press
Entrepreneur logo HuffPost logo Gizmodo logo LifeHacker logo NBC Today Show logo
eBiz Facts is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn More

Published: September 4, 2017

4 Comments Finance Reports

August 2017 Finance Report

Hola from Tenerife!

Here be all my finances for August.

I started off the month in Japan, then 4 days in Amsterdam, a couple of weeks in Ireland, and finally arrived in Tenerife on the 24th.

First time seeing one of these finance reports? Click here for a quick intro.

I’ve been tracking everything I earn and spend since January 2011, just a few weeks after quitting my day job. Every month since, I’ve published one of these finance reports.

Sharing this info publicly keeps me accountable and hopefully gives you some insight into how I earn a living online.

Patrons get to see each new report before anyone else.

Summary

August 2017 finance graph

Total Income € 3,287
$ 3,921
Total Expenses € 2,518
$ 3,003
Profit/Loss € 769
$ 918

Income

August 2017 income

3M1K 1 € 2,096 $ 2,500
Freelance web development 2 € 493 $ 588
The Rabble-Rouser’s Guide To Travel 3 € 271 $ 323
Earnings from Dublin talk 4 € 140 $ 167
3M1K Scholarship Program 5 € 134 $ 160
Google Adsense payment 6 € 79 $ 94
Cheap Flight Checklist 7 € 57 $ 68
Book sales (via Amazon) 8 € 17 $ 20
Total Income € 3,287
$ 3,921
Last Month € 3,170 $ 3,743

I predicted $3,300 income for the month so I’m fairly satisfied with the final numbers, especially since I was doing so much traveling.

Expenses

August 2017 expenses

Food & Drink

Eating out € 212 $ 253
Groceries € 162 $ 193
9 Total
€ 374
446
Last Month € 589 $ 695

Housing & Utilities

18 nights at shared apartment in Puerto de la Cruz 10 € 377 $ 450
3 nights at shared house in Dublin 11 € 105 $ 125
3 nights at the Wolfhouse, Tenerife 12 € 80 $ 95
1 night at Hotel White City, Tokyo 13 € 37 $ 44
Total € 599
$ 714
Last Month € 538 $ 635

Health Care

IMG Global Health Insurance 14
€ 0 $ 0
Total € 0
$ 0
Last Month € 0 $ 0

Travel & Transport

Flight: Munich (MUC) to Tenerife (TFS) 15 € 184 $ 219
Flight: Dublin (DUB) to Tenerife (TFN) 16 € 177 $ 211
Flight: Dublin (DUB) to Moscow (VKO) via Oslo (OSL) 17 € 177 $ 211
4-day car rental in Tenerife 18 € 95 $ 113
Train: Dublin to Waterford (round trip) 19 € 43 $ 51
Train: Nippori to Tokyo Airport (NRT), Japan € 22 $ 26
Tokyo local trains € 20 $ 24
Bus: Waterford to Cork (round trip) € 20 $ 24
Fuel for rental car € 10 $ 12
Bus: Dublin city center to Dublin Airport (DUB) € 7 $ 8
Bus: Tenerife North Airport (TFN) to Puerto de la Cruz € 5 $ 6
OV Chipkaart top-up 20 € 5 $ 6
Nara local buses € 3 $ 4
Flight: Moscow (VKO) to Munich (MUC) 21 € 0 $ 0
Total € 768
$ 916
Last Month € 1,290 $ 1,523

Business Expenses

Outsourcing 22 € 158 $ 188
2.5 weeks coworking in Tenerife 23 € 105 $ 125
Conference room at the Academy Plaza Hotel, Dublin 24 € 100 $ 119
PayPal fees 25 € 53 $ 63
Gumroad fees € 38 $ 45
iPhone cable 26 € 25 $ 30
Dreamhost domains 27 € 24 $ 28
Phone credit € 23 $ 27
BuzzStream 28 € 20 $ 24
Giveaway items for Dublin talk 29 € 11 $ 13
Currency exchange fees 30 € 10 $ 12
Virtual Post Mail 31 € 8 $ 10
Buffer 32 € 8 $ 10
Skype credit € 8 $ 10
Amazon Web Services (storage) 33 € 2 $ 2
Google Drive storage (1TB) 34 € 0 $ 0
Total € 593
$ 707
Last Month € 601 $ 710

