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MONEY DIARIES: Hope After Homelessness · She's On The Money

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Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
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Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
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Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
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Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
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Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
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Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
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Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
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Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
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Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
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Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
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Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
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Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
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Speaker 2: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
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Speaker 2: one of our money daries where we get to talk
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Speaker 2: to one of our incredible She's on the Money community members.
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Speaker 2: All about our journey Now this week, I do want
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Speaker 2: to give you guys a little content warning before we
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Speaker 2: get started. This episode talks about mental health concerns including
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Speaker 2: BPD and PTSD, and we also talk about addiction. So
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Speaker 2: let's jump straight into it. We got a message this
1:26
Speaker 2: week and it went a little bit like this dear,
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Speaker 2: she's on the money. I was homeless at seventeen and
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Speaker 2: navigated that system for over a year before getting into
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Speaker 2: a more secure position, only to move back in with
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Speaker 2: my dad and then need to leave again. After things
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Speaker 2: got incredibly tough, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder
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Speaker 2: PTSD and IBS, and this helped me to start turning
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Speaker 2: a corner. I'm now the most stable I have ever been,
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Speaker 2: and I'm receiving NDIS support. I've been working on a
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Speaker 2: budget with my occupational therapist. I finally have savings and
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Speaker 2: even have an emergency fund for my CA money. Diarist,
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Speaker 2: welcome to the show. How exciting.
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Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me guys, it's an
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Speaker 4: absolute privilege.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, no, it's a privilege to have you on.
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Speaker 2: I am so excited to learn a bit more about you.
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Speaker 2: That sounds like a journey. So do we want to
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Speaker 2: just start at the start with first things first? If
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Speaker 2: I asked you to give yourself a grade, what would
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Speaker 2: you grade your money habits from A through to F.
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Speaker 4: I thought about this a lot. I probably say I
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Speaker 4: give myself a C. I feel like I'm pretty average,
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Speaker 4: but do try my.
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Speaker 2: Best all right, let's learn a little bit more about it,
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Speaker 2: my friend, can you tell us a little bit about
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Speaker 2: your money story.
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Speaker 4: I guess I'll kind of start from the start from seventeen.
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Speaker 4: I mean, I kind of always grew up with very
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Speaker 4: little money, and my mom is a single mom. I
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Speaker 4: did have my dad in my life for a little bit,
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Speaker 4: but he wasn't financially contributing at all. It was just
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Speaker 4: my mother's income, and her income was the disability support
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Speaker 4: pension and we lived in housing commission and it was
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Speaker 4: very tough growing up. Money was always kind of a
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Speaker 4: thing we didn't speak about, and if it was spoken about,
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Speaker 4: it was usually out of frustration on my mom's part,
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Speaker 4: the stress that she was going through trying to manage
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Speaker 4: myself and I also have two siblings, so money was
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Speaker 4: very tight, and it was kind of something we didn't
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Speaker 4: ask for. So even if I needed it for my Mikey,
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Speaker 4: for example, to get to school, it was just not
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Speaker 4: something I asked for. I was just fair of vague
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Speaker 4: because it was just better to do that and it
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Speaker 4: was just less stress in the home. And then things
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Speaker 4: continued that way as I got older, and it was
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Speaker 4: when I hit seventeen that I was pretty much just
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Speaker 4: couldn't cope with the family life anymore, and the home
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Speaker 4: life was getting really bad, and I had spoken to
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Speaker 4: a couple of support workers at the time and they
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Speaker 4: encouraged me to move out and to try and find
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Speaker 4: some independence and a safer environment. My family home life
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Speaker 4: was heavily affected by drugs at the time, and my
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Speaker 4: mom was getting a lot worse with her own mental health.
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Speaker 4: So that was and I decided to take the leap
4:01
Speaker 4: and move out. I managed to find some amazing connections
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Speaker 4: through a couple youth organizations. They were really good and
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Speaker 4: got me into a refuge and that was in Burwood,
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Speaker 4: which was quite nice. So it was a nice little refuge.
