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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • June 6, 2018

    A couple frustrations with the NZ maternity system so far…

    I should probably preface this by saying: my complaints are fairly minor. They’re pretty First World. But it’s my blog, and I’ll complain if I want to…

    Finding a midwife

    There’s been a lot of news coverage about the shortage of midwives in NZ lately. About how our system functions, how midwives are paid, and what needs to change. (I like The Spinoff’s series on this.)

    And so pretty much the week I peed on a stick and got that positive result, I set about looking for a midwife in a suitable location (ideally close to home, but not too far off my commuting route, etc). At first, the choices seemed overwhelming! So many beaming headshots. And then I started to eliminate the ones who weren’t available in October. The ones who didn’t have birthing arrangements with both hospitals and Birthcare. And then it was about reading their profiles and getting a feel for their style and approach.

    In theory I think they say you should meet with a few, almost like interviewing them, and then make your decision. Yeah, that didn’t happen.

    I narrowed it down to a couple of midwives and fired off emails. No go on the first (she was only available in the first half of the month and I’m due at the end of the month). The second, thankfully, I got a great feeling about. I’d sensed a good vibe from the beginning (I swear) just from seeing her profile online. She responded with enthusiasm and emoji and basically welcoming me with open arms. I wasn’t able to get an appointment with her for a couple of weeks because she was travelling and I was on deadline at work, but she arranged some prescriptions for me and dropped them off in my letterbox, since she lives not far away. And so, I guess I landed myself a midwife before ever meeting her!

    You can change midwives at any time, but luckily I liked her in person as well. I feel good about it and their particular practice seems to have rave reviews from lots of other women.

    That worked out perfectly for me, and let’s face it … I don’t do well when faced with a lot of choices anyway.

    But what if your limited choices of midwives in your area aren’t great? Finding one available for your due date, one whose location works for you, one who you click with…. It’s a real possibility.

    Setting up scans

    Sonographers, man. They’re up there with property managers. Remember all the dramas I used to have trying to get to view rentals during the work day (because rental viewings are only ever held during business hours? Whilst open homes for sale are only ever on weekends?!) It’s like that, all over again.

    T can literally be anywhere in the city (or even beyond it on the outskirts) in any direction at any given time during the work week. He won’t know until the day of where he’ll be going. And so he just can’t commit to any appointments – not even at lunchtime – short of taking a leave day. Obviously, however, we want to save his leave for the birth so he can take time off then.

    I went to the dating scan alone, but we both wanted him to accompany me to subsequent scans. In order for that to happen though, we needed appointments after 4pm. Which I thought would be fine… surely there’d be plenty of slots available  between 4-5pm?

    How wrong I was!

    Clinics may be open to 5, 6, 7 or later – but that only seems to apply to X-rays. If you’re needing an ultrasound, you can only get those done up till around 2-3 at many places, at least the ones in areas that worked for our needs. I respect sonographers’ valuable time but as a patient, this SUCKS. I literally cried at work on the phone trying to book a scan and being unable to get a time that I knew T could make.

    After a lot of frantic emails/calls, I found that Auckland Radiology in Avondale offers evening scans on a Wednesday. That’s now our go-to, and if you need flexibility with your appointments, that’s one place you can definitely try.

     

  • May 30, 2018

    The weirdness that is incubating a croissant (aka baby’s current size)

    Baby's a croissant!

    Baby’s a croissant! By: Neil Conway

    I was so impatient to grow a bump. Wanting something to show for all the stuff going on inside me. Proof, if you like! Validation. It’s part of that whole glowing thing, right?

    And now my body seems almost alien to me. My belly swelled up what seemed quite suddenly in week 13. For someone whose weight and shape doesn’t change, EVER … I’m still getting used to it.

    My work BFF is a couple weeks further along than me and is barely showing at all; although I tend to carry weight in my middle anyway (skinny apple shapes, holler at me) so I guess I’m not surprised that I’ve popped out already.

    It’s strange to feel your body is not quite your own. At the all-important 12 week scan, Spud was wriggling around like nobody’s business. All that movement, happening below the surface, and I had no idea! I’m looking forward to the time when I’ll actually start to feel zir move. At least I think I am, but that’s probably going to take me to a whole new level of wow-what-is-this-body-that-apparently-still-belongs-to-me-but-does-it-really?!

