Expense/Income Tracking

Online Income Report – May 2010

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When I share my monthly income totals people often ask for more details about my online income. To satisfy people’s curiosity I am now going to have a monthly report detailing how I made my online income. For the month of May I made $580.69 in online income. I am counting the money I actually received, not the money I earned but will be paid later. Most money I earn online is paid the next month so any efforts I make to increase my online income this month will not actually show up until the next month. Here is breakdown of my sources of income.

Google Adsense  –  $346.81

Text Links –              $42.26

Direct Ad Sales –    $71.47

Affiliate Sales –       $120.15

Since my Adsense is paid a month after I earn it I already know it is going to be down significantly this month.  My affiliate sales are going to be up significantly though and will more than offset the Adsense decline.  Going forward I plan to keep my affiliate sales up and build my Adsense back up as well.  I would like my other sources of income to be larger than Adsense in order to be less dependent on Adsense for income.  The Adsense income seems to fluctuate quite a bit and I usually can’t figure out what is causing the changes.  If there is any other information about my online income you would like to know, just ask.  I’m willing to hear any tips you have for increasing my online income too.


May Income – $1614.01

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Here is a breakdown of my income for May.

Online Income

$580.69

Interest

$29.61

Stock Dividends

$14.87

Mystery Shops

$39.86

Bank Bonuses

$10

Surveys/Cashback

$14.71

Job

$924.27

Total

$1614.01

It was a pretty good month for income but not as good as I had planned.  I had planned on working more for the Census but with my relocation that didn’t happen.  This month I will have very little job income so my income total will be way down.  My main sources of income this month will be alternative income and passive income.  I should make a little more from mystery shops and maybe a little more from online income.  There probably won’t be any other big changes to my income unless I get in the medical study.

May Expenses – $2218.61

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for May.

Household

$893.39

Entertainment

$66.57

Transportation

 $292.41

Food

$81.15
Medical/Dental

$57.44

Utilities

$51.91

Debt

 $30.00

Travel

 $745.74

Total

$2218.61

May’s  expenses were way higher than normal but my expenses should be back under control this month.  The household expense was high because I had to pay rent on two places for a while plus I had a couple of application fees.  The transportation expense was high because I made many three hours each-way trips from K.C. to Springfield and back.  The transportation expense isn’t quite as bad as it seems though because some of mileage I was reimbursed for by the Census Bureau and mileage for my mystery shopping will be deductible.  My transportation expense will go down this month since I shouldn’t have any long trips although I probably will be doing a fair amount of driving for my mystery shops.  The travel expense is for my honeymoon/wedding trip.  This isn’t too bad for two round-trip tickets, three nights hotel, and ground transportation to and from the airport.  There is a small possibility that I will get some of this comped back to me.  There shouldn’t be any travel expense this month although there might be a small bit of wedding expense.  My other expenses should remain roughly the same this month.  I’m hoping I will be able to get my expenses under $1000 this month.

April Investment Income – $96.83

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My April investment income went down to $96.83 from $98.43 the month before.  This is because I didn’t add to my investments and the stock market went down.  I won’t be adding to my investments this month either and it looks like the stock market is going down more so my investment income will probably go down again.  This is a little frustrating since I was looking forward to getting over the $100 mark but as soon as I’m able to start adding to my investments I should reach the $100 goal.

Disclaimer: This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement savings, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings. What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income. My goal is to get this amount to $1000 a month. If I have $1000 in monthly passive investment income I will be able to retire early.

April Income – $934.03

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Here is a breakdown of my income for April.

Online Income

$641.21

Interest

$24.80

Stock Dividends

$24.75

Mystery Shops

$66

Bank Bonuses

$140

Surveys/Cashback

$7.27

Focus Group

$30

Total

$934.03

It was a decent month for income.  I made over $900 without any job income.  I did start work at the end of April but I’ll be paid for those days this month.   Since I am working a job this month some of my other sources of income will be down this month but the passive income should be about the same.  Overall though I will have a significant increase in income this month.