A Week In Wellington, New Zealand On A $70,460 Salary

Occupation: Senior policy analyst
Industry: Government
Age: 29
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Salary: $70,460. I live with my partner, D., but the only spending we share is splitting bills and the like — otherwise our money is our own and spent separately (but the net worth listed below is definitely joint). We put the same amount of money into joint accounts and split all the bills evenly.
Assets: $56,800 in a joint house/emergency fund savings account with D.; $19,201 in my retirement account; $1,600 in our joint travel savings account; $550 in personal savings, minus debt.
Debt: $3,573 left in my student loans.
Paycheck Amount (Fortnightly): $1,657
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing Costs: $716 for my half of rent in a two-bedroom unit in an inner-city suburb.
Loan Payments: $500 for my student loan (this comes out of my paycheque pre-tax).
KiwiSaver (Superannuation): $160. My employer matches up to 3%.
Public Service Union Fees: $32, which comes out of my paycheque pre-tax.
Phone Bill: $45 — this includes unlimited data and Spotify.
Gym: $170 for gym access and three small-group personal training sessions a month, as well as workout plans and nutrition advice.
Home & Contents Insurance: $16 for my half.
Internet: $27 for my half.
Third-Party Car Insurance: $7 for my half.
Power Bill: Roughly $60 for my half (it’s a bit cheaper in summer).
Streaming Services: $15 for my half of Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video. Most of our family and some friends use our accounts as well.
NYT Crossword & Games: $2.10. I swear the NYT crossword is the only thing that gets me through the day.
Savings Contributions: $250 into our joint travel/fun money savings; $60 into emergency fund/house savings account; $180 into my own savings (or I just put the extra into the joint account).

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, I got my three-year bachelor’s degree and paid for it with student loans. Loans didn’t cover all my living costs in my first year, so my parents paid for half of my university hostel living costs. My brother also helped me out in my first year by paying some of my living fees: I’d spent all my student loan money on alcohol and shoes and didn’t want to tell my parents (thanks, bro). After first year, I moved into a flat and my student loan covered my rent and bills. My parents gave me an allowance of $200 a fortnight. I also worked part time so I could save up for my overseas experience. I graduated with just under $40,000 in student loans and am on track to pay them off this month — only 10 long years after I graduated, lol.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
We didn’t have that many conversations about finances. My brother has always been a saver, but I’m a spender. Even though I am waaay better now, I still have spending and impulsive tendencies, mainly around makeup and skincare! My brother has always been very good with money — he was able to give me $1,500 when he was only 21 to help me out and it wasn’t an impact for him. I wish my parents had educated me on investing, but that wasn’t really a thing when I was young — and even if they had talked to me about it, I probably would not have listened. Their main message to us was to not go into unnecessary debt and if you don’t have the money to pay for it upfront, then don’t buy it.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
My parents wouldn’t let me get a “proper” job in high school as they wanted me to focus on studying. So instead, I babysat for a family in the last two years of school — one night a week, and some weekends. I went to a private school and I really wanted to keep up with my peers, so I used the job for extra spending money. My first taxed job was the summer between school and university — it was in catering and it gave me money that I could save for uni… Which I ended up just spending on fun summer activities and partying, haha.

Did you worry about money growing up?
Not really. I did ballet — which isn’t cheap — for 16 years, and we did heaps of extracurricular activities. We also went on domestic and overseas holidays regularly. When we moved to Wellington from my small town, my parents put me in a private school and I was surrounded by people with lots of money. While my parents were upper-middle class, my peers were next level, and their parents were very upper-upper class. I worried about going out with friends because they just used their parents’ credit cards while I just had my weekly allowance or extra money I had begged for from my dad.

