Well hello there o’ legendary email subscriber. This is my July finance report, prepared and delivered to you from the fine city of Berlin.
As usual, I’ll share with you all the details of my finances below, along with a few notes that I think you’ll find interesting.
Diving in…
July Income
Freelance web development 1 | € 934 | $ 1,043 |
3M1K 2 | € 647 | $ 722 |
Coaching 3 | € 144 | $ 161 |
VAT refund | € 138 | $ 154 |
Google Adsense 4 | € 76 | $ 85 |
Sale of bicycle 5 | € 60 | $ 67 |
Sale of blender | € 30 | $ 33 |
Book sales (via Amazon) | € 27 | $ 30 |
Wandering Earl affiliate payment 6 | € 6 | $ 7 |
Sale of yoga mat | € 5 | $ 6 |
Total Income | € 2,067 |
$ 2,308 |
Last Month | € 3,030 | $ 3,375 |
I knew July would be a tough month for income, given that I was jumping around between Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands and spending more time than usual offline. But I managed to reach my goal of €2k so I’m happy enough.
July Expenses
Food & Drink
Eating out 7 | € 460 | $ 514 |
Groceries | € 111 | $ 124 |
Total | € 571 |
$ 638 |
Last Month | € 351 | $ 391 |
Housing & Utilities
1 night at Aston City Hotel, Amsterdam | € 66 | $ 74 |
3 nights at Berlin Airbnb | € 53 | $ 59 |
1 night at Hotel Casa 400, Amsterdam 8 | € 31 | $ 35 |
Total | € 150 |
$ 167 |
Last Month | € 422 | $ 470 |
Personal Taxes
Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Health Care
Health insurance (monthly payment) | € 101 | $ 113 |
Total | € 101 |
$ 113 |
Last Month | € 101 | $ 113 |
Travel & Transport
Flights: Amsterdam to Berlin (AMS-SXF) round trip 9 | € 140 | $ 156 |
Flights: Berlin to Dublin (TXL-DUB) round trip 10 | € 130 | $ 145 |
Ov-chipkaart 11 | € 110 | $ 123 |
Train: Berlin to Amsterdam | € 59 | $ 66 |
Irish driver’s license renewal fee 12 | € 55 | $ 61 |
Bicycle repair 13 | € 33 | $ 37 |
Berlin metro | € 30 | $ 33 |
Taxi to Cork airport | € 15 | $ 17 |
Bus: Dan Helder to Texel ferry (round trip) | € 6 | $ 7 |
Ferry to/from Texel | € 5 | $ 6 |
Total | € 583 |
$ 651 |
Last Month | € 63 | $ 70 |
Business Expenses
Taxes 14 | € 807 | $ 901 |
Accountant: AGC Associates 15 | € 328 | $ 366 |
Outsourcing 16 | € 130 | $ 145 |
Mackeeper 24-month subscription | € 72 | $ 80 |
ActiveCampaign 17 | € 40 | $ 45 |
PayPal fees | € 36 | $ 40 |
Teamwork project management software 18 | € 22 | $ 25 |
Phone credit | € 20 | $ 22 |
MemberMouse 19 | € 18 | $ 20 |
Virtual Post Mail 20 | € 18 | $ 20 |
Stripe fees (for 3M1K payments) | € 15 | $ 17 |
TransferWise fees 21 | € 12 | $ 13 |
Lyca SIM card 22 | € 8 | $ 9 |
Ticket: Awakened Creatress 23 | € 5 | $ 6 |
Google Drive storage (100GB) | € 2 | $ 2 |
Amazon Web Services (more storage) | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 1,534 |
$ 1,713 |
Last Month | € 2,125 | $ 2,367 |
Gifts & Donations
Busker at the Tiergarten | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 1 |
$ 1 |
Last Month | € 60 | $ 67 |
Books 24
Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Clothing
Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
Last Month | € 265 | $ 295 |
Miscellaneous Expenses
Skydive 25 | € 199 | $ 222 |
Skydive video 26 | € 115 | $ 128 |
Eye test 27 | € 25 | $ 28 |
Toiletries | € 15 | $ 17 |
Internations party entry in Amsterdam | € 10 | $ 11 |
Netflix subscription | € 9 | $ 10 |
USB card 28 | € 8 | $ 9 |
Berlin nightclub entry | € 6 | $ 7 |
Quarterly banking fee (Irish bank) | € 6 | $ 7 |
Personal credit card fee | € 4 | $ 4 |
Amazon movie rental: Zoolander *** | € 3 | $ 3 |
Photo/video with silver soldier at the Tiergarten | € 2 | $ 2 |
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 403 |
$ 450 |
Last Month | € 108 | $ 120 |
Expense Summary
Business Expenses | € 1,534 | $ 1,713 |
Travel & Transport | € 583 | $ 651 |
Food & Drink | € 571 | $ 638 |
Miscellaneous Expenses | € 403 | $ 450 |
Housing & Utilities | € 150 | $ 167 |
Health Care | € 101 | $ 113 |
Gifts & Donations | € 1 | $ 1 |
Books | € 0 | $ 0 |
Clothing | € 0 | $ 0 |
Taxes | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total Expenses | € 3,343 |
$ 3,733 |
Last Month | € 3,495 | $ 3,893 |
Oops. I was aiming to keep my expenses under €2k for the month, so I failed miserably. I wasn’t expecting the big tax bill, food and dining expenses were much higher than usual, and of course the spontaneous skydiving adventure cost a bit.
