For Pay Day, demographer and social researcher Dr Liz Allen shares the shame that comes with living in poverty, the secrets of survival, and how this experience 'grants perspective that can never be bought'.
It's Pay Day ! The ABC's new column where we ask Australians the money questions we don't like to talk about. We aim to demystify personal finance and normalise conversations about what we earn and how we save it — or spend it.
I have a privileged job. One I never dreamed I could have achieved. I have seven children: two adults and five kids. We are a sole-income family. My children live with disability and my partner had to leave the workforce to provide full-time care for our kids. As a family,I've never not known a time when resources weren't scarce. I learned from a young age to make do with what you have. Fancy has always been out of the question, out of reach.
We've never been on a holiday as a family. I reckon if I was in a position to save, I would get the car fixed so that we could go on a family holiday somewhere wonderful. I've always wanted to take the kids to Tasmania. The greatest holiday would be to far north Queensland or even Monkey Mia in Western Australia. But I don't reckon I could handle the mammoth car trip with the kids — we'd definitely need flights for that!Money determines my happiness and that of my kids.
I'm still waiting for the day I thrive financially; I'm growing more content that I may never live to see economic security. I'm a work in progress, and that's OK.
Personal Finance Budgeting Money Cost Of Living Liz Allen Dr Liz Allen Demographer Homelessness Poverty Inequality
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