Just last week
we had to take $2 out of savings to balance our budget.
There is literally nothing left at the end of a pay week.
I'm 32, father of two.
Live just out of New Plymouth and I manage the site rentals
for small building company.
Each week I normally make around
$770 gross, but that can be a lot less in rough weather.
And my partner makes about $400 a week.
Our current financial situation, we're living hand-to-mouth.
On a really good week
we might have $50 left.
So working for families, including Best Start grant,
because we've got a six month old baby,
works out to just on $200 a week.
Our accommodation supplement about $50 a week.
And, you know, that's what keeps our budget afloat.
Without it, we would be screwed.
Two years ago, we moved from New Plymouth
to our current place, which is 5kms out of town.
The rent was exactly the same dollar for dollar.
WINZ told us when we moved out here
our accommodation supplement would be the same.
All of a sudden they cut $100 a week.
WINZ and a lot of people have the idea that living rurally is cheaper.
In some cases it may be, but realistically
it costs us just as much to live here as it does in town.
We have a little bit more travel, so that probably costs us more.
There are ways we can save a little bit of money living out here.
We've got room for a vegetable garden. We've got chickens.
So you know, we're saving $6 a week on eggs.
It's not enough to make a noticeable difference.
So weekly rent is $340.
Each week we spend about $56 on power.
Our internet is $24.50 a week.
Between our two vehicles, it's about $106 for fuel.
Although my work costs are covered by work with a company vehicle.
An average weekly shop is around $270,
although that's creeping up all the time.
That includes pet food and supplies for our baby who's on formula,
fresh fruit, a couple of bags of pre-cooked sausages,
frozen veggies, hot chips from the freezer.
Specific bread for myself being celiac which is nearly $7 a loaf.
Some mince, some nacho chips, a little bit of fizzy drink,
obviously cleaning products, etcetera.
As we've got relatives and friends farming, we're often
able to get home kill meat or kill meat off our small property.
A home kill roast
costs us maybe $5 and that would be 30, $40 in the supermarket.
So it's cheaper to eat roasts than sausages some days in our house.
Until my then fiancé was able to move in, we had
a deficit of $100 a week on paper, and we just had to make it work.
When it came time for her to move in,
which meant I could go into full time employment.
We found that we were trapped by the benefit system.
We were going to get less money to live on for the whole household
than what just me and my son got.
Which meant we couldn't afford
for her to move in, for me to find employment.
Honest people trying to get ahead,
not wanting to be on the benefit system
are being pinned down.
It's actually very controlling.
We do 90% of our heating with a fireplace.
In the winter try and cook as much as we can on top of the fire
just because it saves power.
Firewood works out to just under $10 a week.
Feed the livestock and that
on our property works out to about $60 a month.
We do sell a few eggs to cover the cost of having the chickens.
Netflix is included in our phone bill.
I pay just on $40 a month for my phone plan, which is unlimited.
We have quite a bit of insurance.
So a car, a trailer, tractor so that's $120 a month, including contents.
We don't have life insurance or medical insurance
or income insurance.
It's just not practical in our budget.
Normally have around $400 floating around in our accounts.
We do have a savings account,
which is usually around $1,000 or less.
I just sold my vehicle, so at the moment
that's a little bit higher sitting at $2,000.
I do not have any student loan.
I finished paying that off about two years ago.
KiwiSaver, I've got about $34,000.
My wife has got $28,000.
We do not have any investments, although I do do a little bit
of buy and sell and fix things up for side income.
WINZ were actually
stopping me from moving forward in my life with my family because
I couldn't move in with my partner or we'd be broke.
Unless you're willing to lie and break the rules.
It's very, very hard to make any ground
because every turn you made, you were blocked in some way.
Now we've moved out of the benefit situation,
we do still receive minimum support.
It's good to know that you're not constantly worried
about who's looking over your shoulder
at what you're doing with every cent you earn,
you know.
The system that so desperately wants people off the system,
was trapping us in the system.