Biggest Regret?
Nothing particular this past month, but it’s about time I put my hand up and admit that registering my business in Ireland last year was an expensive mistake. I’ve lost out on a small fortune already due to taxes, VAT, and accounting expenses.
I now have an LLC registered in the USA and have switched all my business operations over, but it will take a few more weeks and a bit more money to wrap everything up neatly in Ireland.
Oh well. I tried. I failed. No matter. I’ll try again. I’ll fail again. But hopefully I’ll fail better.
Where That Leaves Me
I had €9,798/$10,914 to my name at the end of June.
Taking into account all my July income and expenditure, and the most recent exchange rates – I have accounts in EUR, HKD and USD – my total bank and cash balances now work out to €7,610/$8,497. 29
Outlook For August
I’m usually overly-optimistic with my predictions, so I’ll try be conservative this time around.
Income-wise, I have plenty of freelance work lined up so I’m expecting to pull in at least €3k that way. (I have approximately €2.5k already billed.) I’m working on some marketing strategies for 3M1K but I don’t expect any of that to come to fruition until September, so maybe I’ll only pull in another €500 here.
€3.5k total income is what I’ll shoot for.
As for expenses, I’ll be living quite cheaply in Berlin for most of the month, so that will help keep the purse strings tight. My trip to Dublin at the end of the month will cost a bit, and I expect business expenses will add up to about €1k.
I’ll pencil in €3k total for expenses and see how it goes.
Feedback Welcome
Thoughts? Questions? Speak up in the comments below.
Archived Finance Reports
I’ve been posting these monthly finance reports since January, 2011. You can view all my old reports via this page.
Curious where you slept cost-free for the rest of the month as only five nights are noted?
I had my first 10 nights in the Berlin Airbnb paid for in June. I stayed with family for the 6 nights I was in Ireland, and then in a spare room at a friend’s apartment in Amsterdam for 5 nights. I also spent one night on bus from Amsterdam to Berlin at the beginning of July. Oh, and I didn’t move out of my apartment in Amsterdam until July 5th, and had that already paid for in advance as well.
Hi Niall,
I’ve been keeping an expenses spreadsheet fort the last year (much to my other half’s dismay), and really appreciate your meticulous presentation. I’m really glad to see other travellers doing it. We’re currently away travelling Maylasia and Indonisia and I’m pretty sure have the finances to do so from keeping tabs on outgoings.
I wondered what your thoughts were about insurance when you are in Berlin, will your Dutch insurance be accepted?
Hi Ruby. The tracking keeps you very honest, doesn’t it?
My insurance is actually from an Irish company, and it covers me internationally, so I’m all good there.
Just wondering, how to you find your freelance work (which is quite a sustainable part of your income)? I guess the projects you do are often for different people/businesses, so you must spend quite some time trying to find these clients too? That seems like a tough job while you’re moving and busy with so many other things. Is there a strategy? A niche you focus on? People who help you with this? I’d love to read a bit more about that. 🙂
Hi Elke. Most of my freelance work comes from referrals and repeat clients these days. I don’t usually have to go out and find clients. They mostly find me. I don’t have a particular niche though. I take what comes.