{"id":1756,"date":"2022-12-19T11:27:33","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T11:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2026-04-20T17:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:06:22","slug":"financial-mindfulness-budgeting-tips-for-actors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/self-employment\/financial-mindfulness-budgeting-tips-for-actors\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Mindfulness \u2013 Budgeting Tips for Performers"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to organise your finances and budget with ever-changing earnings.<\/h2>\n

Money \u2013 or the lack of it \u2013 is not the obstacle to your success and goals, but sitting blissfully in the ignorance of your financial health may well be. I can tell you from personal experience that by ignoring your finances and giving sole focus to your artistic pursuits, you could well be damaging them in the long run.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, an awareness of your financial well-being can help to reduce stress and transform your relationship with money into a positive one.<\/p>\n

Understanding your income<\/h3>\n

Most freelancers have variable income, with a range of different amounts coming in every month. Our relationship with money can be haphazard if we simply spend when we\u2019re earning and tighten our belt when we\u2019re not. This is one of the most common mistakes freelancers make along their career paths.<\/p>\n

However, if you take a broader view of knowing and understanding your earnings (your salary) by the end of the year, you can create a budget that gives you the same amount of money to spend every single week.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know your end-of-year salary yet, spend some time forecasting what range you think your earnings will fall into.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth mentioning that certain day jobs offer high hourly rates but low hours, or a nice daily rate with minimal days of work. Sometimes these high rates are diluted by a large amount of time spent commuting or doing prep. When you\u2019re evaluating any day job, consider how much it will ultimately earn you on a monthly or annual basis and whether the reward matches the effort you put in.<\/p>\n

Understanding your spending<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s a little bit more complicated to calculate your outgoings, so I\u2019ve shared\u00a0this spreadsheet<\/a>\u00a0to help you record everything you spend money on and work out how much it will add up to by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Download the budget spreadsheet to get started (Excel document).<\/a><\/p>\n

The first step is to add all your spending information into the spreadsheet:<\/p>\n