Andy Hough

August Income – $3145.64

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Here is a breakdown of my income for August.

Interest$9.42
Cash Back$14.19
Bank Bonus$500
Job$2376.51
Dividends$38.56
Mystery Shop$28
Ebay/Other Selling$126.99
Amazon FBA$46.29
Stepbet Winnings$5.68
Total$3145.64

August was a good earnings month since I had job income for the entire month.

Dividend income came in at $38.56. If you sign up using my Robinhood referral link we will both get one share of free stock. Thanks to anyone who signs up using my link. Every little bit helps.

I received $14.19 in cash back income. If you sign up for Rakuten using my referral link you can start earning cash back too and I’ll get a small bonus for referring you. These little bits of referral income help me keep the blog going.

Interest income was $9.42. The rising interest rates are helping this a little.

Job income was the big source of income coming in at $2376.51 for the month.

I received a bank bonus of $500 for opening a line of credit. I’ll be closing it this month. That was probably the easiest $500 I’ve ever made.

Mystery shop income came in at $28. That was one shop and also included a free meal. If the restaurant was closer to me, I’d do more of these. I already did another one this month.

Ebay and other selling income came in at $126.99. I hope to increase this income this month. I’ll be finished with work soon and plan to list a bunch of stuff on eBay. I have to leave at the end of the month though.

I made $46.29 from Amazon FBA. That is my first FBA income this year.

Lastly, I had $5.68 in winnings from completing a Stepbet challenge.

It was a solid income month again. I’ve made back all of the money I spent during my last trip to Thailand. I’ll be heading to Thailand again this month, so I need to stockpile money before then. My doc review job will be ending soon. I’ll try to make money from other sources, but income will likely be down this month. How was your month?

August Expenses – $1140.51

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for August.

Household$7.62
Mortgage/Apt$355
Support$200
Entertainment$30.78
Transportation$306.20
Food$123.53
Phone$0
Health$15.50
Travel$101.88
Total$1140.51

My August expenses were pretty low. I was happy with the level of expenses.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, a month of Amazon Prime, a 6-month digital subscription to a local paper and 2 months of HBO Max. That was a lot of entertainment for the price. That is a lot of entertainment for the money spent.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment. I

Transportation was for gas and car insurance. I didn’t spend much on gas since I work at home and don’t drive much. My car insurance wasn’t due to renew until October. However, I was offered $200 to switch to another company and took that deal. The new insurance company has a slightly cheaper rate too. I haven’t received the $200 yet. If I receive that this month, I’ll likely end up with this expense category being a profit for the month.

My food expense was very reasonable. This is about as low as I can get it now with so many foods being more expensive. This month I plan to eat out of the pantry a lot so I might manage to get the total even lower.

My phone bill was $0. American Express had an offer for $25 back on $50 spend with my phone carrier. That resulted in my phone bill being $0 for August and it will be quite low this month.

The household expense was for dryer sheets, flossers, baking soda, fabric refresher, and cotton swabs. My mom bought my wife a Coach purse at a garage sale. Unfortunately, the purse reeks of smoke. The baking soda, fabric refresher, and dryer sheets are all part of the effort to remove the smoke smell from the purse.

Health expense was for one month’s health insurance premium and 90 days supply of one of my blood pressure medicines.

Travel expense includes $22.75 for a hotel in Bangkok, $29.13 for airfare from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and $50 for 2000 AA miles. I probably shouldn’t have bought the miles. I needed some more miles for my return ticket from Thailand to the US and I’m getting close to having Gold status with AA so I splurged and bought the miles. Time will tell, if they were worth it.

There also was an expense of $200 to help my wife with some of her expenses in Thailand

This month’s expenses should be about the same. I’ll be traveling at the end of the month. Those expenses have been mostly prepaid though so that shouldn’t raise my expenses much.

How was your month?

July Income – $3111.23

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Here is a breakdown of my income for July.

