Budgeting Your Personal Life

While this isn’t an element of Creative Technology practices, budgeting your personal life is critical to success in your field. It’s important to know what your regular personal expenses are. It’s good to know how much you spend each month on things like rent, utilities, family stuff, car stuff, loans, food, booze, subscriptions, health. If you track yourself for a few months, you’ll quickly learn what the categories are, and what you spend in each category. This will help you figure out how much you need to charge on a job in order to survive, and perhaps to thrive. It’ll also let you know if you’re spending too much money at the bookstore or at the bar or whatever. The first time I did this and saw that I had spent $10,000 at restaurants and on delivery in a single year, I dramatically changed my habits. Worth doing this for sure, and it’ll make you a better producer, too!