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
Another month of life, just flown by.
In exciting news, the dollar is clearly plummeting against the pound, as everything is creeping up in cost this month, most noticeable was the $20.00 increase in my rent, but a big overall ugh.
It makes me a little anxious for the summer. June will be my last teaching paycheck in pounds before I have to just exchange money from dollars to pay for life over here, so fingers crossed I can find a part time job that at least covers rent. I did have an interview for another digital producing job with a British company this week.
We also had a monthly producer meeting at my other job where they were pretty clear bookings would not be picking up anytime soon, if ever. I had no bookings this entire month, and only one back in January that I was paid for this month. There’s also only one workshop on the books for April, so that’s… less than stellar. Especially since I’m only TAing half the number of days I usually do in April because of the two week spring break.
For adjuncting though, I am booked to teach two classes again next term, so that will be helpful. I also finally received a package of tax papers from my dad, which included my paycheck for stage managing when I was home over the holidays and a stipend for writing a journal article, which was really kind of unexpected.
And, of course, I remain in denial about the state of my income and continue to live as usual. Will it all be fine or is this a terrible choice? I really don’t know.
Expenses were pretty standard. A bump in train expenses because it included a return fare to Glasgow for a friend’s wedding. I also bought a plane ticket home for Memorial Day weekend. My family does a big camping trip and I will just stay an extra week after and work from home to make the most of it. I found a cheap fare through Icelandair, which I suspect I will regret a bit because it’s an overnight return flight with a layover in Iceland, and I hate both layovers and flying overnight. I have been super spoiled by the United 8:30 AM flight to London that gets me home to Peterborough around 10 PM. But I miss my family and my travel plans for the year are too ambitious to justify a plane ticket that would’ve been more than twice the price. So discomfort it is. My dad also recently informed me he is selling our house, so I am glad I will get to say good-bye to it and pack up my room myself, as well as make sure he doesn’t just throw out every sentimental item in our home. It’s been our family home since I was 3, but I have also been stressing about my dad’s balance as he gets older and all the stairs in the house, so… time for a change. He found a house he wants to flip about 30 minutes from there and is going to live in that ranch while he works on it. He informs me there is still a room for me though, so it will be interesting to see the place in May. As weird as it is to say considering the many choices chronicled in this blog, I am actually kind of terrible at change so I think I am handling the news pretty well.
Besides the usual expenses with TfL when visiting my partner’s family in London every weekend, while his mom recovers, we also rented a car one day to go visit some friends who were in like the most obnoxious configuration of trains and busses to get to and have the best evening playing Blood on the Clocktower with a bunch of friends.
Also, in good news, the partner’s mom is doing much better and was just released from the hospital. So while that is overall excellent news alone, it is also some nice news for us that we can cut back our trips to London a little. Not just financially but he hasn’t had a free weekend since the beginning of January and I’ve had just the one. And we haven’t spent a weekend home together since the beginning of December. It’s all just been a really full-on winter.
I put a deposit down for a car for my driving test which is an absolute scam. £400 for a two hour rental for an hour before the test and the hour of the test. Talk about taking advantage of foreigners. So I paid the £50 deposit and I booked a hotel room near the test center because the earlier time at our local center was September for a test and I was really hoping to buy a car by this summer. The test center about an hour from here had a first thing in the morning appointment in May, so that is coming up. Assuming I actually pass the first time around this whole project will cost me close to £1000. And if I don’t pass the first time around… I don’t even know. The thought of paying that insane amount for a two hour car rental again makes me want to punch something.
I’d say fingers crossed next month is less expensive, but I don’t think it will be. It’s around time to start planning for the Egypt trip and the summer plans with the BFF and before long my car insurance will be due too for my car in the States, which I still calculate is cheaper to pay than to rent a car for 2-4 weeks a year. And I think my car breaking down over the summer and trapping us at my dad’s for three days highlighted the value in the freedom of the car when I’m home.
Expenses this month:
- Rent – $808.63
- Q1 Taxes – $740.00
- Airfare Home in May – $477.88
- Food – $468.99
- Trains – $346.80
- Utilities – $329.07
- Tubes, Busses & Car Rentals – $194.94
- Driving Test – $115.94
- Entertainment – $96.85
- Council Tax – $84.74
- Gifts – $66.81
- Ubers – $59.42
- Charity – $41.40
- Blog – $37.00
- Toiletries – $11.01
Total Spending in March: $3879.48 (or $3,139.48 without taxes)
Hustling
This month’s income:
- Adjuncting – $1866.54
- Stage Managing – $1500.00
- Teaching Assistant – $886.75
- Digital Producing – $467.50
- Journal Article – $150.00
- Blog – $114.61
- Dividends – $43.20
Income This Month: $5,028.60
Net Worth: March 2025
Goals
Onwards to the goals!
- Max Out My Roth IRA for 2024:Done.
- Max Out My Roth IRA for 2025:$7000 to go.
- Max Out My HSA– $4300 to go.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. Though we have been looking at some deals to go to the beach in Albania for like $250 for a long weekend.
- Save $1,200 for my US Car Insurance by June
- 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.
- 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.