Do you worry about money now?
I don’t really worry now. When I was overseas, there were times that I had $10 to my name and was always worrying about money. But now, D. and I make good money, have solid savings and are on the same page with our financial goals. I do worry about having to put off having a baby: we want to buy our own home soon and I don’t think we could afford a mortgage on one income while one of us was on baby leave. But then again we probably would be fine, we would just need to stop going out as much or buying as many skincare products (me) and then we would have a lot more spare money.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I moved out of home at 18 to go to university and then I went overseas for two years. But during this time, my parents still paid me an allowance. When I moved back home, they let D. and I live rent free for 18 months, so I probably wasn’t fully financially responsible for myself until D. and I moved into our own place when I was 24. We have our savings to fall back on, but I also know that my parents or D.’s parents in Australia would help us out if we needed it. My parents are always asking us to move back home, so we can always move home, lol.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Yes. My brother gave me $1,500 when I was in uni to pay for my hostel fees. My parents paid for some of my uni accommodation and paid off a $2,000 overdraft for me while I was overseas (and never asked for repayment). They also gifted me $5,000 for an elective surgery I had in 2020 and paid around about $12,000 for our wedding. We live in the same city, so they will often treat us to coffee or dinners when we catch up. D.’s parents gave us $20,000 to go towards a house deposit which kick-started our savings; they also chipped in about $12,000-$15,000 for our wedding, and they always pay for our flight tickets back to Australia once or twice a year. 

7 a.m. — Mine and D.’s alarm goes off. It was my dad’s birthday yesterday and my brother drove down to surprise him so he stayed the night with us, which was nice — though we only have one bathroom, so it’s a bit of a scramble for the two boys to get ready. I decide to shower later on. We are all going to get a coffee together before the workday starts; my brother drives us down the hill to mine and D.’s favorite coffee shop, which also happens to be right by D.’s work. I put the three coffees on the joint credit card — Americanos for D. and me and a flat white for my brother ($4.50 for my half). We chat for 20 minutes or so and then split. D. heads to work, my brother has a meeting in Wellington and then will drive back home, and I walk the 15 minutes up the hill back home. $4.50

8:15 a.m. — Once I get home I scroll Instagram and then shower. I also wash my hair today so I spend a bit longer in the shower doing a scalp massage. Then it's onto my morning skincare (I do the same every morning): The Ordinary Milky Toner, The Ordinary Niacinamide and Azelaic Acid, Perricone MD eye cream, CeraVe moisturiser and then SPF. Once I have done my skincare and blowdried my hair, I get into my work-from-home uniform of a hoodie and lululemon leggings and log on for our 9 a.m. team check-in. After the check-in I make a stovetop espresso and toast a couple of pieces of sourdough and have them with peanut butter and NZ Marmite while I go through all my emails. Once I am on top of my inbox, I check my to-do list and begin editing a couple of documents. I spend the morning reviewing some work people have sent to me and begin a briefing outline.

12 p.m. — I break for lunch and do a bunch of meal prepping I never got round to doing on the weekend. I make chocolate chia puddings and cold brew, then roast some chicken and zucchini, and make some quinoa. I mix the chicken, zucchini and quinoa together with some pesto and then separate it into containers for lunches this week. I also have a bowl of it for today’s lunch, with a glass of OJ. After that, I wash the dishes and clean up and then get back to work. I have no meetings today so I will be able to hopefully get through the briefings I have to write.

4 p.m. — The afternoon drags and it starts hailing, which immediately makes me not want to go to the gym after work. At some point I grab a mandarin and a couple of rows of chocolate to keep me going. Just after 4 p.m., I finish up my work — I have left my briefings in a good-enough place that I should be able to tidy them up tomorrow and then move on to something else. I reluctantly get ready for the gym, since I missed the workout this morning with my brother being here. I chuck on a different pair of lulus and jumper, and braid my hair since it's super windy and rainy outside. I grab my water bottle and rain jacket and head out to catch the bus, only to find that the bus that goes past my house has been cancelled… I have to walk the 15 minutes down the hill to catch a different bus. I have a pre-loaded transport card that I top up every other week so the bus is $2 on my pre-loaded card.

7 p.m. — I get to the gym, which feels like an achievement in itself considering the rain and hail that is happening and the cancelled bus. At the gym I do 15 minutes on the treadmill to warm up and then move to weights. I have a strength programme I follow that my trainer puts together, but normally I do my workouts in the morning with a group of us — it's harder to lift heavy when I am by myself! It's leg day and I manage to get through my workout and am pretty happy with how it goes! I finish up with some ab work and stretching and then I leave to catch the bus back home. Luckily the bus that goes past my house isn’t cancelled so I don’t have to walk home up the hill with sore legs! ($2 on my pre-loaded card).

