Family put financial challenges behind them and set sights on first home

The Christchurch couple are opening up about how they tackled their financial challenges so they can give hope to others in similar situations.

“I hope the challenges we’ve overcome and our journey out of debt can inspire other families to change their situation for the better,” says Larry.

Larry and Lave’s debt began spiraling in 2020, when their fourth child, Mataese, was born prematurely with a severe liver condition. Mataese was in and out of Auckland’s Starship Hospital for a year, which left the family with mounting travel costs they had to prioritise paying.

At the same time Larry’s income fell as he had to reduce the hours he worked as a security guard to help Lave care for Mataese and their three other young children.

Larry says at the time Mataese was born the family were caught in the trap of living beyond their means, making purchases through ‘buy-now, pay-later’ apps.

“These apps mean you get the things you want, when you want them and you don’t actually think about the full cost of them, because the payments are spread out over a few weeks.”

When Larry had to stop work altogether to care for Matese full-time, those payments quickly got on top of them.

“Suddenly we didn’t have the income to make the payments and very quickly we were thousands of dollars in debt,” Larry says.

For Lave, having to make the choice between avoiding late payment fees or paying for groceries was a real wake up call.

“All of this, coupled with our Housing Support Manager letting us know how our finances could start impacting our housing situation, led to us sitting down and deciding enough was enough,” says Lave. 
The family became determined to be debt-free.

“It was hard, but we started to change our mindset. We started paying for necessities first, then making our debt repayments. If there was any left, then we would allow ourselves a ‘pay-day treat’, like McDonald’s, but that was it.”

They kept that up and their debt started to fall.

Kāinga Ora Housing Support Manager, Shay, who helped Larry and Lave tackle their debt, says they are a proud Pasifika family who did not want to accept hand-outs.

“Despite Mataese’s health, they never felt they could accept things like food parcels. This sparked us having some tough conversations about their finances and what they could do to improve their situation.

“Now the budgeting and small changes they’ve made have paid off. It’s been a real privilege to see them overcome what life has thrown their way and get back on a stable financial footing,” says Shay.

Larry admits it has been a rough ride for the family over the past few years, but he is proud of how far they have come.

“Now we’ve got our finances sorted, we’ve got new goals of buying our own home and setting the kids up for a good future with their own bank accounts that we’re going to pop money into each week,” Larry says.

Check out some handy tips we've pulled together to help you with your own budgeting.