The cost of being: A ‘poor yet comfortable’ 50-year-old who just paid off their mortgage

As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a community group coordinator explains where they spend and how they save.

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Gender: Female.

Age: 50.

Ethnicity: Pākehā.

Role: Paid community group coordinator, which spills over into innumerable unpaid things which are all fun and important so that’s OK with me! I’m single with no dependents.

Salary/income/assets: $37,000 – supported living allowance plus contract work. Assets: solid little house, big vege garden and massive water tank. Party at mine when the Big One hits…

My living location is: Suburban.

Rent/mortgage per week: Mortgage: $0 🎉🎉🎉 I wanted to be freehold at 50 so I can afford to be old and poor, and I actually did it!

Student loan or other debt payments per week: $100 to repay family and my Savings Pool for loans for the giant water tank.

Typical weekly food costs

Groceries: I have no idea but it’s not much. A lot of my work involves food rescue and making community kai, so I’m always taking food home. I also grow most of my veges, and have excellent fossicking and scrounging skills!

Eating out: Hardly ever. If I do it’ll usually be Asian or Indian cos it’s affordable and delicious.

Takeaways: Once in a while I’ll get fish and chips.

Workday lunches: I don’t work office hours and lunch is often a pretty random affair. I’ll sometimes get something from my awesome local cafe but my coffee habit is extravagant enough.

Cafe coffees/snacks: I drink a ridiculous number of oat lattes and I don’t care! Probably $40+ worth per week. I’m also partial to a blueberry muffin.

Other food costs: My garden is massive but also very cheap to run. Say around $150 annually for organic amendments I can’t fossick and scrounge. I save or trade basically all my seeds. I’ll be spending quite a bit soon to set up a solar pump and irrigation but once that’s in I’m ready for the apocalypse.

Savings: Sounds a bit weird – and obviously yay privilege – but I paid off the house at an uncomfortable-for-me rate so I could afford to be on a low income with skyrocketing rates, home insurance, power, dentists etc etc. With my kind of income and bougie cafe habits there’s not a ton left over to save after all that stuff’s paid.

I worry about money: Rarely.

Three words to describe my financial situation: Poor yet comfortable.

My biggest edible indulgence would be: Does organic, fair trade, living wage coffee count?

In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: $0 – I don’t drink alcohol these days.

In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: I don’t drive. I spend a LOT of time on buses. At least $30 per week, and that’s with the Community Services card discount!

I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: I am not at all interested in clothes. Maybe $200?

My most expensive clothing in the past year was: A Blunt umbrella. Well it’s clothes-adjacent… It is cool, and really does stand up to our Te Awa Kairangi winds!

My last pair of shoes cost: New Balance trainers on sale – $100ish.

My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: I care even less about this than clothes… Maybe $100?

My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $0, unless you count those trainers which I walk around in all day.

My last Friday night cost: $0. Friday nights are hardly ever a going out night for me.

Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: I finally caved and bought some cheap stuff from Temu and it immediately broke. Lesson learned.

Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: All the organic, fair trade, living wage lattes.

One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: I don’t think of myself as a tightwad in any way really – I usually either spend my money on really good stuff, or scrounge/barter/trade, or I’m just not fussed so don’t bother.

Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Scroungy, bougie, pragmatic, competent, complacent.

I grew up in a house where money was: Not really talked about. We didn’t have much but my hippie parents came from comfortable backgrounds, so despite being comparatively broke, like me they had a nice comfy safety net.

The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: Yesterday. Forgot to move money. However did we cope before the apps!

In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Hard to say. I’m disabled so my working capacity is pretty limited. If I’m not working I’ll be really reining in the coffees to keep up with the rates.

I would love to have more money for: So boring but… I’d love to get my windows double glazed.

Describe your financial low: Waaay back in the early 90s I was off doing New Year’s stuff around Nelson and I spent ALL my money on being a teenager at festivals and had no money to catch the ferry home. Then I found a $100 note on the terminal floor, and shouted my mates beers all the way to Wellington. That pretty much sums it up: bad spending, no clue. Good luck, sweet privilege. All is well.

I give money away to: MSF, Fred Hollows Foundation, street folks. Their lives are tough.