BusinessDesk investments editor Frances Cook responds to emails from readers each week, answering questions about money. Below, you will find her expert advice. Send your questions to [email protected].


Hi Frances,

With a kid on hand and having bought a home recently with all our savings, I feel I have pushed myself under the ever-growing burden of financial stress.

We have exhausted our savings and our total earnings now equal our total expenses and debts, leaving us with no savings at all. Even an additional expense of a mere $20 puts me under stress.

To add to this, I am not left with much time to work extra hours for any side hustle. I have an UberEats account, Fiverr account, and an Upwork account.

Unfortunately, I am not left with enough time to work through these accounts.

I need to understand if there is a way I can plan better and climb out of my stressful financial situation. 

Any help/strategy to address such a situation would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

S.


Hi, S,

First of all, let me reassure you that this is not a personal failure on your part. 

A kid, being a new homeowner, and trying to get through a cost-of-living crisis – those are real things that could put a strain on the budget of anyone, never mind when you’re trying to deal with all three at once. 

Basically, all budget problems come down to two fixes. You can earn more or spend less – even better if you do a combination of both. 

It’s simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Let’s look at some options to help you out. 

Time

You mention not having enough time to work on side hustles, and I’m not surprised. Children are wonderful time-sucks! 

Have you looked at any opportunities to earn more in your regular job instead? Whether it’s arguing for a pay rise or going for a promotion, it means earning more while hopefully not taking up any more of your time. 

Look on Seek for jobs that are similar to yours, and see what they’re paying. If they’ve hidden the salary, use a website like www.whatsthesalary.com to reveal it. 

If these similar jobs are paying more, then you’ve got a good case to talk to your manager about a pay rise. Think of everything you’ve done in the past year or so, especially wins for the company. 

Then, use the compliment sandwich technique – compliment, request, compliment. 

So something like, “I hope you feel like the last year of work has been successful. I feel like we’re making a great team, and I really enjoy working here. Here are some wins that I’ve made for the company in that time [list achievements]. In light of that, I’d like to talk to you about pay. I think I could be worth more like $X. As I say, I love working here, so I’m hoping we can come to an agreement that works for everybody.” 

Or, of course, you could hit the job search and start applying for those other jobs that pay more, or applying for internal promotions. 

This can be a slightly longer process than hitting the road for Uber this evening. However, if you do it right, it might be only a couple of months until it gives you results. 

The payoff of having more money without spending more time is huge.

Side hustles

The side hustles that you mention are quite low-paying and time-consuming. 

They’re also easy to get started with, so I understand why they’re popular. But I’d like us to look for options that could work better, requiring less time from you, and hopefully bringing in more money. 

This may or may not work for you because of your child. But if you have a spare room in your house and can find someone you trust as a boarder, then that could help a lot. 

Even better if there’s a living space not connected to the main house that could potentially work as an Airbnb space that doesn’t require the long-term commitment of a flatmate. 

If you live centrally, you can even sometimes make money by renting out your carpark or driveway during the day as a parking space. There are apps that help you do it, or you can advertise it on local Facebook pages and set up a long-term agreement with someone. 

If you have things around the house that you don’t use any more, you could sell them on Trade Me and Facebook marketplace to build up some of those cash savings again. 

You’re looking for options to use what you already have to make money with a lower time commitment. If none of these work for you, that’s okay. Your life is very busy already. But it’s worth mentioning in case one of them fits or sparks another idea that works. 

Cutting back

Next, I’d like you to go through all your expenses for the past month. 

Wait until kidlet is in bed, pour yourself a glass of wine and then look at a print-out of a bank statement showing everything you’ve spent in that time. 

Every single thing there is up for negotiation, even the ones we’re conditioned to think can’t be changed. 

Power bill? Head to powerswitch.org.nz to see if you can find a better power plan. 

Bank fee? See if you can find a cheaper option, or call your bank and ask to negotiate a no-fee account. 

Petrol? Time to investigate whether you can carpool or find things like cheaper parking. 

Groceries? See if you can reduce higher-cost items like meat and start stretching meals with cheaper alternatives like lentils. 

Companies love for you to think that you don’t have any option but to pay them money, but my experience is that almost every cost can be negotiated or switched to something cheaper. 

Even if you’re successful on only a few of these, or maybe just one, it’s a win and extra money in your back pocket. 

Use that money to immediately start building up those savings again and give yourself some peace of mind. 

Send questions to [email protected] if you want to be featured in the column. Emails should be about 200 words, and we won't publish your name. Unfortunately, Frances is not able to respond to every email received or offer individual financial advice. 

Information in this column is general in nature and should not be taken as individual financial advice. Frances Cook and BusinessDesk are not responsible for any loss a reader may suffer.