Expense/Income Tracking

Here is a breakdown of my income for January.

Interest	$193.76
Dividends	$20.27
Job	$3768.27
Other Selling	$12.47
Cashback	$56.76
Ebay	($64.66)
Capital Loss	($548)
Amazon Merch	$4.15
Total	$3443.02

January was a good income month. Although I had some negative income, that was offset by having five paychecks during the month.

Dividend income came in at $20.27.

Interest income was $193.76.

I had a loss of $64.66 from selling on eBay. This was an item that I bought a couple of years ago on speculation that it would go up in value. That didn’t happen and I was happy to finally unload it for not too bad of a loss.

I made $12.47 from other selling. This was stuff that wouldn’t be worth my time to resale except that buying them helps me meet a credit card signup bonus.

I made $56.76 from cash back.

I made $3768.27 from job income. When adding this up I realized that I forgot to include my health insurance premiums deducted from my paycheck in this month’s expenses. I will remember to add them for this month.

I made $4.15 from Amazon Merch.

Finally, I had a capital loss of $548 from selling some stocks. I decided to reduce the number of stocks I own in taxable accounts and sold off all of my losers.

This month will probably be a little lower since it is a shorter month and I’ll be off four workdays at the end of the month to go to Thailand.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for January.

Household	$64.90
Mortgage/Apt	$0
Utilities	$188.34
Entertainment	$11.27
Transportation	$61.12
Food	$339.35
Visa	$0
Health	$711.15
Travel	$1531.17
Phone	$15
Total	$2922.30

January’s expenses were quite high. This month’s expenses will also be high.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Amazon Prime, one month Hulu, and one month of Max.

My transportation expense consisted of $61.12 for gas. I saved some money in this category by using a free $20 Buc-ee’s gift card I got when buying a $100 card as part of a Christmas promotion they had.

My food expense was $339.35. That is divided between $244.35 for groceries and $95 for restaurants. This total is about the same every month so I guess I should just accept this as the new normal. Since we’ll be traveling at the end of the month this total might be a little higher this month.

Travel expense was the big expense at $1531.17. The total includes $85.35 for a hotel near LAX, $325 for an Amex gold card annual fee, and $1120.82 for airfare. The airfare includes taxes and fees on flights for 2 from Springfield, MO-LAX and from LAX-Singapore, two cash tickets from Bangkok to LAX, two cash tickets from Singapore to Bangkok, and two cash tickets from LAX to Springfield. That is a lot of flying for the money spent. Also, I will eventually get 100,00 Membership Rewards from Amex as a signup bonus which I should be able to redeem for more than $1000 worth of travel, so this month’s expense isn’t as bad as it first looks.

Utilities came in at $188.34 This was for electric and internet.

Household expense came in at $64.90 which was for basic household stuff such as detergent, cleaning supplies, batteries, shampoo, etc.

I spent $15 for one month of phone service for my wife.

The $ spent on health consisted of $61.46 for an insurance premium, $249.88 for medicine, and $399.81 for doctor visits. About $300 of the expense was for a Semaglutide prescription. I’m on my second week of using it so the jury is still out on whether it will work for me. This expense will again be high this month since I had to pay a large bill for an E/R visit.

This month’s expenses will probably be about the same due to medical bills and travel. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for November.

Interest	$196.27
Dividends	$35.31
Job	$3925.22
Other Selling	$46.36
Cashback	$95.20
Ebay	$116.22
Credit Card Bonus	$200
Bank Bonus	$600
Total	$5214.58

November was a great income month. It was helped by having five paydays and a couple of bonuses posting during the month.

Dividend income came in at $35.31.

Interest income was $196.27.

I made $116.22 from eBay and $46.36 from other selling. I currently don’t spend much time on this since it is more profitable to spend that time working at my job.

I made $95.20 from cash back.

I made $3925.22 from job income.

I had a credit card bonus of $200 and two $300 bank bonuses. I try to always be working towards one bank/brokerage bonus and a credit card bonus.

This month will be a little lower, but should still be a solid month.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for November.

Household	$143.78
Mortgage/Apt	$0
Utilities	$222.08
Entertainment	$7.29
Transportation	$632.96
Food	$322.97
Visa	$0
Health	$92.57
Travel	$0
Phone	$15
Total	$1436.65

November’s expenses were a little higher than October’s but still very reasonable. This month’s expenses will probably be about the same.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Amazon Prime.

My transportation expense consisted of $92.96 for gas and $540 to replace my rear brakes.

My food expense was $322.97. That is divided between $173.19 for groceries and $149.78 for restaurants. That is much lower than last month. This was helped by starting the month with a lot of groceries in the pantry and a friend of my wife giving her a lot of food. This should be about the same this month. I still have gift cards that were accounted for in previous months to spend this month.

Travel expense was $0, and it will probably be $0 again this month. I won’t go to Thailand again until sometime next year and I don’t think we will have any domestic travel this year.

Utilities came in at $220.08 This was for electric and internet. This month should be about the same.

Household expense came in at $143.78.

I spent $15 for one month of phone service for my wife.

The $92.57 spent on health consisted of $61.46 for an insurance premium and $22.43 for medicine. This month might be a lot higher. We had and ER visit last month, that I’m not sure how much will be covered.

This month’s expenses will probably be about the same. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for October.

Household	$170.45
Mortgage/Apt	$0
Utilities	$320.16
Entertainment	$20.94
Transportation	$92.37
Food	$411.68
Visa	$0
Health	$333.23
Travel	$0
Phone	$20
Total	$1368.83

October’s expenses were a little higher than September’s but still very reasonable. This month’s expenses will probably be quite a bit higher.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Amazon Prime, one month Netflix, a lottery ticket and some books.

My transportation expense consisted of $92.37 for gas. I’ll spend much more in this category this month.

My food expense was $411.68. That is divided between $288.11 for groceries and $123.57 for restaurants. That is slightly lower than last month. I thought I would be able to bring it down more. This month I should at least be able to get this expense under $400. I have a couple of gift cards that were counted in previous months, and I have decided I won’t buy any groceries for myself. I’ll just eat what we already have or part of what I buy for others.

Travel expense was $0, and it will probably be $0 again this month. I won’t go to Thailand again until sometime next year and I don’t think we will have any domestic travel this year.

Utilities came in at $320.16. This was for electric, internet and trash. This month I don’t have to pay for trash and the electric bill should be lower since we’re no longer using air conditioning. That should lead to a significantly lower total in this category.

Household expense came in at $170.45. The big expenses in this category were sending money to my wife’s family and buying a used laptop.

I spent $20 for one month of phone service for my wife.

The $333.23 spent on health consisted of $309.12 for a doctor visit and $24.11 for medicine. I had an unforced error here as I didn’t check to see whether the doctor was in network for our insurance. Since the doctor was out of network, I ended up having to pay the entire bill.

This month’s expenses will probably be a little higher. How was your month?