Your Budget, part 1

Lower Broadway, Nashville, TN (Tootsies, Roberts', etc)

After deciding to move to Nashville, I had to make a budget and get some saved for the move. I did not know how much it would cost, other than gas to get there, rent and food. I did know I would not have a lot of money to begin with, so I thought if I knew anyone in Nashville. There was a friend of mine from high school who had moved to Nashville years earlier. I could contact him, and if he still lived there maybe he could help me out.

After I decided to move to Nashville I had to make a budget for the move. Now, how much money does it take to move to Nashville? $5000, $2500? Not if you don’t have it and want to move bad enough. I moved to Nashville with less than $400 bucks. That bought me enough gas, food, and beer, to get started. Fortunately, I did have a job waiting for me when I arrived (see job hunting), and a place to stay (a friends couch, see alternative housing ideas). My main expense was the gas to get there.

If you don’t have a car, then you don’t have to worry about that. Take the bus, get a ride from a friend that wants to take a road trip, have your parents take you, or hitchhike. You can find a job downtown Nashville near Vanderbilt or Belmont University, and rent a room for @$415. If you work a part-time job at Starbucks, 20 hours per week, at $7 per hour,(that’s what they pay in Nashville, minimum wage is not a factor for most jobs) that’s $140 per week, times 4 is $560 per month, enough to squeak by paying rent, eating peanut butter and jelly, and beans n rice, and having enough time to write, write, write, practice, practice, practice, and make contacts. I got a job at BMI within a week from applying at a temporary agency called Randstadt on music row. I worked in the mailroom, and after 2 months of proving myself, they hired me. Talk about and inside track. I delivered mail to Sheryl Crows sister, Kathy, Bradleys sister and grandson, Patsy and Clay, worked along side Harlan Howards son , and met the CEO Frances Preston, several times picking up and delivering her mail! In that area you can walk wherever you need to go, all your restaurants, grocery stored, laundry mat, etc. are right there. And you are a couple of blocks from music row. You are a few more blocks from downtown, Broadway, with Tootsies, etc, where you can get gigs or busk for some extra cash.