‘Sell your house’: Young Aussie family trolled over mortgage stress
An Aussie mum has hit back after she shared her mortgage stress and money concerns online, only to be met with an incredibly brutal response.
Rachel and her partner earn a combined income of $80,000 a year and are struggling with their $650 weekly mortgage repayment.
When she shared that stress online, she was trolled.
Financial comparison website Finder has found that 47 per cent of homeowners are struggling to pay their home loan, with an estimated 1.5 million Aussies experiencing mortgage stress.
Things have become so grim that, since May, one in five mortgage holders have missed a mortgage repayment or asked for a reprieve.
Millions of Australians might struggle, but money is still taboo, and people rarely discuss it. Rachel does, though. She runs the TikTok Account Aussie Frugal Family and talks about money candidly.
Bizarrely, she also gets trolled because of it. When she discussed the stress over her mortgage repayments, she was met with plenty of support but also trolls.
“Sounds like you’ve overextended yourself. Sell your house and sell your car,” one wrote.
“Maybe don’t have children! If you can’t even afford it,” one said, with another slamming the family for using charity services they claimed other people “need more”.
The 32-year-old and her husband, 38, are parents to a two-year-old and Rachel is pregnant with their second child.
She works part-time as a literacy specialist and support worker and her husband works in quality assurance for a scaffolding company.
They’ve been hit hard by rising interest rates.
According to the Reserve Bank of Australia the current cash rate is 4.35 per cent. When the couple bought in 2019 the cash rate was 1.0 per cent.
The couple is now struggling to make their mortgage repayments because the price of housing has “skyrocketed”.
“Our mortgage repayments have gone from under $400 to almost $650. It’s a crazy amount extra to pay when everything else has gone up too,” she told news.com.au.
The 32-year-old said that, despite living conservatively and running a social media account where they offer tips on how to live frugally, they are often left with “nothing” at the end of their pay cycles.
“It is almost impossible to save. After we pay the mortgage and set aside the money we need for bills, we have barely anything left over,” she said.
“We fill up our cars with petrol and buy groceries on payday and generally have nothing left after that.”
The couple has found themselves in a depressing cycle of needing to use the money they set aside for bills just to make ends meet.
“We need to dip into our bills account to pay for necessities like food, which means the next payday we have to transfer it back before bills come out,” she said.
“Which means we run out of money for the next week again. It feels like a cycle we can’t get ahead of.”
Rachel said that the family has had to look for alternatives to shopping in mainstream supermarkets.
“I have been very mindful of our grocery budget and have been shopping at discount stores and food banks. I’m so incredibly grateful that these places exist, because it means we are always still able to eat well,” she explained.
“I also often do ‘no spend’ challenges where we try to use everything in our fridge, freezer and pantry before doing more grocery shopping.
“We also buy everything second hand or ask around on our local Facebook group if we need something.”
Despite how hard Rachel works to keep their costs down, she finds that it is impossible to get ahead, and simple things like family holidays aren’t something they can afford.
“We couldn’t even imagine going on a family holiday anymore. Even something like a camping trip seems very out of reach nowadays,” she said.
“We also can’t afford to get our cars serviced regularly, and our cars and house are probably all underinsured.”
The 32-year-old said that, occasionally, when unplanned costs arise and they don’t have the money handy, they need to ask their family for help.
“If some unexpected cost does pop up we have to borrow from our parents. Luckily we have them or I have no idea what we’d do,” she said.
Rachel said that always worrying about money is “stressful” and, while she tries to always be positive, it does get her down.
“I try to practice gratitude and keep positive about it. Turning it into a bit of fun with the TikTok videos I post about using up what we have,” she said.
“We are very lucky to own a home and have food on the table so I try to just think about that.”
Australia’s most popular homes in 2024
Realestate.com.au has revealed the most popular properties this year, including a surprise mix of abandoned houses and jaw dropping mansions.
Revealed: Qld home named the hottest house in Australia
The hottest home in Australia this year has been revealed, a sprawling South East Queensland waterfront mansion once used as the celebrity owner’s mega party house.
$60m move for most stubborn homeowner
A stubborn Aussie family who has turned down millions and millions for their family home is in the headlines again, with some developer’s potential plans slammed.