watch an episode of Rizzoli & Isles as I eat. $8

8:00pm — Laundry is done. I dump the warm clothes on the couch and snuggle the heat wafting off them. I always immediately fold them because I know if I leave them, they'll get creased and I hate ironing. 

8:45pm — I'm in bed and ready to start a new psychological thriller. To clarify, I read all my books on my tablet through the Kindle app. I would prefer hardcopy books, but the ones I want to read are never available at the library. I'm starting a locked room mystery where a bunch of people get snowed in at a ski resort and someone dies. We'll see how it goes. Lights out at 10pm.

6:23am — I get up and get ready for a run. I have clean leggings now, but I also feel like doing some strength training, so I go down to the gym for a quick two-mile run before doing some random assortment of exercises. I'm always really self-conscious about using weights, but thankfully no one is up this early and I'm alone. 

8:30am — I shower and make breakfast — more toast and eggs, with green tea. Today is my free day, but it's also my day to catch up on school work, tutor work and other errands. I procrastinate by watching two episodes of Rizzoli & Isles. 

11:30am — I start on my coursework assignment. It's due in 1.5 months, so I just write out a skeleton. It's really slow going because it's a really similar assignment to something we've done before and I'm bored. I stop halfway and decide to make japchae. 

1:00pm — Making japchae takes a long time because there's a lot of prep work — cutting vegetables and noodles and blanching and seasoning them separately. Thankfully, I have all the ingredients in my fridge from previous grocery shops. With the help of my strainer, I'm done in an hour. The kitchen is a mess, but japchae tastes pretty good, so I'm satisfied. As I eat, I watch another episode of Rizzoli & Isles. 

2:00pm — I procrastinate washing the dishes by doing my tutorial prep. This involves reading the paper that the students would read, customising the tutorial slides and writing a script. This particular paper is a slog to get through and I try to add more animations and figures to the slides to make it easier to understand.

4:00pm — I have to wash the dishes so I can cook dinner, so I put on a podcast to make the time pass faster. In reality, it only takes 15 minutes and I'm left with 2/3 of a podcast to finish at another time. 

5:00pm — A friend who's been working on her thesis at uni texts me to ask if I want to have dinner together and I immediately say yes. I join her at the rice bowl place and get a sukiyaki don ($9.90). It's delicious and my friend and I sit in the sun and talk about how we're doing at our placements. She's craving ice cream after and I accompany her but don't get anything. It's getting just a little too chilly outside for me to eat cold things. $9.90

8:00pm — I'm back home, shower and get ready for bed. I work on editing slides for a group therapy program. The group won't run for another four weeks, but I'm helping reformat the slides because they still look like they were made in the early 2000s, comic sans font and all. 

9:30pm — I call it a day. Read for 15 minutes and lights out. 

6:17am — I'm up. Morning routine and brew a cup of green tea. Placement today is at another site, which is one hour away by train. 

7:20am — I walk to the train station and tap on. I pass the time doing devotion and listening to worship songs. I want to be more disciplined and do devotion every day because I think it really puts me in a better headspace. But more often than not, I don't.

8:25am — I reach the hospital and meet with my supervisor. Our first session at 9am is an assessment session with a new client with ESL background. Supervisor goes through the process of how to get an interpreter and how to phrase certain questions in a simpler way. I'm nervous because it's my first time doing a full assessment, but my supervisor will be in the room and will jump in if I start to flail. 

10:00am — Done! I think it went fine and the client was lovely. I've learned how tricky it is to work with an interpreter in the room, and how it depends on how proactive the interpreter is at getting complex psychological terms across. I work on writing up the notes for this session and think about how I would present this at the clinical review meeting next week. 

12:00pm — I'm hungry so I go to the hospital cafe and get a grilled chicken panini ($12.50). I think it's expensive for flattened bread, chicken and cheese, but I eat it. I meet another student on placement and we chat about how our experiences have been. I'm the only student in my discipline in the whole service, and so is she. We commiserate about how lonely it's been and how glad we are to find each other. $12.50

1:00pm — I sit down with the clinical lead in charge of the group therapy program and discuss the slides, as well as my involvement in the coming weeks. She likes that the slides look more professional now, and advises me to cut down on the wordy-ness.  

3:00pm — I go for another client session. This is my third session with him, and I feel like we've built a pretty good rapport. We finish early because he has another physiotherapy appointment to go for. I spend the rest of the day tidying up my notes and booking rooms for my sessions next week. 

5:15pm — I tap on the train back to the city. The sun is setting and it's shining right into my eyes. I listen to my favourite podcast — No Such Thing as a Fish. It's just a group of people talking about the most random facts, and it's so irreverent and funny and the perfect thing to decompress. 

7:00pm — I reach home and heat up the last serving of the pork stew with rice I made earlier this week. I watch more Rizzoli & Isles as I eat. 

8:30pm — Showered and ready for bed. I fret about my tutorial classes tomorrow and go through the slides one more time, but decide I'm satisfied with them for now. 

9:15.pm — Read for 30 minutes then it's lights out.