Profile

I am thirty one years old and I am a stage manager and lighting director for a touring children’s theater show called Clifford the Big Red Dog Live! I make $700 a week and get a $30 per diem for each travel day. I pay no rent and have about $210 in monthly bills.

Saving & Spending

So this has been an exciting month since I actually made full time pay with per diem almost the whole month!

The first half of the month was incredibly busy, going through tech week and getting Clifford up on its feet. The nice thing about being that busy is that it makes it difficult to spend a lot of money. I did make it out to a haunted house and went bowling once though, so it was actually kind of fun.

After tech, the month got pretty weird. We’ve had a lot of weekdays off, kind of like the end of my last tour, but since we’ve been in the tri-state area, almost everyone goes home for a few days instead of hanging out like when we were in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. The extra time at home has been nice, but it really makes for a weird start to a tour.

The only big expense I had this month was health care coverage. I also totally forgot to renew my car registration in June and took care of that one of the days I was home this month too.

My spending breakdown this month: 

• Food: $505.85
• Entertainment: $28.75
• Gas & Car Related: $76.46
• Christmas Gifts: $51.85
• Healthcare: $205
• Miscellaneous: $53.94

 Total Spending in August: $921.85

Not terrible. I’m pretty excited that my food and entertainment amount came out to less than my per diem for the month.

Also not terrible, the stock market is clearly doing a little better this month than last month.

Hustling

October wound up a lot like September for brokeGIRLrich, which is probably how I managed to knock out several of my savings goals. I also substitute taught this last week, but haven’t gotten paid yet.

• brokeGIRLrich: $754.25

Additional Income This Month: $754.25

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

My Favorite Post to Write This Month: Want a Cheaper Alternative to Health Insurance?

Elsewhere on the Web: How to Save Money on Bras at U.S. News & World Report

Organization is a Frugal Shopper’s Strongest Weapon U.S. News & World Report

Entirely Unrelated to Personal Finance

I finished the first season of Outlander. That was traumatic in many ways.

I saw Crimson Peak, which I thought was so bad it was funny.

I picked up the 3^rd book in the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series – Library of Souls. I’m still fascinated by the weird photography the books are based on.

Goals

1.) Max out my IRA… Done.

2.) Contribute $1,000 to my emergency savings Done.

3.) Buy $1,000 of stock. Done.

4.) Save $100 a month for a new computer. October – check.

5.) Save $100 a month for a new car (I’m hoping the current one will make it to roughly 2021). Caught back up. That account is up to $1,000.

6.) Save $2,000 for a house down payment. Added $500 dollars to this account. $1000 to go.

7.) Continue looking for work for December and January. I’m actually good for the first two weeks of December now, but if anyone is looking for a stage manager or light tech from mid-December through the end of January, you let me know.