Money – Page 2 – Raihanaty A. Jalil

How to budget when your income isn’t consistent #2

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Welcome back for another lesson in Mastering Money for Writers. If you landed on this page and don’t know much about this blog series, I recommend read the introduction and part 1 before continuing.

Otherwise, let’s dive straight in!

Chapter 2: Work out your critical monthly expenses

If you do a search on the internet, this category of expenses is given many names, some quite creative. For example, Dave Ramsey refers to these essential expenses as the “Four Walls”: food, utilities, shelter and transportation.

It’s also been known as the “noodle budget”, describing the times we’ve all been through when we’ve had to survive on instant noodles so we can still cover those critical expenses until our next payday.

Mastering Money for Writers: How to budget when your income isn’t consistent #1

Watch the video or read the post below

Welcome to the first lesson in Mastering Money for Writers where I’ll tackle the dreaded B-word…

As writers, we know words are a powerful thing. A single word can halt a nation, stir a rebellion, move someone to tears, shift a person from a state of hopelessness into enlightenment.

So let’s be honest for a moment. When you hear this word, “Budget”, what are your immediate feelings and thoughts? Is it anxiety because how can you budget when your income as a writer is perhaps small and unpredictable? Is it scepticism because you’ve tried budgeting before and it just didn’t work for you? Is it tiredness, overwhelm, the thought of the work to put this into motion? Is it rebellion when you just don’t like the idea of the restrictiveness associated with it?

What if I were to tell you in the world of Business, completely different emotions are evoked by this word?

Budgeting enables movement and growth. Budgeting is your heartbeat, your oxygen. Budgeting is clarity and power.

Mastering Money for Writers: Blog Series

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It’s been in the back of my mind, an inkling, this idea about starting a blog series for writers to help them master money. I’ve procrastinated primarily because, I have a lot on my plate right now—two jobs, my own writing goals, a few personal and business ventures… But even before the devastating impact of COVID19, I remember hearing about the financial struggle of writer friends of mine, describing their secret distress from payday to payday, the anxiety with every “unexpected” bill—what I personally experienced about a decade ago after my family lost our home to a friend who turned out to be a professional conman. Reflecting on the stress, the shame, the depression I’d felt in my times of hardship, but especially the fact that I can now look back from a place of empowerment and financial confidence, I’m reminded that it’s a responsibility to share the knowledge I’ve gained that’s turned my circumstances around Alhamdulillah.