9 p.m. — I get home, say hi to D. and park up in front of the heater for a while, as it's so cold outside. Once I thaw out I grab a shower and then start dinner. I am making a spicy sausage pasta and it only takes 20 minutes or so to make, which is great. While we eat dinner we watch the news and catch each other up on our days. After dinner I get my Switch and play Hogwarts Legacy (note: it took me ages to decide to get this game as I felt super conflicted, but in the end I brought it and then donated the amount that it cost to a trans charity in NZ) while D. packs up the leftover dinner and does the dishes. He then does his crossword and plays a game on his phone while we play The League in the background — it is such an underrated show. I feel pretty switched out after a solid 90 minutes playing my game, so we watch some Always Sunny in Philadelphia clips on YouTube and then I decide I need to head to bed.

10:30 p.m. — I get ready for bed and do my nighttime routine. I already double-cleansed in the shower earlier this evening so I just do the rest of my skincare. Tonight it’s Paula’s Choice salicylic acid toner, The Ordinary hyluaronic acid, and the Dr Jart+ ceramide barrier cream. I take a melatonin and my other meds and then spend a good 30 minutes mindlessly scrolling on TikTok (my guilty pleasure). D. comes into bed and once he is settled I put my eye mask on and knock tf out.

6:20 a.m. — My alarm goes off and I spend five minutes debating whether I should just work from home again so I can get an extra hour of sleep, but eventually I decide I better go into the office. I reluctantly peel myself out of bed and spend five minutes in a scorching-hot shower contemplating if it's too late to be a nepo baby or an heiress so I don’t have to go to work. After my shower, I do my morning skincare and then get dressed. The outfit I had planned in my head looks terrible in real life; it takes me three goes to land on an outfit, so now I am running late. I am worried I am going to miss my bus until I look at my transport app and see that my bus is also running late. I now have enough time for makeup so I do a quick glowy look. I put my hair in a half-up style and then pack my bag. I pour some cold brew into my Klean Kanteen thermos, grab my lunch and chia pudding and am out the door with a couple of minutes to spare. The bus into work costs me $2 on my transport card.

7:30 a.m. — I get the bus into town and then it’s a 10-minute walk to get to my office (I normally get to the office between 7:30 a.m. and 7:40 a.m., depending on traffic, etc). Once I get to work, I put my food in the fridge and get settled. I am having laptop issues and I have to restart a couple of times so it takes a while to get going. While I wait for my laptop to connect I do my NYT games — Strands and Connections. Once my laptop finally starts working, I work through my inbox and flag emails that I need to follow up on. I also accept some changes someone made in one of my documents and tidy it up for review. Around 8.30 a.m. I get hungry, so I have my chocolate chia pudding and read some news articles that relate to our work.

9 a.m. — I have a team check-in and after that I go through and update my to-do list. I head down to the café in my building to get a coffee. I buy a coffee card loaded with 10 coffees once every three weeks or so, as it makes the coffee cheaper by about 60 cents! It costs me $25, so each coffee is $2.50. I brought this last week so won’t count it as a spend. I get my Americano and head back to my desk. By 10 a.m. I have probably had too much caffeine as my cold brew was stronger than I thought, but oh well. I get to work finalising a comms plan that I have been working on for a while — hopefully I can send it out this afternoon and be done with it.

12 p.m. — I power through the morning and have a snack of smoked chicken and cheese roll-ups that I made last night to get me through till lunch. Around half 12 [12.30pm] I decide to break for lunch and nip to the supermarket near my work to get some fresh air and a couple of small things (gum, wasabi peas to keep in my locker at work, a Twix and a cheese-and-garlic roll to go with my lunch) ($4.80). I get back to the office and end up eating lunch with my manager. I have the roll I just brought and the quinoa and chicken I prepped yesterday. It’s not great though — I definitely won’t make it again. My manager and I just have general chitchat for 20 minutes or so then it's back to the grind. At my desk I have a mandarin and then prepare myself to send a bunch of emails I have been putting off. It’s hard to describe my job, but over half of it is writing briefings and reports for the Minister or higher-ups and sending emails to other government agencies. $4.80

4:30 p.m. — I wrap up work for the day after a productive afternoon. I was pretty tired, so had to crack into the wasabi peas, but the Twix remained untouched. We are going to Deadpool and Wolverine tonight with a friend — D. and I have already been but our friend wanted to go see it so we are going again! He is getting the bus home with me so I need to make sure I leave on time. It's a 10-minute walk to the bus stop so I gather my things and make the trek. The bus costs me $2 on my pre-loaded card (which I will definitely have to top up tomorrow). My friend gets on the bus at the fourth stop and we catch up on the ride home.

