{"id":285800,"date":"2026-02-15T21:36:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/285800\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T21:36:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:36:25","slug":"the-cost-of-being-a-government-worker-righting-what-was-once-a-sinking-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/285800\/","title":{"rendered":"The cost of being: A government worker \u2018righting what was once a sinking ship\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

As\u00a0part of our series<\/a> exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a government worker explains how they\u2019re turning their finances around.<\/p>\n

Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gender: Female.<\/p>\n

Age: 40.<\/p>\n

Ethnicity: P\u0101keh\u0101.<\/p>\n

Role: Government.<\/p>\n

Salary\/income\/assets: $143,000 salary. $150,000 in KiwiSaver. $60,000 in shares. $150,000 saved for a house.<\/p>\n

My living location is: Urban.<\/p>\n

Rent\/mortgage per week: $750 a week \u2013 split with my partner.<\/p>\n

Student loan or other debt payments per week: None! Paid off $40,000 in student loans in two years. I looked up from a hole I was in and realised nobody else would pay it for me. Doing that made me feel like anything was possible (even though people around me said it was a stupid move given it was interest-free). No regrets. I feel free now.<\/p>\n

Typical weekly food costs<\/p>\n

Groceries: Budget $200 a week for two people. Some weeks it\u2019s cheaper and we use markets for the veges. Lately I wander around the supermarket going \u201chow much??\u201d The prices are eye-watering.<\/p>\n

Eating out: Guilty as charged. <\/p>\n

Takeaways: Hardly ever \u2013 we\u2019d rather go out!<\/p>\n

Workday lunches: Leftovers leftovers leftovers. Lunch on a Friday once a fortnight is $15.<\/p>\n

Cafe coffees\/snacks: Paydays only. One treat coffee.<\/p>\n

Other food costs: Wish I had a veggie garden. A girl can dream.<\/p>\n

Savings: KiwiSaver at 6%, plus 15% of my salary goes to an investment fund outside KiwiSaver. Another $900 per pay is saved for the next big purchase (a house! A holiday! A new car!).<\/p>\n

I worry about money: Always.<\/p>\n

Three words to describe my financial situation: Control-freak. Recovering. Fortunate.<\/p>\n

My biggest edible indulgence would be: Cheese. Good quality cheese.<\/p>\n

In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: My weakness! $50-100 depending on if I go out and shout a round.<\/p>\n

In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: $35 a week for the bus.<\/p>\n

I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: $500. I op shop, and I buy one good pair of running shoes and one pair of Levi\u2019s a year.<\/p>\n

My most expensive clothing in the past year was: $150 for jacket I don\u2019t even like for a conference where I have to look like a grown-up. It was 50% off so that\u2019s a bonus.<\/p>\n

My last pair of shoes cost: $80. Scored a lovely pair of leather boots from a designer op shop. <\/p>\n

My grooming\/beauty expenditure in a year is about: $100 every two months to get my hair cut. Why does it cost so much when it\u2019s basically a men\u2019s cut? Who knows. But I love to support my awesome hairdresser.<\/p>\n

My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $250-300 for aforementioned running shoes. Cheap gym through work costs about $20 a month.<\/p>\n

My last Friday night cost: $150? I had a bunch of friends over and cooked them dinner. <\/p>\n

Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: None. Filling in this form makes me realise I\u2019m a tightwad when I spend and I never regret the things I do like to spend on \u2013 like friends and going out with them for a pint. <\/p>\n

Most indulgent purchase (that I don\u2019t regret) in the last 12 months was: $80 for a game that will bring me hours and hours of entertainment. Worth it.<\/p>\n

One area where I\u2019m a bit of a tightwad is: Clothes. I hate having to buy smart work clothes when I\u2019d rather buy running gear!<\/p>\n

Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Meticulous after years of messiness. <\/p>\n

I grew up in a house where money was: Valued. Every dollar was carefully spent. No room for extravagances. Times were tight sometimes but my parents were disciplined and frugal. Spending money went on holiday and experiences \u2013 never things. <\/p>\n

The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: When we were students and the flat account never had enough money for laundry powder.<\/p>\n

In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Able to relax a little bit after righting what was once a sinking ship. It took getting to my 30s to start getting on track and building my income and savings. Now I\u2019m trying to catch up.<\/p>\n

I would love to have more money for: Being generous to others.<\/p>\n

Describe your financial low: Getting out of a bad relationship in my late 20s and realising I had a negative net worth. Everyone around me had a house and kids and I felt like I was still living like a student, moving from one flat to the next. Looking back, my life was very precarious then. <\/p>\n

I give money away to: Any queer fundraising thing that I come across. I love Sweat With Pride!! I\u2019ll give to other charities too, but I admit that my wallet opens wider for my own community. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As\u00a0part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a government worker explains…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[492,42,300,43,2935,13087,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-285800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-comments-enabled","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-money","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-society","13":"tag-the-cost-of-being","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}