Expense/Income Tracking

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for August.

Household	$60.58
Rent	$450
Entertainment	$76.34
Transportation	$147.75
Food	$295.22
Travel	$4.96
Phone	$39.49
Student Loan	$132.58
Health	$134.24
Total	$1341.16

My August expenses were once again much higher than I would have preferred. My spending has been a little out of control since returning from Thailand. I’ve had more self-control the past few days so I think I can make this month a better spending month.

Internet made up most of the household expense. I have to pay $50 a month for four months and after that my internet will be free as long as I stay in my apartment.

Entertainment was all for movies and concessions. I signed up for Regal Theatre’s Unlimited Movie Pass and they charged both the August and September charges in August. October’s payment isn’t scheduled until October 2. If I can keep from buying concessions I should be able to see several movies this month and still have no entertainment expense for the month.

The transportation expense was all for gas. I visited my Mom a couple of times and drove for Uber which inflated this expense a bit. Although I won’t be driving for Uber my gas expense will probably be about the same this month. The commute for my document review job will keep my gas expense high.

My food expense was even more ridiculous than last month. My eating was out of control. I was buying junk food and fast food all of the time. I’ve now gained back 17 of the 18 pounds I lost while in Thailand. This month I will eat much less and start losing weight again. I should be able to cut this expense in half.

My travel expense was for the taxes for redeeming a free hotel night. My round trip air from Kansas City to Bangkok and 5 other hotel nights cost me nothing out of pocket since I used credit card rewards. This month I need to book some intra-Thailand flights which will cost me some money so this expense will go up quite a bit this month.

My phone bill had a little more data usage than normal since I drove for Uber several days. This month it should return to a normal level.

My health expense was for one month of health insurance and one month’s dues for a fitness center membership. This expense should be about the same this month.

Now that I’m back to work I think I’ll be able to get my expenses under control. The overall expense level this month might not go down much since I need to pay some travel expenses for next month’s Thailand trip. However, the wasteful spending on entertainment and food should be much less. How was your month?

This morning I went to the fitness center and had a short workout. After that I once again had a craving for breakfast sandwiches. I ended up going to Mcdonald’s and having two breakfast sandwiches and a large Diet Coke. That cost me a total of $5.40. I’m going to have to start having breakfast before I leave in the morning or just not take any money with me so I won’t have the option of going out for breakfast.

I stayed at the Mcd’s for a long time, reading a magazine and getting refills on my soda. I prefer Coke Zero to Diet Coke. This location didn’t have Coke Zero, but that didn’t seem to cause me to drink any less soda.

After returning home I laid down and read a book for a while. As I was sipping on my last refill of Diet Coke that I took home, I decided some Doritos would go really well with the remaining Diet Coke. I was craving Taco Doritos, but I knew the stores closest to me didn’t carry that variety. I was too lazy to go to the store three miles away that has Taco Doritos and settled for purchasing Nacho Cheese Doritos at the store that is less than a mile from me. The store close to me also has a lower regular price for Doritos. The bag of Doritos cost $2.61 with tax.

After getting home I proceeded to eat the entire bag of Doritos while reading and drinking the rest of my Diet Coke. I might have a little problem with binge eating. Although I enjoyed the first few bites of chips, by the time I was at the bottom of the bag I was just mindlessly shoveling them in. Once I start eating a bag of chips I have a hard time stopping before they are all gone. I need to stop buying chips or only buy very small bags.

I read all afternoon. Late afternoon, I decided to have a potato. Although I wasn’t hungry I thought it would be good to have something in my stomach besides the Doritos to help calm my stomach. I stuck a potato in the microwave for five minutes. It wasn’t quite done so I put it back in for three more minutes. That was way too long. I probably should have only put it back in for one more minute. I tried to eat the potato but it was too overcooked to be edible. That concluded my eating for the day. Not having the potato after I was anticipating having one has me wanting to eat a potato now. Maybe I will have one for breakfast tomorrow.

In addition to the fast food meal and chips, I also bought a scale from Amazon. My thought is that weighing myself more frequently might lead me to take action to lose weight. The scale was bought with a free gift card I got from Swagbucks so I’m not adding the purchase to my daily spending.

After the potato fiasco, I walked to the library and returned the book I had finished reading during the afternoon. From the library I walked to the park and walked the one mile trail around the park. I live in a very walkable area and should walk more than I do.

Today wasn’t a great day for eating. Although I didn’t spend much, the spending I did do was unnecessary. Today might have been a tiny bit better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be better.

Here is a breakdown of my income for July.

Interest	$4.07
Amazon FBA	$1.78
Uber	$221.12
Ebay/Other Selling	$75.06
Cashback	$17.50
Dividends	$7.06
Coin Deal	$45.30
Amazon Merch	$5.11
Online	($9.06)
Total	$367.94

My income for July was very disappointing. I hoped to be able to quickly find a job and start making money once I returned from Thailand. So far I haven’t had any luck landing a job. I’m hopeful I will get a job this month.