8 p.m. — When we get home, my friend and I chat and catch up and wait for D. to get home. Once he’s back, I get my bag ready for tomorrow — we will be getting back late from the movies and I have an early gym session before work, so I need to pack up everything. I’ve got my work clothes, skincare, makeup, and a towel, so my back is pretty full. D. also makes his lunch for the next couple of days. Once we are all sorted we drive to the cinema. We are grabbing dinner before at a Thai place so we get a table and order. Our friend M. gets a pad see ew, and D. and I get a red duck curry and pad see ew to share. The food takes a while to come out but when it does it's delicious! The bill comes to $17.50 for my half of our meal. We brought the tickets on the weekend — M. gets me a popcorn and Coke since we got his tickets. I am the only one getting popcorn, which is a red flag for the boys, honestly. $17.50

11:30 p.m. — Ahh, the movie was just as enjoyable the second time, and M. loved it! We finish up and head outside. It is a freezing dash to the car — the temperature has really dropped. M.’s partner C. has something on in town so we drive to where C. is and drop M. off so they can go home. We then drive back home and I am so glad I packed up before we left because it's nearly 11 p.m. by the time we get in the door. I get into my PJs and do my skincare — double-cleanse, hyluaronic acid, retinol and Dr Jart+ ceramide barrier cream. Once in bed, I do the mandatory scroll of TikTok for 20 minutes and then I have to go to sleep — waking up early tomorrow is going to be brutal. D.  stays awake watching videos on YouTube but I am so tired, I don’t even hear him come to bed.

5:30 a.m. — Ahh, my 5:30 a.m. alarm was just as brutal as I thought it would be. I jump out of bed quickly though, because I know if I stay in bed for even a second I will fall back asleep. I have my early morning routine down and am out the door in 10 minutes. I have a 20-minute walk to the bus stop — because it's dark, I don’t like having my headphones in, so I just walk the 20 minutes in silence. I get to the bus stop and remember I have to top up my transport card so I log into the app and put $30 on it. The bus comes and it's off-peak time so it only costs me $1.

6:30 a.m. — I get to the gym and have a successful 40-minute strength workout with my trainer and the other gals in our small workout group — I will be feeling sore tomorrow. It’s chest day which is my favourite, at least. After the gym I get another bus to work ($2 on my travel card as it’s peak time now) and head to the showers in our building to get ready for the day. $30

8 a.m. — I get to my desk after showering and doing my usual morning skincare and the same makeup as yesterday (though I forgot my concealer, so I look more haggard than usual). This is only 30 minutes or so later than I normally get in on a non-gym day, which is pretty good. Booting up my laptop takes ages as I have so many problems it. I am on the waiting list for a new one at least but in the meantime it takes a good 10 minutes for it to start working. While I wait, I eat a beef jerky stick (a very belated post-workout protein snack) and drink most of my cold brew. Once I am into the system I do the usual clear of emails and organise my to-do list. I have some talking points that I need to work on first thing, so I get those underway. Just before 9 a.m. I eat my chocolate chia pudding for breakfast, finishing just in time for my check-in with my team.

