September Expenses – $1177.10

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September. This is a little late since I’m in Thailand now and my wifi is pretty weak.

Household$20.28
Mortgage/Apt$355
Support$101
Entertainment$26.15
Transportation$318.52
Food$123.94
Phone$20.77
Health$9.14
Travel$202.30
Total$1177.10

My September expenses were once again pretty low. I am happy with this level of expenses.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, a month of Paramount Plus, roughly 2 months of Netflix Thailand and 1 month of HBO Max. That is a lot of entertainment for the money spent.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was for gas and for two new tires. I didn’t spend much on gas since I work at home and don’t drive much. I got a pretty good deal on the tires. If you own a car, you are eventually going to have to spend money on tires, so I am okay with this expense.

My food expense was very reasonable. This is about as low as I can get it now with so many foods being more expensive. Now that I’m in Thailand and eating out for every meal and usually buying food for my wife as well, this expense will go up.

My phone bill was $20.77. It was quite low due to a special deal. It will be back to normal this month.

The household expense was for toothpaste, cheap silverware and bowls, batteries and a haircut.

Health expense was for one month’s health insurance premium, a zinc supplement and a 90-day supply of one of my blood pressure medicines.

Travel expense includes $54.77 for taxes on my award flight back to the U.S. from Bangkok, $55.47 for a hotel near my flight departing the U.S., and $92.06 for my Thai tourist visa, a couple airport taxis, and travel insurance.

There also was an expense of $101 to help my wife with some of her expenses in Thailand

This month’s total expenses should be about the same. I’ll be in Thailand the entire month. Some expense categories will go up and some will go down. Overall, they should roughly even out.

How was your month?

2022 Goals Update

I intended to post more frequent updates on these. Now that the year is almost 3/4 over, I’m finally posting an update. My goals for 2022 were: 1. To weigh 170 pounds 2. Hike the remaining VT section of the AT or Katy Trail 3. Make $30,000 or more for the year.

Not surprisingly, considering the lack of attention I have given these goals, I’m not on track to meet any of them.

At this point it isn’t realistic for me to weight 170 pounds by the end of the year. I currently weigh 206 pounds. Getting down to 170 would likely require an unsustainable amount of exercise and calorie restriction. Earlier this year, I got my weight down to 188 pounds. I’m going to make getting down to 188 pounds or less by the end of the year my new goal.

I think that is attainable. I’ll be going back to Thailand at the end of this month and I do much better at losing weight when I’m in Thailand. Unfortunately, when I’m in the U.S. I rapidly regain all of the weight I lost while in Thailand. Part of that is because I don’t sleep well which leads to me not exercising and eating junk food. The next time I get back from Thailand I’m going to change my environment so I can hopefully sleep better. Although, I got a new mattress just a couple of years ago I might buy another one to see if that helps my sleep.

I never had time to hike the VT section of the Appalachian Trail or the Katy Trail. This is because I was working almost all of the time I was not in Thailand. I don’t feel bad about not completing this goal since it was more important for me to work and make money than hike.

So far this year I’ve made approximately $13k. This makes it quite unlikely I’ll make the $30k goal. Even though I have mostly been working when not in Thailand, I just don’t make enough to meet this goal. I need to find a way to make decent money while I’m in Thailand to have a shot of at least getting somewhat close to this goal.

I’m not going to cut back on how much time I spend in Thailand to increase my income though. I enjoy my time in Thailand too much and I want to be with my wife as much as possible. Since I live frugally, my modest income is sufficient to pay all my expenses and still save money every year.

This will probably be the only update on my 2022 goals. I’ll post the results at the end of the year sometime.

August Income – $3145.64

Here is a breakdown of my income for August.

Interest$9.42
Cash Back$14.19
Bank Bonus$500
Job$2376.51
Dividends$38.56
Mystery Shop$28
Ebay/Other Selling$126.99
Amazon FBA$46.29
Stepbet Winnings$5.68
Total$3145.64

August was a good earnings month since I had job income for the entire month.

Dividend income came in at $38.56. 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 $14.19 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.

Interest income was $9.42. The rising interest rates are helping this a little.

Job income was the big source of income coming in at $2376.51 for the month.

