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Cash Confessions: What a Perth Single Mum on $230,000 Spends in a Week

A 45-year-old Perth mother of three reported $230,000 in annual pay and $938.30 in spending during one diary week. Here are the costs and priorities she described in 2024.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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A 45-year-old Perth mother of three teenagers reported earning $230,000 a year and spending $938.30 during the week recorded in a PerthNow Cash Confessions profile published on 19 April 2024. Her account shows how a high reported income can coexist with substantial housing and family costs—and why she prioritised staying near her children’s school and community.

Who the Cash Confessions profile describes

The interviewee is an unnamed, 45-year-old single mother of three teenagers who described herself as a mining professional with more than 20 years’ experience. The figures below are her self-reported circumstances as presented by PerthNow on 19 April 2024, not independently verified financial data or a picture of what other single parents or mining workers spend. Read the PerthNow profile.

What she said she earned and spent

The profile’s headline and narrative give her annual salary as $230,000. She described that as about $11,500 a month after tax; that monthly amount is her own estimate, not a separately verified calculation. Her diary total for the week was $938.30.

Those figures describe different things: the salary and monthly amounts are her account of broader finances, while $938.30 is the sum of expenses she listed for one particular week. The diary is not a full monthly budget, and it should not be read as showing that all of her regular costs were paid during those seven days.

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Her reported recurring household costs

The interviewee described these recurring expenses and family costs. Periods and amounts below are as she reported them; monthly and yearly figures are not recalculated or converted.

Expense Reported amount
Rent $5,000 per month; she also described it as $1,200 per week
Groceries $2,000 per month
Investment block of land $1,000 per month
Phone, internet and streaming combined $500 per month
Insurance and health insurance $500 per month
Petrol and public transport $400 per month
Utilities $400 per month
Children’s sport About $1,000 per month
School fees About $16,000 per year

The rent is quoted in two rounded forms in the profile: $5,000 monthly and $1,200 weekly. Those stated amounts do not match exactly under a simple conversion, so both are presented as reported rather than reconciled.

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How the $938.30 diary week unfolded

Wednesday was by far the largest spending day. It included supermarket shopping, food bought direct from a farm, and $150 in holiday pocket money. The interviewee’s day-by-day amounts were:

Day Reported spending
Monday $13.30
Tuesday $13
Wednesday $642
Thursday $0
Friday $240
Saturday $30
Sunday $0
Total for the diary week $938.30

Why she chose to stay in the western suburbs

She said keeping the children close to their school, friends, sports clubs and community mattered after the family breakdown. She described the rent as a sacrifice for stability. In her words, “The biggest cost impact on our family is by far the cost of a secure rental, which we are very fortunate to have at the moment as we recently secured an extended lease.”

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That stability had particular weight after four house moves in eight years. The profile does not compare her housing choice with an alternative suburb or establish what a different rental would have cost; it records the trade-off she said she was making.

What she reported about savings and assets

Despite her reported salary, the interviewee said household expenses left little room for savings. She reported having no savings, more than $250,000 in superannuation, and $100,000 in stated equity in an investment property and car. These are her reported figures from the 2024 profile, not a current financial statement.

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Her clothing rule captures how she distinguished needs from wants: “If you need a jumper from KMart, I will buy it, but if you want the White Fox jumper, you have to save up for it.” She also said each child played two sports, illustrating how activities added to family costs alongside rent, food and school fees.

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How to read this one-week account

  • The weekly total is a snapshot of the expenses she chose to list, not a complete account of every bill or an average weekly budget.
  • The larger recurring costs she described—including rent, groceries, sport and school fees—sit on different billing schedules, so they cannot be compared directly with the diary total without a fuller budget.
  • The profile is an individual account published in April 2024. It does not establish current costs in Perth in 2026 or typical spending for single parents, miners or western-suburbs households.

The PerthNow Cash Confessions index lists the series and confirms the profile’s place in its published collection.

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