#this is so terrible I'm thinking about I am become christmas in september

[murderofsomeone]

Finally able to get back into the drawing groove. Here's a wintery Neil sketch I cleaned based off his appearance in Ryan's Christmas Wish.

[soporis]

instead of doing my last bit of exam prep i'm thinking about budgeting because the rent increase, weddings, and No Job have all caught up to me pretty quickly. (I was really good at this when living with Erin though so I can get back to it I am confident).

Ok, so from now until September of next year, no new buy is in place, obvi. I'm pretty sure no secondhand buy could also be in place given how many items you own, but sometimes the desire to make a purchase arises you know? In this case it will be bunz and value village and that is it.

Let's say you don't get a job until May 2024, even though you may ask Ken what's up with his company before then. This means that over the next 5 months, you have $3,402.13 to spend (tution excluded actually, thanks QC government). That's $680/month. Ouch, that's going to be difficult given that your rent is $400, therapy is $62, and a metro pass is $97, bringing us to $559.. but considering you will eat at Nick's like more than half the time, $121 for 2 weeks of groceries is manageable if you really make it count.

So anyway, we get to May 2024 and rent starts - let's pretend we've got an absolutely shit deal on an apartment and are spending $1500/month + utilities, which I don't even know how much they'd cost right now, my google search says $325 so let me use that. 20,000 in the bank = 10 months of rent + $175 of spending/month, if completely jobless and relying on the QC loan purely for tuition costs and an occasional additional splurge. With Ken's going rate of potentially $34/hour, with a 12 hour work week, that's $1632 a month, so rent and some groceries could be covered if we live that way. (Also, if he hires you in the summer you could fully do a 40 hour work-week if he allowed, which would be quite the boon, but I also don't want to RELY upon this job).

Which is where we begin actually planning. You can make it ALMOST to the end of your degree without getting any job at all if you live basically like an ascetic (which tbh would be a boon given your propensity towards solitude lately, but that doesn't seem ideal). This, however, discounts any and all costs for the weddings, the possibility that you and Nick break up, and the idea that like, you don't indulge in any extraneous expenses in any way, which is just unreasonable. So a job this summer becomes absolutely mandatory (both expenses wise and also to give you excuses to not see people! if you had no obligations all day every day turning down invitations would be a nightmare!).

The only real planning you can do starting like, soon, is to a) really lay out what you're willing to spend money on in the upcoming few months, and b) talk to Ken/start looking for jobs after exams. Tbh, starting the yt up genuinely isn't a terrible idea because you won't be able to discount it as a revenue source unless you try. Other than a quick grocery trip at the start of December, as well, your expenses have already been paid for (because rent already sent to Cassa), so that $680/month is actually more like $850, since you'll be living at home with your christmas gifts already bought.