9:30 a.m. — After the check-in I go down with a workmate and get a coffee on my coffee card. We sit for 15 minutes or so chatting and talking shit before heading back to our desks. I have to finish the talking points and then put together some data for a report so I put some headphones in and churn out some work. I put on the Tomorrowland 2024 setlist playlist which is absolutely banging — but probably not the best focus music really. I work until 12 p.m. when I decide I need some fresh air. I leave the office with a friend and head out to the supermarket to get some Lindt chocolate for a package for a friend. I am very unenthused about the quinoa and chicken I meal prepped (this always happens when I meal prep lol, I really only get two days out of it), so I decide to grab some rice rolls as well. $10.30

1 p.m. — One of my close friends is having her second baby in a month and as well as the chocolate, I am sending her some makeup and skincare that I brought and never used, or that I have gotten as free gifts when I have shopped at Sephora/Mecca/MAC, etc. I head to the post office and post the package and wow, when did postage get so expensive?! I head back to work and just eat at my desk. $5.20

4:30 p.m. — I have a relatively productive afternoon, though I definitely keep getting distracted talking to coworkers — this is why I actually get more done at home. Luckily the colleague I am getting distracted by is not only my favourite coworker, but the principal analyst in charge of my project, so I am not too worried. I proof-read some memos and then get stuck into drafting an 18-page document, gathering some international data and evidence to back up my analysis. At half 4, I decide to call it quits and pack up as I have a couple of errands to run after work.

6:30 p.m. — I walk to the supermarket. We are going to our friends’ place for dinner tomorrow night and we have been charged with getting snacks for the six of us. I pick up some garlic bread, two bags of chips, salmon pâté dip, sweet chilli Philly, salami, brie, and crackers. My half of this comes to $12.50. Afterwards, I decide to walk through town for some extra steps and get the bus home from there, then I get a message from a friend asking if I was near the gym as she needed a spotter. Luckily my gym is in town, close to the bus stop, so I nip in and spot her for 10 minutes. She is also going to dinner tomorrow night and we are going to get D. to drive us so we can drink more than one glass of wine, so we figure out logistics. She stays to finish the work out and I walk to the bus stop and get the bus home ($2 on my loaded card). $12.50

9 p.m. — I am so tired after the late night last night and early start, so I am looking forward to doing nothing tonight. I get home and D. is out playing basketball and won’t be back till later, so I have the place to myself. I unpack my bag and put my gym gear in the wash and then get dinner. I reheat a portion of the pasta I made on Monday, and watch an old episode of The Office while I eat. After, I have orange juice and chocolate and get settled into playing Hogwarts Legacy. D. comes home around half 8 and so we catch up on each other’s day while he eats dinner and then we watch the news together.

10:30 p.m. — I am washing my hair tomorrow so I do a scalp massage with some hair strengthening oil from Sephora and then slather my hair in some argon oil I got when I was in Morocco. I then do some at-home dermaplaning and my nighttime routine (tonight it's just hyaluronic acid and La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume as I don’t want to irritate my skin after the dermaplaning). Once all my skincare and treatments are done, I take my meds, pop a melatonin, and do my usual TikTok scroll. D. stays up doing the dishes and some washing and doesn’t come till bed till midnight, by which time I am fast asleep.

7:30 a.m. — Today is a WFH and no-gym day so I get to sleep in — though D.’s alarm goes off multiple times so I am awake at half 7 anyway. I also wake up with a bad headache, so not the restful start to the day I was hoping for. I stay in bed for ages scrolling Instagram and doing my NYT games and then eventually get up. My hair is an oil slick so I do a scalp scrub in the shower and then wash like normal and my hair comes out looking so fresh. I went blonde for the first time last year and I love it but learning how to look after it has been a learning curve! I then do my morning skincare and get dressed in my usual fit. No 9 a.m. check-in today so I can take my time getting ready.

10:30 a.m. — I take some headache meds (I suffer from migraines, so if I have a bad headache I take these meds so it hopefully doesn’t manifest into a migraine) and make a Berocca (do you guys have these in the US!? Because they are my fave things ever) for some hydration. I then do my usual thing of clearing out and responding to emails and Teams messages and update my to-do list. Today’s task is basically to finish the report I started yesterday or to at least have it 80% completed so I can discuss it with my principal analyst tomorrow. I make a stovetop espresso with cream to get me going and toast a couple of pieces of sourdough, topping them with peanut butter and Biscoff spread.

