1.What were you doing for work before the pandemic?
freelance writing, editing, acting. Work has been affected mainly in that substantial acting possibilities are almost non-existent and theatre writing possibilities are mostly deferred into an indefinite future. Non-performance writing opportunities seem less directly affected (e.g. magazines are still publishing), but then some book publishers are delaying making offers on new manuscripts and delaying releases, so there’s lots of uncertainty there too.
2.What do you miss spending money on these days?
I wish it felt more possible to travel safely, and to go for drinks with friends.
3.How do you think your spending will change after the pandemic?
Will totally depend on whether I have a more-than-subsistence-level income. If so, I’d love to visit friends in other cities. If not, groceries and rent.
4.What are your tips on how to cut costs?
Tips…I mean, these days my spending is pretty much just groceries and rent and donating to GoFundMe drives…I guess economical cooking is one way to shrink those categories? Getting good at meal-prepping? (I’m not that good at this, but I make a lot of leftovers.
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?
Deep uncertainty. Messing with my mental health. I’m oscillating between trying not to think about it and trying to think of contingency plans. Law school? I dunno. This uncertainty is not so dramatically different from the uncertainty I feel about my work prospects at most times, though it’s at a higher level of intensity, probably.
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
