KEY POINTS:
Louisa Platt, 29, and her husband Stan, 28, are renting while they save for a house deposit.
With a 1-year-old son, Gabriel, a baby on the way and a third child hoped for, it will probably be five years before they're ready to buy a house.
To get ahead financially, they're considering shifting to the South Island.
Since we last spoke, Stan has switched from sales to the Army and Platt has returned to part-time work as an ultrasound operator.
"I went back for my sanity, not for the money. We're lucky we can afford a nanny. It just means all my money is going into childcare rather than savings."
Louisa likes the 20-hour free early childhood education scheme, though she knows some centres are charging parents a levy.
"The 'free' thing sounds good but the reality is it's not working as they portrayed it."
She's settled on voting National. She's ready for change. "It would take quite a bit for me not to vote National."
Not that she's seduced by the carrot of tax cuts. "I can't see that they'd be able to afford to give everyone a tax cut big enough to make much of a difference, really."
She'd rather see the lowest rate reduced to help people at the bottom of the pay scale.
And she'd like to hear more policy detail from National. "They haven't told us all what they're planning. We've heard rumours about things they'll pull out of the bag when they get into power, which isn't reassuring. But Helen's done her time; that's the advantage John Key has. It's a bit of a risk changing the government but risk is to be taken."
Meanwhile, she's giving Winston Peters, for whom she once voted, the benefit of the doubt.
"I like Winston. I like some of his values and ideas about immigration, for example. It would be a shame to see him go. He just adds a lot of life to politics. If he got found guilty of fraud that's the fact of the matter, but until then, innocent until proven guilty."
