How I Went From Being Clueless With Money To Studying It

I started my adulthood being absolutely clueless with money. Living pay check to pay check, no savings, going into debt and not being able to cover sudden expenses. Nobody had taught me any better! It was just luck that I happened to run into Canna Campbell to realise that there was ways to take control of your money, and therefore your life. Read on to find out how I went from being clueless with money to studying it!

Realising I didn’t need to be clueless with money

My financial awareness journey started somewhere around 2015 when I somehow ran into Canna Campbell’s Sugarmamma TV YouTube channel. She talked about investing (I was too intimidated by it back then though) and more importantly cash envelopes and managing those different wants and needs.

My issue always was that since I was paid weekly (common in New Zealand), I would always be broke on those weeks that I had to pay big monthly bills, like power and internet. And it was always struggle to pay bills occurring less often, like car registrations and warrants of fitnesses.

While I can’t say I got better with money straight away (because I didn’t), it did get the wheels turning in my head.

Eventually I did open multiple accounts, started saving and created a budget. Now I was always able to pay my share of the household bills because I put money aside every week, so come a bill, money was there ready. It felt good to not struggle with that anymore.

We all have money regrets

Pretty quickly after moving to New Zealand in 2014 I realized I wanted to go to university. But in order to qualify for the course fees locals were charged (and not the high fees that international students have to pay) I needed to be a resident.

And further, if I wanted a student loan through StudyLink I needed to be a resident for 3 years. This would take time, so I started saving for the course fees in order to start studying before I was eligible for a student loan.

I managed to save $5000. But then, I got into bodybuilding.

I wanted to train for a competition in the NZIFBB and that required money. Quite a bit in fact. I hired a coach, paid for the food and supplements, competition registration, bikini, heels, traveling to meet my coach for training and posing practice. Also, the competition was in Wellington so travel costs and hotel, make up, hair and tan for the competition day etc etc.

I ended up draining all those savings.

Digging myself into a deeper hole

After the competition I really wanted to go back home for a visit. But I had drained all my savings. So I took out a personal loan of $3,000 to cover the cost of going home and going to Tokyo on the way.

Because why not borrow more since I was already borrowing money, right?

Before I even left for the trip I added $5000 to the loan so I could start studying in February 2018 (I had become a resident towards the end of 2017).

At this stage I had a $8000 personal loan with a 17.5% interest. Did I stop there? Nope! I went and bought a MacBook Air on Gem Visa finance. Because I convinced myself I needed it for study. My old laptop just didn’t do.

So, start of 2018 I owed nearly $10,000!

Going from being clueless with money to being in control of it instead

2018 I looked up Canna Campbell again and looked into how to get rid of debt faster. I started following some debt free community accounts on Instagram and was inspired.

I paid off the laptop by February 2019 (with 12 months of interest free period left) and the personal loan was gone by the end of 2020, two years early.

I took some time off of studying after my eldest was born in 2019 and when I went back to study, I changed my major from accounting to finance. I had done an entry level course to finance and realised I was more interested and passionate about it than I was about accounting.

Now, in 2022 I have two kids (currently finishing up maternity leave for number 2), we finally managed to buy a house in 2021 (which will be its own post all together), I’m still studying and currently keeping an eye out for new job opportunities. (We re-located to be able to buy a house.)

If you’re feeling clueless about money, don’t worry! Most of us have at some stage in life. Reading this blog could be your first step to being in control instead, it all starts with knowledge.

If there’s anything you’d like me to discuss in my blog, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! You can also find a bit more details of my study on the about page. And I’d love to hear a little bit about you in the comments!