FREE GYST Professional Practices for Artists Resources

Budgets

A good budget can help you see into your financial future and can be the difference between financial prosperity and fiscal ruin. There are many budgets everyone, not just artists, should think about creating in order to get their financial situation under control.

Consider creating a budget for your general household expenses. This entails detailing every single day-to-day expense you incur to live your life. Seeing how much you pay and for what will help you create better short- and long-term plans, and give you an idea of what you can trim to increase your savings.

Doing a budget for each large project can also be crucial. If you have a show coming up, doing a budget can keep you on track in terms of what you can spend, and if you can afford your own show. It is best to cut down expenses in the planning stage rather than the week before your show opens.

Additionally, you can use the forms provided in this section to create a master balance sheet to keep track of all of your income sources and liabilities. This will give you a better understanding of your net worth and how much you can afford to borrow or invest.

Many artists have debt stemming from various sources, such as credit cards, student loans, personal loans, etc. Use the debt management plan below to better understand how you can pay off your debts in both the short- and long-term. Remember that no matter how much debt you find yourself in there are resources you can use to create manageable payment plans to get yourself on the path to being debt free.

Spending Plan

While of course you will spend money on some of these things before you have your retirement plan and savings, it is a good idea to create a plan for spending if you are finding yourself short of funds for any reason.