Mamamia’s What My Salary Gets Me asks Australians to record a week in their financial lives. Kind of like a sex diary but with money. So not like a sex diary at all. We still find out the best kept secrets though. We discover what women are really spending their hard-earned cash on. Nothing is too outrageous or too sacred. This week, a 29-year-old business analyst shares her diary.
Age: 29
Job: Business Analyst
Salary: $100k
Housing: Mortgage + Renting with husband
Regular expenses (monthly):
Mortgage $4,425 (including usual monthly incremental payments to try to pay off faster, split between my hubby and I)
Rent: $2,400 (between my hubby and I)
Phone + Music: $37
Transport: $215 (train + fuel)
Gym: $140
Hair: $100 every six weeks
Supermarket: $592 (between my hubby and I)
Utilities: $811 (on average a month – this includes strata, water, council rates, electricity and gas)
Insurance: $504 (on average a month – this includes health, car and home/contents)
Internet: $60 (between my hubby and I)
Stan: $10
Debt: $2,166 (Credit card at the moment between my hubby and I – we always pay this back and never pay interest)
Top Comments
MM should do me next! See how a poor single mum budgets. I walked an hour to work the other day, not because it was sunny, because my pay was late going into my account and I couldn't afford to put $5 petrol in my car! Haha!
Why don’t you submit a weekly diary? This column relies on submissions. It would only be a good thing to hear stories from women in all kinds of situations.
I don't understand what the point of this article is. Somebody how has lots of disposable income, no kids and a partner. Why do I care what she spends her money on? I only clicked the link because I was curious but see she's partnered with no kids so .. not really groundbreaking that she is able to save. Hats off to her but when there are so many more interesting stories out there.. what about single mum's with kids who aren't able to work because their child is disabled? Guess that doesn't make such a tantalizing story as reading about wealthy DINKS.
I'd love to hear those stories as well in this series as long as they give some real figures with an honest break-down of expenses.
I’m pretty sure the point of the series is to give insight into all salary levels. There are plenty about people struggling to save already, and Mamamia certainly has never neglected the tragic plight of the hard done by single mother. If you want economic reform and empowerment it’s important to know what a comfortable salary looks like as well as a tough one, even if you don’t personally relate to it.
The post invites readers to submit a money diary, so I think they’re relying on what is submitted to them. Why don’t you submit your diary? Hearing about all kinds of women and their spending is a good thing
Plus, it's actually pretty uninformative unless we get a run down of all of "hubby"'s incoming and outgoing expenses too. Essentially all we are hearing is half of the budget story here.