Expense/Income Tracking

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?

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?