Super late…just doing it for posterity at this point…

For the week ending 12/24/21, I worked one shift for a chef friend (he contacted me just before my last interview with my new job and I kinda said yes just to get him off the phone) 6.00 hours and earned $100.00 (gross: $100.00), resulting in no additional student loan payment. December has been a wildly expensive month, and as I have paid off PSL4, I’ve decided to just sit on any additional cash until the new year when I start targeting my one remaining refinanced student loan.

While I like my chef friend and want to support his business, it is unlikely I will work for him again in the future. No matter how many hours I work for him, he consistently pays me $100.00. Some of these events, like this one, are a significant way away from my home; this event was an hour’s drive one way. Additionally, because I am very professional, he constantly makes me the event captain and has had me run entire events for him, including picking up supplies and dropping off staff, without any additional remuneration. He is also consistently late to his own events which means I am sometimes sitting in my car for a half-hour or more waiting for him to show up. Even if it weren’t possible for me to get a significantly higher rate for my food service labor on the open market (even the golf club gig paid more), his lack of professionalism has been a reason I wanted to end this professional relationship for some time. The new job just gave me an excuse.

Withholding Disclaimer: The amount I am setting aside in savings is entirely random at this point and really depends on what the income is and whether or not it was subject to prior state and federal withholding. I believe I have more than enough in non-emergency fund savings to cover any potential tax liability. I will make any necessary adjustments early next year after I do my taxes. I actually took about $478.46 from my non-emergency fund savings account to pay off PSL4. I still believe my tax liability for the past year should be covered but any future gigs will probably see me setting aside a much larger amount in savings to cover for this withdrawal. For now, I regret nothing.

The last misc. income report went up almost a week late and this one is going up a day early…why? Well, December has been a busy month in AfroPennyland. And beyond the usual busyness that accompanies the holidays, my birthday, the end of the semester, etc., I have also been…interviewing. I know! Things have been moving along a LOT faster than I anticipated when I initially put myself out there and there is a chance I will have news as soon as…later today. So anyone who happens to read this between now and then, please send all the good vibes and good thoughts.

For the week ending 12/17/21, I was paid for one (1) shift at the golf club for a total of 15.70 hours (yes, this was ONE shift on a Sunday…I was exhausted and tired when I went to work the following Monday and this is part of the reason I had to step away from the golf club), and earned $243.01 (gross: $274.75), resulting in an extra student loan payment of $243.01. This should be the last paycheck I receive from the golf club and it’s a pretty important one in terms of my student loan debt repayment journey. In addition to the potential news I shared above, there should also be an update about Private Student Loan 4 (PSL4) later today. PSL4 is the only student loan I have remaining that wasn’t included in my refinance last month and paying it off was one of my 2021 Financial Goals…

As I hinted at in my December 2021 Student Loan Balance(s) update post, December will be an eventful month.

Withholding Disclaimer: The amount I am setting aside in savings is entirely random at this point and really depends on what the income is and whether or not it was subject to prior state and federal withholding. I believe I have more than enough in non-emergency fund savings to cover any potential tax liability. I will make any necessary adjustments early next year after I do my taxes.

This one is almost a week late and really I’m posting it for posterity at this point…

For the week ending 12/10/21, I was paid for one (1) shift at the golf club for a total of 8.25 hours, and earned $132.24 (gross: $144.38), resulting in an extra student loan payment of $132.24. As I shared in a previous post, my time at the golf club has come to an end but they are on a delayed, weekly pay cycle so I will (have by this point) receive one more check before the end of the year.

Withholding Disclaimer: The amount I am setting aside in savings is entirely random at this point and really depends on what the income is and whether or not it was subject to prior state and federal withholding. I believe I have more than enough in non-emergency fund savings to cover any potential tax liability. I will make any necessary adjustments early next year after I do my taxes.

This will be a quick one…

For the week ending 12/03/21, I worked one (1) shift at the golf club for a total of 6.60 hours, and earned $106.27 (gross: $115.50), resulting in an extra student loan payment of $106.27. This was my lowest earning gig/misc. income week in some time but something is better than nothing, eh?

