Expense/Income Tracking

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December.

Household	$72.17
Mortgage	$355
Apartment	$162.58
Gifts/Charity	$200.61
Entertainment	$110.97
Transportation	$44.15
Food	$268.6
Phone	$27.79
Health	$80.77
Travel	$156.39
Total	$1479.03

My December Expenses were a bit higher than normal which was expected since I’m now 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, one month of Thailand Netflix, a couple’s Thai massage, admission for 2 to the Chiang Mai zoo, and admission to a couple of other local attractions.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was for public transportation in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. If it were just me this would be much lower since I’m content to just visit places within walking distance while my girlfriend likes to visit places that are a bit farther away. This expense is still very cheap so I’m not complaining.

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. I might get this total down a little this month.

My phone bill was $27.79. That is about the normal amount when I’m not traveling.

The household expense was for a haircut, a mattress topper, and various other things that were needed either for the apartment or for my girlfriend. This should be a bit lower this month since we have most of the stuff we need for the room now.

I also spent $200.61 on gifts and charity. I usually lump this in with the household expense. Since it was a lot larger than normal I listed it separately this month. This expense was for a phone for my girlfriend and a couple of charitable contributions.

Health expense was for monthly gym dues and various medicines and supplements.

Travel expense was down quite a bit since most of the travel expenses for this trip had already been paid. I paid $5.60 in taxes for an award trip from Chicago to an airport near my home for my return to the USA later this month. I paid $21.70 for a flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to catch my return flight home. I paid $34.09 for a hotel my first night in Chiang Mai and for a night in Bangkok for my return trip. Lastly, I paid $95 for the annual fee for my Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

This month’s expenses will probably be about the same amount. If we decide to take a trip to the beach the expense will likely be a bit higher. I’m happy with this level of expenses since I feel like I’m getting a lot of value from my expenditures.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for November.

Household	$37.44
Mortgage	$355
Entertainment	$20.95
Transportation	$61.13
Food	$136.64
Phone	$28.38
Health	$50.92
Travel	$527.85
Total	$1218.31

My November Expenses were back to a reasonable level despite quite a bit of travel expense.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Paramount Plus, six months of Peacock purchased as a Black Friday special, and one month of Hulu at .99 which will be at that rate for a year as part of another Black Friday special.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was for one tank of gas, a quart of oil, and my yearly personal property taxes on the car. One advantage of owning an old beater is the low personal property taxes.

My food expense was a little over budget. I’m almost always over budget in this category. I need to increase this budget amount but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

My phone bill was $28.38. That is about the normal amount when I’m not traveling.

The household expense was for a haircut, a birthday gift, and a birthday card.

Health expense was for my monthly gym dues and some vitamins.

Travel expense was my big expense for the month. I paid $5.60 in taxes for an award trip from a tiny, local airport to Chicago. This was a great deal for Thanksgiving weekend. I paid $176.98 for two hotel nights. The Bangkok hotel night was a mandatory quarantine package that included transportation from the airport to a hotel for a PCR Covid test, the hotel room, and a couple of meals. The rest was for travel insurance required for the Thailand Pass, a pre-departure RT-PCR test required for the Thailand Pass, my Thai visa, and an Uber, train, and bus in Chicago. The Thailand Pass requirements cost me about $400 more than I would normally spend. I was willing to pay it so I wouldn’t have to wait any longer to return to Thailand.

There will be more travel expenses this month as I’ll be in Thailand all of this month and most of the next. I’m in northern Thailand and might visit the beach later this month. My Thai girlfriend is staying with me which will result in some increased expenses since I will paying her expenses. This should still be a pretty reasonable expense month depending on whether I travel domestically in Thailand.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for October.

Interest	$3.34
Amazon FBA	$55.27
Job	$922.54
Cashback	$81.10
Dividends	$48.72
Ebay/Other Selling	$782.08
Class Action	$13.99
Total	$1907.04

October’s income rebounded nicely from the low amount the month before.

I made $13.99 from a random class action.

My Amazon FBA side hustle made a profit of $55.27.

Dividend income came in at $48.72. I’m adding a little every month to my stocks and slowly increasing the dividend total. 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 made $782.08 selling stuff on eBay and elsewhere. I was pretty lucky at flipping some hard to find items and had some U.S. Mint coin sales as well.

I received $81.10 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 $3.34 in interest.

I received $922.54 for working a doc review job for a little over a week. I’ll have at least a little bit more job income this month too.

I’ll be leaving for Thailand at the end of this month and will be staying there for December and January. That will keep me from earning much in those months so I’m hoping I have a good income month this month. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for October.

Household	$6.18
Mortgage	$355
Entertainment	$47.63
Transportation	$102.69
Food	$178.39
Phone	$35.88
Health	$762.69
Travel	$780.87
Total	$2269.33

My October Expenses were quite high. This was due to two large expenses in the health and travel categories.

