I’m not even sure where July went. I know I did things, but everything seems bizarrely blurry when I look back. It was whirlwind month of recovering from wrist surgery, going to cons, getting things into production from last month’s Kickstarter, giving talks, recording shows, and dealing with the fact that my main mental health outlets (biking and figure skating) had been hampered by my broken wrist.
I ended the month by flying to a foreign country (the UK) for a 4-week “creative urban retreat” (a thing I made up right now as I’m writing this update.) While I’m in the UK, I’m supposed to finally be getting back to posting videos on youtube (and editing the WID amount of footage I have), but thus far, I’ve mostly been doing OMD work and sleeping too little. I guess
I’ll have more feelings about stuff and things, soon? I feel like I’m not producing enough publicly available stuff right now – but when I step back, that’s kinda bull, right? I managed to get the second edition of my book to the printer (hey you can buy my book here!), an ebook shipped out, my first ever planner designed, and a show out every week. So there. Take that, brain.
Bullet Points of things that happened (?)
Broken Wrist, no skating or biking
I spent most of the month learning the ins and outs of the bus system from my apartment and getting a truly substantial amount of steps in, since I was supposed to take it easy on my wrist and not bike for a few weeks after getting surgery at the end of June.
I wasn’t supposed to skate for 5 weeks after surgery, but since I’m (hopefully) filming a skating video while in London, I snuck onto the ice twice during the month. Definitely a huge decrease from the 10-15 hours a week a training I have been putting in since I started skating again in April. I don’t know how I went 15 years without skating. It’s too fun.
Retail Therapy
For the first half of this month, I was feeling pretty crap about the fact that I had a broken wrist and a bunch of deadlines right in time for my birthday. I was given a gift certificate to Yesstyle by my extended family and I bought an absolutely ridiculous amount of silly clothing. I also got myself quite a lot of “treats” from the grocery store, like drinking vinegars and fancy vegan cheese. The retail therapy didn’t really work, but now I have a bunch of skirts and sweaters, so sure. Those were decisions I made. I have moved on from them.
Vidcon
I went to Vidcon for the first time since 2011 – and OH GOLLY has it changed. My youtube channel was older than many of the participants these days!
Full July 2019 Spending Report
Total Spent: $1,307
Just about on target – 57% of total annual budget at 58% of the way through the year.
Household & Insurance – $690.68
- Rent: $615
- Water, Commons: $32.50
- Garbage: $7.50
- Electricity: $30.09
- Household Goods: $5.59
- Internet at Home: $0 This is now paid for by SSO’s employer due to being remote employee, was $20 per month.
Basic Food – $133.34
- Basic Groceries: $73.82
- Groceries in UK: $18.27
- Treats (non-essential snacks): $41.25 – very high this month due to birthday/retail therapy expenses
- Coffee/Tea For Home: $0
Extra Food + Drink – $23.60
- Coffee Out: $5.60
- Restaurants: $18.00 (used birthday discount at veggie grill, and one meal out with friends in town playing a show.)
Medical – $29.00 ***Why this is so cheap
- Health Insurance Premium: $29.00
Fitness – $38.98
- Gym Membership: $38.99
Random Indulgences – $37.66
- Fitbit Versa Special Edition: $132.67 (to replace my 5 year old pebble that died)
- Clothing: $1.82 (what was left over after my Yesstyle gift card)
- Spending Money: $10 (sunglasses and earrings from thrift shop)
- Gifts: $20.00
- Makeup: $5.84 (refill for a BB cream cushion)
Travel – $122.03
- Settling into UK flat: $17.04 (towels, TP, etc)
- Luggage: $104.99 (my carry-on luggage finally kicked the bucket, so after much deliberation I got a new one before heading to the UK. I’ll let you know if I like it.)
Unicorn Hair – $230.00
I decided to keep the unicorn hair going for a little while longer to celebrate my birthday/justify the initial investment, so I got my roots done. I went to a professional once again since my hair is naturally black and thick and requires a lot of scary chemicals to take any color.
Figure Skating $0
No skating expenses this month as I didn’t take any lessons and my ice time was limited to sessions included in my pass.
Sinking Funds – not yet spent
- Renter’s Insurance: $11.50 ($140 per year)
Retirement savings: $100
OMD Business Income + Expenses Report
This is cash-based accounting, not accrual, so this only accounts for income received this month, not invoices billed. Obviously, expenses were high this month due to kickstarter fulfillment costs (income received at the end of last month).
Income & Sales: $1,631.19
- Book + Kindle Sales (net after fees): $407.61
- Radio Ads: $11.87
- Freelancing: $75.00
- Patreon Memberships: $368.71
- Speaking Fees: $750
Expenses: $8,121.69
- Book Production: $6,000
- Rent + Deposit on coworking space (70% refundable): $1,081.62
- Meals: $3.45
- Shipping: $19.00
- Office Supplies: $55.78
- Hosting + Software: $144.76
- Backerkit Fees: $576.33
- Payroll & Contractors: $100
- Phone: $41.99
- Professional Fees: $9.00
- Travel Expenses: $89.76
Congratulation!