Profile

I am thirty two years old and I was the Production Stage Manager for the national tour of FAME until the middle of this month. I made $700 per week and a $300 weekly stipend, though the job ended a little less than 3 weeks into the month. I start my next gig the first week of February.

Saving & Spending

To be honest, I’ve been struggling a little this month with my attitude. At the beginning of December, I was set to start off 2017 so far ahead and now I actually feel like I’m swimming frantically to stay above water.

That being said, I’m grateful I could help out my family and I’m grateful that my version of swimming frantically to stay above water is all about meeting savings goals and not about having literally no money. I’ve been saying all month that I have no money, and what I really mean is “I have no money to spend on that.”

This is also the first time in a long time that I’ve felt sort of judged by a few friends and family when I’ve turned down going somewhere or doing something by telling them I don’t have money for it or felt some push back.

It’s sort of depressing when the new year rolls around and you reset all your goals and you go from feeling like a golden god because you achieved everything last year to having an entire list with nothing accomplished on it yet staring you in the face.

I also feel like 2016 was an amazing year for work and my career and I’m a little freaked out that 2017 won’t be the same. I keep trying to remind myself that a lot of what happened in 2016 didn’t have much advance notice. Some jobs I knew about far in advance, but some just fell into my lap in time and barely any were on my radar in January 2016… but I’m an impatient person and always want my ducks lined up in a row.

That being said, I still had a pretty good month. It was easiest schedule for FAME of the entire tour.

My biggest expense was an impromptu trip to Nashville for the weekend with my cousin. I raided some of her wedding fund to be able to go, but hope to replace everything by the end of February.

• Gym – $10.70
• Food – $600.24
• Healthcare – $182.00
• Hair – $113.79
• Stage Management – $122
• Clothes – $3.05
• Toiletries – $47.51
• Liquor – $22.90
• Entertainment – $39.72
• Blog – $2.99
• Nashville – $589.67

Total Spending in January: $1,734.57

Hustling

My income this month was made up of FAME paychecks, brokeGIRrich, Uber, BevRAGE and UserTesting. I substitute taught at the end of the month, but won’t actually get the paycheck from that until February and probably won’t be able to put it in my bank account until I’m home from my next tour in March.

• Stage Managing – $2,230.69
• brokeGIRLrich – $221.80
• User Testing – $20.00
• Uber – $4.18
• BevRAGE – $2.00

Income This Month: $2,478.67

Man, I am just trapped in the $70,000 range. Fingers crossed I can cross into the $80k mark by March.

Most Popular Post of the Month: 114 Side Hustles: Ways to Make More Money

My Favorite Post to Write This Month: Is digit still awesome? TWO Years Later, I’m Still Saying Yes! (because it is)

Entirely Unrelated to Personal Finance

I actually got to see two movies this month and I though Passengers was pretty good. A lot of it was pretty predictable, but overall the story was pretty neat. I saw it in a theater that had D-Box seating, which I’d never heard of before, but it’s when the chairs move with the movie. I thought it might be a little obnoxious, but it turned out that Passengers was a great movie to see that way.

I also saw Hidden Figures. Yay awesome women rocket scientist – boo society for not acknowledging their contribution to NASA for so long. Seriously though, it was an awesome movie.

Goals

1. Max out my IRA. – $5,041 to go. Currently on track.
2. Buy $1,000 in stock.
3. Contribute $2,000 to my New Car Fund – $1,833 to go. Currently on track.
4. Contribute $5,000 to my Down Payment Fund – $4,583 to go. Currently on track.
5. Contribute $1,400 to my cousin’s wedding fund. – About $600 to go, after raiding what I’d already contributed.
6. Develop 2 new resume skills.
7. Do something really fun with my brother.
8. Write a journal or magazine article.
9. Hike something.
10. Master making macaroons. This. Is. The. Year.