Expense/Income Tracking

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?

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?

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?

Here is a breakdown of my income for May.

Interest	$3.40
Cash Back	$99.84
Online Income	$238.50
Swagbucks Offers	$7
Dividends	$35.17
BA Refund	$67.19
Ebay/Other Selling	$0
Total	$451.10

May was a low income month since I was in Thailand all month and didn’t have any job income. .

Dividend income came in at $35.17. 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 $99.84 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.

I received $3.40 in interest.

I made $238.50 in online income. I had one advertiser renew their ads for the year. I used to have many advertisers. Now this is the only one. This is enough to cover my hosting and other costs so I won’t complain.

I also received $67.19 from British Airways for a flight that was canceled last year. They initially issued me a voucher. Last month, they decided to issue me a refund instead. I’ll gladly take the miles and cash over a voucher. I’m counting this as income since I did deduct the expense when I purchased the ticket last year. Perhaps, I should have used it to reduce May’s travel expense category.

I’m still in Thailand this month and not working my job so this will be another low-income month. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for May.

Household	$93.52
Mortgage/Apt	$555
Gifts/Charity	$11.62
Visa	$730.16
Entertainment	$84.64
Transportation	$43.95
Food	$281.68
Phone	$33.94
Health	$28.17
Travel	$338.27
Total	$2222.86

My May expenses were high which was expected since I was in Thailand the entire month.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, one month of Peacock, Thailand Netflix, a concert ticket, and a movie visit. That was a lot of entertainment for the price.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment. I also had a month’s rent for the apartment I’m staying in with my wife here in Thailand.

Transportation was for taxis. Not having a car here is saving me some money.

My food expense was higher than I’d prefer. It was for two people, but local food is cheap here so this could be a lot lower. I’ll try to have more Thai food and less fast food/Western food this month and I think I should be able to get this total down to about $200.

My phone bill was $33.94. It will probably be about the same this month.

The household expense was for laundry, miscellaneous household items, and fees to get married.

Health expense was for one month’s health insurance premium and a one month gym membership.

Travel expense includes airfare for me and my wife from Chiang Mai to visit her family later this month. I scheduled this so we could stay in Bangkok for a day on the way back. I’ll fly home from Bangkok and my wife will continue on to Chiang Mai. Scheduling it this way reduced the number of flights I had to purchase. It also includes a flight from Chicago to my local airport when I return home.

I also spent $730.16 on expenses associated with getting my wife a visa to come live with me in the United States. This will be a long process and there will be more spent on this.

I’m not sure what this month’s overall expenses will look like. It will depend on how much I spend when I visit my wife’s family and whether I have any visa expenses due during the month.

How was your month?