My expenses in 2015 were over $1000 higher than in 2014. My expenses for 2015 went up to $16,999.41 compared to $15,775.65 in 2014.  The increased expenses was due to a significant increase in medical and dental bills. I also bought a car in 2015. The purchase price isn’t included in these expenses, but all the related expenses are. When I sell or otherwise dispose of the car the amount of the capital loss will be recorded as an expense. I also paid several thousand dollars extra towards my student loan which I am not including in these expenses. These expenses do include the amount of student loan payments I was required to make. I’ve decided to leave out the extra payments since they distort what my spending looks like.

My biggest expense for the year was medical and dental bills for a total of $5976.44. This included about $1000 in health insurance premiums, about $2700 in dental bills, and a little over $2000 for medical bills and medicine. In addition to that I spent quite a bit on medical bills due to my accident. That spending isn’t included since I was reimbursed by the driver’s insurance company. I think I spent more on medical bills and had more doctor appointments this year than I had in the last 10 years combined. I’m hoping this year will be much better. I do have to get my dental implants finished. Most of that expense has already been paid for so I’m hoping what is left isn’t too expensive.

My second biggest expense for the year was housing at $4800.  This is a pretty good deal for housing and I expect it to stay about the same this year.

The rest of my expenses are $401.03 for my cell phone, $1972.03 for my student loan, $44.67 for car maintenance, $51.52 for gifts, $400.21 for household expenses, $710.34 for groceries, $738.90 for dining out, $827.13 on gasoline, $525.80 for entertainment, $392.34 for travel, and $159 for the city bus.

Out of all those expenses I got the most value from the money spent on travel.  The $392.34 covered round trip airfare for 2 from KC to Buffalo, round trip airfare for 2 from KC to Las Vegas, and round trip airfare for 2 from KC to Portland. It also covered at least seven hotel nights, a rental car, and more.  A combination of credit card sign up bonuses, Southwest Rapid Rewards, and the Southwest Companion Pass allowed us to get exceptional value for our travel dollars.  There was also a second Las Vegas trip where I tagged along on my GF’s work trip resulting in an almost free trip. My only expense for that trip was my airfare (paid for with points, I only had to pay the $5.60 security fee) and a bus from the airport to the hotel.

The car maintenance bill will definitely go up this year since I just bought 4 new tires. The student loan expense will go down since my required payment will be going down in a couple of months when my IBR resets. I’ll still be paying extra on the loan though. I probably won’t have a city bus expense this year since I have a car. The other expenses will likely remain about the same. If I’m correct about my medical and dental bills going down this year than 2016 should be less expensive than 2015. I’m sure there will be some surprises this year, but I’m going to be optimistic and guess that they will all be happy surprises or at least not expensive surprises.

Last month I calculated my net worth as part of comparing my lifetime earnings to my net worth.  In order to keep track of my financial progress or lack of progress I have decided to calculate my net worth each month.

My net worth as of yesterday was as follows.

Assets
Cash – $3801.76
IRA – $21,243.28
Roth IRA – $9605.37
Loan – $1350
Car/Stuff – $5000

Liabilities
Credit Card – $6992.74
Student Loan – $125,777.25

Net Worth = $-91,769.58.

That is a $2,140.42 improvement from my last net worth post which was just three weeks ago. I’m pretty happy with that improvement. If I were able to increase my net worth that much each month I’d get to a $0 net worth in 44 months.

The improvement was mostly from lots of Amazon sales the last half of December.  Sales have already dropped off this month. My Amazon earnings will take a hit making it difficult to repeat last month’s net worth improvement. I also have to get four new tires and pay $410 for my annual bar enrollment fees this month so it will be an expensive month.

In the three weeks since my first net worth calculation my student loan balance went up $446. The interest on this loan is brutal.  I’m being charged over $21 a day in interest. I’d like to refinance this loan to a lower rate, but haven’t had any luck so far. Although my credit score is great lenders don’t like my debt to income ratio. Now that I’m self-employed it will likely be even harder to get the loan refinanced. I just have to keep paying it down as quick as I can.

Although I doubt I’ll match last month’s progress I am hopeful that I’ll still be able to make decent progress this month.

Here is a breakdown of my income for December.

My income recovered nicely in December. Since my income was about $1000 more than my expenses I can afford to stay self-employed for a while longer.

The big improvement in my income came from my FBA income which increased from $1000 from the previous month. The Christmas spending frenzy was great for me and I sold a record amount of stuff in December. It will be difficult to match that this month now that the Christmas frenzy is over, but I’m hoping I can keep the income to at least the $1000 level. I’ve still got quite a few products in the Amazon warehouse so another big month is possible.

The cash back income of $475.25 was mostly (I’d estimate over 90%) from buying stuff to resell on Amazon. The Chase Freedom card paying 10% on Amazon purchases provided a $150 of the cashback and the Discover 10% Apple Pay promotion and 5% back at department stores contributed over $200. There should be another big amount of cashback from Discover this month.

The class action income was a random check I received due to a settlement from a former employer. I’m not sure what the suit was about, but I’ll take the money.

I didn’t do a lot of Uber driving in December. Although I spent quite a bit of time working on my FBA business and did have some holiday obligations I could have spent a lot more time driving for Uber. I plan to work at least half-time for Uber this month.

For the first time in several months the online income category showed a profit. It would be nice to have another profitable month. That will depend mostly on luck since I’ll be concentrating more on increasing my FBA and Uber income this month and not on my online income.

Although I made about $1000 more than my expenses last month I need to make a lot more. If I’m going to be able to pay off my student loans in a reasonable amount of time I need to make at least $2000 a month more than my expenses. That level of income won’t be easy for me to obtain, but it is something to strive for.

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December.

My December expenses were pretty low and almost at my $1000 target.  This was a rare month that didn’t have any unexpected or annual/semi-annual expenses.  My transportation expenses were low since the only gas I bought was with a gas gift card that was included in November’s expenses.  My only transportation expense for the month was $8.87 for an oil change. The oil change was super cheap since I had a coupon due to being a Shop Your Way member. Food expenses were down because I didn’t eat out as often due to attending several Christmas gatherings.

The only extra expense for the month was $81.11 to pay off the remainder of my biopsy bill. Hopefully, my expenses will be low this month as well.  I plan to have both a doctor appointment and dentist appointment this month which could result in some increased expenses. My transportation expense will go up since that is the only way it can go after being so low in December. All of my other expenses should be about the same.