With my spending varying widely and the knowledge I won’t get a regular, full paycheck till towards the end of February – everything financial has gotten a little wish-washy.

And I have been a little unsure of whether I’m doing ok or still living that tour life mentality.

So I fell back on an old, helpful habit for some instant accountability.

I figured out what I’m making per day.

$144.75

Yay, variable income of a stage manager life.

Some of you might remember my first foray into professional work was as a cruise ship stage manager. They used to issue contracts with your day rate on them, so for me, money breaks down best that way.

It’s sort of like instant, lazy budgeting.

I know I have $144.75 a day to work with.

That falls in a 22% tax bracket.

That’s $31.85 in taxes per day.

And I have 1% union dues right now too. $1.45

And the school takes 5% and puts it right into a retirement fund. $7.24 a day.

So I’m starting off my day with $104.21 to spend.

It costs me $41.59 to live in my apartment and it has a set water bill that adds $1.12 to my bill each day too.

Down to $61.50 a day.

The internet costs $1.32 per day.

$60.18

The gym costs $1.15 per day.

$59.03

Then I have two of my biggest hits other than housing.

To max out a Roth IRA costs $16.44 per day and to max out an HSA costs $9.73.

Now I’m down to $32.86 to spend every day but that doesn’t account for variable utilities.

Let’s round them to a nice, safe $100 a month and now we’re at $3.29 a day for electricity and gas – because I haven’t actually gotten a bill yet and don’t know. It seems a little high, but better safe than sorry.

$29.57

And finally, health insurance, which is currently a very manageable $46 a month or $1.51 a day.

$28.06

And right now I’m fairly lucky because my renters insurance and car insurance are already paid up for the year and I have the payment for June saved up already, but to be fair, those numbers should be included too if I want to be able to stay ahead like I always have. It’s about $3.70 a day for those insurance payments.

So, I have $24.36 to get me through each day.

For me, this budget hack is pretty useful as I readjust because I can track it easily. Sure, I can totally get takeout each night if I want – if that’s really all I get all day.

But that means I can’t forget about the Amazon purchase I made at lunch or the fact that filling up a tank of gas wipes it out for the day.

Now, is there some buffer room in this? Yes, right now, as I’m living off the savings from my last job, there is some wiggle room for me to mess up and still be covered.

I’ve been going well over $24.36 a day buying some new furniture, getting groceries, and, my new favorite, sometimes buying supplies for students so we can do useful, necessary projects.

But if I don’t get that under control soon, all those ways that I like to get my net worth to keep growing aren’t going to pan out.

I guess it’s time to start upping my side hustling again.