One Sydney woman shares how she feels guilty about how generous her parents are.

In our new How We Spend It series of (anonymous) audits we're diving into the way women earn, save, waste and spend money. But also the reality of debt. Because beyond what we splurge on and share – like wardrobe investments and ‘gram-worthy travel – we’re rarely honest about our bank balance reality with ourselves, let alone with one another. So let’s talk money.

The Basics

Age: 27

Occupation: Lawyer

Industry: Legal

Location: Sydney

Salary: $150,000 (including super), plus bonuses. Last year my bonus was around 20 per cent, but it depends on how much over my billable target I make.

Payslip: $8000/month (after tax)

HECS/HELP debt: $0 (my parents paid for my university)

Super total: $42,300

Debt: $0 - I pay my credit card off in full every month. This month I’ll pay $1600 because I put most of my spending on it.

Savings: $120,000. Some of this (less than half) was inherited when my grandmother passed away last year.

Want to peek inside a woman's purse? Read about the 21-year-old who lives alone with water views or the 27-year-old with a chronic health problem and a 6-figure pay

MONTHLY EXPENSES

Rent: $870/month for my half (my partner pays the other half). We rent our apartment from family, so we don't pay the full market rate.

Insurances: $0 (my parents pay for my health insurance and I don't a car).

Living amenities: $0 (parents pay water, power, etc.)

Phone: $0 (work pays)

Other tech: $0. I use my boyfriend's Netflix and Stan accounts and my parents pay for Wi-Fi.

Savings: I try to save between 30-50 per cent per month, typically between $2000 and $3500. I also plan to put most, if not all, of my bonus towards savings and my trip to the US later this year. I set myself a goal in January to save $50,000 this year. I'm a little bit behind at the moment but hopefully my bonus helps.

Investment: I have just started putting $500/month in my Vanguard ETF account (a low cost managed fund which lets me invest in a portfolio of ASX 200 shares without individually having to pick and choose stocks). I put in $10k from my bonus last year and have selected to reinvest dividends. It was looking a bit dire at the start of this year when I was on negative returns, but on average over the last six months I am up more than six per cent.

Joint Account: I put in $400/month and he puts in $600/month, just because he earns a bit more than me and eats a lot more!

Two gym memberships: one is $45/week (fancy work gym) and the other is $15/week (home gym).

ANNUAL EXPENSES

HEALTH: I put aside $250/year for the doctor and $250/year for the dentist.

THE LOGBOOK

DAY ONE

MORNING –

I wake up at 6am and head to the gym. I take a scoop of pre-workout powder with water and do a Kayla Itsines weights workout for 40 minutes. The gym is conveniently about 800m from my apartment. I walk home, shower and get dressed for work. I make a bowl of oats with protein powder, berries and peanut butter. I catch the ferry every morning and my Opal card tops up automatically when it runs low (it works out to be about $6 a ride or $60 every fortnight). It's quite expensive, but nothing beats a harbour ride every morning! I also like to listen to podcasts – today it’s Shameless. I arrive to work at 9.00am and order a soy cappuccino from our subsidised internal café ($2).

NOON -

After a busy morning, I heat up the chicken, roast veggie and feta salad I brought from home. I try to meal prep most of my lunches and snacks because (a) because health and (b) the food situation around work sucks.

While I'm eating I browse Mecca and decide to order some new Drunk Elephant products – Marula face oil, moisturiser and hydration serum ($225). I was getting regular facials but decided they were too expensive so now I'm splurging a bit on skincare this year, in a bid to stave off stress-related wrinkles. I also order a bottle of champagne and a balloon for my friend and her fiancé who live overseas as I can't make it to their engagement party ($100).

I work at my desk all afternoon and have yoghurt with muesli from home at 3pm.

EVENING -

I leave work at 6pm today and catch the ferry home for once (late night are a regular occurrence). Vivid is on so the ride home is beautiful. My boyfriend and I cook steak with chipotle butter, broccolini and sweet potato chips. I love it when we have time during the week to cook together. We watch a few episodes of Love Island and share a tub of halo top before heading to bed.

DAILY TOTAL: $327

DAY TWO

MORNING –

Woke up late and skipped the gym. I grab a long black with almond milk on the way to the ferry ($3.50). I forgot to charge my AirPods so I read – I've just started Boy Swallows Universe (I've been told to persist). My goal is to read 25 books this year but I’ve only read five so far!