Interest$5.59
Cash Back$52.35
Online Income$86.24
Job$2876.80
Dividends$47.32
Mystery Shop$25
Ebay/Other Selling$77.13
Concert Ticket$45
Shuttle$100
Insurance Promo$25
Total$3340.43

July was a good earnings month since I had job income for the entire month.

Dividend income came in at $47.32. If you sign up using my Robinhood referral link we will both get one share of free stock. Thanks to anyone who signs up using my link. Every little bit helps.

I received $52.35 in cash back income. If you sign up for Rakuten using my referral link you can start earning cash back too and I’ll get a small bonus for referring you. These little bits of referral income help me keep the blog going.

Interest income was $5.59.

I had $86.24 in online income. I had to pay for a domain name renewal, and I received an Adsense payout this month. I probably won’t have any income or expense in this category this month.

Job income was the big source of income coming in at $2876.80 for the month.

Since I had to work, I was unable to attend the concert I bought a ticket for and was able to sell it back for $45. That was a tiny loss, but I need to count it as income for July since I counted it as an expense in June.

I also received $100 for doing a shuttle from the Branson airport to the Lake of the Ozarks. Finally, I received a $25 Amazon gift card for getting a car insurance quote.

It was nice to have a solid income month again. I’ve made back most of the money I spent during my last trip to Thailand. I’ll be heading to Thailand again next month, so I need to stockpile money before then. I should be working my document review job all this month so this should be another good income month. How was your month?

July Expenses – $1113.26

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for July.

Household$7.03
Mortgage/Apt$355
Support$286.71
Entertainment$39
Transportation$124.53
Food$152.13
Phone$33.28
Health$1.98
Travel$113.60
Total$1113.26

My July expenses were about as low as I can get them anymore. I was happy with the level of expenses.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, a month of Amazon Prime, a lottery ticket and a movie visit with concessions. That was a lot of entertainment for the price.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment. I

Transportation was for gas and parking. The higher gas prices didn’t affect me much since I work at home. I did go to the city an hour away from me a couple of times or this total would have been much lower.

My food expense was reasonable considering how much inflation has raised food prices. My old goal of $100 a month is much more difficult to achieve now and I’m not trying to achieve that level anymore.

My phone bill was $33.28. It was slightly higher than normal due to increased data usage. It should be slightly lower this month.

The household expense was for a photo and some kraft paper.

Health expense was for one month’s health insurance premium.

Travel expense includes the annual fee on one of my credit cards and taxes on an award ticket for my next flight to Thailand.

There also was an expense of $286.71 to help my wife with some of her expenses in Thailand

This month’s expenses should be about the same.

How was your month?

June Income – $797.91

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Here is a breakdown of my income for June.

Interest$5.83
Cash Back$54.46
Online Income($14.16)
Swagbucks Offers$5
Dividends$42.66
Class Action$25.37
Ebay/Other Selling$48.52
Amazon Merch$5.23
CC/Other Promos$25
Bank Bonus$600
Total$797.91

June was another low-income month since I was in Thailand all month and didn’t have any job income.

Dividend income came in at $42.66. If you sign up using my Robinhood referral link we will both get one share of free stock. Thanks to anyone who signs up using my link. Every little bit helps.

I received $54.46 in cash back income. If you sign up for Rakuten using my referral link you can start earning cash back too and I’ll get a small bonus for referring you. These little bits of referral income help me keep the blog going.

Interest income was $5.83.

I had negative $14.16 in online income. I had to pay for a domain name renewal and I didn’t have any income for the month. I think I might get an Adsense payout this month, otherwise I probably won’t have any online income for the month.

I received $5 from a Swagbucks offer and $25 for a couple of other promos. I also received $5.23 from Amazon Merch.

I received a total of $25.37 from four different class actions. None of them were very large, but I will take the free money.

My big money maker for the month was the $600 bank bonus. I plan to do a bank bonus or similar bonus every month while I’m in the U.S. We will see if I follow through.

It was nice to see that all of my different income streams added up to a somewhat decent amount this month. I’m back working my document review job this month so I should have a much higher income in July. How was your month?