Expense/Income Tracking

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for June.

Household	$17.34
Mortgage	$355
Entertainment	$32.72
Transportation	$0
Food	$134.17
Phone	$28.74
Health	$39.92
Travel	$343.43
Total	$951.32

My June expenses were surprisingly low and I managed to hit my stretch goal of keeping my expenses under $1000 for the month.

Entertainment expense was for a one month digital subscription to the New York Times, and a couple meals out with friends and/or family.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was $0. I didn’t drive much the first half of the month and the second half of the month I was hiking. That resulted in not needing to fill up my gas tank at all during the month.

My food expense was a little over my target amount. That is okay considering I was traveling half the month. There were a few times while hiking I couldn’t eat at fast food restaurants due to them being drive-thru only so I ate at more expensive sit-down restaurants instead. If I’d been able to eat at the cheaper fast food places I’d probably have been right on budget for the month.

My phone bill should be about this much every month.

Household expense was for reading glasses, floss, deodorant, socks, laundry, and a shoe insert to help with foot pain.

Health expense was for my monthly gym dues.

Travel expense broke down as follows. $120.20 for a baggage fee on Delta, taxes on two award flights, early bird check-in for Southwest, and a flight from St. Louis to Fort Leonard Wood. The early bird check-in allowed me to snag an exit row seat with extra legroom. The flight from STL went to a tiny airport that’s only about a half hour from my home. My alternative was to take the bus for just $11 less. I think the flight was easily worth the extra $11.

$158.45 for 4 hotel nights plus a night at a hostel. Two of the hotel nights were free and another was discounted by $30 from a gift card. That is how I managed to get 5 nights for what I could have spent on only one night.

$64.78 for a Lyft ride, an Uber ride, an Amtrak, and several local buses. In the future I need to take consideration the cost of an Uber/Lyft ride when I’m booking flights that will be outside of public transportation hours.

Despite the travel expenses I was still able to keep my expenses under $1000 for the month. I think I can keep my expenses under the $1000 level this month.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for May.

Interest	$16.35
Amazon FBA	$2.25
Job	$28.27
Cashback	$203.1
Credit Card Bonus	$300
Online Income	($17.52)
Dividends	$27.24
Unemployment	$558
Ebay/Other Selling	$357.03
Total	$1474.72

May’s income was modest. This wasn’t surprising since I was unemployed most of the month. Income was still higher than expenses so I won’t complain.

I made $28.27 from my doc review job. I had a fraction of a day’s pay that carried over to May.

My Amazon FBA side hustle made a teeny tiny bit of money. I only had one sale for the month as I did most of my selling on eBay.

Dividend income came in at $27. 24. That is down from last month which my highest ever monthly amount of dividends. That was just due to not as many of my stocks paying dividends in May. This month is the end of Quarter 2 and I should have over $50 in dividend income for the month for the first time ever. 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 $357.03 selling stuff on eBay and elsewhere. I spent some time buying stuff from garage sales and flipping it online. I enjoy doing this and plan to do it more when I get back from my hike.

I also received $203.10 in cash back income. This was helped by some referral bonuses from Rakuten that paid on a quarterly basis. Thanks to those of you who signed up for Rakuten using my referral link. These little bits of referral income help me keep the blog going.

My online/blog income was -$17.52. I paid to register my domain names at a new registrar and didn’t have any blog income. The new registrar is a little bit cheaper.

I received $16.35 in interest and $558 from unemployment.

Lastly, I received $300 for signing up for a new credit card.

This month’s income will probably be even lower since I’ll be traveling and not actively making money. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for May.

Household	$16.34
Mortgage	$355
Entertainment	$101.60
Transportation	$151.45
Food	$154.3
Phone	$26.67
Health	$39.92
Travel	$258.2
Total	$1103.48

My May expenses were lower than my April Expenses. I didn’t quite hit my stretch goal of keeping my expenses under $1000 for the month.

Entertainment expense was for a one month digital subscription to the New York Times, a couple meals out with friends, seeing a movie with popcorn and soda, and a new tent for backpacking. I returned the tent I bought last month since I was skeptical of its quality. I took the refund as an Amazon credit and bought the new tent elsewhere so the refund didn’t reduce the cost of the new tent.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was $106.45 for gasoline and $45 to get my car unlocked when I locked my keys in the car while out of town. .

My food expense remained high. It was at least a little lower than the previous month. Even at what I consider a high level it is still fairly reasonable. I plan to spend less on food this month.

My phone bill should be about this much every month.

Household expense was for flip flops, ant poison, and a haircut.

Health expense was for my monthly gym dues.

Travel expense was for a one way flight from SGF to ALB that will get me back to the Appalachian Trail to hike later this month. .

I think I can get my expenses back down to close to the $1000 level this month. It will depend on how much I spend while hiking and whether any unexpected expenses pop up.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for April.

Interest	$16.39
Amazon FBA	$25.51
Class Action	$2.50
Job	$2527.77
Cashback	$65.15
Capital Loss	($7.39)
Online Income	$0
Dividends	$41.08
Ebay/Other Selling	$69.34
Total	$2740.35

April was a decent income month. My income was almost double my expenses which is pretty good.

I made $2527.77 from my doc review job. That was for about three weeks of work. I’ll hardly have any job income this month.

My Amazon FBA side hustle made a tiny bit of money.

Dividend income came in at $41.08. That is my highest ever monthly amount of dividends. I’ve been buying more dividend stocks and I should have some months with over $50 in dividend income later this year. 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 had a capital loss of $7.39 from selling some stock. I almost never remember to report my capital gains or losses here. I’ll try to report them more consistently from now on. This is only for my taxable brokerage accounts and not my retirement accounts.

I made $69.34 selling stuff on eBay and elsewhere.

I also received $65.15 in cash back income.

Lastly, I received $16.39 in interest and $2.50 from a random class action.

This month’s income will be down again since my job has ended and I’ll be traveling and not actively making money. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for April.

Household	$12.33
Charity/Gifts	$105.40
Mortgage	$355
Entertainment	$82
Transportation	$138.85
Food	$174.49
Phone	$27.5
Health	$48.70
Travel	$434.86
Total	$1380.13

My April expenses were higher than usual, but still not too bad

Entertainment expense was for a one month digital subscription to the New York Times and a new tent for backpacking. Both of the fiberglass poles on my old tent need to be replaced and I decided to go ahead and upgrade to a new tent.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was $54.61 for gasoline and $84.24 for two years of car registration, a car inspection and new wiper blades.

My food expense was rather high since I ate out almost every day and didn’t worry about how much I was spending.

My phone bill should remain about this amount now. The last $4 payment on my phone was made last month so the bill will be a little lower, until I decide to buy another phone through their payment plan.

Household expense was for deodorant, laundry, and a baseball cap. Charity and gifts was for a $100 donation and a small gift.

Health expense was for 90 day blood pressure medication refills and gym dues.

Travel expense was for two checked luggage fees, the taxes on an award flight., two nights in a hotel, the annual fee on a hotel credit card, a long Uber ride, and a $110 shuttle from near the trail to an airport almost an hour away.

This month I will be traveling again, but I think I can get my expenses back down to close to the $1000 level.

How was your month?