The other day I finally got to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and I really loved the Niffler.

I think it might be my spirit animal. Especially going into work layoffs.

The term layoff tends to make people freak out – and it almost always makes people outside the entertainment world think you’ve been fired – but to me, a layoff is a period of time that I knew I wouldn’t be getting a paycheck that was established back when I signed my contract.

In other words, there’s really no reason for me not to have a plan regarding how to deal with one. Or if the layoffs are too many, I should know not to take the gig.

I first learned about layoffs during Dinosaur Train when we had a single week layoff during a 5 month run – so that layoff was amazing. It was right in the middle of the contract. I managed to make it to a cousin’s wedding during it and one single week of no pay in 5 months was no big deal.

However, when I signed on for Clifford I got a real taste of what a pain in the butt layoffs can be and how you need to plan really well for them. When I first agreed to do that show, I thought there was going to be about a 5 week layoff around the holidays. By the time the contracts were written, it was actually a 1 week layoff in October and 8 weeks in December/January/February.

And that was when the Niffler became my spirit animal.

Because my set expenses are so low (health and car insurance), my budgeting techniques are currently non-existent. I set savings goals each year that I just funnel money towards until they’re reached. Then I tend to Niffler the rest of my income – I either spend it as necessary during periods of no paychecks or I dump a pretty big sum into my IRA on January 1^st.

It’s weird, but it works for me. And I do know how to budget and actually use those skills during times in life when I have things to pay like rent and utilities.

I’m currently a Niffler in full effect because I have 10 days of work planned for this month and then I’m on my own until the first Monday in January outside of any hustling work I can pick up (I’ve actually been wondering if you can part-time bartend, how does a person get into that?).

I feel like with every paycheck I just stuff it into my pouch and continue on hunting the next shiny thing to cram in there too. It’s fine though. At least Nifflers are pretty adorable.