We earn $8,200 a fortnight and save $3,000 – here’s exactly how we spend our money
A smart Australian couple have opened up about what they do with their $8,000 fortnightly income.
Ella Maegraith and her husband Nick, from Adelaide, earned a whopping $8,219.25 in two weeks with two incomes and no children.
The 27-year-old showed how she divided the household money between bills, expenses and savings – and still had more than β¬1,200 left over.
Ella describes herself as a 'type A planner', a 'spreadsheet freak' and needs to know 'exactly where every dollar is going' every payday.
Over the past two weeks, Ella earned $1,502.69 from her part-time job as a travel agent, $3,257 from social media, and $300 from affiliate links and taking online surveys.
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Content creator and part-time travel agent Ella Maegraith (pictured) has shared her budget breakdown for her and husband Nick's combined income of $8,000 per fortnight
Nick, a junior barrister, earned $3,159.56, bringing their total combined income for the fortnight to $8,219.25.
Nick, a junior lawyer, earned $3,159.56, bringing their total combined income for the fortnight to $8,219.25.
He also coaches cricket and earned $600 in two weeks.
Ella said her income changes every two weeks because her work on social media can be unpredictable. She admitted that the $8,000 paycheck was more than she normally receives.
“Don't get me wrong, I'm so proud of this amount and proud of our hustle, but this is not an everyday kind of paycheck, I want to make that very clear,” she said in a video.
'Being self-employed means money fluctuates a lot and there are weeks or months where I don't even earn anything, this time it has been particularly lucrative.'
Ella describes herself as a 'Type-A planner' and 'spread sheet freak' and needs to know 'exactly where every dollar is going' every payday
Ella starts her budgeting by setting aside $1,580 for the mortgage, $220 for their car loan, and $162 for utilities.
βWe have a sinking fund for all our quarterly bills. A water bill just came out that was just over $200,β she explained.
βBut the money was just sitting there in our sinking fund, ready to go, which was so nice.β
Next, Ella pays $62 for their gym memberships and $32 for other plans, then sets aside $177.52 for an upcoming health insurance plan.
“We normally spend between $200 and $250 on groceries every two weeks, but I'm going to give us $300 to cover Christmas dinner in this billing cycle, leaving us $5,684.73 to play with,” she said .
Ella and Nick had a lot of Christmas shopping to do in the next two weeks, so she set aside $1,000 to cover those costs.
She then pays an additional $500 on her car loan and transfers $3,000 to their offset account.
βThis is our general savings account that is linked to our home loan, so the savings we have there offsets some of the interest on our mortgage,β the budget expert explains.
'We just booked a big trip to the US in April, so we're saving for that at the moment.'
After all her budgeting, Ella is left with $1,184.73 for “general expenses.”
βDecember is always a busy social time for us, so I'm sure this won't go too far,β she said.