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

May was a really great month overall – though I think a lot of that is based on an excellent weekend getaway to Venice.

It was also a wildly busy month. My students had their spring theatre festival, so it was the month with the most hours of work. I also had a deadline I was a little behind with for a school thing, that I finally sent off the other day and feel much better about.

Though the pressure cooker feeling of grad school just keeps building. I suspect this is the new normal until the blasted thesis is submitted next year.

I also had Covid for a week, that was serious enough to really wipe me out. So overall, this month was a rollercoaster.

But ending it not sick and in Venice was really nice. It was such a nice weekend getaway. We definitely went well over our intended budget but, screw it, worth it.

My rent went up with month, to nearly $1500 for an abject shithole, so I am excited that I will only be paying that rent for one more month before we move out of London, my car insurance was due for rthe year, and I paid for most of the vacation stuff I will be doing over the summer except for a flight home in July. So… expensive month.

I was able to pull the car insurance costs from my savings, as planned. I also was able to pay for Venice a little bit more than expected from my checking since my teaching paycheck was larger than I thought it was going to be and covered most of my rent, with the little bit I had left over from last month too.

But I think worth it in the long run. One more month of pricely London living and some fun summer expenses before we head out to life in the suburbs.

• Rent – $1432.21
• Car – $1125.90
• BFF Vacation – $932.52
• Venice – $865.25
• Food – $518.21
• Clothes – $195.48
• Passport Renewal – $175.91
• Gifts – $149.21
• Utilities – $146.04
• Transit – $86.65
• Apartment – $72.31
• School – $71.39
• Blog – $68.79
• Charity – $40.76
• Health – $24.30
• Entertainment – $23.52
• Miscellaneous – $4.30

Total Spending in May: $5,932.75

Hustling

This month’s income:

• Teaching Assistant – $1173.24
• Digital Producing – $1133.00
• BFF Vacation Reimbursement – $552.70
• Adjuncting – $496.84
• brokeGIRLrich – $58.66
• Cashback – $8.20

Income This Month: $3,422.64

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.