Managing a budget as a court reporter can be exhausting. Having work is never guaranteed, especially in this economy. While the incidence of people suing each other tends to rise when times are tough, there is no way to tell how busy our schedule will be the next day, much less the next week or month.
Often joked about as being a profession of feast or famine, our workload in court reporting is unpredictable. Summer is traditionally slower for many court stenographers, as is the period from right after Thanksgiving to the first of the year. Since we are paid by the job and by the page, salaries can vary widely from one paycheck to the next.
Unfortunately, regular monthly bills, such as utilities and mortgages, cannot be paid according to how convenient they are. They are due when they are due. This can be difficult to manage, especially for new reporters that are slower in production than more experienced professional court reporters. The more work you turn out, the more jobs you can take, the more money you make.
Here are a few tips on how to make the ends come a little closer to meeting in the lean months:
• Work out a budget minimum and stay with it. Build up a little nest egg by taking any earnings over the minimum budget requirements and put it in a bank account where it will not be touched unless there is a dire emergency. If things get slow, you will have something to fall back on. Try to get at least one month ahead, just in case.
• Resist the urge to splurge. A boon may be cause to celebrate, but keep it to something small, like an ice cream cone. Remind yourself that with peaks come valleys and put the money into savings.
• Pack a lunch whenever possible. Cafes and restaurants in the business district where law firms and courthouses tend be a little more expensive and can stretch a budget. Bring a lunch bag with a cooler. Not only is it less expensive, it is likely more nutritious.
• Don’t turn down a job. Unless you are physically unable to work, always take it. You never know when something could happen to eliminate other opportunities. A hurricane, snowstorm or case settling could bring a very quiet week. Expect the unexpected. If you are so busy that you cannot handle another page, consider farming out the work to a scopist or proofreader – or both. Even if you have to pay someone else to complete your work, you will still have more income than if you turned it down altogether.
• Avoid the temptation to use your credit card unnecessarily. While it might bridge the gap in a lean month, there is interest and you don’t know what is around the corner.
• Many court reporters receive a 1099 for taxes. If you are one of those, don’t forget to take out money for taxes on each paycheck, whenever possible. Deduct a certain percentage and keep it in a safe place until tax time. It’s better to have too much set aside than too little.