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Speaker 4: It wasn't far from where I was used to and
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Speaker 4: I spent maybe six weeks there before getting into some
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Speaker 4: commission housing myself and I moved in with another person
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Speaker 4: at risk at the time, and that was quite good
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Speaker 4: and I kind of fell on my feet a little
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Speaker 4: bit more. And it was kind of around this time
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Speaker 4: that things started to feel a little bit better. But
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Speaker 4: then something quite wasn't right. I started to feel like
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Speaker 4: really negative all the time, My emotions were fluctuating. Things
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Speaker 4: were too overwhelming I was trying to juggle a diploma
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Speaker 4: at the time while also trying to juggle finding accommodation
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Speaker 4: while also juggling the way I was feeling. And I
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Speaker 4: reached out and got some support, which was the best
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Speaker 4: thing I did. I said to my GP, I just
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Speaker 4: don't know what's going on, and I need someone to
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Speaker 4: talk to, and she pointed me into the direction of
5:01
Speaker 4: a psychiatrist who could do a diagnosis. And that was
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Speaker 4: when I saw that psychiatrist and the diagnosis was given
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Speaker 4: to me, which was actually borderline personality disorder. It does
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Speaker 4: get confused with bipolar disorder quite a lot. It is
5:15
Speaker 4: similar in a way, but a little bit different. And
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Speaker 4: I also got diagnosed with CPDSD at the time and
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Speaker 4: I've just been since that diagnosis working through getting different
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Speaker 4: therapies and finding what's worked for me. And unfortunately I
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Speaker 4: did have to leave my diploma and differ from the
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Speaker 4: study at the time, it all got too much, and
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Speaker 4: that's when I was also going through the process of
5:37
Speaker 4: being diagnosed with IBS. The IBS presented as just like
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Speaker 4: vomiting every single day and going to the bathroom too frequently,
5:45
Speaker 4: which made it hard to diagnose because they couldn't really
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Speaker 4: do a test and figure out what it was. It
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Speaker 4: was just going to the hospital every couple weeks and
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Speaker 4: different routine tests, different blood tests, different scans to try
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Speaker 4: and figure out what was happening. I got to a
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Speaker 4: really low weight, thirty nine kilos was the lowest I
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Speaker 4: got to. And then that was when my GP said
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Speaker 4: I had to either stop my studies, pull the plug,
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Speaker 4: and just focus entirely on my recovery or I was
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Speaker 4: going to end up in hospital. And I decided I
6:15
Speaker 4: was going to just stop because I couldn't cope. And then, yeah,
6:18
Speaker 4: that was that, and I got pretty much told I
6:21
Speaker 4: had to leave my studies. And that was when I
6:23
Speaker 4: just decided to fully recover and put all my energy
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Speaker 4: and all my capacity into just focusing on myself. And
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Speaker 4: that's when I reached out for that NBIS funding to
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Speaker 4: help me get some more therapy.
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Speaker 2: Oh, I'm so glad you did that. I'm so glad
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Speaker 2: you did that. I've heard that INDIS funding is really
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Speaker 2: hard to secure. Did you find that a challenging process?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, that took about a year in itself, and that
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Speaker 4: was with support as well. That's with someone helping me
6:50
Speaker 4: the entire process, helping me write reports, helping me, you know,
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Speaker 4: tell my therapists that I already had in place, what
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Speaker 4: reports to write, what language to use because they are
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Speaker 4: very particul and the language they need. And I was
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Speaker 4: still knocked back once because my condition had only been
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Speaker 4: diagnosed at seventeen, so they didn't believe the permanency of it.
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Speaker 4: But we obviously provided more evidence and that was put
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Speaker 4: through when everything was okay. But I am very lucky
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Speaker 4: to be approved because it is really hard and it
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Speaker 4: did take a long time.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's crazy. It breaks my heart that it takes
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Speaker 2: so long to get approved. What did you do in
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Speaker 2: that twelve months while you were, you know, struggling to
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Speaker 2: get on support, because being unsupported when you're going through
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Speaker 2: situations where you have BPD and you have PTSD and
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Speaker 2: IBS is debilitating. Like how are you surviving, my friend?
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Speaker 4: Not well? I kind of just like my strong point
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Speaker 4: is resourcefulness. I just tried to utilize everything that I
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Speaker 4: could and I don't have family support, so I just
7:50
Speaker 4: have my little brother, so he has been a big
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Speaker 4: part of my journey and always someone I can rely on.
