Profile

I am thirty seven years old and I’m a freelance stage manager and digital event producer. I make $55/hour at the digital production company I work with. I work a variety of small side hustles, and am also a full time student working on a PhD in Drama.

Spending & Saving

I feel a broken record on the “what an expensive month” front, but this time I totally did it to myself.

I paid my quarterly taxes. That comes from a savings account. I move 30% of what I make into it from each 1099 paycheck. But it does seem like there’s just some big expense every month lately. Ugh.

Next was apartment things. I… definitely overdid it a bit. But it feels so much more like a home now. Some of the bigger expenses within that was buying a TV and a rollaway bed for friends who are coming to visit over the summer so… worth it. I had hoped to spend about $1000 on the house stuff and it’s at $1600 right now and I’m not really done but I do think I’m done with constantly buying stuff. Maybe.

The only things left on my list right now are a microwave, microwavable plates and bowls, and some Tupperware.

Decorating is kind of fun. And I’ve developed a plant habit. And there have been so few times in my adult life where I’ve had my own home, I think I might be leaning in a little too far into it. However, on the finance front – painting and decorating have made me like this place 1000% more, so maybe worth it if it makes me just happy to stay here for 4 years instead of moving to a fancier place?

Also, the thought of trying to move all these plants gives me some ojida.I do feel some panicky emotional weight related to the accumulation of so much stuff and how hard that makes it to just up and leave.

I do need to do something about the food spending. It seems a bit ridiculous and also, like… did I eat that much food?!? I’d like to not undo all of my pandemic weight loss.

The school cost was largely related to the final dinner for our big Symposium that a classmate and I co-hosted and at the very last minute, after inviting everyone out for dinner, learned one of us would have to front it because the school can only reimburse for things like that, not provide an outright way to pay. So sometimes next month, I should get most of that back.

Our Symposium went well though and it feels good to have done something that had such a clear outcome too. So much of this grad school process feels like treading water alone – am I swimming anywhere? I don’t know, man.

Though I did apply to a working panel at another conference with my presentation from this Symposium in the hopes of developing it into a journal article and I learned today that I was accepted, so that’s kind of cool too. It’s also in New Orleans, which is one of my favorite cities, so I’m not sad about that either.

Utilities were high because apparently you pay your water bill all in one go up front here, so that was cool. Fortunately my Internet still has a credit on it for this month. I also tried to set up my phone with a contract instead of pay as you go, but I haven’t been in the country long enough yet for EE to accept my debit card as proof I’ll pay my bill. £20 top ups for me for a few months. The woman there said to come back and try in 4-6 months. So… yay.

I went to York to see the Mystery Plays, which is a medieval theatre tradition they do every four years. It has nothing to do with my current research, but I learned about it when doing my MA and have wanted to see them ever since. They did not disappoint and York is a really cool town. It’s got some real distinct vibes and I really enjoyed the two days I spent there.

I also waited in line for an hour to buy two York ghosts and I’m not sad about it.

The rest of the expenses seem fairly average to me. A little high on the clothes, but an outfit I’ve wanted for about a year and half finally went on sale and I snagged it. Hopefully it will be as I hoped when it finally turns up later this month.

I also had to check a bag coming back from New Jersey that was chock full of home bits too. Will definitely say it was worth every penny because filling my flat with a bunch of stuff from home was the first time this little corner of England really felt like my home.

The most exciting financial thing this month is that I finally sorted my 2021 tax refund. So I feel a little less crunched about making my August tuition payment. I’m also hopeful the exchange rate stays favorable because if it stays around where it is now, my tuition will be about $2000 less than it was last time just because of a better exchange rate.

Unfortunately, work has been kind of slow with the digital producing as many of the companies have gone back to in person meetings. Additionally, I shot myself in the foot a little when I signed up for Wednesday night roller skating lessons because a lot of the sessions we do have are 2 days long and either Tuesday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday, so I’m not getting booked on any of them.

Hopefully things pick up more in July.

Here is the expense breakdown for the month:

• Quarterly Taxes – $4212.00
• Apartment – $1109.75
• Food – $705.71
• School – $448.56
• – $437.17
• York – $261.19
• Entertainment – $230.42
• Clothes – $170.84
• Travel – $168.87
• Gifts – $136.19
• Miscellaneous – $84.59
• New Jersey – $70.00
• Toiletries – $56.27
• brokeGIRLrich – $37.00
• Charity – $33.58
• Health – $27.00
• Shows – $15.11

Total Spending in June: $8,204.25 (or $3,992.65 without the taxes)

Hustling

This month’s income comes from several different sources. The usual digital producing and brokeGIRLrich. I also work one day a week for my supervisor’s theatre company doing bookings and organizing VIPs. And I finally got my own money back in the form of my tax refund and my dad paying me back for the dog tick debacle last month.

• Tax Refund – $11,424.28
• Digital Event Producing – $4,711.16
• brokeGIRLrich – $1,132.86
• Dad – $900.00
• Theatre Part Time Job – $499.77
• Credit Card Reward – $1.05

Income This Month: $18,669.12

Oof, stock market. Alright then. Definitely a noticeable plummet this month., but I plan to just keep riding the roller coaster.

Goals 

I think this is a pretty good assessment of what I might be able to achieve this year. If I luck out and the blog has a really good year or something, I will aim to make a contribution to my SEP 401k too.

• Max out my Roth IRA.
• Max out my HSA. $1,000 contributed. 
• Save up $15,000 to pay my tuition for 2022-23 in August without dipping into the school savings account ($9,000 if I manage the scholarship goal).I accidentally saved an extra $800.
• Obtain £5,000 in funding scholarships.
• Save up $2,000 for traveling.
• Balance work and school without losing my mind. This is sort of going ok. Sometimes. I legitimately don’t often know if I’m balancing school right, but I’m going to stick with if my supervisors say I’m doing okay, I’m doing okay.