Entertainment expense was for two months digital subscription to the New York Times, one month of Peacock, one month of Amazon Prime, one month of Paramount Plus, a visit to the movies, and some books. I’ll eventually cut out one or two of the online streaming services.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was $102.69. This was all for gas.

My food expense was a little over budget. Food costs have gone up a bit this year so I might need to up this budget.

My phone bill was $35.88. It was a little higher this month since I used quite a bit of data while in Spain.

The household expense was for socks, deodorant, and cotton balls.

Health expense was for my monthly gym dues, a copay of $673.01 for ear surgery and $70 for a dentist visit. I’ve had significant hearing loss since I was a child. I decided to have a surgical procedure to see if some of my hearing can be restored. It is still too early to determine if the surgery was successful at restoring my hearing.

Travel expense was my other big expense for the month. I canceled my round trip ticket to Tokyo. I was going to fly from there on a separate ticket to Bangkok. I decided since I wouldn’t be able to enter Tokyo it was best to cancel that ticket and book one ticket all the way from the US to Bangkok. This reduces the chance that a travel restriction or something will keep me from being able to make my flight. The new ticket cost $780.87. I usually get better flight deals than that, but I didn’t want to wait for a deal this time. This is still an affordable ticket for me.

I’m going to have more travel expenses this month. I’ve got to buy special covid travel insurance, buy a covid PCR test before departure to Bangkok, and book a special hotel room with covid test upon arrival to Bangkok. There are also Thai visa fees and other small expenses. Due to that this month will also be an expensive month.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.

Household	$77.55
Mortgage	$355
Entertainment	$6.99
Transportation	$272.42
Food	$329.29
Phone	$31.20
Health	$39.92
Travel	$724.66
Total	$1837.03

My September expenses were higher than normal. This was due to spending three weeks in Spain walking the Camino de Santiago. Considering I was out of the country for three weeks I think my expenses were very reasonable.

Entertainment expense was for two months digital subscription to the New York Times and one month of Peacock,

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was $272.42. I spent $235 for six months of car insurance. The remaining amount was spent on shuttles, local buses, and the Madrid Metro.

My food expense was way over budget. This isn’t surprising since I was eating out for almost every meal in Spain. Food in Europe generally costs more than in the U.S. Some of the small towns I stayed in the only food option was the 10-12 Euro dinner at the hostel. I think I did pretty well to keep the expense at this level.

My phone bill was $31.20. It will be a little higher this month since I used quite a bit of data while in Spain.

The household expense was for a pair of shower shoes, a rain poncho, shampoo, razors, laundry, and a charitable contribution. Everything but the charitable contribution was spent in Spain and wouldn’t have been occurred if I was at home. Perhaps, those expenses should be considered travel expenses, but I’m going to leave them as household expenses.

Health expense was for my monthly gym dues. I didn’t get much use out of the gym since I was gone most of the month. Walking 15-25 kilometers a day on the Camino was plenty of exercise for me.

Travel expense was my big expense for the month. Even keeping things frugal a three-week stay in Spain isn’t going to be cheap. This expense included $57.26 of airfare which was $23.46 for choosing my seat on the flight home from Spain and the taxes for a ticket from Tokyo to Bangkok in January 2022. The flight I booked the previous month was canceled. I booked a new ticket in Business Class rather than economy and the new ticket had lower taxes and fees although I did have to spend more miles. I’ll use the voucher from the canceled ticket to book my return flight from Bangkok to Tokyo.

Travel expense also included $137.06 for long distance buses and trains in Spain. Lastly, the travel expense included $530.34 for hotels and hostels. That was for about 20 nights and the cost of the hotel in Chicago before my flight to Spain and a hotel in Miami before my flight home the next day were almost half of the cost.

The Camino de Santiago trip lasted from September 7 through September 28. I flew in Iberia business class from Chicago to Spain using miles. That was my first time flying biz class on a transatlantic flight. It was more comfortable being able to lay my seat down and sleep for a few hours. I’d probably never pay the cash price for that experience though. I flew a budget airline Air Europa from Madrid to Miami. The cash price for this ticket was only $180. Since it was a daytime flight there was no need to sleep. They gave us a meal and there was seatback entertainment with enough choices to get me through the flight. The flight was comfortable enough and was a great value for the price. I don’t think I’d pay much more for more comfort.

Overall, my three weeks in Spain probably cost me about $1000 since some of the expenses were paid in previous months. I think that is a fantastic deal. I also really enjoyed walking the Camino. If I’m not too lazy I’ll post about the Camino later this month.

I’m going to have surgery on my ear next week and I had to pay almost $700 for my share of the cost. Due to that this month will likely be as expensive as last month if not more.

How was your month?