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Published: January 4, 2018

7 Comments Finance Reports

December 2017 Finance Report

Below you’ll find all my finance details for December 2017.

I was staying in Taghazout, Morocco until December 17th, then spent a night in Laayoune, Western Sahara before heading back to Gran Canaria. I also snuck home to Ireland for a week through Christmas.

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

Total Income € 5,439 $ 6,526
Total Expenses € 2,836 $ 3,403
Profit/Loss € 2,603 $ 3,123

Income

December 2017 income graph

Freelance web development 1 € 2,817 $ 3,380
3M1K 2 € 1,366 $ 1,639
Authority Hacker Pro affiliate payment 3 € 823 $ 987
Aweber affiliate payment 4 € 165 $ 198
Elegant Themes affiliate payment 5 € 104 $ 125
The Rabble-Rouser’s Guide To Travel 6 € 43 $ 51
Coaching / Consulting 7 € 42 $ 50
Cheap Flight Checklist 8 € 31 $ 37
Book sales (via Amazon) 9 € 19 $ 23
Book sales (via ebizfacts.com) 10 € 11 $ 13
Patreon 11 € 11 $ 13
Coinbase bonuses 12 € 8 $ 10
Total Income € 5,439
$ 6,526
Last Month € 3,012 $ 3,505

I predicted $5000 income in December if all went well, and managed to pull in $1.5k more than that 🙂

Expenses

December 2017 expenses graph

Food & Drink

Eating out € 236 $ 283
Groceries € 153 $ 184
13 Total € 389
$ 467
Last Month € 370 $ 431

Housing & Utilities

17 nights at shared apartment in Las Palmas 14 € 450 $ 540
3 weeks at Tazrzit Urlaub guesthouse in Taghazout, Morocco 15 € 358 $ 430
1 month at private apartment in Bansko, Bulgaria (for January/February) 16 € 257 $ 308
1 night at San Mao Sahara, Laayoune 17 € 22 $ 26
Total € 1,087 $ 1,304
Last Month € 1,002 $ 1,166

Health Care

Ibuprofen € 3 $ 4
IMG Global Health Insurance 18 € 0 $ 0
Total € 3 $ 4
Last Month € 0 $ 0

Travel & Transport

Taxis in Gran Canaria 19 € 48 $ 58
Train: Dublin to Waterford € 32 $ 38
Train: Kilkenny to Dublin € 26 $ 31
Taxi: Taghazout to Agadir airport € 18 $ 22
Buses in Gran Canaria € 6 $ 7
Taxis in Laayoune € 2 $ 2
Total € 132 $ 158
Last Month € 282 $ 329

Business Expenses

Facebook ads 20 € 194 $ 233
17 days coworking in Las Palmas 21 € 150 $ 180
Phone credit 22 € 99 $ 119
3M1K affiliate payments 23 € 82 $ 98
PayPal fees 24 € 70 $ 84
TransferWise fees 25 € 61 $ 73
Domain renewals 26 € 43 $ 52
Chatroll 27 € 16 $ 19
Gumroad fees € 10 $ 12
Virtual Post Mail 28 € 8 $ 10
Patreon fees 29 € 2 $ 2
Amazon Web Services (storage) 30 € 2 $ 2
ActiveCampaign mailing list software31 € 0 $ 0
Dreamhost web hosting32 € 0 $ 0
Elegant Themes subscription 33 € 0 $ 0
Google Drive storage (1TB) 34 € 0 $ 0
MemberMouse 35 € 0 $ 0
Teamwork project management software 36 € 0 $ 0
Total € 737 $ 884
Last Month € 630 $ 733

Gifts & Donations

Christmas gifts € 202 $ 242
Donation to support Helena Harney’s work in Bolivia 37 € 127 $ 152
Flowers 38 € 22 $ 26
Mobile top-up for a friend € 6 $ 7
Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 39 € 5 $ 6
Waking Up podcast donation 40 € 4 $ 5
Donation to buskers in Cork € 2 $ 2
Donation box at Laayoune airport € 1 $ 1
Total € 369 $ 443
Last Month € 44 $ 52

Books 41

The Prosperous Coach 42 ***** € 29 $ 35
Magellan: Conqueror of the Seas 43 € 8 $ 10
Ask The Dust 44 **** € 6 $ 7
Tribe 45 **** € 2 $ 2
Total € 45 $ 54
Last Month € 0 $ 0

Clothing

Total € 0 $ 0
Last Month € 0 $ 0

Miscellaneous Expenses

Toiletries € 23 $ 28
Coinbase fees 46 € 20 $ 24
Netflix subscription € 11 $ 13
Irish bank quarterly fee € 5 $ 6
Laundry € 5 $ 6
Haircut 47 € 4 $ 5
Earplugs € 3 $ 4
PayPal fees (personal) 48 € 2 $ 2
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) € 1 $ 2
Total € 74 $ 89
Last Month € 74 $ 87

Expense Summary

Housing & Utilities € 1,087 $ 1,304
Business Expenses € 737 $ 884
Food & Drink € 389 $ 467
Gifts & Donations € 369 $ 443
Travel & Transport € 132 $ 158
Miscellaneous Expenses € 74 $ 89
Books € 45 $ 54
Health Care € 3 $ 4
Clothing € 0 $ 0
Total Expenses € 2,836 $ 3,403
Last Month € 2,403 $ 2,796

I was aiming to keep everything under €2500 for the month, and I wasn’t far off. Happy overall since I have my accommodation covered until mid-February and I splashed out a little on Christmas shopping.

Biggest Regret?

Nothing I can point to in December. Looking through everything above, I feel satisfied that I spent my money well.

12-Month Snapshot

Here’s how I did 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
Sepetember € 1,131 $ 1,337
October € 1,099 $ 1,279
November € 609 $ 709
December € 2,603 $ 3,123
Total € 4,311 $ 5,111

Where That Leaves Me

I had €10,638/$12,680 to my name at the end of November.

Taking into account all my December 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 €12,805/$15,365. 49

Outlook For January

I have a couple of annual expenses coming my way, and I’ll be spending a little bit on snowboarding equipment rental in Bulgaria, but nothing out of the ordinary other than that. I’ll aim to spend less than €2,500 again.

As for income, I should pull in about €2500 through freelance work, and I’m thinking at least another €1500 through 3M1K. I’ll aim for $5,000 overall.

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...

7 thoughts on “December 2017 Finance Report”

  1. Hey,

    How does the situation with the Tax looks like. Do you pay them and if yes, which country and based on what criteria.

    Reply
    • Hi Natalia,

      No, I don’t pay taxes. No personal tax because I don’t stay in any country for more than 6 months a year. And no business tax because I have my business registered in the USA. And as a one-person LLC there, the tax burden is passed to the individual. So I’m clear on both counts.

      Reply
    • At first they were definitely worth it. I was spending $1-3 per registration for my weekly live webinar. But that number kept going up. The last week I ran the ads it was costing me $11 per registration, so not quite worth it anymore.

      Reply

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