Profile

I am thirty four years old and the Performance Director at Big Apple Circus. I make $70,000 a year and live in a show provided RV. I also have health insurance through this job that’s deducted straight from my paycheck, so I don’t really count it in my bills since it’s never money I see anyway (it’s roughly $150/month).

Saving & Spending

It’s funny how awesome July was and how rough August was. My mom has had small cell lung cancer for the last two years and things have been going pretty well with the different treatments, but halfway through August they tanked pretty hard.

They now have her on some experimental chemo that has stabilized things again for now, but it was really a fairly terrifying month. On the 15^th, I was supposed to head back to work with the circus. I made it through three days there in the middle of all this nonsense and wound up freaking out to my boss after the third day, when I called home and she couldn’t even breathe enough to talk on the phone.

It was definitely one of those moments when I realized that even though I’ve got a fair amount of issues with my job at times and it can be incredibly frustrating, the people I work with are phenomenal. They sent me home that night and they’ve even been letting me work from home for now so I don’t have to do FMLA and I can still get paid. I can also save that FMLA time for later – because with small cell lung cancer, eventually there will be a later.

Thank goodness though, fingers crossed this chemo will work a nice long time, and it looks like I’ll actually be able to head back to work on September 5^th, a few days before our rehearsals with cast start. Though considering how fast things went south last time, we’ll just take it one day at a time over here.

As far as this relates to my budget, my toiletries line is higher than usual because I forgot a bunch of stuff in my RV. There’s also a Mom line because in the terrifying, rapid decline we needed some stuff like a walker and a method to make sure we could hear her if she was on a different floor than the rest of us (she still wakes up at 5 AM and comes downstairs for coffee) and needed us.

FYI – Amazon makes wireless doorbells that are so loud even my near deaf dad and sometimes totally oblivious brother can hear them once I installed the receivers next to their beds.

I am also pretty sure the stuff like books and candles are a little more emotional spending heavy than usual.

Strangely silver lining story though: There is an app called 1 Second Everyday where you record one second of your life every day for a year and oddly enough, during the mess that has been the last few weeks, I’ve kind of enjoyed the distraction of finding something “good” in everyday. It has made me a lot more aware of things, like how pretty a bath bomb can be or why it can be fun to really make a “moment” out of Pumpkin Spice Latte day (yeah, I’m ok with how basic I am). I have really been trying to live in the moment of these little pampering expenses, making them seem totally worth it to me right now – in a way that I don’t think I usually savor them.

Anyway… if I rewind all the way to the beginning of August, it actually started pretty spectacularly with our last day in Iceland. It was a heck of a trip and I’ll account for the money spent there below – it includes a few days in July that didn’t do on last month’s tab.

There were also several fun expenses like the doctor, the dentist, a haircut and new contacts. And a few legitimate fun expenses – I saw The Darkest Minds and won Spongebob: The Musical lottery tickets and went with my dad.

And another sign of another season with BAC, I have giant work related expenses that will eventually be reimbursed.

I also registered to take an accounting class online this semester to see if I actually like it at all. At least I finally got some clothing refunds. And I was underbudget on the Iceland trip overall, so I was able to shift some of those savings to my down payment savings account.

My expenses this month:

• Food – $279.19
• Gas – $30.41
• Lifelock – $9.99
• Toiletries – $35.44
• brokeGIRLrich – $2.99
• Clothes – –$200.75
• Entertainment – $135.48
• Work Related – $2371.40
• Iceland – $464.01
• Shipping – $23.98
• eBay Fees – $17.07
• Doctor – $98
• Dentist – $270
• Contacts – $695.92
• RV – $15.53
• Gifts – $33.47
• Haircut – $45
• Candles – $59.88
• Books – $32.02
• Mom Expenses – $122.73
• School Expenses – $778.91
• Miscellaneous – $45.46

Total Spending in August: $5,366.13

It was a pretty expensive month.

Hustling

My income this month was from performance directing at Big Apple, selling a few things on eBay, an eBates refund, and brokeGIRLrich.

• Stage Managing – $2,959.78
• brokeGIRLrich – $586.49
• eBates – $66.48
• eBay – $41.20

Income This Month: $3,653.95

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

My Favorite Post to Write This Month: The Cost of Five Days in Iceland

Goals

• Max out my IRA. – Done
• Max out my 401k. – On track to max out by end of year.
• Buy $5,000 in stock. – Done
• Contribute $3,000 to my New Car Fund – Done
• Contribute $5,000 to my Down Payment Fund. – $3,500 contributed. $1,500 to go.
• Go on a family vacation. – Brigantine Beach 2018.
• Go on a best friend vacation. – I’m there right now! Iceland July 2018.
• Develop 2 new resume skills. – OSHA 30 Training done. One more to go.
• Max out my Health Savings Account for the year.