Artist as Treasurer

Dear reader,

It is a bit gloomy and rainy today in the north, yesterday was sunny. The weather seems to change so often. The wood stove is back in session and June lives in front of its sweet glow. I feel happy working on school work, reading, and eating meals I got from a discount code for Factor before I deactivated Instagram. The gunshots are loud across the street as Don and Terry find their deer for the season on this here opening day. Blessed be the food that wanders through the forest.

Today I am writing about money.

HOUSEKEEPING 🧹

Tomorrow Saturday November 16 in Landscapes, the writing group I facilitate, guest teacher is bringing us a workshop at 12pm EST you don’t want to miss.

Thread Dictionary: gather the words and their definitions binding your stories together🪡 In this workshop, we'll build a language for a world you are imagining into being.

Through a series of list making exercises and writing prompts, we'll identify the threads connecting the various themes we explore within our own creative ecosystems.

Brandi will share examples of how to use threads to support a larger body of work or interdisciplinary project like a newsletter, memoir, how-to zine, or book.

JOIN LANDSCAPES

For the past week I have had the euphoric experience of when you study something and try to figure it out for years and it finally clicks.

This something is : The world of personal finance.

I have been knitting a lot lately, needing to use my hands as much as possible while I listen to a finance podcast or an audiobook. I find that my mood is better and I am more attuned to the world when I have a knitting project going, preferably one that doesn’t need a pattern so I can completely tune out while I knit one purl one.

I got a Kindle and discovered the amazing resource of Libby and Hoopla. I can’t believe it. Library books delivered right to my hands in an instant. I had no idea how pleasurable it would be to read with this lightweight object in my hands. I also got the free trial of Kindle Unlimited so I could eat up everything in my one month. I made sure to cancel it already so I wouldn’t accidentally be charged.

The last week I have been in what I might call a personal finance hyper focus portal. Consuming as much as I can, and in many examples its books I read years ago but wouldn’t click like I Will Teach You to Be Rich. I devoured Financial Feminist and have now turned to The Money with Katie show which I am absolutely loving. Alas has been helping me build out my own ultimate spreadsheet dashboard in google sheets and that has been great.

On the business side of things I finally got a new LLC that doesn’t say Marlee Grace but says Cody Cook-Parrott. I will then open a proper business account which I have never done in twelve years of being self employed. I guess having a checking account that you name “Operating Expenses” doesn’t count to the IRS.

The biggest thing I did for myself that has perhaps completely changed my life was got an account with Betterment and signed up to make high yield savings accounts, a separate account for my taxes, and … wait for it … a SEP IRA.

Now let me be clear. I have multiple six figures of debt (this includes my mortgage, grad school loans, and seven years of back taxes) and I am currently behind with some payments for things. This brings me great shame and this shame has stopped me from doing the most important step I have ever done, until now!

MAKE THE CONTAINERS : A HOW TO

I teach this all the time in creative practice - in order to stick to our disciplines we need containers to put our work in. I shape all of this up for free in the Creative Ideation Portal if you haven’t downloaded it.

Creative practice / small business containers : Social media, newsletter, podcast, book, zine, workshop, online class, art show, music album, short film, book of poetry, the list goes on and on. When you have a container and NAME THAT CONTAINER you have a place to put all of your big ideas.

It is the same with money. You can’t just in your head separate your business and personal finances. You need two separate checking accounts for this. You should have a separate account to put your taxes in, preferably one that is far away from your checking accounts.

And then we come to High Yield Savings - the illustrious EMERGENCY FUND. I would like to report that there is now TWENTY DOLLARS in my HYS Emergency Fund and I will let it live there. I will not touch it. I will slowly add to it at the same time that I am paying down my debt. My goal is to have three months worth of personal expenses there at all times :) There is $10 in my SEP IRA fund which has already lost five cents and I don’t really know how that works but I have never been so happy to just HAVE MY CONTAINERS.

It was the missing link all along. It might seem so simple and so obvious but I wasn’t moving money because I didn’t have anywhere to move it to.

Another beautiful thing is in Betterment you can choose photos for your different containers and that makes it really satisfying to me.

I mostly use a modified version of the Profit First method where in my business checking I have an Income Account where all the money goes and then I take percentages of that money and move them into a tax account, my op expenses biz account, and my personal checking. I am also now an S Corp and figuring out how to do payroll through Quickbooks - my next big thing to tackle :)

I have also been using YNAB (You Need A Budget) since July and doing my personal and business categorization every single morning (!!!) which lead me to actually wanting to be my OWN BOOKKEEPER and use Quickbooks. I have a professional bookkeeper who for $100/mo gives a second eye to everything and this also includes my S Corp tax filing at the end of the year. But every morning I can go in and categorize my expenses and income. It is pleasurable. I am changing!

This stuff has riddled me with so much guilt, shame, and confusion over the years. My hope is that some of this transparency makes it just a tiny bit easier for us all to figure out.

Make your containers and slowly start to put money in.

I am doing this as someone with a ton of debt and behind on finances right now. But my anxiety feels lower than ever between being off Instagram completely (wow, to not even exist there!) and setting up these different buckets.

Dear artists, I want this same feeling for you too. Let me know if you have questions in the comments or want to share resources. I want to see more queer and trans people with wealth - or even just a HYS with a few hundred bucks in it!

The threads of money become tangled and untenable, but I really believe that the more we share with each other the more we can build new systems for comfort and even wealth.

Part of my shifting this week has also been to do a spending ban while I get caught up, tend to my debt, and properly save for taxes. I decided for now the ban goes to the end of the year and then I will reevaluate. I made this spreadsheet as part of my larger spreadsheet with my Dashboard, Spending Plan, and Actual Spending sheets.

I was inspired after reading book The Year of Less and a book that was free on Kindle about no spend challenges. It has made me pause so many times in the past week to not buy things and text friends. I also canceled Amazon Prime and removed by debit cards from the website. Impulsive spending is a huge part of my addictive habits and part of having my containers is now I want to watch them grow instead of spending money.

This truly feels like a miracle.

I am absolutely still in process, at the very beginning of this journey. But I so badly want for you to understand what took me so long to understand. I can truly say that having the containers and the accountability of others has changed my compulsive purchasing and showed me exactly how I want to be using my money.

The other important factor for me is this all leads back to generosity and service. If I am broke and unhappy and stressed and disorganized with my money - How will I give back to the people who need it most? How will I be able to be generous with my family, my parents, and future me? These organization methods are not for my own wealth hoarding but for bringing in even more possibility for us all. May it be so!

Website

info@codycookparrott.com

PO Box 252 Cedar, MI 49621

Landscapes : A writing group for all genres

POETICS OF SQUARES : QUILT IN A WEEKEND Sat Nov 23 + Sun Nov 24 12-4pm EST - Learn to make a quilt with other weirdos over two days in the zoom room!

P.S I have been using the chat and it is very fun. Check out the chat if you want to connect about personal finance resources and note taking organization :)

I used affiliate codes for Factor, Betterment, and a few books. If you click these links you get a discount and I get a kickback. XO