Profile

I am thirty seven years old and I’m a freelance digital event producer. I make $50/hour at the main company I work with. I also work part time for a theatre company doing a digital murder mystery/escape room for £15/hour five nights a week.

Spending & Saving

Where the heck did August go?

This month was ridiculously fast. I worked quite a few shifts with the digital workshops and the murder mysteries. I also started my final semester of accounting classes and have nearly finished my grad school applications. One is totally in and I expect the other two to be done by mid-September.

I also have a few other things on the horizon that have been taking up more time than I thought they would at this point. So I’m stretched a little thin at the moment. Some days go better than others but some changes are definitely on the horizon.

Which is nice. I was complaining about feeling so stuck just a month ago and now I’m considerably more excited about the future and (because I can never just chill and be totally happy) a little nervous about all this change too. Related to that, I renewed my CPR & First Aid certifications this month. I tried to save some money by going through a company called Boston Medical Staffing but they were the worst and turned into a total customer service nightmare when I had to reschedule my class date, so I recommend paying the extra $10 and sticking with the Red Cross, friends.

Right now feels a little more like the normal time between things because I’ve started trying to cram as much time as possible with friends and family into any free time now that I see a time when I might not be around anymore.

So on that note, entertainment is hella high this month. I went away for the weekend to some PA wineries with my circus BFF since PA is kind of between where we both live. I also paid for some things to go visit a friend in Nashville at the end of September. And there were plenty of small expenses in that column from grabbing drinks or going to random events with friends. Money well spent though.

My phone also gave up the ghost after nearly 5 years, so I bought a new one. That cost also has things like adapters and cases rolled into the total.

On the plus side, a prepandemic advertiser on this blog who dropped off during the pandemic came back with a vengeance this month and so brokeGIRLrich made the most it’s ever made in a single month. I suspect this is a weird anomaly and not something to hope for in the future.

Food held pretty steady. I’ve still been ordering meal kits for me and my dad. We did Home Chef (really good) and Martha Stewart’s Marley Spoon (also really good and surprisingly not super expensive) this month.

Clothes are kind of high because after my washing machine ate a bra, I realized I was down to only two. Bras are just stupid expensive, but I did also decide to try some new brands that had been advertising at me like crazy – so someday soon you will see some reviews for Lively, MeUndies, and Honeylove cause let’s be real… bras are expensive investments.

Spending in general was a little high this month. There were definitely a few days early in the month where I sort of went “eff it” and bought several things that had been on my wishlist for a few years including some candles, a pair of earrings, a weighted blanket, and some lip balm.

There was a pretty big jump in my net worth this month, in part because I think the stock market was a bit down when I did it last month and is back up this month. Next month is also quarterly taxes, so that will be a large hit in September. But sometimes it’s crazy to see those jumps due to investments and the stock market. They make me think that money isn’t actually real.

Also, if this trend continues, it’s not impossible that I might reach my goal of $325k net worth for 2021 even after paying for tuition, so fingers crossed.

My expenses this month:

• Phone – $867.70
• Entertainment – $642.93
• Food – $480.98
• Clothes – $240.39
• Gifts – $231.96
• Gas – $203.29
• Stage Management – $110.00
• Fitness – $86.47
• House Goods – $81.15
• Charity – $60.00
• Candles – $58.35
• Miscellaneous – $31.26
• School – $18.86
• Postage – $17.90
• Books – $12.32

Total Spending in August: $3,143.56 

Hustling

This month’s income comes from digital producing, stage managing the murder mysteries, brokeGIRLrich, working as a stagehand at the local theatre on a few weekends, Rakuten cashback, eBay, UserTesting and a tiny settlement from a class action lawsuit from Google from when they misused people’s Google+ profiles years ago.

• Digital Event Producing – $3682.50
• brokeGIRLrich – $2209.60
• Stage Managing – $1584.02
• Stagehand – $386.75
• Rakuten Cashback – $15.31
• eBay – $14.77
• UserTesting – $10.00
• Google Suit – $2.15

Income This Month: $7,905.10

Goals

• Max out my Roth IRA. Done
• Max out my HSA. $600 to go.
• Invest $2,000. Done.
• Save up $3,000 for post-pandemic traveling. Done
• Add $1,000 to the emergency savings account. Done
• Add $2,000 to the new car savings account.
• Break $300,000 net worth. Updated to break $325,000. Technically I achieved that this month! But I suspect that if I get into school, the expenses to get my visa and everything will jeopardize this – so we’re not going to consider it a success for sure until December.
• Do two things to build up my stage management skills. COVID compliance officer certificate and immersive theatre design class.