    And of course, it’s just the beginning. Apparently a healthy weight gain for me would be 12-16kg total. If I did put on as much as 16kg, that would be … oh, nearly a third of my normal weight?

    At that scan, I still hadn’t gained any weight yet, but given my new bulge I’m guessing that’s changed in the past few weeks. I don’t own a scale though, so I have no idea how much! My next midwife appointment is in a couple of days, so we’ll see then…

    How did you feel about all the physical changes, if you’ve been through a pregnancy?

  • May 23, 2018

    Pregnancy on the cheap: what it’s cost so far

    People often ask me if I’ve been having any cravings – and the answer is always no!

    Aversions, on the other hand…

    I miss enjoying food; nothing ever sounds appealing 99% of the time but one has to eat nonetheless. These days I’m eating to live vs living to eat, and that’s so not me.

    Cravings aren’t costing me anything, but lemonade’s now a staple on the shopping list every week. It might be a placebo but quite frankly when the delightful pre-bed upset.indigestion sets in (usually peaks between 8-10pm) I don’t care.

    Fortunately, healthcare is mostly free here and my antenatal costs have been minimal. A few bucks here and there for prescriptions, and $50 a pop for scans (beyond the first free dating scan).

    I have health insurance through work, however the (small) obstetrics allowance only kicks in after a year – so would only cover costs in about the last month of pregnancy and beyond. As far as I can tell there should be no charges associated with labour/birth, apart from perhaps the fee they charge for partners to stay overnight with you at Birthcare.

    So far, I’m still fitting into my current bras (this was perfect timing actually, as this lot were all about to hit the end of their life, having stretched out over the past couple of years) and still squeezing into my pants with the help of a handy $20 extender though possibly not for much longer. So far I’ve spent about $25 on new (thrifted) clothing – two pairs of stretchy pants that I live in when I’m at home (surely now down to about 0.01 cents cost per wear) and a flowy skirt with stretchy waistband.

    In terms of baby stuff, we’re yet to actually begin shopping. I’m pretty set on avoiding mindless browsing and only buying the essentials, especially to start off with.

    We definitely seem to be in line for some hand me downs, and I’d like to buy secondhand stuff where possible and safe. From what I can tell, lots of baby stuff just doesn’t get used for long and winds up getting sold online for much less, lightly used. Savings aside, think of all the wastefulness! I’d so much prefer to reuse than to contribute to unnecessary waste.  And yes, I’m thinking about doing some cloth diapering too, but we’ll see how we go…

  • May 16, 2018

    You don’t have to optimise EVERY minute of your life

    you dont have to optimise every minute

     

    First trimester exhaustion is no joke.

    Probably not helping was what I’m pretty sure was a light spell of flu or a terrible cold around the second month thrown in there.

    However much was due to my growing a human vs legit illness, I spent literally weeks out of action beyond making it to work and home again (and not even that, some days). Evenings and weekends, the only place you’d find me was flat on my back in bed. And even now, my (never great) energy levels aren’t what they used to be, so I need even more rest and sleep than normal. On top of that, the occasional dizzy spell likes to come out of  nowhere, relegating me to the nearest seat (or better, bed) to recover.

    I had to get over my guilt about doing nothing pretty quick smart, and embrace marathoning Jane the Virgin.

    A happiness hack

    Separately, I’d already been working for a while on reframing how I think about the nonproductive hours in my week.

    I guess you could even spin it as optimising my time, though maybe not in the traditional way.

    The things is, I hate waiting. Seriously hate it.

    But instead of resenting the commute, I’m starting to enjoy it (maybe even look forward to it sometimes) as it’s often the only time I can carve out to decompress and meditate.

    And now that the days are getting shorter and it’s dark earlier, I’m switching it up. Normally I bus to the train station in the morning, and walk home from the train in the evening; these days I’m walking in the morning (bonus: it warms me up for the day, gets the blood flowing on wintry mornings!) and bus back from the station home.

    The same with walking the dogs. It’s gotta be done. Sometimes it can be doubled up as a run for me, but not every walk can be a run – and these days I’m just not up for running at all, to be honest. Some walks need to be training walks, and some need to be relaxing sniffy walks where they can just be dogs – walks when I can let my mind roam free and work on visualisations and mantras.

    Rather than impatiently waiting for these ‘unproductive’ times to end, I’m trying to use them in better ways. Repurposing them from hours to be endured with the help of Spotify and podcasts, to precious flow and meditation time.

