Here be all my finances for February. I spent most of the month living in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and also spent a week in nearby Tenerife and five days in Prague.
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 | € 4,380 |
$ 4,616 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,656 |
$ 3,853 |
| Profit/Loss | € 724 |
$ 763 |
Income
| Freelance web development 1 | € 2,464 | $ 2,596 |
| 30DBC 2 | € 1,423 | $ 1,500 |
| 3M1K 3 | € 280 | $ 295 |
| Cheap Flight Checklist 4 | € 183 | $ 193 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) 5 | € 21 | $ 23 |
| Book sales (via ebizfacts.com) 6 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Total Income | € 4,380 |
$ 4,616 |
| Last Month | € 2,828 | $ 3,048 |
I was aiming to pull in at least $5k in February and ended up not far off. As mentioned though, $1,500 of that income will have to be refunded in March, which means I really only pulled in a little over $3k in February.
Expenses
Food & Drink
| Eating out | € 181 | $ 191 |
| Groceries | € 225 | $ 237 |
| 7 Total |
€ 406 |
$ 428 |
| Last Month | € 375 | $ 404 |
Housing & Utilities 8
| 4 nights at Prague AirBnB 9 | € 135 | $ 142 |
| Cleaner for Las Palmas apartment 10 | € 30 | $ 32 |
| Total | € 165 |
$ 174 |
| Last Month | € 813 | $ 876 |
Health Care 11
| Symbioram 12 | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Total | € 12 |
$ 12 |
| Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Travel & Transport
| Flights: Gran Canaria (LPA) to Prague (PRG) round-trip 13 | € 429 | $ 452 |
| Rental cars (including fuel) 14 | € 184 | $ 194 |
| Flights: Gran Canaria (LPA) to Porto (OPO) one-way 15 | € 91 | $ 96 |
| Prague metro | € 8 | $ 8 |
| Buses in Gran Canaria | € 8 | $ 8 |
| Taxis in Las Palmas | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Total | € 725 |
$ 764 |
| Last Month | € 98 | $ 106 |
Business Expenses
| MacBook Pro 16 | € 1,289 | $ 1,358 |
| ActiveCampaign mailing list software 17 | € 398 | $ 419 |
| Outsourcing 18 | € 102 | $ 107 |
| Cheap Flight Checklist expenses 19 | € 68 | $ 72 |
| MacBook Pro 1-year warranty 20 | € 49 | $ 52 |
| Domain renewals | € 31 | $ 33 |
| PayPal fees | € 16 | $ 17 |
| TransferWise fees 21 | € 16 | $ 17 |
| AIB government stamp duty 22 | € 12 | $ 13 |
| Phone credit | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Virtual Post Mail 23 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Skype credit | € 9 | $ 10 |
| aText 24 | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Google Drive storage (100GB) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Amazon Web Services (more storage) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Gumroad fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 2,019 |
$ 2,128 |
| Last Month | € 1,882 | $ 2,029 |
Gifts & Donations
| Flowers 25 | € 20 | $ 21 |
| Booze for the Wolfhouse 26 | € 7 | $ 7 |
| Busker in Masca (Tenerife) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 29 |
$ 30 |
| Last Month | € 3 | $ 3 |
Books 27
| Snow Crash ** 28 | € 10 | $ 11 |
| The Stranger ***** 29 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Total | € 19 |
$ 20 |
| Last Month | € 40 | $ 43 |
Clothing
| Gloves 30 | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 2 |
$ 2 |
| Last Month | € 2 | $ 2 |
Miscellaneous Expenses
| Spanish lessons 31 | € 147 | $ 155 |
| Siam Park 32 | € 37 | $ 39 |
| Prague National Gallery 33 | € 22 | $ 23 |
| Czech Vodafone SIM 34 | € 19 | $ 20 |
| Lost bet 35 | € 15 | $ 16 |
| Prague Walking Tour 36 | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Netflix subscription | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Entry to Prague tower | € 8 | $ 8 |
| Head torch 37 | € 7 | $ 7 |
| Toiletries | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Public toilets | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 280 |
$ 295 |
| Last Month | € 283 | $ 305 |
Expense Summary
| Business Expenses | € 2,019 | $ 2,128 |
| Travel & Transport | € 725 | $ 764 |
| Food & Drink | € 406 | $ 428 |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | € 280 | $ 295 |
| Housing & Utilities | € 165 | $ 174 |
| Gifts & Donations | € 29 | $ 30 |
| Books | € 19 | $ 20 |
| Health Care | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Clothing | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,656 |
$ 3,853 |
| Last Month | € 3,496 | $ 3,768 |
I was aiming to keep my expenses under $2.5k for the month so I failed miserably there. I didn’t account for purchasing that new laptop, and traveling to Prague on a romantic whim wasn’t exactly cheap.
Biggest Regret?
Definitely my biggest regret is that $6k freelance video project that I’ve had to bail on. I regret taking it on in the first place and wasting so much of the client’s time and mine, and for ultimately disappointing them and leaving them reeling to find a replacement for me.
Where That Leaves Me
I had €9,582/$10,329 to my name at the end of January.
Taking into account all my February 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 €10,169/$10,716. 38
Outlook For March
Well I owe that client I bailed on a $3k refund, so that puts me $3k in the red right out of the gate :-/
Fortunately I don’t have any other big expenses looming. I’ll be traveling in Portugal and Spain for a couple of weeks mid-month, so there will be some cost involved there (accommodation, car rental, etc.), but that trip also means I won’t be paying rent in Gran Canaria for two weeks. All told, I should be able to keep all my other expenses under $2k for the month.
As for income, I’ve already got $1,300 on the books, and I’m hoping some things I’m working on for 3M1K will boost sales there later in the month. I’ll aim for at least $2.5k total.
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 as to how I track everything I earn and spend? Check this video…
