Thursday, May 29, 2008

Dollars and Cents - I'm Broke


So I decided to get real about my financial situation which, as of this writing, is quite dire.

The Good News: I do have a job
The Better News: I have a couple of job interviews
The Bad News: I'm still going to have to borrow money from my momma to make June rent.

Momma JJ proceeded to give me hell about the whole thing (not like she hasn't borrowed money from me on any number of occassions) and finally agreed to the loan. Nothing like a mother to make you feel worse about a situation than you already do.

So here is the good the bad and the outright ooo-gly about my current financial situation.

June - $316
You read that right. As it stands my entire take for the month of June stands at $316 dollars. And that may have to be downgraded by $10 if I overestimated how much I made on one of my writing gigs.

July
- $838 and counting
Right now my take home for July is standing at $838. That's better than June but definitely not a livable wage.

Minimum needed to cover all bills - $1750 (including taxes)

Goal
- $3500 before taxes

Current Job
- $1800 - $2250 (before taxes)
If I write 30 articles/week I will make between $1800 - $2250 a month before taxes. This alone will allow me to make the bare minimum I need to cover my monthly expenses. And mine you that $1750 for expenses is pretty bare bones.

Deficit between what I can make each month and goal
- $1250 - $1700

Ways to make up the difference
- Apply for more writing jobs
- Market my writing website and get more freelance gigs
- Outside employment
- Advertising revenue from blogs/websites
- Blogging donations

The (Daily) Plan
- Gym (can't work when I feel fat)
- Apply for jobs
- Blog (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays)
- Write 5 Articles
- Marketing (websites, blogs, social networks, etc.)
- Take Sundays off

So there you have it. My finances in a nutshell. I have a plan. I'm going to see it through. It will work.

6 comments:

The Motivated Mama said...

That's called a budget. DO your thing girl! I'm glad you have some financial insight. It is definitely not easy. I just started to budget myself in April. I want to work out but I have 2 jobs and rarely any me time. But I'm going to figure out a way to work it out! Sucks to be broke. I hope everything works out!

sachab28 said...

What you should be listing is all of your bills. From cable to hair, then decide what you really can do WITHOUT. Why try to do a million writings with barely anytime for yourself when you can just cut your bills in half?

Brown Sugar said...

@ Sachab28,

the 1750 is bare bones. There's nothing on the list that I "can do without."

It doesn't include my hair, transportation (I don't drive so it's not that big a deal) it includes rent, food, utilities, the money I send my mom for my daughter, my 1 credit card my cell phone and $50 for "entertainment" which is to include my hair, transpo and the off chance I go to a movie.

That's it.

That equals $1385 which doesn't include the taxes I have to pay as a freelancer. When you add taxes it's $1750.

The job I have now pays $10 - $15
a article. I'm doing what I can to get better paying work but right now that's what the situation is.

SingLikeSassy said...

Keep on keepin' on sista.

Unknown said...

How are you doing now? I hope you've made it through your financial crisis. You are wise to use your talent to earn extra money. If you keep that up along with your saving scheme, you'll gonna be fine in the future.
[Allan Morais @ PaddonYorke.com ]

Unknown said...

You are wise to plan your finances! At least you are not in debt, right? I guess it's better to be broke and debt-less than to be broke and drowning with debt you can't afford to pay off. But, how are you now? You haven't updated for a while! I wish that now, all is doing well with your life and the finances.
Jaden @ TorontoBankruptcyAdvice.com