     

     

     

  • May 9, 2018

    Time to throw money at a few things…

    Cute house with charming front door

    The time has come: we may be facing our first significant piece of house maintenance/repair!

    Our dining room/sunroom is an extension on the original house, and it looks like the roof on this part will need replacing, which really sucks. A small leak sprung the other day (we’ve had a crapton of rain and a few storms), which we’ve solved for now but probably not for the long term.

    I’ve also mentioned before how one side of our fence is chain link and falling apart; looks like this year is the year and it’s getting more urgent as lately we’ve caught one of the dogs sneaking over to the neighbour to play with their dog (which they’re not actually allowed to have, but that’s a whole separate issue…). We’ve been saving for this but doesn’t mean I like it  😛

    Other stuff on the radar:

    • There’s an annoying dip in the driveway that fills up anytime it rains (so it’s a permanent puddle in winter) – again something we’ve been putting off tackling
    • The baby room. It’s pink. Barbie pink on every wall. That’s gonna have to change, no debate!

    Expenses aside, I love our house and life and wouldn’t change a thing! We wouldn’t be able to have these two silly dogs otherwise and I wouldn’t feel secure in having a stable place to raise this little spud-to-be.

  • April 30, 2018

    Big news: life’s about to change (and there’s no going back)

    Baby fever/biological clock, whatever you want to call it, hit me hard in the past couple of years. It just crept up.

    But I have always been acutely aware of the pressure that being the breadwinner places on me. What if health issues meant I had to stop work early? What if I went into labour prematurely (as happened to a coworker at my last job, whose waters broke at the office weeks early)? or what if my own, or the kid’s health, stopped me returning to work as planned?

    I’m really lucky to currently have an employer that provides good benefits, including paid parental leave over and above the (pretty pathetic) legal requirements. I won’t lie, this was a big draw for me. Which brings me to my point…

    I’m growing a human!

    Terrifying, but exciting.

    Which means … I’ve survived the first trimester, and you’ll get to hear all about my experiences with the maternity system, gripes about gender and societal stuff, and the financial side too. I Have Thoughts. And I will be sharing them.

    But for now, all I have to say is: carbs are life. The aversions and appetite changes/ups and downs are no joke. I’m living for super plain food (cereal/toast etc) … or curry (what can I say, Malaysian/Indian is my comfort food). And lemonade – so much lemonade.

     

  • April 24, 2018

    10 years of blogging

    10 years. A decade. A third of my life. That’s how long this little piece of the internet has been around.

    I started my blog on a whim late in 2008. I remember it was a slow day at my part time job. I’d gotten into reading the MSN Money boards and blogs like Fabulously Broke (now Save Spend Splurge) and A Gai Shan Life. Writing was my jam, plus I hadn’t had a website since my S Club 7 fangirl days). And so this was born. Aside from this, when blogging you will encourage a lot of different text formats to work on, I suggest using sodapdf for easy conversion.

    In that time, I’ve racked up

    • 7 places of residence
    • 5 full time jobs
    • 1 graduation
    • 1 wedding
    • 1 epic extended round the world trip and several other smaller trips (21 countries total)
    • 1 mortgage

    And a couple of dogs, chickens, half a dozen concerts, and so many meaningful connections with other bloggers.

    In retrospect … I can’t complain at all!

    The career side of things has gone pretty well, balanced out with heaps of fun along the way with travel, gigs, friends etc.

    And there’s been a shit ton of stress. Growth is painful. I’ve learned a hell of a lot about myself and gotten wiser. Maybe I’m a late bloomer (actually, definitely) but I feel like I’m really only starting to come into my own and hit my stride.

    Regrets … I’ve only got two really and they are

    a) withdrawing into myself too much (it’s great to open up to others)

    b) giving too much (it’s imperative to be a little bit selfish in life)

    There’s a lot to look back on and be proud of. On reflection, we’ve come a long way since age 20 and I actually feel quite at peace coming up to 30.

    One thing I really wanted to do was take the opportunity to look back on the bigger financial picture. With all the income ups and downs, and all the major, typical milestones of this decade, what would that look like?

    The answer – not quite as bumpy as I imagined, with having one steady and growing income smoothing out/disguising some of the drops. This graph shows roughly how our household income has ebbed and flowed, with a bit more detail in the year-by-year play-by-play below.

