Expense/Income Tracking

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for February.

Household	$16.95
Mortgage	$355
Gifts/Charity	$110.29
Entertainment	$12.03
Transportation	$183.38
Food	$129.86
Phone	$31.33
Health	$57.89
Travel	$18.40
Total	$915.13

My February Expenses were quite low. They were under my old target of $1000 per month.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, a couple of books from eBay, and a visit to the movies. I had some free gift cards that made the books and the movie super cheap.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was for gas and an oil change. The increased cost of gas plus a trip to Council Bluffs, IA made this expense larger than usual. I don’t have any long trips planned this month so this expense should decrease.

My food expense was cheaper than it has been for quite some time. I used a free gift card, fast food rewards, app deals, and coupons to get lots of food for just a little money. This expense will probably go up a little this month, but I’m going to try to keep it close to this level.

My phone bill was $31.33. That is about normal. It will be a little higher this month due to failed attempt to reduce this expense.

The household expense was for some ice cube trays, a razor, and a photo pillow. I got quite a bit of stuff for what I spent.

I also spent $110.29 on gifts and charity. This was mostly for paying rent on my girlfriend’s apartment.

Health expense was for a used treadmill and blood pressure medication. Last year I was paying about $40 a month for a gym membership where I mostly just ran on the treadmill. Compared to that the used treadmill will pay for itself in just the second month of use.

Travel expense was for a flight from the small city near me to Chicago where I will later get a flight to Thailand. I had a voucher that covered most of this expense. It wasn’t an optimal use of the voucher, but the voucher was going to expire soon, and a suboptimal use was better than letting it expire.

This month’s expense will be higher since it is hard to keep expenses that low two months in a row. I’ll have some more travel expenses to pay for my trip to Thailand in April which will inflate this total somewhat.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for January.

Interest	$1.68
Online Income	(41.75)
Amazon Merch	$13.44
Cashback	$14.93
Dividends	$44.74
Class Action	$18.90
Swagbucks Deals	$46.01
Bank/Broker Bonuses	$110
Total	$207.95

January was another poor income month. This was expected since I spent the month in Thailand.

I made $0 from a job, Amazon FBA, or Ebay during the month.

Dividend income came in at $44.74. 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 $14.93 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 $1.68 in interest. Since interest rates are so low, I put some money in I bonds. They are paying over 7% interest right now. That interest isn’t reportable until I cash out the bonds.

I received $13.44 from Amazon Merch. Apparently, some of my shirts were bought as Christmas gifts.

Online income was a negative $41.75. I didn’t realize my hosting plan was ending and I had to purchase three more months of hosting to keep this site up while I look for a better deal.

I also received $18.90 from a class action settlement and $46.01 from some Swagbucks deals.

I’m now back in the USA and should be able to greatly increase my income. I already worked one week this month and will hopefully get more work soon. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for January.

Household	$9.29
Mortgage	$355
Apartment	$242.46
Gifts/Charity	$262.36
Entertainment	$48.23
Transportation	$44.74
Food	$295.49
Phone	$35.24
Health	$30.42
Travel	$10.23
Total	$1333.46

My January Expenses were quite reasonable considering I was in Thailand and paying many daily expenses for my girlfriend.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, and a few visits to the movies.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was for public transportation in Chiang Mai and a partial tank of gas for my car upon returning to the U.S.

My food expense was way more than normal. This was due to eating out nearly every meal and also paying for my girlfriend for nearly every meal. This expense will be much lower this month since I am back in the U.S. and only paying for my own food.

My phone bill was $35.24. This was a little higher than usual due to using more data.

The household expense was for a haircut, dental floss, some KN94 masks, and some sleep pants. I got quite a bit of stuff for what I spent.

I also spent $262.36 on gifts and charity. This was for renting my girlfriend an apartment and buying her a few things for the apartment.

Health expense was for a gym fee, some medicine, and a health insurance premium.

Travel expense was for three taxi rides. Taxis are really cheap in Thailand.

This month’s expenses should be lower since I’m back in the US.

How was your month?