Amazon FBA income was tiny. I haven’t been finding a lot of stuff to sell and haven’t been doing great with the stuff I have found. I did have some luck selling in July. I found an old Commodore monitor at a garage sale for $1 and was able to turn around and sell it on Facebook Marketplace for $75.

My online income was negative. I had to pay to renew a domain name and I did not have any income during the month. That isn’t too surprising since I haven’t been posting or doing much else online. I’m still considering making a new wager with HealthyWage and blogging about the process which will hopefully lead to some affiliate commissions. I need to lose some weight before I can make another wager though. My links for Bluehost (aff link) and  (aff link) Hostgator for web hosting didn’t result in any commissions. I’ll keep trying. I need to do some review posts or something different to create interest.

Dividend income was down a little since July is an off month. It should be a little higher this month. I do my dividend investing with Robinhood. 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 also made a little money with a coin flip deal and from shirt sales on Amazon Merch. The coin flip deals are easy money but they don’t happen very often. I might write more about my efforts to make money with Amazon Merch although I haven’t been very successful so far.

I drove some for Uber to make some extra money. Although it appears to be decent money, once you subtract gas and maintenance expenses the hourly rate is rather poor. I also had a near accident which has caused me to stop driving for Uber for now.

Although I had several sources of income, none of them add up to very much. I really need to find a job to start making decent money again now.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for July.

Household	$144.12
Rent	$225.00
Entertainment	$43.08
Transportation	$273.35
Food	$260.39
Travel	$80.74
Phone	$32.25
Student Loan	$132.58
Health	$135.68
Total	$1327.19

My July expenses were much higher than I would have preferred. After returning home from Thailand I went a little crazy with my spending. I’ll rein my spending back in this month.

New shoes, shelving, and Internet made up most of the household expense. The remaining amount was for laundry, gifts, and various items I needed for my new apartment.

Rent was for half a month’s rent. This expense will be $450 a month until I move again. That is pretty cheap rent for where I live but it is more than I like to pay and it seems expensive compared to Thailand.

Entertainment was all for movies and concessions. I signed up for Regal Theatre’s Unlimited Movie Pass this month. It was just under $20 with tax. If I can keep from buying concessions I will get a lot of entertainment for my money

My transportation expense was high. I did a lot of driving for Uber and traveled between southern Missouri and KC a couple of times. That resulted in a lot of money spent on gas. I also had a $131.25 car repair. Hopefully, I won’t have a car repair this month. I’m also plan to cut back or stop driving for Uber which will save me gas money.

My food expense was ridiculous. I gave myself permission to indulge in all the foods I had been missing when I returned from Thailand which turned into bingeing on junk food and fast food the rest of the month. I’ve already gained back 10 of the 18 pounds I lost in Thailand. This month I will cut the food expense way down and eat much better. I’ll also start losing weight again.

My biggest travel expense was $52.85 for a Holiday Inn Express in Bangkok. I should have stayed at a cheaper hotel or used points to stay elsewhere. The rest of the expense was for buses and shuttles. I’m returning to Thailand the beginning of October and will spend a little this month preparing for that trip.

My phone bill had a little more data usage than I expect to have the next few months. My normal bill will be just a little bit lower.

My health expense was for one month of health insurance and the enrollment fee and one month’s dues for a fitness center membership. This expense should be about the same this month.

I”m hoping that I do much better at keeping this month’s expenses under control. It will be difficult to keep my expenses under $1000 this month since I now have a $450 rent expense. I’m going to see how close I can get to that goal. How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my income for June.

Interest	$4.77
Amazon FBA	($5.48)
Job	$0
Capital Gains	$234.59
Cashback	$0
Dividends	$17.19
Online	$0
Total	$251.07

My income was quite low again this month . This was to be expected since I am unemployed while in Thailand and I don’t currently earn much from my alternative sources of income. At least June’s income was better than May’s income and even this meager income is almost enough to pay a month’s rent in Thailand. I hope to return to work this month and get at least one paycheck which will make this month a better income month.

Amazon FBA income was negative for the month. I had one sale which was later returned costing me a little over $5 in fees. This month I will send in more inventory to Amazon and should have at least a little bit of profit.

My online income was $0. I did earn a tiny bit of affiliate income from Amazon. That income won’t be counted until it is actually paid. I’m considering making a new wager with HealthyWage and blogging about the process which will hopefully lead to some affiliate commissions. My links for Bluehost (aff link) and  (aff link) Hostgator for web hosting didn’t result in any commissions. I’ll keep trying. I need to do some review posts or something different to create interest.

My dividend income was about the same as the previous month. It will probably be about the same again this month.

Capital gain income was from selling some shares of Red Hat. I also got one free share of stock from Robinhood from a referral. That will be a capital gain for this month since I didn’t get around to selling the free share during June. 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.

How was your month?