    10 years of income

     

    2008

    I was studying full time and working part time; T was working full time but in the last quarter of the year, was being constantly sent home because there was no work to do. I was the head tenant in a crappy flat (the best rental that we could get, and still had to fight hard for), getting screwed over as the only responsible one.

    On the plus side, I was doing well at uni and enjoying my papers, and managed to get full-time hours over the summer and do work with a different part of the business!

    2009

    Layoffs were officially announced at T’s company, and they eventually went under. He had to fight crazy to hard to get any unemployment money, because of NZ’s stupid rules (if you have a partner earning basically anything, tough shit). Between my student allowance and part-time job, I had to carry the burden for several months. He also spent part of the year studying – #studentcouplelife.

    My last year of uni was super busy and super stressful, but I loved journalism and knew I made the right choice. My amazing friends and T banded together and threw me a surprise 21st – a full day of shopping, pampering and dinner. It meant so much, and I needed it so sorely. It’s quite possibly the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.

    The flat continued to be a nightmare, compounded by a burglary. We eventually moved out, to a place where I was NOT the leaseholder and T handled the entire move for the sake of my sanity.

    I graduated! At last. I segued into FT work at the PT job, signed up for KiwiSaver, and travelled to the Coromandel, and Whatuwhiwhi up north.

    2010

    We started off the New Year with a hotel staycation in the city. I went snorkelling for the first time, started running, expanded my veggie palate, and went to my first concerts in the space of just a few weeks (Paramore and Metallica). We took a quick trip to Waiheke Island and I started thinking about international travel.

    We moved to a nicer, more central suburb – it was a tiny place but we got to live by ourselves and it was warm and dry.

    T finally got a FT job in the second half of the year, and I transitioned into a new role that had me working Wed-Sun (which was a bit sucky but gave me great experience and under the union’s collective pay agreement, basically upped my income about 40% effectively). I also hustled hard and earned just over $5k on the side through writing, tutoring/editing, and mystery shopping, which helped me hit the $10k in savings mark.

    I read The Secret (super cringe) but it inspired me to give positivity and gratitude a go. I liked it, and kept doing it!

    2011

    Both gainfully employed! We went to the Homegrown music festival and got engaged.

    I got a new job – taking a slight pay cut for normal hours. And professionally, I got to diversify my experience and develop my writing skills further.

    I went to Rarotonga for my birthday,  moved house to a bigger place just a 20-minute walk from work, ran a 10k and read 81 books.

    2012

    An eventful one! We saw in New Year’s in the Coromandel. I embarked on a year of no shopping.

    Workwise, this was a pretty epic year – I got to attend cool conferences like TedX and SemiPermanent, free tickets to Coldplay, go for a daytime sail, and write my first cover story.

    Also through work, I got to travel to Sydney (spending my birthday in Australia) and Queenstown, and got a taste for solo travel.

    We did a South Island campervan trip – the best way to road trip!

    There was also wedding planning, and honeymoon planning. I ramped up the side hustling hard toward the end of the year in anticipation of both.

    I was getting serious wanderlust and once I learned more about round the world travel, volunteering, slow travel etc online, I was intrigued. Eventually I figured out that we could juuuust about pull off a six-month RTW trip. This was my first real experience with setting intention and letting things flow. And what do you know, financially, it all worked out practically to the dollar.

    This was also the year I moved to self hosting and started making regular money off the blog.

    2013

    Yet more wedding planning, travel planning, and hustling.

    What can I say? Travelling was the experience of a lifetime. These were probably my top individual moments, but here are some more highlights:

    In Asia, we swam through caves, got scammed, rushed to the ER and got up close with a wild monkey.

    In Europe, we got a taste of farm life, watched people river surfing, had an amazing cultural exchange, fell in love with Santorini , and found a spirit home in Iceland.

    In North America, we road tripped through the US with a quick detour into Canada, falling in love with the desert landscapes, Mexican food, and met so many wonderful online friends (thank you!)

    Then settled back in at home and adjusted to normal life pretty easily.

    2014

    We travelled to Queensland and snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef! I travelled to the South Island for work and took the TranzAlpine, and took a waka tour up north on another work trip.

    T went through two toxic jobs and spent the majority of the year job hunting, picking up a bit of random work here and there.

    I landed a new job, outside of journalism, with a pretty significant pay rise (and upped my KiwiSaver contributions to 8%, which wound up helping a lot when I bought my house 2 years later).

