‘Don’t be afraid to look poor’: Influencer’s massive lifestyle shift

A famous influencer has revealed the huge life change she has been hit by, and why some followers are calling it her “downfall”.

An influencer’s lavish lifestyle has come to an abrupt halt after her husband lost his job, with the creator revealing why some people are “enjoying” watching her struggle.

Katie Bunton, 32, is a mother of twins who has amassed over one million followers across multiple social media platforms.

Although she’s always prided herself on sharing “realistic” content, her lifestyle has always been idyllic.

Ms Bunton and her husband Harry live in Byron Bay, where Chris Hemsworth also resides. Her daily life that she shares online involves attending wholesome markets, sharing her workout routine, and spending time with her children, friends, and family, with the occasional holiday in between.

Most of her content was also filmed in her previous rental, which was open-planned, gorgeous and looked like something most people save on Pinterest.

The couple’s amazing lifestyle has now hit a major snag and the family are moving in with her mother-in-law to reassess their future.

Ms Bunton told news.com.au that she was anxious when her husband, who has been the breadwinner since she gave birth to twins, lost his job in December.

“I’m a stress head,” she said.

“I flipped out. I thought ‘our life is over’, but within an hour, I realised we would be fine because we had options.”

Katie has over a million followers across social media platforms. Picture: TikTok/Katie Bunton

She said their lives were designed around her husband’s salary. Picture: TikTok/Katie Bunton

Ms Bunton said the news was hard to hear because, even though she makes good money now as an influencer, that’s a relatively new thing.

“Our life was designed around his salary and the income and money I make is just gravy. We use it on fun stuff or to travel,” she said.

Her husband’s loss of job didn’t automatically mean they had to move in with his mum, but it made sense.

She doesn’t live far away, so it wouldn’t involve a major lifestyle shift, and it would allow her husband time to decide his next move, rather than just having to accept any job to make ends meet.

The couple are moving in with her mother-in-law. Picture: TikTok/Katie Bunton

She said most people have been kind about it. Picture: TikTok/Katie Bunton

Ms Bunton still had reservations though, mainly because “society makes you feel like a failure” if your life no longer looks so glossy.

But at some point she realised that the decision “made sense”, and it would give the family of four an opportunity to pause and not have to sign another rental contract somewhere else.

Ms Bunton said that, when she made the decision to share what was happening online, 90 per cent of people were positive, kind and many could relate, but a vocal 10 per cent that were relishing in her financial stress were still tough to deal with.

“Ten per cent of people are enjoying the idea of me struggling or enjoying the idea of having us this downfall,” she said.

“I don’t see it as a downfall, but I know people perceive it as a downfall.”

She doesn’t see it as a ‘downfall’. Picture: TikTok/Katie Bunton

She said, because she’s an influencer, people assume she’s out of touch. Picture: TikTok/Katie Bunton

Some people online are being “nasty” and asking questions like, “Where are your savings?” and claiming that because she has an au pair and a nice house, she is living like a “millionaire”, so what did she expect?

“There’s definitely a reaction where it is like the pure fact that I’m an influencer means people make the assumption that, ‘I’m out of touch’, and this is a deserved reality check,” she said.

It is a response that Ms Bunton feels torn by.

She’s aware of her privilege – when her husband was working, she said he was a top one per cent earner – but she’s always tried to be honest about the pitfalls of motherhood and modern life.

“People think I was lying about our lives, and I was putting this up as a front, and now the house of cards is crumbling, but this could happen to anyone,” she said.

“Let’s put this into perspective; even for my husband, who makes a really good wage, in the last three years, we’ve had two kids,” she said.

Ms Bunton said the expense of having two children at once is going to be felt by anyone. Then the couple got married, bought an investment property in Sydney, where both the mortgage and down payment were “insane” amounts of money, and had an international wedding.

“The most expensive years of your life are the first five years of your marriage. The house, the kids, the wedding,” she said.

“We are in the thick of those five years. Even with my husband being successful, it is not like we have tons of money sitting in our bank account.”

She said, with everything happening in their personal lives, things got expensive. Picture: TikTok/Katie Bunton

She said they’ve always spent to maintain their lifestyles. Picture: TikTok/Katie Bunton

The influencer also pointed out that her life looks so nice online because the couple has always been comfortable spending the money they earn.

“We spend money to have the life we have. I think it is wild the amount of people that are like … ‘Wow, I can’t believe you don’t have that in savings?’ Maybe people just don’t know cost of the living,” she said.

The truth is that the couple needed to be bringing in a massive salary to sustain their lifestyle and, when her husband lost his job, they had to rethink things.

The couple got rid of their expensive rental, sold their Sydney property, bought an investment regionally that was more affordable to buy and maintain, and gave themselves some financial breathing room.

Ms Bunton said they didn’t want to try and maintain their old lifestyle while praying her husband got another job fast; otherwise, they’d be “screwed”. So, they made some smart financial decisions quickly.

“We have a cash buffer now and we’ve made some amazing decisions that will set us up,” she said.

The whole experience has made the influencer realise she doesn’t want to get caught up in the temptation to live within her means, she wants to live below her means.

“Don’t be afraid to look poor to be wealthy in your everyday life,” she said

Originally published as ‘Don’t be afraid to look poor’: Influencer’s massive lifestyle shift