Profile

I am thirty nine years old and I’m a digital event producer and very occasional freelance stage manager. I make $55/hour at the digital production company I work with, though work has been very slow this year. I work a variety of small side hustles and am a full time student working on a PhD in Drama.

Spending & Saving

So after months of saying things feel tight and being pleasantly proven wrong when calculating the numbers, this month lives up to that. And next month is projected to be significantly worse. Both will be supplemented by some savings to keep life moving along like normal.

If things don’t pick up soon with the digital producing I will have to look for a new remote job.

My best friend is visiting from the States for two weeks. So we’ve done more London-y things than I usually do and we went to the Peak District for the weekend, which wound up being pretty expensive. I did sort of accidentally go a bit YOLO at one of our stops when we decided to do afternoon tea on a whim and I bought a fancy bottle of gin they make near Chatsworth House. Some of that overall expense she will reimburse me for next month when we settle up the trip.

The first week in August, we head to Switzerland to meet up with our other best friend and that place is just crazy expensive. I’ve essentially decided I’m just pulling from some savings for this trip and if things aren’t improved next summer, there will be no big trips because the two of them are operating in a very different tax bracket than me at the moment. Also I’m not paying all this money to get to and around Switzerland and then nickel and diming the food and activities.

I keep telling myself that I can make more money later and that I’m almost hallway through this doctorate anyway.

I also keep telling myself I’m just going to wash out during my transfer viva in the fall, so might as well live up the European life while I’m still allowed to be here.

…hopefully that last statement is just panic and imposter syndrome living their best lives in my head.

In exciting news, gas tariffs were updated and mine dropped by almost £100 a month to something that actually seems normal and reasonable now. We’ll see if they just sky rocket again in the fall but about £20 a month in gas is way more in line with what I thought I was using in my one bedroom apartment.

Next month I head to Edinburgh Fringe to babysit the undergrads for a week. The school pays for my train ticket and accommodation and I have to watch their show each day and be on call for if they need anything. All of that expense is tickets to shows for me and my boyfriend, who is coming with me. He should be covering most of what we eat, so hopefully that’s about it for Edinburgh expenses.

Also, If you ever need some encouragement to prioritize maxing out your IRA and then putting a little in a brokerage account when you can – I have been complaining about money for months and noted that I am definitely struggling a little bit this month and probably next month. However, my car appreciated for some reason but also, all my retirement and investment accounts are now telling me my net worth has gone up $12,000 this month.

Though, of course, that could plummet next month. Who knows? But still… that’s sort of crazy.

Here is the expense breakdown for the month:

• Rent – $1314.84
• Food – $837.04
• Peak District – $811.20
• Switzerland – $481.22
• Fringe – $257.24
• Clothes – $173.25
• Transit – $161.49
• Apartment – $122.15
• Entertainment – $106.59
• Utilities – $89.87
• Stage Managing – $84.90
• Blog – $57.84
• Miscellaneous – $38.49
• Charity – $35.92
• Health – $22.58

Total Spending in July: $4,594.62

Hustling

This month’s income:

• Digital Event Producing – $1663.75
• Ushering – $689.91
• School Reimbursement – $150.73
• brokeGIRLrich – $145.75
• Murder Mysteries – $32.07

Income This Month: $2,682.71

Goals

These are my goals for 2023.

• Save up $10,000 for school.
• Save up £5100 for school. Down to £131 this month. This probably isn’t going to happen.
• Max out Roth IRA ($6500). $1000 contributed so far.
• Max out HSA ($3850).
• Buy the pretty lamp.
• Save $2000 for vacation with BFF over the summer. This just completely and totally failed. It all came out of savings and, I’m guessing by the time we get back from Switzerland next month will be close to $1,000 more than I planned to spend too. Not my best money moments but some really great life moments? Sigh. I hate grad school for every financial reason imaginable,
• Stage manage a show.