Expense/Income Tracking

September was a good month for saving.  I made $2304.71 and saved $1000 for 43.3% of my income saved.  This was below my goal of saving 50% of my income, but I am still on track for the year.  I lowered my SWR to 49.28% from 52.2% the month before.  I’ve finally gotten my SWR back below the 50% mark.  Although it is still a long way from my goal of a 4% SWR it is good to see progress.

The 4% SWR translates into having 25x your annual expenses in savings or 300 months of expenses in savings. Once I reach that point I will consider myself financially independent.  I have 24.34 months of living expenses saved now.  It is nice to have two years of living expenses in savings.  I’m now basically at the same point I was at the end of April.  I hope I’ll be able to make more progress the rest of the year.  October will probably see me go backwards again since I won’t be making much money and will be spending quite a bit for our cruise.  I’ll have to really step up my earnings and decrease my expenses in November and December to make up for October and end the year on a good note.

Here is a breakdown of my income for September.

September was a decent month for income.  Although my job ended in early September I still received two paychecks for the month, although one was only for a week.  My alternative sources of income didn’t contribute as much as usual.  Online income seems to be stuck at a low level and I’m not currently doing anything to change that so it will probably remain there.  I didn’t do any mystery shopping in August since I was busy working and had overtime available.  I will have mystery shopping income for October and I’ll probably get around to selling some stuff too.  Cash back is a nice extra source of income that mainly comes from Mr. Rebates.  October won’t be a great month for income since I don’t plan on getting a job during October and my alternative income and passive income doesn’t come close to the income I make from jobs.  I’ll look for a job in November.  My tax job starts in January, but I need to make money before that if I am to continue my 50% savings rate.

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.

My September expenses were just slightly higher than I’d prefer.  My expenses were over my stretch goal of $1000, but under my main goal of keeping them under $1274 a month.

I spent $125.39 to replace my automatic window motor and regulator in my car.  Without that I would have been very close to having my expenses under $1000.  I did do the repair myself which kept it from being even more expensive.  I also had to transport my brother almost 200 miles after he was stranded in KC, which increased my gas expenditure a bit.

I was gone about half the month on my hike.  It didn’t really increase my expenses since I slept for free in my car except for two hotel stays that were free with my travel rewards card.  Food was about the same because I eat out a lot whether I’m at home or traveling.  I did keep the cost of food down a little by doing some mystery shops and taking advantage of specials and the dollar menu.

My expenses for October should be about the same.  I do plan on hiking and/or biking some more.  I’ll also be attending the Financial Bloggers Conference.  Those two things will make my expenses a little higher than normal, but since I’ll be doing both on the cheap they won’t make a big difference.

I’m okay with my current level of expenses considering the traveling I’m doing.  I’m hoping I can reduce the expenses some later in the year.

August was a great month for saving.  I made $3661.68 and saved $2650 for 72.3% of my income saved.  It is very easy for me to save money when I actually make a decent amount.  This good month of savings will be a big help in reaching my goal of saving 50% of my income. My expenses were also lower in August which helped lower my average monthly expense total which helps with my safe withdrawal rate. My stocks lost money or I would have done even better.  I lowered my SWR to 52.2% from 58.13% the month before.  I have a long way to go to get to my goal of a 4% SWR, but at least I’m making progress again.

The 4% SWR translates into having 25x your annual expenses in savings or 300 months of expenses in savings. I have 22.96 months of living expenses saved now. That is a little bit higher than the month before and still below the 24 months of savings I had earlier this year.  Now that I have more months of expenses making my average monthly expenses, one good expense month doesn’t change the average that much. I expect to save a decent amount again this month so the SWR and months of living expenses saved should continue to improve.

Here is a breakdown of my income for August.

August was a great month for income.  I made over three times as much money as in July. Having two full paychecks from job helped a lot.  I also made almost $1000 from alternative income and passive income.  I wish all the months could be this good.  My income has varied a lot this year.  Until I get a permanent full-time job the swings in income will likely continue.

This month will still be pretty good.  I’ll get two paychecks from job again.  One of the checks will only be for one week and there is no overtime on the other check so the job income will be down a bit.  It will be enough to make a good income month even if my other sources of income don’t contribute much.  I’m not sure how the rest of the year will be for income.  That is something I’ll worry about more next month.