Gifts & Donations

Flowers 35 € 65 $ 78
3M1K Scholarship Program 36 € 42 $ 50
Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 37 € 5 $ 6
Waking Up podcast donation 38 € 4 $ 5
Tokyo airport charity box 39 € 3 $ 4
Deer cookies 40 € 1 $ 1
Total € 120
$ 143
Last Month € 52 $ 61

Books 41

The Primal Spark 42 **** € 7 $ 8
Total € 7
$ 8
Last Month € 5 $ 6

Clothing

Total € 0
$ 0
Last Month € 1 $ 1

Miscellaneous Expenses

Owl cafe entry in Nara (x2) 43 € 20 $ 24
Toiletries € 12 $ 14
Nara arcade games 44 € 11 $ 13
Netflix subscription 45 € 10 $ 12
Laundry € 3 $ 4
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) € 1 $ 1
Total € 57
$ 68
Last Month € 260 $ 307

Expense Summary

Travel & Transport € 768 $ 916
Housing & Utilities € 599 $ 714
Business Expenses € 593 $ 707
Food & Drink € 374 $ 446
Gifts & Donations € 120 $ 143
Miscellaneous Expenses € 57 $ 68
Books € 7 $ 8
Clothing € 0 $ 0
Health Care € 0 $ 0
Total Expenses € 2,518
$ 3,003
Last Month € 3,336 $ 3,939

I predicted $3,025 for August expenses so I did quite well.

Biggest Regret?

I submitted foolish dates when applying for my Russian business visa and so couldn’t go to Moscow at the end of August as planned. Worst part was that I only realized my blunder at the last minute, when it was too late to cancel my flights. So I ended up paying $577 for flights in and out of Russia that I wasn’t able to take 🙁

I also booked a last-minute flight from Ireland to Tenerife after the Moscow trip fell through, and that cost me another $211.

Oh, and I regret paying $24 to support owl incarceration.

Year To Date

Here’s how I’m doing so far in 2017 in terms of profit and loss:

January € 668 $ 720
February € 724 $ 763
March € 2,704 $ 2,881
April € 1,023 $ 1,114
May € 10 $ 11
June € 1,755 $ 2,006
July € 166 $ 196
August € 769 $ 918
Total € 723 $ 993

Where That Leaves Me

I had €9,502/$11,220 to my name at the end of July.

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 €10,308/$12,295. 46

Outlook For September

After visiting 8 different countries in July and August, it looks like I’ll be staying put in the Canary Islands for all of September, which will be a welcome relief for both my energy levels and finances.

It’s quite possible that I could keep my expenses down around the €2,000 mark, so that’s what I’ll shoot for.

As for income, as usual it’s not very predictable. Sales of 3M1K continue to fluctuate, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I earned $500 or $5000 from that in September. I’ll set the bar low and estimate only $1000.

I’ll bring in a bit more from freelancing and other sources, but all in all I can’t see myself earning beyond $2000 unless I get lucky.

How I Track All This

Curious as to how I track everything I earn and spend? Check this video…

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.

About The Author
Niall Doherty – Founder and Lead Editor of eBiz Facts Born and raised in Ireland, Niall has been making a living from his laptop since quitting his office job in 2010. He's fond of basketball, once spent 44 months traveling around the world without flying, and has been featured in such publications as The Irish Times and Huffington Post. Read more...

4 thoughts on “August 2017 Finance Report”

  1. Thanks for sharing with the community! Your transparency helps us all with keeping it real for the rest of us. As I vagabond throughout It helps me particularly in assessing the different places that you visit.

    Reply
  2. Have you thought of using Mediavine instead of Google AdSense? I haven’t used either of them yet (mostly because I haven’t gained enough traffic for that kind of thing yet). I hear Mediavine pays more for the ads used and goes by a different algorithm or something like that. What do you think?

    Reply
    • Hey Leanne,

      I actually just heard of Mediavine yesterday. Sounds like they’re a much better option than Google AdSense. However, I make all my AdSense income via ads on my YouTube videos, not from ads here on my site. So I don’t think Mediavine can help me there. I see they have video players that let you host videos on your own site but that wouldn’t have the SEO benefits of YouTube so I’d get far less views.

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Leanne Cancel reply