Profile

I am forty years old, an occasional digital event producer and freelance stage manager. I work as a TA and an adjunct. I also work a variety of side hustles and am a full-time student working on a PhD in Drama.

Spending & Saving

Well… February happened. Things have settled into a bit of a rhythm of schoolwork and teaching all week and then going down to London to see the boyfriend’s mom in the hospital on weekends. It’s all been a bit full on. However, there was a weekend at the end of the month when he was already committed to a weekend party with some friends, so headed to London alone and I cleaned our whole fairly gross home and just zoned out most of the weekend and it was actually really nice and did a lot for mental state. Fortunately, his mom is continually improving. Unfortunately, it takes a while to come back from a pretty severe stroke.

I am excited that this was the last week of two trips into London a week. I also teach on Mondays this month, so I will probably stay at the boyfriend’s parents house when he heads home on Sunday nights so it will just be the cost of one train ticket into the city each week.

I am pleased though that while January and February were expensive travel months, they were pretty much what I thought they would be – so from here on out for the rest of the PhD I can really judge if the move was worth it.

Besides teaching twice a week in London, I also volunteered one more time with You Me Bum Bum train, which was probably enough volunteering there. I have some strong feelings about reasons to volunteer for something I usually get paid to do and I think I have benefitted all I can at this point. I also don’t love that while the show does do several lovely nights for people on hospice and they work with some charity groups, it mostly feels like I’m working for free to entertain celebrities and rich people which feels… sort of gross. So I think I’m good there. That being said, it is a wild place and if you ever have a chance to see the show, even though tickets are a little pricey – I highly recommend. There is nothing else like it.

Volunteering at the show is kind of crazy though because I rush right over from teaching and I’m there till about 11 PM and I wind up getting home at nearly 1 AM. So… weird month.

Besides that it’s just me and my computer. I have a pretty much done Introduction chapter for my thesis, a medium done literature review and methodology. I also have my two case study chapters drafted and most of my workshop chapter, though it’s still very rough. That leaves the discussion and conclusion chapters to deal with. And all the polishing. It feels like it never ends.

I’ve also largely been avoiding writing up the section on care ethics in my literature review and I don’t even know why. I actually think I have a fair grip on the topic now and I still can’t make myself just sit down and write. It’s only like 1500-2000 words for pete’s sake.

Sigh. The motivation is just not there these days. It’s pure grit at this point. I’m hoping that passes and it becomes a little more fun at some point.

Of course, the February weather does nothing for my general mood either, but I don’t think I fully appreciated how bad it was until the sun actually came out last weekend and I sat outside in the hammock reading a book for fun for a bit and I literally felt like I was coming back to life. I know this is the false spring part of winter, but my goodness, it’s so nice to see the sun.

I still feel a little stressed overall about money, but I think this year might be ok. I mean, they all have worked out, right? I suspect that I will have the money for my car insurance and most of Egypt saved by the end of next month. This month there were a few more expenses than I had anticipated because we paid for a weekend in Scotland to go to a friend’s wedding and it was like shockingly expensive to get up to Scotland, and, of course, the hotel everyone is staying at is kind of a fancy one. We could’ve gone more budget about it but part of the point is for everyone to be together, right?

That should leave me saving up for the BFF summer adventures by April/May and then contributing to the retirement savings from then on. I am also cognizant that digital producing is the slowest it’s ever been – I didn’t work any days in January and only one day at the end of February – and after May I will be working with just my adjuncting income and savings until I graduate and find a full-time job. I will probably look for a part-time job in the fall while I’m finishing up.

This month I also paid for driving lessons and registered to take my driving test in May. I will need to book a hotel near the testing site too because it’s an hour from home and the test is first thing in the morning. British driving test appointments are absolutely wild. I picked that one because it was the first appointment I could get – three months from now. The first available appointment in our city wasn’t until the end of August. I was also trying to challenge myself to take the test in a manual car, but my driving lessons are not going quite as I hoped, so I think after the last one next week, I may just plan to take the test in an automatic.

Maybe there are enough challenges in life at the moment, lol. In the entertainment category, I bought tickets to see a few Darkfield shows in April, which I’m pretty excited about. I enjoy their use binaural audio in storytelling. AND I bought the new Ticket to Ride map of San Francisco to play with one of my best friends, which was big news because it’s been ages since the app released a new map. I also paid for another year subscription to Lose It! on the off chance that I actually manage to commit to losing the 30 pounds I’ve gained while working on my doctorate. I’ve started putting effort in this last week of the month, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m not convinced I’m fully committed to this goal and I know it will not happen if I’m not.

Expenses this month:

• Rent – $787.98
• Food – $604.99
• Driving Lessons & Test: $532.04
• Trains – $219.41
• Utilities – $172.01
• Scotland Wedding – $155.02
• Gifts – $118.58
• Travel (TfL) – $114.22
• Ubers – $99.22
• Entertainment – $87.04
• Council Tax – $80.99
• Charity – $40.34
• Blog – $37.00
• School – $32.91
• Home – $20.52
• Toiletries – $2.77

Total Spending in February: $3,105.04

Hustling

This month’s income:

• Adjuncting – $1866.52
• Teaching Assistant – $1128.91
• Blog – $84.37

Income This Month: $3,079.80

Goals

Onwards to the goals!

1. Max Out My Roth IRA for 2024: Done.
2. Max Out My Roth IRA for 2025: $7000 to go.
3. Max Out My HSA – $4300 to go.
4. Go to Egypt with My Boyfriend and Family: Aiming for $3000 saved (though I hope it will be closer to $2500). I have $500 saved towards this so far.
5. Best Friend Summer Adventures: My BFF visits every summer for like two weeks and we usually explore an area of the UK for a long weekend and fly to somewhere with a cheap plane ticket for a long weekend. Unless the digital producing really picks up, I may need to dip into the savings to do this, but I’m aiming to save between $2000 and $3000 for her visit .
6. Anniversary Getaway – In May we usually try go away for the long weekend at the end of the month to celebrate our anniversary and I would be excited to save $1,000 for this – even though we can probably do it for about half that. I may have actually ruined anniversary weekend by potentially going home for a camping trip. TBD.
7. Save $1,200 for my US Car Insurance by June
8. Buy a Used Car in the UK – I currently have $10,000 in a new car account because my Toyota Matrix is on her last legs. I was saving to purchase a new car, but instead I’m looking to buy a used car in the UK after I finish my driving lessons for approximately £5,000 or less.
9. Pay for a Graduate Visa – this is going to cost around £4000 and I have $6000 left in my tuition account, so this should be good to go. We will see at the end of the year.