Budgeting your cash as a dancer is extremely important. I've been working now for roughly a year and a half working full-time year round. I should be a gazillionaire by now right? Wrong. I've had months where I have cash to blow and others where I've struggled to pay rent. I look back at my bank statements and see thousands of dollars enter my account each month and I have no idea where it goes. It all adds up. $100 here and $100 there really make a difference that you don't notice until it's all gone.
So, I've decided that I'm now going to change the way I budget and so far it's working. Before what I used to do was I calculated how much I needed for rent, insurance and other automatic withdrawals each month, divide that by the least number of days I would work in a month (to be on the safe side) and then put that amount aside each night and not touch it.
Now this plan worked in terms of me not being short money for rent but it meant no saving. When you have money in your pocket that you know you don't need for essentials, you spend it. So this plan I was using was just making sure I broke even.
Recently I've decided that I'm going to try a new budgeting method and it seems to be working so I wanted to share it with you.
First, calculate what you need for non-essentials. This includes food, gas, going out to dinner, getting your nails done, etc. I realise that food is essential but I used to spend what cash I have on me for groceries, not rent money in case I go overboard on groceries. Safer that way. Then add $200-$500 to that total as a buffer. I'll give you mine per month as an example. Keep in mind I support two people and two dogs (all of Boyfriend's money goes right into savings because we already know I can support us).
-Food: $500
-Gas: $400
-Cigarettes (I know, horrible): $300
-Going Out: $300 (we don't go out much so plan for yourself accordingly)
-Dog Food: $200
-Hair/Nails: $250
-Buffer: $400
Total: $2350
Once you have that number, figure out what you need for things like rent/mortgage, car payments, insurance and any other monthly payments that you can't avoid. Mine are as follows:
Rent/Mortgage: $1400
Bills (phone, internet, cable, hydro etc): $400
Car Insurance: $300
Gym Memberships: $100
Misc: $100
Total: $2300
Now, this means I need to make $4650 monthly to live my current lifestyle. At the same time, I don't go overboard like some girls do. I don't spend every day at the mall, in fact I hardly buy things for myself. I don't drive a brand new Benz, although I could if I wanted to. I just don't feel the need. I live in a nice place and I eat good, healthy food and I treat myself to things only every once in a while.
Anyway, I digress. Now you figure out how many days you work per month, and be honest. I'd like to say I work 5-6 days a week but I usually only work 4 so I use 4 as my number. If you work more than that, it's just extra money. So I work 16 days a month minimum meaning I have to make $300 a day ($150 for essentials, $150 for living). If I make a ton one night, I sometimes take out $100-200 to spend on myself as a reward. As long as I have more than enough already. I rounded up by the way, in case you did the math yourself.
What I was doing was putting the essential money away and keep whatever was left for spending. This caused me to have more cash than I needed and I would just spend it on nothing. Now, I leave the $150 for living in my wallet, or bank account, and put the rest into savings right away. That means if I make $600, $150 goes to my wallet and $450 goes into savings. At the end of the month, I've paid all my bills, rent etc so whatever is left over just keeps piling up in my savings account.
If by chance you make less than what you've calculated you need ($300 in my case) put aside what you need for essentials and then just work an extra day if need be. If you find you are consistently not making what you need to live your lifestyle, adjust your lifestyle. There are always things you can cut down on in your life, like buy a cheaper car, don't go out as often, spend less on clothing, etc.