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Speaker 4: And I relied on my doctor my GP a lot
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Speaker 4: She's absolutely incredible, and I relied quite heavily on my
8:03
Speaker 4: psychologist that I was able to see with the Medicare sessions,
8:06
Speaker 4: so that was still something I could access at the time,
8:09
Speaker 4: which made the absolute word of difference, even if it
8:11
Speaker 4: wasn't for you know, every week. It was only once
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Speaker 4: a month that I could do because of the limit
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Speaker 4: of sessions, but it was still something. And Lifeline was great.
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Speaker 4: All those kind of little services that you can use
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Speaker 4: and utilize, and you definitely shouldn't feel any shame utilizing
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Speaker 4: them because that's what they're there for and they are
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Speaker 4: really great.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. Oh my gosh. So the next
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Speaker 2: question is what do you do for work and how
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Speaker 2: much money do you earn? We know you have the
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Speaker 2: NDIS supporting you. From my understanding, you've got senseling, but
8:41
Speaker 2: you do a few things on the side as well.
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Speaker 2: What's that.
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Speaker 4: Well, I'm unemployed, but I do volunteer for a shelter,
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Speaker 4: and that shelter I work with the cats, so I
8:49
Speaker 4: have three cats at home myself, and I am a
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Speaker 4: massive animal.
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Speaker 2: Lover and friend.
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Speaker 5: Same.
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Speaker 4: Yes, I've heard much about your babites.
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Speaker 2: It's all I talk about. It is literally all I
8:59
Speaker 2: talk about.
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Speaker 4: It is my first point of conversation. If I meet someone,
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Speaker 4: I'm like, you got pets.
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Speaker 2: I get especially excited when I hear they have cats,
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Speaker 2: because I'm like, oh, we're both cat people. Are nice? Nice,
9:08
Speaker 2: we must be good people.
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Speaker 4: Yes, everyone's pretty solid. Who loves cats? Yeah?
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Speaker 2: Exactly. It frustrates me when they're like, oh, I don't
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Speaker 2: really like cats. I'm like, you've never met a good cat?
9:17
Speaker 4: Then?
9:17
Speaker 2: Full stop, end of story.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, no argument, Like, absolutely not you If you're not
9:22
Speaker 4: a cat person, you haven't had your own cat.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you just have made a good one. So meet
9:26
Speaker 2: mine and you will love them.
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Speaker 4: I definitely agree. And other than that, I do dog
9:32
Speaker 4: walking sometimes my OT helps set that up, so I'm
9:35
Speaker 4: hoping to continue doing that as I go into my
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Speaker 4: bachelor's degree, which I was just accepted for. Congratulations, that's
9:42
Speaker 4: so exciting. I'm like just over the moon, to say
9:47
Speaker 4: the least. This is what I've been working towards, and
9:49
Speaker 4: my focus is going to be pretty much entirely on
9:52
Speaker 4: that and my supports and hopefully are continuing to grow
9:56
Speaker 4: and see where it takes me.
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Speaker 2: I'm obsessed, what are you going to be?
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Speaker 4: My bachelor of Health Science, So I'm going to be
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Speaker 4: majoring in disability and Inclusion and psychology for Allied Health.
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Speaker 2: Beautiful. You couldn't be a better person to be doing that.
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Speaker 2: That industry absolutely needs you. I'm so excited for you
10:13
Speaker 2: to do that. You mentioned before that you are working
10:16
Speaker 2: through or you were working through your budget with your
10:19
Speaker 2: occupational therapist. What is currently your big money goal? What
10:22
Speaker 2: are you working towards?
10:23
Speaker 4: My big money goal would be to go on a holiday.
