Expense/Income Tracking

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for April.

Household	$97.30
Mortgage	$355
Gifts/Charity	$89.88
Entertainment	$82.44
Transportation	$16.70
Food	$173.84
Phone	$25,62
Health	$4.66
Travel	$655.72
Total	$1501.16

My April expenses were a bit higher than normal. This was expected since I traveled to Thailand towards the end of the month.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, a day tour for 2 in Phuket, and 3 movie visits. That was a lot of entertainment for the price.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was for taxis and songtaews in Thailand. I didn’t have to put any gas in my car before I left for Thailand and I don’t have a car here in Thailand so this expense won’t be too high.

My food expense was reasonable considering I was also buying food for my girlfriend during the last week of the month. This expense will be higher this month since I’ll be buying food for two and almost all meals will be restaurant meals.

My phone bill was $25.62. It will be a little higher this month because I’m using my data more often.

The household expense was for a fee paid to the U.S Consulate to get my affidavit of freedom to marry certified, a VPN fee, a partial trash bill, and many other small things for me and my girlfriend. I spent $203.58 on gifts and charity. This was for sending money to my girlfriend. She had to quarantine for 10 days due to testing positive for Covid and couldn’t work during that time.

Health expense was for one month’s health insurance premium and some over the counter medication.

Travel expense included airfare from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, 2 round trip tickets from Chiang Mai to Phuket, one night hotel in Chicago, 3 nights hotel in Phuket, and the annual fee on my IHG card. It also include transportation to and from airports and hotels.

This month’s expense will be higher since I’m paying for two people. It will possibly be a lot higher depending on the timing of an upcoming large expense.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for March.

Interest	$2.46
Cash Back	$19.57
Amazon Merch	$4.42
Mystery Shop	$45
Dividends	$69.48
Job	$2152.85
Swagbucks Deals	$21
Buyer’s Clubs	$46.08
Ebay/Other Selling	$248.07
Online	($80.28)
Total	$2528.65

March was a decent income month

I made $2152.85 from my doc review job.

Dividend income came in at $69.48. I believe that is my highest monthly total. I sold off a little of my stocks so I could contribute to my Roth IRA so the dividend total will be a little smaller now. 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 $19.57 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 $2.46 in interest.

I received $4.42 from Amazon Merch.

I made $248.07 from eBay and other selling.

I also received $5 from three mystery shops, $46.08 from a bank bonus, and $21 from a couple Swagbucks deal.

I paid $80.28 for a year’s blog hosting. Hopefully, I will make get paid by Adsense this year so I don’t have a loss for the year for my blogs.

I’ll be in Thailand later this month and not working my job much so this will be a low-income month. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for March.

Household	$143.27
Mortgage	$355
Gifts/Charity	$203.58
Entertainment	$11.82
Transportation	$541.74
Food	$148.15
Phone	$61.46
Health	$1.98
Travel	$195.72
Total	$1662.72

My March expenses were a bit higher than usual. This was mainly due to paying six months of car insurance.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, and a visit to the movies. That was a lot of entertainment for the price.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was for gas and six months of insurance. I should be getting a refund of about $40 on the insurance, but I haven’t received it yet so I’m not adjusting the total. There is a good chance I won’t spend any money on gas this month so this expense should be much lower.

My food expense was a little higher than I prefer. Food prices have gone up quite a bit so my $125 target might be too difficult to meet now. This month I’ll be in Thailand the last week of the month and buying food for my girlfriend so this expense will probably be a little higher.

My phone bill was $61.46. It was higher this month due to paying off my phone. It should be back to normal this month.

The household expense was for a bed frame, 2 refrigerator water filters, a laundry basket, batteries, and ice.

I spent $203.58 on gifts and charity. This was for sending money to my girlfriend. She had to quarantine for 10 days due to testing positive for Covid and couldn’t work during that time.

Health expense was for one month’s health insurance premium.

Travel expense was for a Test and Go package that includes 1 night hotel in Bangkok, private transportation to the hotel from the airport, a RT-PCR test upon arrival and a rapid antigen test for day 5.

This month’s expense will probably be a little lower. I will be traveling to Thailand at the end of the month, but most of that expense has already been paid.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for January.

Interest	$1.61
Tax Refund	$2404.05
Amazon Merch	$11.17
Mystery Shop	$25
Dividends	$42.23
Job	$814.15
Swagbucks Deals	$25
Bank/Broker Bonuses	$50
Sportsbook Promos	$315
Ebay/Other Selling	$101.33
Amazon FBA	(4.26)
Total	$3785.28

February was a good income month

I made $814.15 from six days work at my doc review job.

Dividend income came in at $42.23. 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 $0 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 $1.61 in interest.

I received $11.17 from Amazon Merch. My sales seem to be picking up as I got paid two months in a row which is unusual for me.

I received $2404.05 from my federal and Missouri tax refund.

I received $315 from sportsbook promos. I drove up to Iowa for Super Bowl weekend to take advantage of the promos from various sports books. I would have made a lot more if the sports books had allowed me to deposit more money.

I made $101.33 from eBay and other selling. I had a negative profit of $4.26 for Amazon FBA. They adjusted the shipping charge on an item I shipped back in December.

I also received $25 from a mystery shop, $50 from a bank bonus, and $25 from a Swagbucks deal.

It looks like I’ll be working most of this month so it should be another good income month. How was your month?

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?