As I have stated several times now, the income I am setting aside in savings is entirely random at this point and really depends on what the income is and whether or not it was subject to prior state and federal withholding. I believe I have more than enough in non-emergency fund savings to cover any potential tax liability. I will make any necessary adjustments early next year after I do my taxes.

I have no excuses, just a lot going on at the moment. In addition to the holidays and the busyness that accompany them, it is also the end of the semester at University B and the final weeks of programming are just brutal in an effort to make sure students have all the support they need as their semester wraps up. I have three events this week, a colleague who is a bit stressed and snapping at me, two weeks’ notice to work for the golf club, and a job interview I’m hiding from everyone since University B already offered me a promotion effective January 1…I said there was a lot going on!

For the week ending 11/26/21, I worked one (1) shift at the golf club for a total of 9.08 hours, and earned $145.21 (gross: $158.90), resulting in an extra student loan payment of $0.00. Wait! I will explain… Additionally, I worked one (1) gig through Qwick for $106.20, resulting in an extra student loan payment of $0.00. I know, I know. “What’s up with all dem zeros AP?” November was a tight month in terms of budget as I cash flowed my tires at the beginning of the month (one of the challenges of only getting paid once a month) and had to stick to a very tight budget for the remainder of the month. However, this month I needed to spend a bit on irregular purchases, like my first haircut in three years, so I used my misc. income to pad my budget. While this is definitely not something I want to turn into a habit, knowing that my misc. income was supporting me directly this month, and not missteps of Afro Penny-past made getting through that rough restaurant shift a bit easier.

As I have stated several times now, the income I am setting aside in savings is entirely random at this point and really depends on what the income is and whether or not it was subject to prior state and federal withholding. I believe I have more than enough in non-emergency fund savings to cover any potential tax liability. I will make any necessary adjustments early next year after I do my taxes.

I know…this Misc. Income Report is once again late but I worked a double on Saturday between a Qwick gig and the golf club…blah, blah, I know you all have to be tired of the excuses by this point.

For the week ending 11/19/21, I worked three (3) shifts at the golf club for a total of 20.73 hours, and earned $310.43 (gross: $362.78), resulting in an extra student loan payment of $300.00. Additionally, a gig I worked earlier this month (not through an app) finally paid and I earned $240.00, resulting in an extra student loan payment of $200.00.

As I have stated several times now, the income I am setting aside in savings is entirely random at this point and really depends on what the income is and whether or not it was subject to prior state and federal withholding. I believe I have more than enough in non-emergency fund savings to cover any potential tax liability. I will make any necessary adjustments early next year after I do my taxes.

The reported income from the golf club is income received this week for work performed almost two weeks ago due to their pay cycle. Work at the golf club has dried up considerably and won’t really pick back up until after the holidays. For the moment, they only have me scheduled one day a week, which I don’t hate, especially as other things in my life are in flux. This weekend, I was able to pick up a Qwick shift (which will appear in next week’s misc. income report) and was once again offered a permanent part-time job by the owner. It’s for a busy restaurant in the city and they stay busy year-round. Their team is really strong (even stronger than the golf club’s) and I was tempted for a minute…but ultimately, I demurred. At the golf club, as is the case with most banquet work, there are moments of respite where you can catch your breath, but this was not the case at the restaurant. It was a grind from the second I clocked in. Which is fine if that is your only shift for the day but not suitable on days I have to pull a double. It would wear me down pretty quickly. Also, if I were to be grinding that hard, I would expect to be a waiter and make asignificantly higher hourly rate.

I know…this Misc. Income Report is still late but I worked a double on Saturday between University B and the golf club so it was a 6:00AM-2:00AM day with more than 35,000 steps. I was tired, my feet were tired, and I’m only now getting out of bed for something other than a snack or to use the bathroom for the first time today. As I predicted, gig work is drying up across the apps and even undesirable shifts are getting snapped up pretty quickly. Having talked to other coworkers, work at the golf club also winds down at the end of the holiday season so gig work and part time shifts may be a bit harder to come by for the first couple months of the year. Honestly, I’m fine with that. I’ve figured out what my monthly payment will have to be to be debt free before I turn 40 and I think it’s strangely manageable even without gig/part time work…but more on that later.