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Speaker 4: I have never been on a plane, so that is
10:27
Speaker 4: something that I would like to do, and Bali is
10:30
Speaker 4: my big destination. So I've been working through some small
10:33
Speaker 4: goals with my OT and you're working towards staying from
10:36
Speaker 4: the home for a few days, and I'll eventually build
10:39
Speaker 4: up to being comfortable from being away from my cats
10:41
Speaker 4: for a week while I go away. And working towards
10:44
Speaker 4: that savings goal has been really good. But another one
10:47
Speaker 4: of my big savings goals is just having money for
10:49
Speaker 4: myself and my cats that if anything goes wrong, I
10:52
Speaker 4: can be there and I can provide that. And it's
10:55
Speaker 4: already proved to be beneficial to me. My cat Nala
10:59
Speaker 4: actually needed to have tail partially amputated which was completely
11:03
Speaker 4: out of nowhere, and she was okay, she wasn't in
11:05
Speaker 4: any pain, but they noticed it when she went for
11:08
Speaker 4: her teeth cleaning. I said, there was a little scab
11:10
Speaker 4: on her tail. Do you guys just mind shaving it
11:12
Speaker 4: while she's under having a little look? And then yeah,
11:16
Speaker 4: when they had a look, there was a little bit
11:17
Speaker 4: of bone exposed on the end. Yeah, and she needed
11:20
Speaker 4: that amputated. So that's been amputated. But I didn't have
11:23
Speaker 4: to stress when they called me. I was like, oh
11:25
Speaker 4: my baby. It wasn't all money. Yeah, it was oh
11:28
Speaker 4: my baby. But then I could still cover that there
11:30
Speaker 4: was no question about her treatment.
11:32
Speaker 2: How empowering is that because that is such a stressful thing,
11:35
Speaker 2: Like the VET is so expensive. I remember being in
11:39
Speaker 2: university and I had my cat, Bailey for the first time,
11:43
Speaker 2: and Bailey was already a massive financial undertaking. I think
11:46
Speaker 2: I've spoken about it on the podcast before. I think
11:48
Speaker 2: I had like maybe three hundred dollars in my account
11:51
Speaker 2: or just under and Bailey was a rescue and the
11:54
Speaker 2: rescue cost was two hundred and fifty dollars. And I
11:56
Speaker 2: still did it because I was like, I really need him,
11:59
Speaker 2: I really want you know this support. And I think
12:01
Speaker 2: that one thing people don't understand is that if you
12:04
Speaker 2: have mental health issues, pets are therapy in a way
12:08
Speaker 2: and they can be so powerful. And I just knew
12:11
Speaker 2: that I needed him, so I got him, and knowing
12:14
Speaker 2: that I had vet bills coming up, knowing that I
12:16
Speaker 2: had to pay for these things, and I didn't realize
12:18
Speaker 2: how expensive teeth cleaning for an animal was, Like I
12:21
Speaker 2: just it blew my mind. So it's one of those
12:24
Speaker 2: things that you don't realize but is also for me
12:27
Speaker 2: a mental health cost because I was like, well, I'm
12:29
Speaker 2: not going to not have my cat. He is my
12:31
Speaker 2: saving grace and I'm sure that's absolutely the same thing
12:33
Speaker 2: for you. So to just feel empowered around vet bills
12:37
Speaker 2: as well, it's just it's crazy to think how much
12:39
Speaker 2: they add up and so quickly, and obviously you're not
12:41
Speaker 2: going to look after them. But also the idea that
12:44
Speaker 2: you were able to go, oh, my baby, instead of oh,
12:46
Speaker 2: how am I going to afford this? Is just it
12:48
Speaker 2: makes my heart so happy to know that you're in
12:51
Speaker 2: that position, because regardless of what financial position you're in,
12:55
Speaker 2: knowing you have a bit of a buffer, a bit
12:56
Speaker 2: of an emergency fund to when unexpected things pop up
13:00
Speaker 2: can be absolutely life changing.
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Speaker 4: One hundred percent. And that's what Nala was for me.
13:04
Speaker 4: I got her when I was seventeen, so she was
13:07
Speaker 4: my absolute little angel, my saving grace all throughout everything
13:11
Speaker 4: that happened through Commission Housing, and I couldn't be withouts.
13:14
Speaker 4: So she's definitely worth it.
13:16
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
13:17
Speaker 1: All right.
13:18
Speaker 2: Next question I've got is do you invest? If so
13:21
Speaker 2: what in?
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Speaker 4: No? Currently not. Unfortunately, I do have one hundred and
13:25
Speaker 4: forty dollars in a bank account that I've labeled investment funds.
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Speaker 2: Oh exciting. She's got plans, so.