11 a.m. — I am celebrating my 30th in a couple of months and need to pay the deposit to secure the bar venue ($122 for my half of the deposit — D. is paying the other half). Once all the admin is out of the way and I am in control of my inbox, I make another stovetop espresso and get stuck into the report. While I work I put on an old study playlist I made at uni and immediately regret it, as I flashback to trying to get assignments done last minute, listening to these songs. $122

12 p.m. — The morning flies by and I get a good amount of work done. When I break for lunch, I am not hungry at all after my sourdough, so I make a peppermint tea, have some fruit and just chill for half an hour — I do some of the Wednesday NYT crossword with The Office playing in the background.

1:30 p.m. — I have a 2 p.m. meeting, so I heat up the last of the pasta we have been eating and eat that at my desk while working. I then tune in for my meeting — it is basically just an update meeting so I can be camera-off and just partly listen, doing other work while it's on. I am heads-down for the rest of the afternoon and get my report pretty much 90% done — I should be able to finish it tomorrow morning. I log off at half 4 and really feel like a drink but I will be at our friends’ soon, so I will hold off until then.

6 p.m. — D. gets home and we both get ready to go out. I pack up the snacks and then we swing by to pick up our friend and her bf on the way. Once we arrive it’s a bit chaotic: Our friends have an 18-month-old who is running around and keeps trying to grab the knives on the cheeseboard, but we still manage to have some good convos while this is all happening. We eat after the toddler’s bathtime and bed — we have a delicious dinner of lasagne, salad, and garlic bread. I also have three glasses of red wine, which go down a treat. The six of us spend the evening chatting and catching up — D. and I haven’t seen these friends in a while, so it's nice to get the goss on what they are up to. Around half 9 we realise the time and head off. We drop our friend and her bf off home (D. drives).

10 p.m. — Once we get home, I pack my bag for tomorrow — I have an early gym class and then am going into the office for part of the day. Then it’s the usual nighttime routine: double-cleanse, hyaluronic acid, La Roche-Posay Effaclar Serum, Inkey List retinol eye cream and Dr Jart+ moisturiser. We both jump into bed; I do the usual TikTok scroll and then we both have lights out at 11 p.m.

5:30 a.m. — Another day, another brutal 5:30 a.m. alarm. D. and I aren’t sleeping that well at the moment so we need to look into our sleep health — I should probably just stop scrolling TikTok before bed…. Anyway, same routine as normal this morning: I am off to the gym and walk the 20 minutes to the bus stop and then get the bus to the gym ($1 on my pre-loaded card). It’s deadlift day and I have a good workout, even though today’s programme includes front-loaded split squats, which I hate. After the workout, I get the bus back to the office ($2 on my pre-loaded card) and head to the showers in my office building to get ready for the day

8:30 a.m. — I shower and do my usual morning routine and makeup that I have been doing. It’s casual Friday so I get to rock my jeans, sneakers, and fleece jacket. I swear, nothing gets office workers more in the mood for the weekend than casual Friday, lol. I also straighten my hair, which is kind of pointless because it's so windy today. I get up to my desk and get settled. I have my cold brew and chia pudding, as well as a jerky stick. I punch out the last of my report before the 9 a.m. catchup — it feels so good to finally have it done.

9:30 a.m. — Today is new laptop day! After the check-in I tidy up some stuff, because I (correctly) assume that it will take a while to get things set up. I get to IT around 9:45 a.m. and am finally released with a new laptop at 10:40 a.m., which is actually pretty good. It was worth the wait: The laptop is already better than my super-old one. I have a meeting straight away, so I message a coworker to see if she can run down and get me a coffee, offering to get her one as well, as a thank you. She takes my coffee card and gets me my long black (pre-paid) and gets herself a flat white for $3.40. She delivers me my coffee in my meeting and I am very grateful! I catch my principal analyst up on my work and we discuss the project plan for work for the next few weeks. We finish up as we are going to lunch together. I pack up my desk — I am working from home for the rest of the afternoon — and we head off. $3.40

11:30 p.m. — It’s a 15-minute walk to the restaurant — though it feels much longer because we are walking into the wind. Wellington has a burger festival every year and it finishes in a couple of days, so my workmate and I wanted to get another one in before it finishes (we went to one together last Friday as well). The burger, which is from a Vietnamese restaurant, is fried chicken with a cilantro coleslaw, daikon, and spicy sauce with fries ($16). It is really good. We spend an hour chatting and catching up. After we are done, I say goodbye and walk to the bus stop to get the bus home. On the way I go to the supermarket and pick up a bottle of rosé, a bottle of prosecco, sparkling water and a Red Bull, as I am going out tonight. I put it onto the joint credit card so it comes to $9 for my half. I get the bus ($1 as it’s off-peak) and am home back online around 1:15 p.m. I unpack my bag and get set up with my new laptop and start clearing out emails that I have missed. $25.00

