1.What were you doing for work before the pandemic?
Pre-pandemic, I was working as a Contracting Chef or Freelance, anywhere from small contracts of in house dining. To helping large catering companies doing weddings and events. Work has been completely eliminated with no gatherings and or money coming in from these sources.
2.What do you miss spending money on these days?
I’ve always been pretty good at not spending a lot of money on things. However coming from a career of no social life due to work…having all the free time and still no social life has been a real bust! I miss the ability to spend a few dollars and travel to catch up with friends.
3.How do you think your spending will change after the pandemic?
If/when it comes to an end, I believe my budgeting is going to become extremely tight. Still have to take care of a little human after all.
4.What are your tips on how to cut costs?
I personally had a pretty large space to help with cost, so gardening and canning. Learning to make candles instead of buying. It’s not a lot but a little bit of time, and effort can go a long way.
5.Do you feel that there is uncertainty about how your work will look after the pandemic ends? If so, what are you doing to cope with this uncertainty?
Yes, hospitality industries in large cities I feel are going to slip through the cracks. Cost will rise, jobs that were abundant are now cut down. With a lot of skilled people going after minimum wage jobs. Which won’t solve anything in the industry. I, myself, Have left the city recently, to rebuild, create, and source work where my skills are a little harder to come by. I can no longer rely on work as a freelancer, and restaurant life hours have changed. Finding ways to put a lot of skills to work is what I’m hoping to survive on. Planting, foraging, cooking all need to be tools that get put to work.
Emily Nixon
Rags to Reasonable Community Outreach Coordinator
Emily Nixon is an actor/writer/director/filmmaking Swiss Army Knife. She is also a big money nerd and Community Outreach Coordinator for Rags to Reasonable.
She came to this work after becoming completely fed up with living paycheque-to-paycheque and being too afraid to look in her chequing account. She is passionate about empowering other artists and variable income earners to keep doing what they love and feel confident about their finances.
Email Emily at emily@ragstoreasonable.com