My annual expenses for 2021 were about $2000 more than the $13,526.69 I spent in 2020. That was an abnormally low expense level. My annual expenses for the past few years were $16,826.37 in 2019, $17,433 in 2018, $13,697 in 2017, $16,431 in 2016, $16,999 in 2015 and $15,775 in 2014. My annual spending seems to stay in the area of $15k a year. I expect my spending in 2022 will be a little higher than in 2021 due to a possible car purchase and one other thing I’ll discuss at a later time.

My expenses won’t be broken down to the same level of detail as in previous years since I don’t see an easy way to get annual figures from Everydollar which is what I currently use to track my expenses. If you know a way to get the annual figures from Everydollar or know a free budget program I can use to get annual figures please let me know.

Mortgage	$4260
Household	$688.19
Rent	$162.58
Student Loan	$5.84
Transportation	$1339.95
Food	$2075.92
Phone	$351.90
Travel	$3767.94
Entertainment	$626.46
Health	$1901.82
Gifts/Charity	$306.01
Total	$15486.61

The above table provides my annual expenses broken down into 11 different categories. Further explanation for each category is included below.

Mortgage is my monthly mortgage payment. This will stay the same every month. Any extra mortgage payments I make I count as savings and won’t be included in my annual expenses since I don’t consider saving to be an expense. Rent is what I paid for one month in an apartment in Thailand. I’ll have more rent expense this year.

The household category is basically any expense that doesn’t fit in one of the other categories. The biggest expense in this category was a new mattress.

Transportation expense includes all of the cost associated with my car and any public transportation costs that aren’t travel related. This will probably stay about the same unless I buy a new car.

Food includes both grocery and restaurant spending with restaurant spending being about 2/3 of the total. This expense will probably be about the same this year. Perhaps, a little higher since food is getting more expensive and when I’m in Thailand I’ll be buying food for my girlfriend as well.

My phone is with Google Fi and it should cost me about the same this year. I might switch to a different carrier to save some money.

Travel was my second highest expense. I went on two multi-week hiking trips, a trip to Vegas, spent a month in Spain and a month in Thailand. Considering all I did this level of expense was quite reasonable. Covid testing and other requirements related to Covid raised this expense total about $500. I’ve also got travel vouchers with three different airlines due to changed travel plans due to Covid. If this pandemic ever ends my travel expense should go down. Hopefully, I’ll be able to use my travel vouchers this year and reduce my travel expenses a little.

Entertainment included paying for streaming services, a digital newspaper subscription, going to the movies, and miscellaneous other entertainment. I’m guessing I’ll spend about the same this year.

Health was a little bit higher than normal since I paid for a gym membership all year and had ear surgery. I don’t expect to have either of these expenses this year so this expense amount should go down.

I wasn’t required to make any student loan payments last year. I’m not sure why I made the random $5,84 payment.

Some months I included gifts in the household expense category rather than tracking them separately so this total was actually a little higher. This expense will go up this year since I’m going to help support my girlfriend while I’m back in the US.

That is how I spent $15,486.61 to live in 2021. I think I had a pretty good quality of life for the year and received great value for the money spent. If you have any questions about any of my spending, let me know. How was your year?

Here is a breakdown of my income for December.

Interest	$2.94
Amazon FBA	$0
Job	$479.95
Cashback	$65.64
Dividends	$63.09
Ebay/Other Selling	($473.12)
Mystery Shop	$9
Broker Bonuses	$70
Total	$217.50

December was a poor income month. This wasn’t unexpected since I spent the month in Thailand.

I made $9 from a mystery shop.

My Amazon FBA side hustle made $0. I didn’t have any income or expenses during the month.

Dividend income came in at $63.09. I believe this was my first month with over $60 in dividends. 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 lost $473.12 selling stuff on eBay and elsewhere. I had some returns, paid some fees, and unloaded some dud items before the end of the year.

I received $65.64 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 $2.94 in interest.

I received $479.95 from my last doc review job paycheck.

I’m now in Thailand and will be staying here until January 28th. That will keep me from earning much money, but I should at least be able to avoid the losses this month. How was your month?