Andy Hough

May Expenses – $2218.61

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for May.

Household

$893.39

Entertainment

$66.57

Transportation

 $292.41

Food

$81.15
Medical/Dental

$57.44

Utilities

$51.91

Debt

 $30.00

Travel

 $745.74

Total

$2218.61

May’s  expenses were way higher than normal but my expenses should be back under control this month.  The household expense was high because I had to pay rent on two places for a while plus I had a couple of application fees.  The transportation expense was high because I made many three hours each-way trips from K.C. to Springfield and back.  The transportation expense isn’t quite as bad as it seems though because some of mileage I was reimbursed for by the Census Bureau and mileage for my mystery shopping will be deductible.  My transportation expense will go down this month since I shouldn’t have any long trips although I probably will be doing a fair amount of driving for my mystery shops.  The travel expense is for my honeymoon/wedding trip.  This isn’t too bad for two round-trip tickets, three nights hotel, and ground transportation to and from the airport.  There is a small possibility that I will get some of this comped back to me.  There shouldn’t be any travel expense this month although there might be a small bit of wedding expense.  My other expenses should remain roughly the same this month.  I’m hoping I will be able to get my expenses under $1000 this month.

A Frugal Engagement

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It is possible to get engaged without spending a lot of money.  Being the frugal person I am I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on getting engaged.  The only money you really need to spend on getting engaged is the purchase of a ring.

In my case I proposed before I had a ring and we picked out our rings together on Amazon.  They didn’t cost much and I was able to mostly pay for them using gift cards I had purchased with Swag Bucks.   It is a lot easier to buy your rings for a reasonable price if you do not buy diamonds.  Besides the cost there are plenty of other reasons why you should not buy diamonds.

Even a tight fisted miser like me wants to be romantic but that doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money.  If you can’t come up with romantic proposal ideas that don’t cost a lot of money just Google “romantic proposals” and you will find plenty that can be done on a frugal budget.  My proposal wasn’t very romantic but I did get a do over.  Her engagement ring arrived while she was at work and when we went out to dinner that evening I surprised her by getting down on one knee and proposing.  Even though I had already asked her to marry me before the second proposal was an emotional moment and was much appreciated.

Money should not be an obstacle to getting engaged.  You can get engaged and still be frugal.

Making a Living by Mystery Shopping

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Based on my personal experience I would think it is impossible to make a living by mystery shopping.  I struggle to make even minimum wage for the mystery shops I complete.  However, My Frugal Miser has been making $2000 to $3000 a month from mystery shopping so it is possible to do mystery shopping as a full-time job.  He has gotten mystery shopping down to a science.

Since my Census Bureau employment will officially be ending tomorrow I have decided to see how much money I can make from mystery shopping.   I do have online income coming in so I won’t need to make all of my money from mystery shopping.  If I could make $1000 a month from mystery shopping I would feel like I was doing pretty good.  Right now $1000 a month seems unlikely but for the next month I am going to take every mystery shopping job I can, as long as I feel the job will pay me at least minimum wage.  At the end of the month I will report my results and whether I feel that mystery shopping is a viable main income source for me.

*** There is a chance that I will start a medical study midway through June.  In that case I will report my results for the next two weeks.

April Investment Income – $96.83

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My April investment income went down to $96.83 from $98.43 the month before.  This is because I didn’t add to my investments and the stock market went down.  I won’t be adding to my investments this month either and it looks like the stock market is going down more so my investment income will probably go down again.  This is a little frustrating since I was looking forward to getting over the $100 mark but as soon as I’m able to start adding to my investments I should reach the $100 goal.

Disclaimer: This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement savings, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings. What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income. My goal is to get this amount to $1000 a month. If I have $1000 in monthly passive investment income I will be able to retire early.