4 p.m. — After an afternoon filled with reviewing and drafting some comms messages, which goes by pretty uneventfully, I wrap up around 4 p.m. and am so excited that it is the weekend! The weather has turned disgusting though: it is super windy and rainy. D. comes home from work and then basically turns around again to go into town to go to a beer festival with my dad and my best friend’s dad. I get ready for my night out. I do a full face of makeup; I wanted to wear my hair down but there is no point as it's so gross outside, so I just do a slicked-back bun instead. I also wanted to wear a skirt but it's freezing, so I just wear a pair of black lined pants and a cropped tank. One of my friends, F., who is coming out tonight ubers to my place and I make us two Aperol spritzes while we catch up. We are going to a Chinese place in town for a friend’s leaving dinner, so I order F. and I an Uber ($5.80), which I cover. We each bring a bottle of rosé, as the place does BYO. $5.80

10 p.m.: — There ends up being seven of us in total and we spend probably a good three hours chatting and catching up. I get prawn wontons, a BBQ pork fried rice, and pay for my corkage for my rosé, which all together comes to $27. After we finish at the restaurant a couple of us were planning on going out for a couple of cocktails but honestly the weather is so horrible we all decide to head home. I’m sad because I have had a bottle of wine and it feels like a waste of a full glam face, but at this point I would rather be toasty in bed. $27

11:30 p.m. — F. lives not too far from me so I get us an Uber and drop her off first ($8.60). I am home before D. and five minutes after I get home, he calls to ask me to put fries and fish fingers in the oven for him to eat when he gets home. I begin getting ready for bed — I have a Hydrolyte to counteract the wine hangover and then take my makeup off. I double-cleanse and do my nighttime routine — tonight it's hyaluronic acid, La Roche-Posay serum, Inkey List retinol eye cream and Dr Jart+ moisturiser. D. gets home and we recap our nights — his sounds like lots of fun! He stays up to eat but I am tired so I just scroll the usual social media and then do lights out at just before midnight. $8.60

8 a.m. — Yay it’s the weekend! I wish I could sleep in on the weekends but I am up around 8 a.m. I lie in bed for a bit scrolling and then decide to move to the couch to read my book, as D. is still asleep. I make a Berocca and enjoy a peaceful start to the day. D. pops up out of bed and joins me in the lounge and we just hang out for a bit.

11:30 a.m. — After we chill on the couch for a bit, we put on about three loads of washing including our sheets and do a small tidy up. I go to have a shower and wash my hair and halfway through I get a group call from D.’s brother and wife. D. talks to them while I finish my shower. I get out and dressed and do my usual skincare routine, then join the fam chat on the couch. We talk to them and talk at our 9-month-old niece for about half an hour, which is so nice. I make a stovetop espresso as well during this time. After we are done on the call, D. watches some random stuff and has a bagel and I play Hogwarts Legacy. I have a couple of things I want to do in town so after the last load of washing is done we drive into town. We pay for an hour of parking ($1.20 for my half) and then hit the shops. We go to Nespresso and get some more pods and recycle all our used ones ($10 for my half). $11.20

2: p.m. — D. goes and browses at a bookshop while I go to buy new underwear ($25) and then go to a department store that is having a sale and get two bras ($27). $52

3:30 p.m. — By this point I realise I haven’t eaten yet and I get the biggest hangry vibes. I stop off at McDonald’s and get chicken nuggets, a small fries, junior chicken burger, and a Diet Coke ($6.15). We also stop off at the supermarket and get cheese and ham pinwheels, a couple of cream doughnuts, a newspaper and toothpaste ($9 for my half). We get home and I decide to do my favourite day time activity on a weekend — have a nap. $15.15

