Expense/Income Tracking

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for February.

Household	$54.41
Mortgage	$355
Entertainment	$28.26
Transportation	$49.27
Food	$88.13
Phone	$29.27
Health	$104.47
Travel	$0
Total	$708.81

My February expenses were once again quite low as there were no unexpected expenses and I didn’t spend much on my usual expenses.

Entertainment expense was for a one month digital subscription to the New York Times, a discounted month of CBS All Access, and a movie ticket plus popcorn and soda. The movie made up the vast majority of that cost. Although I liked the movie I don’t think the overall expense was worth the cost. I probably won’t be going to the movie theater again for a long time.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment. I did pay extra on the mortgage, but I’m now considering that savings rather than an expense so I’m not including it here.

Transportation was all for gasoline. I had a trip to Kansas City at the beginning of the month and I filled up my tank on the last day of the month even though it was almost half full. Other than the trip to KC I barely drove at all in February.

My food expense was very low. I splurged a bit the last few days of the month since I knew my food expense would still be quite low. The combination of being busy with work and freezing cold temperatures half of the month greatly reduced how often I went out for fast food or to buy junk food.

My phone bill was normal. It included the last month of paying for my phone. This month my bill will still be about the same. After that it should be around $26 most months.

Household expense was for a Sam’s Club membership, a small gift, and a small charitable donation.

Health expense was for health insurance, some medicine and gym dues.

There was no travel expense for February and there probably won’t be any this month. I hope I can do some domestic travel next month.

I have some planned spending this month that will likely increase my expenses this month to a little above $1000. The sub $1000 streak can’t last forever.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for January.

Interest	$21.33
Amazon FBA	$45.91
Unemployment	$558
Job	$1074.38
Cashback	$81.92
Other Bonuses	$25
Dividends	$15.41
Ebay/Other Selling	$67.25
Total	$1889.20

January’s income was down from the month before, but still decent. Income was more than double my expenses which is always good.

I made $1074.38 from my doc review job. That was for about a week and a half of work. That project ended and I haven’t had another project yet. They’re saying there might be a project this week. We will see.

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

I made $25 from Sofi for filling out a life insurance application.

Dividend income came in at $15,41. A lot of companies pay dividends in January. 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 $67.25 selling stuff on eBay and elsewhere.

I also received $81.92 in cash back. This was all credit card cash back.

Lastly, I received $21.33 in interest and $558 from unemployment.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for January.

Household	$45.03
Mortgage	$355
Entertainment	$1.00
Transportation	$86
Food	$179.10
Phone	$30.28
Health	$95.09
Travel	$25.31
Student Loan	$5.84
Total	$822.65

My January expenses were quite low as there were no unexpected expenses.

Entertainment expense was for a one month digital subscription to the New York Times.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment. I did pay extra on the mortgage, but I’m now considering that savings rather than an expense so I’m not including it here.

Transportation was all for gasoline.

My food expense was high, but at least lower than the month before. This includes eating out almost every day. Since my other expenses are low I’m not going to worry about keeping this expense too low.

My phone bill was normal. I have one more month left to pay off my phone and then the monthly bill will go down by $4.

Household expense was for laundry, a haircut, recording a deed, and some personal hygiene items.

Health expense was for health insurance, some medicine and my first month of gym dues. Joining a gym during the pandemic might not have been a wise move. I’m hoping the expense proves worth it.

Travel expense was for a bus fare and my taxi to the Cancun airport.

This month my expenses should be about the same unless I decide to travel a bit.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December.

Household	$35.65
Mortgage	$455
Entertainment	$39.72
Transportation	$21.77
Food	$221.50
Phone	$32.93
Health	$167.24
Travel	$492.01
Total	$1465.82

My December expenses were a little higher than normal due to being in Cancun for most of the month.

Entertainment expense was for three movies and a one month digital subscription to the New York Times.

The mortgage payment includes a $100 extra payment made to the mortgage. I’m considering not including extra mortgage payments in my expenses since they are a form of savings. What do you think?

Transportation was for one tank of gas and a few bus trips in Cancun. This category was much lower than normal since I can mostly walk everywhere I need to go in Cancun.

My food expense was much higher than normal. This isn’t surprising since I ate out almost every day and sometimes ate out twice a day. These meals brought me quite a bit of enjoyment so I think I received good value for the expense. I’ll be returning home this month which should result in this expense going down considerably.

My phone bill was just a tiny bit higher than normal. I had to use my phone as a hotspot for work for a couple of hours and I needed to use my phone’s data to try to solve a problem with Airbnb which resulted in more data use than usual. This month should go back to normal

Household expense was for laundry, a haircut, a small gift and some small items that I needed while away from home that I didn’t pack.

Health expense was for a dental visit and some medicine.

Travel expense was for a hotel room for one night in Cancun and switching to a different Airbnb which was about $300 more expensive than the one I originally booked. My experience with Airbnb was somewhat of a fiasco which I should write a post about. The details are too much to include here.

This month my expenses should return to normal since I’ll be back home for most of the month.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for November.

Interest	$30.57
Amazon FBA	$54.71
Swagbucks Deal	$30
Class Action	$20.93
Cashback	$83.25
Dividends	$14.37
Ebay/Other Selling	$961.01
Total	$1194.74

November’s income was okay considering I didn’t have any job or unemployment income during the month. Income was a little larger than my expenses which is always good.

My Amazon FBA side hustle made a small profit. I’ve mostly moved to selling in an online buying group so FBA profits won’t be too large.

Dividend income came in at $14.37. 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 $961.01 selling stuff online and eBay. I’ve got one item that I’m able to quickly flip that’s making most of my profit. I’m hoping the demand is still there when I get back from Cancun.

I also received $83.25 in cash back. This relatively large amount is mainly from buying stuff online to resell.

Lastly, I received $20.93 from a random class action and $30 from a Swagbucks deal.

How was your month?