Reflecting on my money in 2022
Happy 2023! Today I thought I would reflect on my money in 2022 - more specifically, mine and my husband’s money, as we share joint finances. If you’re interested in my reflections for 2021, check out my blog post here.
Here are some notable things that happened for us financially last year…
Three pay rises, two bonuses, and one net pay increase
In 2022, we were lucky to receive:
A pay rise of 5% on my gross salary in April;
A bonus based on my bonus target (up to 8% of my gross salary)
A net pay increase of 13.2% on my husband’s net income (gross salary minus income tax & ACC) after he paid off his student loan in June;
A pay rise of 4.8% on my husband’s gross salary in September;
A bonus based on my husband’s bonus target (up to 10% of his gross salary);
A pay rise of 14.9% on my gross salary in November when I started a new role
These definitely helped us stay ahead of inflation, although we still felt the effects of the increased cost of living like most people. So what else helped?
We cut food costs
We’d been loyal customers of Hello Fresh for five years, since we started living together in 2017. With rising food costs last year, we found that our usually generous meal portions were getting smaller and smaller, so we increased our subscription from 3 meals per week to 4 meals per week. However, we noticed that the meal portions were still fairly small - suddenly there were no longer leftovers after every meal like before - and more and more ‘mistakes’ happened, like missing food items and fresh produce in terrible condition.
In November, we finally stopped our subscription, saving us $114 per week. Even though we’re spending slightly more on groceries, with more experience cooking and more go-to recipes up our sleeve, our increased grocery spend is definitely much less than $114 per week! Some days we are simply happy with cacio e pepe (simple and delicious, and cheap if you use grated parmesan over fancy pecorino) or some roasted seasonal veggies.
While we mostly buy fresh fruit and veggies, we also save money by sometimes mixing in canned or frozen substitutes. One of my favourite recipes is one I learnt from Hello Fresh - creamy mushroom and caramelised cherry tomato spaghetti - and I found that I could get away with using one punnet of fresh tomatoes, and two cans of canned cherry tomatoes, as they all look and taste the same once covered in balsamic vinegar and olive oil and cooked in the oven.
Occasionally, instead of takeaways, we will also eat frozen meals, like the plant-based brand Plantry. They may cost more than other frozen meal brands due to being healthier, but they save a lot of money compared to buying takeaways on a lazy Friday night!
Maternity clothes, pregnancy treatments, doctor’s appointments, and more
I found out I was pregnant in October, and being pregnant comes with a lot of new costs! We’ve spent more money on doctor’s appointments ($51 per appointment via Tend), ultrasounds ($60-$80 each), and pregnancy treatments, including pregnancy acupuncture for morning sickness and pregnancy massage for easing stress, discomfort and insomnia. And even though I put it off for as long as I could, eventually we had to buy new maternity clothing to accommodate my growing baby bump! So far we’ve bought five pairs of maternity underwear, five maternity dresses, one maternity top and two maternity skirts, adding to a total of about $800 (I shopped at 3 Bears). Thankfully, the maternity dresses are also designed for breastfeeding, making them economical and versatile in the long term - plus I can keep them for my next pregnancy.
We also bought BUMP&baby’s Mama-To-Be Bundle, which for us was worth it - the magazines, online antenatal course, and box of baby goodies have all been very helpful.
With many more baby expenses to come, I’m super grateful for the benefits we do get here in New Zealand - like free maternity care and generous Paid Parental Leave (increased from 18 to 22 to 26 weeks in recent years), plus that my employer offers a salary top-up, meaning I will receive my usual fortnightly salary during Paid Parental Leave as they will make up the difference. They’ll also add two weeks of paid ‘family leave’ for all employees. How amazing is that?
In 2022, we also:
Spent $3000 on new kitchen doors - a great investment, as our kitchen now looks super bright and new!
Spent $6000 on our Christmas babymoon around the South Island, where we visited Queenstown, Wanaka, Christchurch, Mt Cook, Lake Tekapo, Fairlie, and Nelson. We stayed mostly in Airbnbs with the exception of The Hermitage Hotel in Mount Cook.
Started the process of selling my first home, because we…
…Started looking for a new home! That’s right, because our little one is on the way, we are looking for a 3 bedroom house (our bedroom, baby’s bedroom, home office as we both WFH). We’re looking in the same area where we currently live - Auckland’s North Shore - with a maximum budget of $1.2m.
What was your 2022 like? Did you reach your financial goals? Did you change career paths, or move cities? Perhaps you got married or welcomed a new child into the world? However your year was, I hope your 2023 is full of many more lovely and exciting things in store!
Love,
Sophia