6 p.m. — After an hour nap, I wake up and get ready to go out again. The weather today is so different to yesterday — the sun is shining and there is no wind at all. I do another full face of makeup and wear the same outfit as the night before, as I feel like I was only out for a few hours and it didn’t get the full showing it deserved. D. and I get the bus into town ($2 on my preloaded card) and walk to the restaurant where we are meeting our friends. We put our name down for a table and while we wait for our mates; as we are a bit early, we grab a drink. I get a lychee martini and D. gets a pint of beer ($8.50 for my half). $8.50

9 p.m. — Our friends arrive and we have about an hour’s wait for the table, so we stay at the bar and have a few drinks and all catch up. Once the table is ready, we keep the drinks flowing while trying not to cringe at how expensive the bill will be. I have a couple more lychee martinis and then we all get two rounds of espresso martinis. I get a sticky pork-belly dish and D. gets Sichuan stir-fry veges and tofu and we share Malai chicken and rice. After lots of drinks and delicious food, we decide to move on to a bar for some pool and drinks. We split the bill seven ways and my share comes out to $55, which isn’t too bad. We walk to a couple of bars but neither of them have pool or shuffleboard free, so we try for a third bar and manage to snag a pool table. We get a couple of rounds at the bar -— D. gets beers for the guys and I have a couple of vodka Diet Cokes ($23 for my half). $78

11:30 p.m. — One of the guys gets coins for the pool table and we spend about an hour shooting pool and talking. The other five in the group order a round of shots and normally I would be all about that, but I am feeling pretty tired and so is D. We leave them to it and get an uber home ($3 for my half). Once we get home, D. makes cheese on toast, I drink a Hydrolyte, and we watch some YouTube shorts for a while. I then take off my makeup and do my skincare — double-cleanse, hyaluronic acid, glycolic acid toner and Dr Jart+ — and get into bed. D. goes to sleep quickly but I stay up just scrolling on my phone until about 1 a.m. $3

9 a.m. — D.’s alarm goes off, as he is going for a run this morning. I wake up when he does and read my book for a while. Once he leaves, I fall back asleep.

10:30 a.m. — I wake up again, have a shower and do my morning skincare. I am not feeling hungover, which is nice. D. gets home, has a shower, and then pretty much heads back out for a basketball catchup with some friends. I make a coffee and get settled in to playing Hogwarts Legacy.

3 p.m. — After becoming one with the couch, I get up to empty the dishwasher, do some dishes, and make cold brew for the week ahead. I also tidy my wardrobe and reorganise my drawers. D. gets home and has a bath while I watch some of the first season of Parks and Rec — it has been ages since I last watched it.

5 p.m. — We are going to my parents for dinner — we normally try to see them for dinner or have them round to ours every week or every other week. We are also going away to Queenstown for a ski trip this coming week and we need to wax our skis and snowboards, and my parents have a big garage we can do that in. I get changed into respectable “seeing parents” clothes, chuck on a bit of concealer and grab the snow stuff, then we drive the 20 minutes to my parents place.

6 p.m. — It is so great to see my parents! They have a cheeseboard waiting for us and I have a kombucha and D. has a beer while we all catch up. My brother also FaceTimes us — my niece and nephew, while absolutely adorable, are very loud, so D. and I leave them talking to nana and grandad while we go to put the wax on our gear. We then all sit down to have dinner and some delicious red wine, watching the news while we eat. My mum also makes this amazing cheesecake for dessert. My mum and I chat with a cup of tea while my dad does the dishes and D. scrapes off all the wax on the skis and snowboard. With leftovers in hand, we say goodbye and head to the supermarket to get some stuff on the way home.

9 p.m. — We don’t need much from the supermarket as we are going away from Wednesday, but we still need a few things. We get leeks, mandarins, lettuce, bananas, OJ, wraps, bacon, chips, cheese singles, yoghurt, beef jerky, and chicken stock, plus I get pimple patches and micellar water. This comes to $22 for my half. Once we get home I unpack the groceries and get ready for bed. I double-cleanse and then just do hyaluronic acid, La Roche-Posay serum, Inkey List retinol eye cream and Dr Jart+ moisturiser. I scroll for a boit but I have an early start tomorrow so I have the lights out by 10 p.m. D. stays up in the lounge doing a crossword but I don’t hear him come to bed. $22