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Speaker 4: I've got plans. I've bought the investing book so I'm
13:33
Speaker 4: going to read it as well, and I've spoken to
13:36
Speaker 4: my support worker who said she's going to help me
13:38
Speaker 4: set up my super and I can make my own
13:40
Speaker 4: contributions to the super myself because there's nothing going in
13:44
Speaker 4: so I want to make my own contribution. Yeah.
13:46
Speaker 2: That's so smart, and it's one of those things that
13:49
Speaker 2: can make you feel even more financially secure. And I
13:52
Speaker 2: think a lot of people who currently aren't employed do
13:55
Speaker 2: forget to care about and obviously, in your circumstance, it
13:58
Speaker 2: might be a while before you fully employed and do
14:01
Speaker 2: earn super so you can put yourself ahead by considering that,
14:05
Speaker 2: and even just small amounts so for a long period
14:08
Speaker 2: of time can really add up but also make you
14:10
Speaker 2: just feel so much more secure, make you feel like
14:13
Speaker 2: you're building towards a secure financial future. And it's just
14:16
Speaker 2: there's something so powerful about that, even if it's just
14:20
Speaker 2: small amounts over that long period of time exactly.
14:23
Speaker 4: And that's what motivated me to look into it was
14:25
Speaker 4: hearing you talk about, like, you know, from small things,
14:28
Speaker 4: big things grow, and I just had a thought, like,
14:31
Speaker 4: you know, why can't I just put you know, twenty
14:33
Speaker 4: dollars a fortnite, fifty dollars a fortnite, just towards that
14:37
Speaker 4: and see it slowly grow and have that to look
14:39
Speaker 4: at as well and know that that's there for me.
14:42
Speaker 4: Even though I haven't been working and contributing, I'm still
14:44
Speaker 4: making my path.
14:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my gosh, you have the best mindset around
14:48
Speaker 2: this ever. I'm obsessed. All right, let's put a break
14:52
Speaker 2: on this for a hot second. We'll head to a
14:54
Speaker 2: break and when we come back, we'll dive right in.
15:01
Speaker 2: All right, money Diarist, We are back, and I can't
15:04
Speaker 2: wait to dive back into this conversation. The next question
15:07
Speaker 2: I want to know is do you currently have any debts,
15:09
Speaker 2: If so, what are they.
15:10
Speaker 4: Yes, I do have my debt from when I did
15:13
Speaker 4: my diploma and didn't complete it. But I did get
15:16
Speaker 4: one credit point for that for my bachelor so it
15:19
Speaker 4: thing so money win. Before it was just a debt,
15:22
Speaker 4: Now it's I actually got a credit point for it.
15:24
Speaker 4: So not a money lost our.
15:26
Speaker 2: Money or not the biggest money lost yet the money
15:29
Speaker 2: loss university can add up. I know that for sure.
15:33
Speaker 2: Like it is crazy.
15:34
Speaker 4: So I think it's about eight grand that's in there.
15:37
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, that's all right, That is okay. That
15:40
Speaker 2: is debt that is contributing towards your super financially secure future,
15:44
Speaker 2: which I'm really excited about. I want to know obviously
15:47
Speaker 2: you're getting good at budgeting, You've started to change your
15:50
Speaker 2: life absolutely. What is your best money habit.
15:54
Speaker 4: I'd have to say it'd be resourcefulness. Growing up, it
15:58
Speaker 4: was very common for my mum to utilize services like
16:01
Speaker 4: Saint Phinni's and Selvo's to help with grocery costs and
16:05
Speaker 4: food bills, so we had food to get on the
16:06
Speaker 4: table and that was something that I did utilize when
16:09
Speaker 4: I was homeless and when I was struggling for money,
16:12
Speaker 4: was utilize those services when I didn't have enough to
16:15
Speaker 4: meet ends meet, and I would try my best just
16:18
Speaker 4: to have enough to cover rent, roof, over my head bills,
16:21
Speaker 4: enough money for my cats, and try and use all
16:24
Speaker 4: the resources that I had available to me and reach
16:27
Speaker 4: out when I needed to. So that would, i'd say,
16:29
Speaker 4: would be my best money habit. And I'd say, now
16:32
Speaker 4: that I'm not having to reach out to those services
16:34
Speaker 4: anymore and I do have that, I would say that
16:37
Speaker 4: my best money habit would probably be it's a bit tough.
16:41
Speaker 4: I'd say, it's still resourcefulness, but it's a little bit different.