    After a few pretty scary issues/incidents with the car, we waved goodbye to it and bought a newer, infinitely more reliable one.

    I spent a lot of the year in a bit of a depression – it was a bit of a tough one.

    2015

    We hiked the Tongariro Crossing and the Pinnacles, and visited the Blue Spring. Plus, we visited Japan!

    And we had to move out of our flat and find a new one #rentingsucks. We wound up moving into a flat with other people, luckily the house was huge, and nice, and we had the bottom floor to ourselves, largely self contained.

    I went to the Webstock conference, got a new job, and negotiated salary for the first time; T landed a long term casual work assignment which he really liked, but which ended suddenly halfway through the year.

    We separated at the end of the year and I went to stay with my parents, paid off the car and got mortgage preapproval.

    2016

    We reconciled and I had a shitload of inner healing to do, and emotional scars to heal.

    I bought a house (!!!) and paid an extra $3k to principal #yayforequity. We settled into a rhythm of largely separate finances. This was a full year of dual incomes, the first in quite a while.

    I asked for a raise and got it, and dealt with debt collectors for the first time ever (a ridiculous mistake that took way too long to sort out).

    We got a dog, and later a second, as well as two chickens – and put in roof insulation.

    2017

    This was definitely a year of personal development, continuing on from last year – taking mindfulness and visualisation seriously.

    I started an email newsletter to share some things a little more privately, and dabbled in drop shipping and email courses.

    It was also time to move on to a new job, where I made sure to negotiate for more; I also joined a local nonprofit board.

    We attended two weddings, welcomed two babies in our friend circle, visited Mt Maunganui and played on a Frisbee social team.

    What’s next?

    This year we’ve done our big kitchen renovation, and there’s something else I’m working on in the background, hence the lack of updates!

  • April 3, 2018

    The latte factor in reverse: the power of automating money

    What is 'real' savings anyway?

    This year has been a SPENDY one.

    I’d been saving for the kitchen renovation for a long time, but it still stings a bit to fork over all that cash, you know? Even in dribs and drabs (particularly as our cabinetmakers don’t take credit cards – so many unearned points there…)

    But even through all that, coming out the other end, I’ve been reminded of the power of automated savings.

    Thanks to automation, the extra I’ve built up that I would typically put toward extra mortgage principal, I’ve been able to direct toward the kitchen overage.

    The $100 I invest every month (on top of my retirement contributions) is slowly growing.

    And the extra superannuation my company contributes is also adding up rapidly – it’s an awesome benefit I can’t rave enough about.

    Whether it’s $50 a week, a $100 a month … if done consistently, it all adds up – $2600 a year, $1200 a year, and when you’re not looking at those accounts very often, it’s a nice surprise when you do check in.

    It’s almost like flipping the latte factor (which you all know, as a non-coffee drinker, I freaking hate) on its head – these little amounts might not feel like they’re worth anything, but over time it’s a different story.

  • March 27, 2018

    Life updates: hello from the other side

    It’s been too long! Where have I been?

    Redoing the kitchen

    Well, the big thing has been our renovation. The old, peeling, gross cabinets are gone, along with the annoying chipped tile benchtops and loose laminate floor. In: new everything including gas cooker, rangehood, splashback, insinkerator and a dishwasher, cabinetry and polished floors.

    (Life is SO much better with the dishwasher and our glasses get so much cleaner; we’ve lived in a couple places with a dishwasher in the past and honestly this is a relationship saver.)

    The optimistic hope for our kitchen reno was $10k (yeah, very optimistic given it was a total gut), with the end result being more in line with our begrudging realistic budget of $15k. And by the time we tidy up the last few odds and ends (skip bin hire, some paint, a bit of touch up tiling, that kind of thing) that’ll have crept a little closer towards $20k.

    On the plus side, we also saved an absolute shit ton of money. Thanks to T’s work we saved over $3,000 alone on appliances and the like, and probably even more on other various fittings and doohickeys. He found and negotiated a crazy good price with a sparky, did all the demo and ripping things out, and roped in a couple of generous friends to help with doing the floor and gibbing/plastering.

     

    A look inside our old cabinets

    old cabinets behind the doors

     

    The new view

    new kitchen view

     

    Farewelling a pet

    I knew this would eventually happen. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. One of our hens, Helen, had to be put down. She was very sick (initially we thought she was just eggbound, and I spent a couple evenings gently bathing her with Epsom salts and trying to nurse her). But it was more than that. (Poor T, who had to make that traumatic choice at the vets.)

