Heather du Plessis-Allan's first memory of money is of trying to make it.

"I have this recollection, when I was about 10 years old of coming up with some sort of scheme at school where I went to a stationary shop to buy staplers - or just erasers and rubbers and pencils," the Newstalk ZB Drive host recalls on the latest episode of the Money Talks podcast..

"And I'd take them to school and hock them off to pupils who forgot to bring them. My interest eventually ran out but for a while there I was doing okay I think."

She also recalls taking up drawing and trying to sell her artworks.

"That went okay for a while as well."

Du Plessis-Allan spent most of her childhood in South Africa.

"My mum's family come from a small farming town - probably the size of Gore. The school I attended there was what would be considered semi-private in New Zealand."

There were strict standards around behaviour and dress, she says.

So when she and her mum settled near Pukekohe and she started at decile 2 Tuakau College it was quite a shock.

"It was rough man, it was a really big learning experience. There were some kids causing all kinds of mayhem.

"It was a fantastic school, I really love it and all my friends and teachers from there but it was a big change."

Though she spent much of her childhood in South Africa, du Plessis-Allan's birth father was a Kiwi so she always had a relationship with this country.

Her parents separated but her stepfather was also a Kiwi.

"My stepfather, I'm just going to tell you the truth here, had run into trouble with the law in South Africa. He was a massive alcoholic and he got in so much trouble with the coppers that my mum moved him back to New Zealand."

There were some tough times, which she says have shaped her attitude toward money.

"I am so tight-fisted, my mum yelled at me the other day for how tight-fisted I was," she says.

"I am so careful with my cash it's probably slightly pathological actually. I think it comes from growing up - at times - quite poor. Relocating countries and then money was really, really tight. And I don't think I ever want to end up in that situation again."

Du Plessis-Allan had jobs growing up - as a paper delivery girl and then at McDonald's - but she doesn't recall where the money went, or saving for anything in particular.

"It wasn't until I got to university that I can recall what I was doing with my money - which was obviously cigarettes and alcohol ... and having a good time."

Money certainly wasn't a driver when it came to career choices, du Plessis-Allan says.

She originally had ambitions of becoming a lawyer.

"At the very last minute I discovered Auckland University had politics papers you could take. And that was that. I just loved politics, so I dropped every single plan I had with no foresight, and no thought as to what I was going to do with it for my career - absolutely none.

"I just really wanted to spend three years studying it and it was a really super-indulgent move on my part."

These days du Plessis-Allan says the most indulgent spending choice has been "to insist my husband spend his money on a relatively new car - which was a European car - because it looked nice".

The other big purchase lately was been an expensive ($400) vegetable steaming device that makes fresh baby food.

"Having a baby has changed my perspective on cash," du Plessis-Allan says.

"I realised that I have enough cash and what I don't have is time now.

"This is how tight-fisted I am ... I did my own renovations, I gibbed the walls, I plastered, I did all of that work to save the money.

"Now I'm more likely to spend $90 a week on getting my house cleaned because I don't have the time ... or spend $400 on a food processor for babies because I don't have the time to wash three pots."

Du Plessis-Allan also shares her thoughts on economics, politics, poverty and why women don't help themselves when it comes to getting equal pay.

• Money Talks is a podcast run by the NZ Herald. It isn't about personal finance and isn't about economics - it's just well-known New Zealanders talking about money and sharing some stories about the impact it's had on their lives and how it has shaped them.
• Money Talks is available on IHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
  - Liam Dann, NZ Herald