For the week ending 11/12/21, I worked three (3) shifts at the golf lub for a total of 18.50 hours, and earned $280.54 (gross: $323.75), resulting in an extra student loan payment of $250.00. I did make an extra $20.00 in a cash tip but that went to pad my very skimpy food/gas/misc. budget this month that resulted from me cash flowing my new tires instead of pulling money out of my savings or emergency fund.

I realize that these misc. income reports are not a substitute for reviewing/sharing my income and budget and plan to do that again for December.

I know…this Gig Misc. Income Report is super late but I worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, despite having to also work Saturday to support programming for University B. Ugh. I am soooooo very tired. Fortunately, the golf club only has me working next Saturday. It will still be painful as I also have to work at University B early Saturday morning but having Friday evening and all of Sunday off is far more humane than this past weekend.

For the week ending 11/05/21, I worked one (1) shift for a total of 8.07 hours, and earned $145.26, resulting in an extra student loan payment of $145.26.

If you read my November 2021 – Student Loan Balance (s) Update then you know that I eschewed putting any of my gig income for the past week into savings so that I could get Private Student Loan 4 under $4000.00. I regret nothing. This was one of those moments where I needed a “win” to stay motivated.

The name of this weekly report will change as more of my miscellaneous income is more likely to come from the golf club than gigs. I will also have to rethink how much I set aside in savings from my golf club paychecks as the golf club is withholding an appropriate amount of taxes from my income. I am thinking about a percentage (10%) or a flat amount ($25.00). The golf club pays weekly and I will receive my first paycheck on Thursday so I’ll come up with something by then.

For the week ending 10/29/21, I worked one (1) shift for a total of 4.18 hours, and earned $75.24, resulting in an extra student loan payment of $50.00.

I had to work this past weekend for University B and this was a short shift I picked up after an already long Saturday. I immensely regretted signing up for this gig on the way to it but it turned out not to be that bad. While it wasn’t much, this snowflake payment kept my focused on my goal of paying off PSL 3 this year and getting below $90K in student loan debt.

You can read more about how I am landing gigs in Gig Tales: The Apps or how I determine how much money goes towards my student loans in Gig Tales: The Math. Although, at this point, how much I set aside for taxes, gas, and car wear-and-tear is a bit arbitrary. I have now started balancing how much I set aside against recent expenditures (e.g. $705.00 on brand new tires) and the fact that a lot of my gig income expenditures are tax-deductible. For the most part, I am withholding (setting aside in savings) between 20-30% of the income I receive from gigs.

For the week ending 10/22/21, I worked two (2) shifts for a total of 16.79 hours, and earned $331.27, resulting in an extra student loan payment of $250.00.

It was a pretty average week for gig work. I did break my streak of having a $0.00 week after a good week…and I think that is due to some other recent decisions I have made but that is for another post… I picked up a shift at a golf club that offered me a job. Being offered a job while gig working is pretty common if you are a hard worker (I am a very hard worker) but being interviewed on the spot is much less common. I surprised myself by actually going online to complete the application following my interview and taking a drug test…I’m sure it had nothing to do with the very intense (and oddly attractive) food and beverage manager with whom I interviewed. I know! I’m not trying to mix business with pleasure, that’s not me at all. He is just one of those intense and compelling people you meet in life. I would imagine people like him often become politicians…

Him aside, there were a couple of very practical reasons I thought to pick up work with the golf club: 1) I expect gig work opportunities to slow down significantly as fall comes to an end and there are very few weddings; 2) I like working on a team with consistent management; a lot of my managers for gigs have been pretty terrible in terms of their employee management and allowed employees to sit around making it really hard on those of us who do work, especially for large scale events, and I like the woman to who I would report at the golf club, and 3) he said they were willing to bend over backwards to be accommodating to me in terms of flexibility with the fact that I currently have a full time role. For all of these reasons (and a few more…again, later) I decided I will at least try it out.

You can read more about how I am landing gigs in Gig Tales: The Apps or how I determine how much money goes towards my student loans in Gig Tales: The Math. Although, at this point, how much I set aside for taxes, gas, and car wear-and-tear is a bit arbitrary. I have now started balancing how much I set aside against recent expenditures (e.g. $705.00 on brand new tires) and the fact that a lot of my gig income expenditures are tax deductible. For the most part, I am withholding (setting aside in savings) between 20-30% of the income I receive from gigs.