Profile

I am thirty years old and I am a stage manager/lighting director for a show out on tour. I have no rent and no real bills… although there’s a good chance I should actually invest in some health insurance. I’m not 100% sold on that idea yet though. I make $700 a week with an additional $30/day per diem. I have no benefits whatsoever with this job – except workman’s comp, should I electrocute myself or something awesome like that.

Saving & Spending

Ugh. This month. I pretty much made the decision earlier this month to let go of the frugal reigns for the duration of this tour. I have several savings goals for each month and as long as I actually meet them, then I decided I was ok with whatever else I spent.

So that has worked out. I contributed more than my intended goal to my IRA, added to my emergency savings and contributed to my house,car,computer,phone savings accounts. And I still have a little money left over.

However, our van getting broken into and all of our luggage getting stolen definitely threw a kink in my spending plans. It was definitely one of those moments where I was thankful for previous financial savviness, since the majority of my cast about died when they realized we weren’t covered by insurance and the cops were pretty much useless. On the flip side, I sighed, was thankful I never really bring much that’s irreplaceable on the road, and headed out to Walmart to stock up on underwear… and a seriously styling pair of jeggings… and, most unexpectedly, an incredibly comfortable and flattering pair of real jeans for $20. That are a size smaller than when I started tour. Yay stress and crazy schedules.

I then had the sole of the only pair of shoes I had left split in half. Which I gaff taped together is a very classy fashion for a few days, but I was really intent on not dropping $20 to temporarily fix the problem with shoes that weren’t really comfortable at Walmart and instead kept my gaff tape awesome look for several days until we found an outlet mall and I was able to replace them and pick up a pair of sneakers.

Replacing my shoes cost more than replacing everything else!

I also work for an awesome company who mailed us out new suitcases and increased our stipend for the week by $500 so the people effected could buy new clothes. I am definitely on the best children’s tour in existence.

Sadly, 5 shot glasses from my collection were stolen, including the incredible Wall Drug jackalope, so I’m back to square one there. But I did pick up a new one at the World’s Largest Pistachio this week – so nothing’s going to keep me down!

Hustling

Oh my gosh, hustling on the road is hard. On more than one occasion, I’ve managed to work really ahead and feel like I rule the world and on more than one occasion, I’ve written a post the night before in a sleep deprived panic.

That being said, I still managed to make a few dollars again over here.

brokeGIRLrich: $180

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

My Favorite Post to Write This Month: Sing For Your Supper: Busking in NYC

Elsewhere on the Web: How to Maximize Your Savings on Clearance Items at U.S. News & World Report

Travel Investments That Are Worth the Splurge at U.S. News & World Report

Women into Investing Part II: PF Bloggers at Makin the Bacon

Entirely Unrelated to Personal Finance

So I started a new series this month called PODCAST (DAY)!! because one of the girls in our cast is super into podcasts. They let me torture them all with some personal finance ones but a major group favorite is Night Vale, which has nothing to do with personal finance (unless that’s what they’re doing in the dog park) and is very much like a podcast version of The Twilight Zone. It’s pretty entertaining and delightfully weird.

You can download it or even catch their episodes on YouTube.

Just remember, do not go into the dog park.

Goals

1.) Max out my IRA… chugging along. $2,300 to go.

2.) Contribute $1,000 to my emergency savings… only $800 to go.

3.) Buy $1,000 of stock.

4.) Save $100 a month for a new computer. February – check.

5.) Save $100 a month for a new car (I’m hoping the current one will make it to roughly 2021). February – check.

6.) Save $2,000 for a house down payment. Only $1,800 to go.

7.) Find a job for when the current one ends at the end of May. Maybe nailed it? I have had trouble finding a scanner and the app on my phone refuses to work right, so I haven’t been able to mail in some necessary paper for that next job. We’ll see how long they stay patient. In the last town, the lady literally laughed at me when I asked if there was a Kinko’s or something where I could scan documents.

8.) Side hustle and credit card reward my way to FinCon15 – if my work schedule allows… which is looking less and less likely ;o( But I won’t know for sure until much closer.

9.) Figure out what to do if I manage to surpass all my savings goals…