I received a bank bonus of $500 for opening a line of credit. I’ll be closing it this month. That was probably the easiest $500 I’ve ever made.

Mystery shop income came in at $28. That was one shop and also included a free meal. If the restaurant was closer to me, I’d do more of these. I already did another one this month.

Ebay and other selling income came in at $126.99. I hope to increase this income this month. I’ll be finished with work soon and plan to list a bunch of stuff on eBay. I have to leave at the end of the month though.

I made $46.29 from Amazon FBA. That is my first FBA income this year.

Lastly, I had $5.68 in winnings from completing a Stepbet challenge.

It was a solid income month again. I’ve made back all of the money I spent during my last trip to Thailand. I’ll be heading to Thailand again this month, so I need to stockpile money before then. My doc review job will be ending soon. I’ll try to make money from other sources, but income will likely be down this month. How was your month?

August Expenses – $1140.51

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for August.

Household$7.62
Mortgage/Apt$355
Support$200
Entertainment$30.78
Transportation$306.20
Food$123.53
Phone$0
Health$15.50
Travel$101.88
Total$1140.51

My August expenses were pretty low. I was happy with the level of expenses.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, a month of Amazon Prime, a 6-month digital subscription to a local paper and 2 months of HBO Max. That was a lot of entertainment for the price. That is a lot of entertainment for the money spent.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment. I

Transportation was for gas and car insurance. I didn’t spend much on gas since I work at home and don’t drive much. My car insurance wasn’t due to renew until October. However, I was offered $200 to switch to another company and took that deal. The new insurance company has a slightly cheaper rate too. I haven’t received the $200 yet. If I receive that this month, I’ll likely end up with this expense category being a profit for the month.

My food expense was very reasonable. This is about as low as I can get it now with so many foods being more expensive. This month I plan to eat out of the pantry a lot so I might manage to get the total even lower.

My phone bill was $0. American Express had an offer for $25 back on $50 spend with my phone carrier. That resulted in my phone bill being $0 for August and it will be quite low this month.

The household expense was for dryer sheets, flossers, baking soda, fabric refresher, and cotton swabs. My mom bought my wife a Coach purse at a garage sale. Unfortunately, the purse reeks of smoke. The baking soda, fabric refresher, and dryer sheets are all part of the effort to remove the smoke smell from the purse.

Health expense was for one month’s health insurance premium and 90 days supply of one of my blood pressure medicines.

Travel expense includes $22.75 for a hotel in Bangkok, $29.13 for airfare from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and $50 for 2000 AA miles. I probably shouldn’t have bought the miles. I needed some more miles for my return ticket from Thailand to the US and I’m getting close to having Gold status with AA so I splurged and bought the miles. Time will tell, if they were worth it.

There also was an expense of $200 to help my wife with some of her expenses in Thailand

This month’s expenses should be about the same. I’ll be traveling at the end of the month. Those expenses have been mostly prepaid though so that shouldn’t raise my expenses much.

How was your month?

July Income – $3111.23

Here is a breakdown of my income for July.

Interest$5.59
Cash Back$52.35
Online Income$86.24
Job$2876.80
Dividends$47.32
Mystery Shop$25
Ebay/Other Selling$77.13
Concert Ticket$45
Shuttle$100
Insurance Promo$25
Total$3340.43

July was a good earnings month since I had job income for the entire month.

Dividend income came in at $47.32. 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 $52.35 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.

Interest income was $5.59.

I had $86.24 in online income. I had to pay for a domain name renewal, and I received an Adsense payout this month. I probably won’t have any income or expense in this category this month.

Job income was the big source of income coming in at $2876.80 for the month.

Since I had to work, I was unable to attend the concert I bought a ticket for and was able to sell it back for $45. That was a tiny loss, but I need to count it as income for July since I counted it as an expense in June.

I also received $100 for doing a shuttle from the Branson airport to the Lake of the Ozarks. Finally, I received a $25 Amazon gift card for getting a car insurance quote.

It was nice to have a solid income month again. I’ve made back most of the money I spent during my last trip to Thailand. I’ll be heading to Thailand again next month, so I need to stockpile money before then. I should be working my document review job all this month so this should be another good income month. How was your month?