Profile

I am thirty two years old and I am the Production Stage Manager for the national tour of FAME. I make $700 per week and a $300 weekly stipend.

Saving & Spending

This month man. I don’t even know. This was the hardest month of work I’ve ever done. We did three weeks straight of one offs and even the two or three travel days we had did nothing but make all of us even more tired. Our bus broke down. The power went out in a venue during load out. We were shorted on local crew more times than I can count.

Seriously, it was the kind of month that makes me want to warn anyone who wants to go into the arts just not to do it.

On the plus side, I always knew October and November were the rough part of the schedule for Fame and that December and especially January would make up for it.

We had a layoff over the holidays too, so that was one less week of pay this month, though I didn’t mind at all since I spent a fair amount of that week unconscious and recuperating from the previous three.

I’ve been stockpiling my paychecks a little more than usual because I only have about 10 days of work in December before having the rest of the month off and I haven’t managed to find any work to fill the gap yet.

This works out ok though because my mom is pretty sick and at least I can help out at home and with getting her to and from the doctors.

November didn’t have any huge spends until the end when I started Christmas shopping. My other biggest expense was healthcare – my monthly payment and then paying part of a bill from May that finally came due through my medical sharing ministry.

My spending breakdown this month:

• Gym – $10.70
• Food – $593.15
• Healthcare – $277.00
• Ubers – $47.40
• Gifts – $453.29
• College Applications – $26.25
• Clothes – $125.98
• Computer – $128.39
• Entertainment – $27.80
• Miscellaneous – $27.77

Total Spending in November: $1,717.73

Hustling

My income this month was made up of FAME paychecks and brokeGIRLrich.

• Stage Managing – $2,569.07
• brokeGIRrich – $385.20
• eBates – $5.51

Income This Month: $2,959.78

Most Popular Post of the Month: 114 Side Hustles: Ways to Make More Money

My Favorite Post to Write This Month: Backup Plans and Working in the Arts

Goals

• Contribute $1,000 to my Emergency Savings Account
• Max out my Roth IRA–
• Contribute $3,000 to my Down Payment Fund
• Contribute $2,000 to my New Car Fund
• Have a $1,000 Best Friend’s Wedding Fund
• Buy $1,000 of stock– And added another $1,000 this month.
• Develop 2 new resume skills.
• Track all the time I spent on my computer outside of work for 1 week and then go without a computer for a week and see how I use that time.
• Go on a vacation with a friend 
• Look for a big show to stage manage
• Run a 5k– This will pretty much take a miracle.