16:44
Speaker 4: It's not resourcefulness there I'm seeking other support. It's more
16:48
Speaker 4: that I'm like seeking support from donations or whatever. It's
16:51
Speaker 4: more that I'm seeking support from my OT and how
16:54
Speaker 4: to budget better. I'm seeking support from you guys in
16:57
Speaker 4: regards to like, you know, different tips and tricks. So
16:59
Speaker 4: I like, it's just kind of learning as much as
17:02
Speaker 4: I can to better my situation.
17:04
Speaker 2: Resourcefulness is very, very powerful, and I feel like that's
17:08
Speaker 2: one of the best money habits to have because it
17:11
Speaker 2: doesn't matter what you've got. If you know where to
17:12
Speaker 2: go and how to get it and the services to
17:15
Speaker 2: lean on, you will always be okay. Money diarist, I
17:18
Speaker 2: want to know, on the flip side, what's your worst
17:20
Speaker 2: money habit, though.
17:21
Speaker 4: I'd say it's kind of my guilty pleasure. I love
17:25
Speaker 4: fresh fruit and vegetables and everything fresh and everything good
17:29
Speaker 4: quality produce, so that's something growing up I didn't have.
17:33
Speaker 4: So now when I go to the grocery store, I
17:35
Speaker 4: want the freshest fruit. I don't want frozen veg so
17:38
Speaker 4: I have to try and make sure I'm sticking to
17:40
Speaker 4: my meal plan and sticking to my budget, otherwise I'll
17:43
Speaker 4: end up buying copious amounts of fruit and vegetables and
17:46
Speaker 4: then having too much food waste in the end of it.
17:49
Speaker 4: So that's probably my worst money habit. But I actually
17:52
Speaker 4: found out that coals and wool worse do a director boot,
17:56
Speaker 4: and that's kind of where I end up picking up
17:58
Speaker 4: too much stuff as coals will worse, and then the
18:00
Speaker 4: little treats at the ends of the aisles that kind
18:03
Speaker 4: of bits. So I've done the director boot where they
18:06
Speaker 4: just bring it to my boot and then I do
18:08
Speaker 4: my main shopping at aldi where I don't get that temptation.
18:11
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah, and then I'm doing the rest just
18:14
Speaker 4: direct to my boots, so I'm not even going into
18:15
Speaker 4: the shop. I'm not looking at the treats, so I'm
18:17
Speaker 4: not looking at the things I don't need.
18:19
Speaker 2: See resourcefulness, resourcefulness, She's a smart woman. I love it.
18:25
Speaker 4: So I'm slowly working on this. But yeah, fresh fruit
18:28
Speaker 4: and vegetables and all those little treats from the grocery
18:30
Speaker 4: store is my little weakness.
18:32
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. I feel like I can resonate with
18:35
Speaker 2: that as well, Like there's nothing better than fresh fruit,
18:38
Speaker 2: so I can see exactly where you're coming from.
18:40
Speaker 4: Like a punnet of raspberries.
18:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, when they're not seven dollars, it's summer, so it's okay.
18:45
Speaker 2: But when they're seven dollars upon it like, I can't
18:48
Speaker 2: even justify that. No, absolutely not. I will have frozen
18:52
Speaker 2: berries until they come back in season. Money diarist. You
18:55
Speaker 2: were saying before that you grew up in a house
18:57
Speaker 2: where your parents were drug users. They said, rated you
19:01
Speaker 2: lived with your mom, it was a little bit tumultuous.
19:03
Speaker 2: Your mum relied on support growing up. Am I right
19:07
Speaker 2: in assuming that you're one of the first in the
19:09
Speaker 2: family to go to university and do a degree.
19:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, in my immediate family, so I do believe. Yeah,
19:14
Speaker 4: my auntie did a degree, but in my little immediate circle, yeah,
19:18
Speaker 4: that I'm the first one to go do it.
19:19
Speaker 2: Actually, is that exciting? Because I feel like you're changing
19:22
Speaker 2: the narrative of what your future is going to look like.
