Summary
I think the biggest purchase of 2021 was my new headjoint, which I purchased in December. In May, we purchased a new mic and speaker for a gig. Aside from that, I did purchase a fair amount of sheet music for myself. I realized that I had been limiting my access to new music too much- a habit from my days as a poor student. I particularly bought new music for church services, which I use weekly, and flute pedagogy books and standard repertoire.
I took lessons in preparation for auditions, which run $100-$150 a pop. I was actually surprised that I didn’t spend more there. I would like to be more regular with taking lessons, as I always gain some valuable insights, and find the relationships with my teachers to be very meaningful.
I didn’t travel much for auditions, mostly sticking to local and recorded auditions. The one audition I traveled for was Knoxville. I actually thought that it was a bit too expensive, and after that experience, I resolved to be more conservative with my spending on auditions.
When I was a novice at taking auditions, I think I did need the experience, and took almost every audition I was invited to. However, now with my kids starting school and getting settled here, I am focusing on taking auditions that are inexpensive (drivable or recorded). By now, I feel pretty familiar with the audition process, and am trying to do a better job at preparing fewer auditions.
Looking forward
Here are some of my ideas/thoughts/goals for expenses for 2022:
- Spend more on education, especially lessons. They are so helpful in so many ways! I tend to just take them when I’m specifically preparing an audition, but it’s sometimes better to learn with a little less pressure (more mental space for exploration)
- Continue to be very price sensitive about auditions
- Max out Roth IRA contributions for both of us ($6000 in 2022)
- Contribute $100/month to kid’s UTMA accounts
Other interesting numbers:
- $7,700 in contributions to Roth IRA ($3850 each)
- $11,600 total received from stimulus checks and Child Tax Credit (since we were in the very fortunate position of continuing to work in adapted circumstances during the pandemic, this money went straight to savings and investment accounts)
- 689 hours of practice time (this is probably a low estimate, but still interesting)
- $1,420 moving expenses + $3280 replacement transmission (a car broke down on the move!)
Alyse Hokamp 