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.
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
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
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.
I like seeing all of those positive numbers through the year. You’re doing great, Niall! Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Crystal 🙂
Hey,
How does the situation with the Tax looks like. Do you pay them and if yes, which country and based on what criteria.
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.
Hahaha, love the haircut of €4,- ;p
Were the FB ads worth it? Tried to boost a post once and all I got were bot responses.
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.