Australia Social Work Salary: What a Woman Earns.
Mamami’s What my salary brings me asks Australians to save a week in their financial life. Kind of like a sex diary but with money. So not like a sex diary at all. In this series, we find out what women really spend their hard-earned money on, and nothing is too outrageous or too sacred. This week, a 26-year-old social worker shares her daily financial diary.
Age: 26 years old
Use: Social worker/researcher.
Salary: $75,000.
Lodging: Owner/mortgage payer of a century old clapboard home on a half acre in North West Victoria that I purchased 18 months ago.
I am also newly married and my husband lives with me in my house. We don’t have any children yet but we have three dogs and two cats. My biggest financial achievement was buying my first house, I made a huge sacrifice to do this, i.e. moving seven hours away from my home (Melbourne) to break into the property market regional which was affordable to do as a single person (which I was at the time).
Since moving to the countryside, I’ve met my partner, bought a house (on my own) and put down roots. I recently got married and am approaching the next phases of our life together – planning and saving for a family.
I am happy to report that I am very good at managing my budget and saving money. It’s one of the strengths I bring to my relationship because my husband really sucks at it.
I’ve never understood why women have been given such a bad rap for having an inability to manage money when almost every married woman I talk to (in heterosexual relationships) reports the same thing: they manage money. money because their husbands are frivolous. Where does this idea come from that women are hopeless with money? I would seriously like to know.
My monthly expenses are around $1,289 plus my mortgage of $1,200. I work for a non-profit so I use my fortnightly pay sack to pay my mortgage and the remaining $1600 goes into my main bank account.
I have six different bank accounts, this is how I manage my money, and every fortnight I transfer a lump sum to each of the following accounts.
Splurge/Dating: $100.
Rates and water: $100.
Renovations: $175.
Babe: $100.
Savings: $300.
That usually leaves about $800 in my daily expenses per fortnight account to cover my living expenses.