On July 7th, 2008, I quit my job of four years at Highland Equipment to pursue my career as a professional artist. Highland is a stainless steel equipment manufacturer. I spent most of my time in food and pharmaceutical plants running stainless steel piping and then welding it for production. While it was a decent paying job and the work was engaging to a degree, it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. In July of 2008, I’d saved up enough money to finally pursue my dream of being a full-time artist, so I quit Highland and started the pursuit!

Since then I’ve been living on savings, working to build a viable, self-sustaining artistic business. In order to do this, it has been in my best interest to try and make my savings go as far as possible. I’ve done this in a number of ways and I’d like to relate them to you today.

For all of you out there who are ready to take the plunge and make Art production your livelihood, I’ve made some observations about making your money endure while you bring your dream to fruition, which hopefully you may benefit from. Let’s get started…

Streamline your Spending

First and foremost, you’ll have to have a look at what you’re spending on a monthly, weekly, even daily basis and streamline what you’re paying out for living expenses. Chances are if you’ve approached your Art career  opportunity as I have, you have a finite amount of money in the bank and the longer you can make it endure, the longer you can continue to make Art without impunity. Don’t waste what you have.

At the time I quit, I was carrying a cell phone. While I was out working, driving from place to place, making late night calls to Parmalat Dairy Products, it made sense to have a cell phone. If I had a breakdown or an accident it would be invaluable. When I quit my day job and started working at home full time, I had a fully operational landline to use. My cellphone became redundant so I cancelled it. Why pay $40 a month for something I no longer needed? That was one bill I was able to eliminate right away.

How many bills do you have coming in monthly? Ask yourself, do you really need them? What about cable? Cath and I have never had cable. We don’t watch much television so paying for cable is a frivolity that we can live without. If you don’t have it, don’t get it. You don’t need it. You’ll be too busy building your business anyway.

If you do have cable, ask yourself if you still really need it. Cancelling the cable will save you $60+ a month. Buy a set of rabbit ears if you need a TV fix every once in a while or you just have to see the news. Television can be pulled out of the air for free. It may not be the best quality and you won’t get all the specialty channels, but you’ll still have some selection when you need it.

What about your housing costs? Do you have a mortgage or do you rent? If you rent, you could move to a less expensive abode and save yourself some money monthly. If you have a mortgage, maybe it would be a good idea to renegotiate it to make the payment as small as possible before you endeavour to make Art full-time. Cath and I thought about moving out of Toronto to a geographical location which would be more cost effective. For the price we’re paying in Toronto, we could probably rent an entire house somewhere else. That’s still on the table. At the moment ,we’re where we need to be so we’re staying put.

Examine everything you’ve got going out through your bank account and see if you can stem the hemorraging. The longer you can keep your money in the bank, the more leeway you’ll have building your business.

Streamline Your Time

Streamlining your time can really help you save money too. There are many things that we have to get done during the week. We have to prepare meals, clean our living areas, help our friends, take our families places such as ballet practice or art classes. You may have obligations with organizations or foundations, perhaps on a volunteer basis, or a weekly basketball game to attend. Whatever activities you’ve got going on in your life, you’ll have to streamline them in order to get your work done. This will also help you save money.

How many of your activities can be done at the same time? When you go out to do the groceries, can you also go to the pharmacy, gas up the car, hit the library and visit the barber? Doing all of these things in one trip will save you not only time but money as well, money that you didn’t spend on gasoline for the family vehicle making several separate trips. You’ll put less wear and tear on it and lessen the chance of any accidents which could be costly. I do this every week. All of my activities get done on the same day. I almost never put gasoline in my car now.

In the long run, being efficient about your time outside of the home will save you a lot of money, money that can now be used to make Art.

Streamline Your Lifestyle

Here’s where you can really make a big difference in the amount of money you’re spending on a daily basis. The major culprit here is food. Here are a few simple tricks to save you tons of money on your grocery bill.

Number 1

Stop buying coffee and a bagel in the morning! So many people wake up in the morning, drag a comb through their hair, put on their work clothes and then head to the nearest fastfood joint to get their morning caffeine and trans fat fix. Stop it! How much money do you spend daily? $3? $5? Over a week that’s $15 – $25 that you’re spending on morning convenience.

For that amount of money you could easily buy bagels and coffee from the grocery store which will last you two weeks, including weekends. You’ll just have to prepare them yourself. If that’s too difficult for you then maybe you’re not ready to be a professional artist. I guarantee you that building a career is a lot more labour intensive than toasting a bagel or brewing some coffee. Get up ten minutes earlier in the morning and save your money.

I personally refuse to pay for something that I can do myself for half the price. I can’t remember the last time I went to Tim Hortons. The past year that I’ve spent doing Art and nothing but Art thanks me.

Number 2

Switch supermarkets. Are you used to high-end supermarkets? While they may carry high-end products, they also come with high-end prices. Unfortunately, everything else they carry, even basic items, suffer from the same mark up. Why pay $2 for a product that costs $1 across the street? Switch. It’s a simple trick that will save you big money in the long run.

If you have difficulty seeing yourself doing this because of the assumptions you’ve made about frill-less supermarkets being for the poor or for the downtrodden, put your ego in check and take advantage of the price discounts they give. Even if all you get is canned goods or dairy products, you’ll keep your grocery bill low. Over the course of a year the savings will add up.

Cath and I have always done this and I think it’s good advice. We frequent the No Frills and Price Chopper supermarkets in our area and only go to Loblaws or Metro when we need something that can’t be acquired at our first two destinations. We live on about $100 weekly for groceries and we eat very well.

Number 3

Go Vegetarian. Meat is expensive. When I was a kid we had meat with almost every meal and it was easily the most expensive thing on the menu. Since Cath and I went vegetarian (more or less–sometimes I still have chicken) our food bills have dropped drastically. Try it. You won’t regret it.

I eat healthier now than I ever did before and I’ve got more money in the bank to continue my current period of Art production.

Number 4

Cut out alcohol.

I wish I could see your face right now. What? Cut out beer, or your daily glass of wine? Absolutely, yes.

Alcohol is expensive. Now that you’re on a fixed budget, you’ll have to seriously consider whether or not you can still support its purchase. You don’t need it anyway. If anything, drinking will only hamper the production of your artwork, so kill two birds with one stone. Save money by not buying it and get on with your work while you’re not hung over. Bingo! You win twice.

When I look back on all the money that I’ve wasted in my life on alcohol, I have no choice but to kick myself. Now that I’m living off savings while I’m building my business, I have no money for it and I’m glad that I’ve made this financial decision above all others.

I used to spend anywhere from $10 to $15 a day on alcohol. Over a year, that amount adds up to almost $5000! That’s 5 months worth of rent for Cath and I. That’s 5 months of time spent working at making Art not working a day job. That’s 5 months of freedom.

When it comes to yourself, what’s more important, getting buzzed on alcohol or putting in another half a year making your artistic dreams come true? Weigh it.

And there you have it. These are the major money saving measures that I’ve implemented since I quit my job a year ago. As of today it’s been exactly one year and I’m going to continue working at my artistic practice while living off my original savings. I hope you’ve found some of these tips useful in the furtherance of your own practice. May they continue to do so in the years to come.

For now, that is all. Goodnight.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Articles, on LIFE . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.