January Income – $1833.24

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It is rather late since it is already March but here is a breakdown of my income for January.  I’ll get February’s figures up next week.

Online Income

$975.18

Interest

$23.09

Stock Dividends

$111.94

Mystery Shops

$354.17

Survey/Cashback

$17.79

Job

$351.07

Total

$1833.24

It was a pretty good month for income.  Online income would have been over $1000 but I had some expenses.  I did well on mystery shopping and I had some job income as well. Although it is nice to see most of the income is alternative income and passive income. Mystery shopping was down for February and I didn’t have a job so my February income will be lower but it should still be decent.

 

Online Income Report – January 2011

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Here is a breakdown of my online income for January 2011.

Google Adsense – $214.60

Affiliate Income – $650

Brokered Ads – $49.88

Direct Ads – $101.57

Ehow –             $11.51

Total – $1027.56

My online income was once again over $1000.  It was boosted by a large affiliate check.   Affiliate income will be much smaller this week so my new streak of $1000 months will likely be over at two months.  Still I’ve made $1000 or more a month for five of the last six months so I’m not complaining.  Considering how little effort I’ve put into my online endeavors lately I am lucky to be making this month.  If I put in 40 hours a week working online I think I could make a full-time income.  We will see.

January Expenses – $1913.05

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for January.

Household

$608.39

Entertainment

$86.70

Transportation

 $243.28

Food

$36.75
Medical/Dental

$273.21

Utilities

$119.54

Education

$430.18
Debt $115

Total

$1913.05

My expenses for January were much higher than I would like.  This is mainly due to spending over $400 for bar preparation materials and over $200 for a doctor visit.  My food total only includes meals I eat out by myself, that is why it is low.  My expenses should be lower this month since I won’t have the bar prep or medical expenses.  Expenses will still be higher than normal because my wife and I are taking a short getaway to Dallas.  Also the cost of driving back and forth to St. Louis to participate in the study will increase my transportation expenses although I may just take that out of my income figure.   I’m thinking my expenses will probably get back to around my $1000 goal in March.

January Investment Income – $97.23

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My January investment income rose to $97.23 from $95.71 in November. I didn’t get around to calculating my investment income for December. I’m pretty close to $100 and barring any disasters should make that goal this year. My ultimate goal is $1000 a month. To reach that goal I’m going to have to start investing more rather than just relying on stock increases and reinvested dividends to get my gains.

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. You can see what my actual investment income for the month was by looking at my monthly income report and adding the interest and dividend amounts.

Update and Goals for March 2011

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A lot has happened since I last updated what is going on in my life. I decided to delay taking the bar until July. I just didn’t feel I was ready for it this month and I’m not sure if I will be able to prepare for it with self-study alone. I’m going to start reviewing again in May and if I don’t feel like I’m making sufficient progress on my own I’ll shell out the money for a review course. I’ll definitely be taking the bar in July since you are only allowed to postpone the exam one time after that you are out your exam fee. I’m not going to pay another $1000 to take the exam again so this time will be it.

I also have started a new medical study. For this study I’m basically gone a week then back home for a couple weeks three times. There are two visits this month and one in March. It is a bit of a hassle but it is worth the money.

I’m also going on a short trip to Dallas next week with my wife. This is just a getaway trip. I had a $200 credit from Southwest that I got for being bumped from a flight last year that was about to expire and I decided to use it for this. A short getaway should be good for my mental health.

I’ve not done very well on getting things done so far this year. Therefore I’m going to set some goals and try very hard to keep them.

My first goal is to make at least $500 in income from sources other than my blogs and the medical study by the end of March. This should be fairly easy to meet. Most of the money will probably come from mystery shopping but I am hoping to sell a few things as well.

My second goal is to have my ebook finished by the end of March. I’m hoping it will be closer to the beginning of March. I am going to write at least a page a day until I’m done. I’ve outlined most of what I want to write and I think the material is all in my head I just need to get started. I’ll post again at the end of March with some new goals and how I did on these goals.