    She had been bullying our other chicken, Betty, in the weeks prior and we’d separated them a couple of times hoping that would help. Maybe it was karma. But nonetheless, we’re terribly sad to have lost her.

    Of course, we had to find another companion for Betty (and they seem to be getting along great) but I’ll never forget Helen.

     

    Lying in bed

    Two words: the flu.

     

    So that’s me and my life in a nutshell lately. What’s new with you?

     

  • March 8, 2018

    Selfish is not a swear word. Embrace it! #WomenRockMoney

    Selfish is not a dirty word. Look out for your finances first!

    Being selfless is good. Selfish is a dirty word. Right?!

    Nay, my friends. On the contrary. Learning to be selfish is the single best thing you can do for your finances. (And life in general.) If there’s one thing I’ve learned over and over in my 20s, it is the importance of putting myself squarely first.

    It is the key to making more money, to hanging on to your money, and that is what will enable you to build the life you want – and ultimately, give back consciously and deliberately in ways that are meaningful for you.

    It’s particularly important for women, I think. We tend to struggle more with self-confidence, imposter syndrome and negotiating; bad relationships tend to be more financially devastating for us. And that is where selfishness comes into play.

    Here are my best tips for stepping up your game, based off my personal experiences and observations of others around me.

    Be an advocate for yourself

    Let’s face it, nobody else will. No one else will put your best financial interests first. Your employer does not exist to help you make money. It’s up to you to learn to track your accomplishments, trot them out, and use that to ask for raises or negotiate higher salaries. Those who don’t ask, don’t get.

    (Well, generally. Some will do the right thing – when I applied for my first non-journalism job, I secretly wanted to make $60k but I couldn’t, deep down, fathom anyone paying me that much. It just seemed outrageous. So on the application form, I wrote $58k in the desired salary field. They offered me $65k – a full 12% more. But it would be a mistake to count on any employer ever doing that again!)

    Listen to your mentors

    Okay, so maybe you need an external nudge? Hopefully, you have senior people to give you a reality check! Take their advice. 

    One told me to ask for a raise. I didn’t. I was planning to go travelling soon, which would either mean taking extended leave or resigning, and it seemed like bad faith to ask for more money right before that. Plus, I had terrible imposter syndrome and suspected I was overpaid. Ugh.

    Another told me to quote high on some freelance work. I took that on board, and as a result, for the first time ever, charged $50 an hour. A preposterous sum of money to me, probably a fair professional rate in their view.

    Do not give too much away

    You work hard for the money. Don’t let it trickle away with lax boundaries.

    I’m talking about giving too much to the people closest to you. You might feel obligated to help them out with money, or they might actually outright pressure you into it.

    Don’t do it. You must put your own financial security first. That has to be your top priority. You will know when you can afford to be generous, and in most cases, this is not that time.

    Get over your mental blocks

    Easier said than done, I know.

    There are so many messy messages wrapped up with money. You might think making money means selling out. There’s nobility in being a struggling artist. Rich people are assholes. Liking money makes you greedy or a bad person somehow.

    If you stop to really reflect on your most deep-rooted perceptions around money, and wheel them out for inspection in broad daylight, you start to realise how unfounded and illogical many of them are.

    There is nothing wrong with earning or enjoying money. Sure, if you were a tosser before, you’ll still be a tosser – having money won’t change that. But if you’re a decent human being, having money won’t change that either. If you’re starting from a reasonable baseline, then you’re good. You’ll still be you. Promise.

    And selfishly? If you’re anything like me, you have dreams and those dreams ain’t free.

    I’m a frugal person naturally. It’s my default mode.

    But you know what I hate? Being constrained financially. Being FORCED into frugality, into cutting costs and pinching pennies. I never want to be limited by money. Particularly as we live in a capitalist society, where inflation ensures life only gets more (not less) expensive.

    There’s no use feeling guilty about your financial situation, either. So lots of people do much harder jobs for lower pay; so some people struggle. The answer does not lie with you. If you were to earn less, this would not magically level the field for everyone. You having more does not mean someone else automatically has less. Your success does not take anything away from others. If anything, you could argue it’s your responsibility to reach your maximum earning potential so that you can use that money to give back.

    Go get it.


    After more inspiration? Head over here this International Women’s Day and have a read of all the other awesome #WomenRockMoney content.

     

     

     

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