19:25
Speaker 4: Is it is exciting? I am very excited. Yeah, I've
19:29
Speaker 4: told my mom and I've told my brother. I'm yet
19:31
Speaker 4: to tell anyone else, but I really I know, and
19:34
Speaker 4: you know, but I'm just keeping it on the low
19:36
Speaker 4: because yeah, I don't know. I'm still a bit shell
19:38
Speaker 4: shocked by it, not sure if it's really true.
19:41
Speaker 2: No, you'll absolutely smash it. I'm so excited to see
19:44
Speaker 2: where you go and what you achieve. But the last
19:46
Speaker 2: question I have for you is I want to know
19:47
Speaker 2: what your grade would be now that we've gone through
19:49
Speaker 2: your money story. And your money story is powerful, so powerful,
19:54
Speaker 2: like not only you going through mental health issues IBS
19:58
Speaker 2: is so devilitating, grown up in a situation that is
20:01
Speaker 2: not exactly conducive to being the most successful person. But
20:05
Speaker 2: you are going on to do a degree. You were
20:07
Speaker 2: homeless at seventeen. You currently have three cats which are
20:12
Speaker 2: all financially dependent on you, and you can look after them.
20:15
Speaker 2: You have an investing account. You haven't started investing yet,
20:18
Speaker 2: but it's called investment account and you've got money in it,
20:20
Speaker 2: which is epic. You are one of the most resourceful
20:23
Speaker 2: people we have met. Do you really think you're only
20:26
Speaker 2: a C.
20:27
Speaker 4: I would say I'm more a B because of how
20:30
Speaker 4: resourceful I am, But I just feel like I'm so
20:34
Speaker 4: excited to be able to earn my own income and
20:37
Speaker 4: to see how I grow once I do, because I
20:39
Speaker 4: feel like I'll be able to just set myself up
20:41
Speaker 4: for the future that I never thought I would have.
20:44
Speaker 4: So it's just really hard to be like, you know,
20:46
Speaker 4: I have to accept great when I only have so
20:47
Speaker 4: much to work with, and I am doing really good
20:50
Speaker 4: with what I have, but I'm extremely excited for my future.
20:53
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, No, I'm so proud of you. And
20:55
Speaker 2: that's why I ask, because I'm like, you're not a C.
20:58
Speaker 2: You are absolutely smashing it out of the park, and
21:00
Speaker 2: I feel like maybe a bit of comparison of what
21:02
Speaker 2: other people are doing and where their circumstances are as
21:05
Speaker 2: leading you to maybe not be as strong in your
21:08
Speaker 2: opinion of how well you're doing. And I just want
21:10
Speaker 2: to remind you that you are doing so well and
21:12
Speaker 2: it makes me so proud to see where you are.
21:15
Speaker 2: But last question before we leave, I want to know
21:17
Speaker 2: if there are people listening to this that are in
21:19
Speaker 2: similar situations to the situation you found yourself in at seventeen,
21:23
Speaker 2: what advice would you have for them.
21:25
Speaker 4: The biggest thing is just to reach out. It is
21:28
Speaker 4: to understand that you're not alone and that there are
21:31
Speaker 4: services out there that can help you. And even if
21:34
Speaker 4: you just google what to do when homeless, because that's
21:37
Speaker 4: exactly what I did, and there will be resources that
21:40
Speaker 4: come up. There's this thing called ask Izzy as well,
21:43
Speaker 4: which is a government resource that you can just type
21:45
Speaker 4: in your situation if you need food, if you need shelter,
21:49
Speaker 4: if you need assistance, and it will direct you to
21:51
Speaker 4: your nearest point of access, and just don't stop and
21:54
Speaker 4: don't give up, because you are worth it and it
21:56
Speaker 4: will get better. It just takes a long time, unfortunately,
22:00
Speaker 4: a lot of waiting and a lot of pushing, but
22:03
Speaker 4: you've just got to advocate for yourself. Oh I love that.
22:06
Speaker 2: LL make sure that the resource ask Eazy is in
22:08
Speaker 2: our show notes because that's something we haven't spoken about
22:11
Speaker 2: on the podcast before. So what a good contribution. Again.
22:15
Speaker 2: I'm insanely proud of you. Thank you so much for
22:18
Speaker 2: joining us on Money Diaries and sharing your story with us.
22:21
Speaker 2: It has been an absolute pleasure.
22:22
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me.
22:31
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22:34
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22:37
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22:41
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