I order a slice vegemite toast with an almond milk cappuccino from our work café ($5). I feel a little gross today so decide I'm going on a health kick. I browse Amazon and impulsively order a set of Bluetooth scales ($23 and $9 same-day delivery).

NOON

I heat up some baked chicken, green beans, potatoes and sriracha mayonnaise from home, and have a protein drink around 2pm. It's f*cking disgusting: who would mix coffee and yoghurt together?! Someone brought muffins, so I have one and a handful of liquorice bullets.

I decided this morning my eyebrows are well overdue. I book a sneaky appointment over lunch for a wax and tint ($75). I would love to start getting my nails done regularly again but just don't know if I can commit to the maintenance. I've tried eyelash extensions in the past and they all fell off on night one, so that was a disaster. I've been tossing up getting feather tattooing but I'm not sure if I can justify $1000 for that.

NIGHT

My afternoon is absolutely manic and end up working till 8pm (sad face). I get a taxi home (work pays) to quickly change. My auntie has invited us to join her and my cousins at a corporate box for the AFL. I chuck on jeans, boots and a blazer and my boyfriend orders an Uber to the SCG on the joint account ($22). I have a few glasses of champagne, some canapés and a plate of noodles (all free). We Uber home ($25). Joining finances has saved us so much hassle; I don't know why we didn't do it earlier

DAILY TOTAL: $134.30

DAILY DILEMMA: Should you combine finances with your partner? According to research, couples born after 1981 are less likely to combine their finances. whimn's Melissa Shedden joins Studio 10 to discuss.

DAY THREE

MORNING

Thank god it's the weekend! My mum and brother are staying with us and we go for a walk at the beach. Mum pays for our coffees. We decide to go for a belated mother's day breakfast. I get a "health bowl" with poached egg, smoked salmon, brown rice, avocado, kale and pickles and an almond milk cappuccino. I pick up the tab and my brother pays me back half ($40).

NOON

I make a bowl of protein oats, blueberries, yoghurt and peanut butter and then head to my local gym. The aircon is broken (so it stinks) but I force myself to stay and do 30 minutes of weights and 20 minutes of cardio. When I get home my PE Nation order from earlier in the week has arrived. I do a big try on and decide I'm keeping a puffer jacket, jumper and singlet, and return I return some leggings and a few sports bras that don’t sit right ($400). Mum and I binge Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on the couch all afternoon.

NIGHT

I run to the local Woolies to pick up dinner and nibbles ($60) as we’re having some couple friends over. We make steak with balsamic mushrooms, rocket and pear salad, along with a cheeseboard. I have a glass of wine (we already had bottles at home) and we have some leftover Easter eggs for dessert.

DAILY TOTAL: $500

DAY FOUR

MORNING

Get up at 8am and we all go for a walk. We go for breakfast in Paddington. I order rye toast, poached eggs, avocado and two soy cappuccinos ($30).

NOON

I walk to a local Pilates studio and take a class with a couple of friends. I buy 12 class packs when they're on sale for $200. It's still expensive and I know I spend a lot of money on fitness, but working out is one of my favourite hobbies.

I drop into the chemist and pick up a new face cream for mum and I ($100). Then we go to Woolies and mum very generously offers to pick up the bill (it came to $170 for the week). My parents are very generous. Because they take care of a lot of my expenses, I feel really guilty if I'm not being smart with my money. Deep down I’m also a bit worried that I'm not going to be on a high income forever and that I'll burnout.

NIGHT

I go to see Aladdin with my boyfriend ($60 for tickets, popcorn and Malteasers on the joint account). It's a nice way to end the week. Unfortunately when we get home I have a few emails to reply to, so I spend about an hour doing that before I call it a night.

DAILY TOTAL: $154.00

DAY FIVE

MORNING

I wake up feeling unwell. I literally never get sick and am very reluctant to take a day off work, but I also hate people who come into the office so let work know I'm working from home. I sleep through most of the morning.

NOON

I wake up, make some pumpkin soup and toast and realise I have a heap of emails to get to and new documents to get out tonight. I'm not feeling great but performance reviews are coming up so I need to push through.

NIGHT

My boyfriend comes home, I cook a beef stroganoff and we head to bed early. This would have been a $0 spend day BUT I check my bank balance and realise I am still being charged for a HayU subscription I thought I cancelled months ago ($6).

DAILY TOTAL: ($6)