Below you’ll find all my finance details for August 2019.
I spent the whole month in Bali, mostly in Ubud.
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
| Total Income | € 2,411 | $ 2,650 |
| Total Expenses | € 2,238 | $ 2,460 |
| Profit/Loss | € 173 | $ 190 |
🤑 Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 2,266 | $ 2,490 |
| Patreon 1 | € 130 | $ 143 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 15 | $ 17 |
| Total Income | € 2,411 |
$ 2,650 |
| Previous Month | € 1,924 | $ 2,131 |
I estimated $2,000 in affiliate earnings for August and little beyond that, so I did pretty good here.
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments came from…
| Affiliate | Related Content |
|---|---|
| Amazon | Miscellaneous |
| Respondent | Respondent Review |
| SafetyWing | Digital Nomad Travel Insurance |
| Tai Lopez | Social Media Marketing Agency Review |
| Udemy | eBiz Weekly newsletter |
| Worldpackers | Travel Hacker’s Toolkit |
Here’s a progress chart for affiliate income since starting eBiz Facts…
💸 Expenses
🍽 Food & Drink
| Eating out | € 258 | $ 284 |
| Groceries | € 227 | $ 249 |
| Total | € 485 |
$ 533 |
| Previous Month | € 600 | $ 664 |
🏡 Housing & Utilities
| 1 month at Ubud villa | € 364 | $ 400 |
| 2 nights at Canguu guesthouse | € 38 | $ 42 |
| Total | € 402 |
$ 442 |
| Previous Month | € 369 | $ 409 |
💪 Health Care
| Medical tests | € 53 | $ 58 |
| SafetyWing travel insurance 2 | € 34 | $ 37 |
| Doctor visit | € 25 | $ 27 |
| 1-hour massage (x4) | € 24 | $ 26 |
| Cough medicine | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Total | € 140 |
$ 154 |
| Previous Month | € 74 | $ 82 |
🛫 Travel & Transport
| Flights: Bali to Chiang Mai (round trip) 3 | € 217 | $ 239 |
| 1 month scooter rental in Ubud, Bali | € 89 | $ 97 |
| Mt Batur guide + driver | € 32 | $ 35 |
| Bali taxi | € 16 | $ 17 |
| Scooter fuel | € 7 | $ 7 |
| Total | € 360 |
$ 396 |
| Previous Month | € 159 | $ 176 |
💻 Business Expenses
| Outsourcing 4 | € 463 | $ 508 |
| Modafinil 5 | € 37 | $ 41 |
| Wealthy Affiliate (x2) 6 | € 35 | $ 38 |
| Pigeon 7 | € 26 | $ 29 |
| Amazon Web Services Support 8 | € 23 | $ 25 |
| Ahrefs subscription 9 | € 18 | $ 20 |
| MemberMouse 10 | € 18 | $ 20 |
| Patreon fees 11 | € 17 | $ 19 |
| Dreamhost domain renewal | € 14 | $ 16 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 12 | € 13 | $ 15 |
| Zoom 13 | € 13 | $ 15 |
| YouTube Premium 14 | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Phone credit | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Storyboard That 15 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail 16 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| PayPal fees | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Respondent fees | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 17 | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Postage | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Dreamhost web hosting 18 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Sendy 19 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 20 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software 21 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 727 | $ 799 |
| Previous Month | € 554 | $ 614 |
🎁 Gifts & Donations
| Doctor visit | € 31 | $ 34 |
| Effective Altruism Fund 22 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Phone credit | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 23 | € 5 | $ 5 |
| SamHarris.org subscription 24 | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Patreon: The Blindboy Podcast 25 | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Patreon: Úna-Minh Kavanagh | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Flowers | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 64 |
$ 71 |
| Previous Month | € 25 | $ 28 |
📚 Books 26
| The First Tycoon: The Epic Life Of Cornelius Vanderbilt 27 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 10 | $ 11 |
👕 Clothing
| Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| Laundry | € 22 | $ 24 |
| Netflix subscription | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Toiletries | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Monthly banking fee (Hong Kong bank) 28 | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Amazon movie rental: Wild ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Kitchen supplies | € 2 | $ 3 |
| Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 59 |
$ 65 |
| Previous Month | € 88 | $ 97 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Business Expenses | € 727 | $ 799 |
| Food & Drink | € 485 | $ 533 |
| Housing & Utilities | € 402 | $ 442 |
| Travel & Transport | € 360 | $ 396 |
| Health Care | € 140 | $ 154 |
| Gifts & Donations | € 64 | $ 71 |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | € 59 | $ 65 |
| Books | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Clothing | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 2,238 |
$ 2,460 |
| Previous Month | € 1,879 | $ 2,081 |
I was aiming to keep everything under $2,500 for the month. Just about made it.
😢 Biggest Regret?
Nothing major.
I spent more on AWS Support than I needed to, could have canceled that way earlier and saved about $20.
Oh well.
🗓 2019 So Far
Here’s how I’m doing this year in terms of profit and loss:
| January | € 653 | $ 747 |
| February | € 529 | $ 601 |
| March | € 242 | $ 272 |
| April | € 240 | $ 269 |
| May | € 171 | $ 196 |
| June | € 1,906 | $ 2,163 |
| July | € 45 | $ 50 |
| August | € 173 | $ 190 |
| Total | € 911 | $ 1,040 |
📊 Where That Leaves Me
I had €14,331 / $15,872 to my name at the end of July.
Taking into account all my August 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 €14,210 / $15,617. 29
🔮 Outlook For September
It’s not good 😕
Affiliate income will likely drop way down to less than $1000. A few reasons for that, which I’ll detail in next month’s report.
Altogether I’d be surprised if my income hits 4 figures in August.
Meanwhile, expenses will increase quite a bit. I’ll be spending $449 on another affiliate marketing course that I plan to review, I have an annual credit card fee of $450 due, and I have to book a couple of big flights for the holidays.
Given all that, I expect to spend at least $3,000 in August.
📲 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.
Have you thought about resubscribing to Netflix via a Turkish VPN connection?
Could save you a few $ a month.
Are you going to write about the modafinal? It sounds interesting!
Hey Joe,
Not sure what you mean about Netflix. I’m still subscribed, and I’m happy to pay for it.
I may write about the Modafinil at some point. Check out Chris Guillebeau’s blog in the meantime. He wrote about his experience using Adderall to help with writing and focus.