1.What were you doing for work before the pandemic?
I travel internationally to give lectures and visit clinics. This is completely curtailed by the pandemic. Conferences have been postponed or gone virtual. I have had to learn to video record my presentations, which sadly removes all aspects of interaction for some organizations, especially if they have to be translated. Other events are live virtual lectures, i.e., webinars. The honoraria I was being paid have decreased dramatically.
2.What do you miss spending money on these days?
Travel, eating in restaurants, training at the gym with a personal trainer.
3.How do you think your spending will change after the pandemic?
I will continue to cook more and spend more time gardening…this has meant my spending more on plants.
4.What are your tips on how to cut costs?
Stay out of gardening centres. Ask myself if what you are wanting to buy (or do) is “essential”. Because of only going to buy groceries once a week, I have become much more aware of not having anything go to waste. This has taught me to be more conscientious about what I buy and what I cook. Also, while I have had a 1 in-1 out policy on buying stuff, meaning I have to be willing to give up one article of clothing if I want to buy on, for example, I am doing fine with fewer new things….of course, this is also reflected by the fact that i’m not going anywhere! But I plan to continue making fewer “just because I like it and it makes me feel good” purchases.
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?
Definitely. I think that as people can get a lot of their continuing education on-line, without travel and hotel costs, some of the on-line teaching will remain permanent. I don’t enjoy it, but if this is the new reality, I will just live with it. 🙂
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
