Profile

I am thirty-nine years old, a digital event producer and 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

Happy Easter! Above is my very British Easter with the partner’s family because Easter seems to be much less of a thing over here, so we all just went out to the carvery by his folks. But they did get us each a big chocolate egg, which was pretty egg-citing.

So March was ok. I don’t know if it’s because it feels like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel in relation to both school (from passing my transfer exam) and London rent (from deciding we’re probably moving to Peterborough in July) or the depths of winter and it’s accompanying depression has passed a bit.

Either way, things feel much better this month than they have for the last several.

So I filed my taxes and got a fairly substantial tax refund (also probably part of why I’m less stressed). I put a large chunk of it into savings to pay my tuition in September. I also got a reply from the postgraduate tuition office confirming what I’ll owe next year and how the reduced tuition works for fourth year considering I started mid-year.

I also splurged on several of the things you see below, like deciding to go on a trip to Venice with my boyfriend the last weekend in May. I also bought a nice pair of waterproof shoes because I have been regretting not owning a pair for nearly two years now.

It’s sort of crazy to me that I started March by visiting Bath with my cousin and sister-in-law. That felt like years ago, and when I calculated my spending for the month, it made me laugh.

I also had two bigger surprise fees – the hosting for the website for the game my college friends and I made, Tavern of Conquests, and my annual water bill, which I was able to find out how to prorate it through July. Entertainment was also a little high due to buying things to make playing Gloomhaven easier and two weekends in a row out and about in London, including a positively terrible escape room over Easter weekend.

I also booked several shows to see that are part of my thesis research in the hopes of getting all the data collection done before moving out of London in July and making it much more difficult and expensive to do.

And, of course, eating out way too much.

On the plus side, this month I competed in this thing called the 3MT – 3 Minute Thesis. You pitch your research sort of like an elevator pitch – you have 3 minutes, you have to use one image, and anyone should be able to understand what you are doing.

I won an award for my faculty’s heat and now I have to present it again in June against all the other winners of the various school faculty’s but most important is that I won £1000. So between that and what I moved into my savings from my tax refund, I achieved my goal of saving/winning $5000 for tuition next year.

Fingers crossed the university-wide competition will go well. I doubt it, I was astonished I won the faculty one, but that was pretty cool.

Also of note, my trivia team won the pub quiz twice this month, so who’ll even need a job soon? L.O.L.

Here is the expense breakdown for the month:

• Rent – $1288.05
• Food – $532.37
• Venice – $406.92
• Family Trip – $366.42
• Entertainment – $298.26
• Utilities – $294.46
• Tavern of Conquests – $192.59
• Tax Filing – $122.00
• Clothes – $107.64
• Transportation – $105.20
• Charity – $40.22
• Blog – $37.00
• School – $20.57
• Health – $18.89
• Gifts – $11.10

Total Spending in March: $3841.69

Hustling

This month’s income:

• Tax Refund – $7118.00
• Digital Producing – $1402.50
• Teaching Assistant – $919.15
• brokeGIRLrich – $606.07
• Family Vacation Repayment – $166.96
• Dividends – $41.60
• Pub Quiz – $28.28

Income This Month: $10,282.56

Goals

• Save up $5,000 for school – via saving or scholarships.
• Max out 2023 Roth IRA. 
• Max out 2024 Roth IRA ($7000). 
• Max out HSA ($4150).$100 contributed, $4050 to go.
• Stage manage a show.Starting strong! I’d like to hopefully stage manage another before the end of 2024.