Below you’ll find all my finance details for January 2020.
I spent the entire month in Ubud, Bali.
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 | € 2,086 | $ 2,314 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,820 | $ 4,238 |
| Profit/Loss | € 1,734 | $ 1,924 |
🤑 Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 1,929 | $ 2,140 |
| Patreon 1 | € 138 | $ 153 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 19 | $ 21 |
| Total Income | € 2,086 |
$ 2,314 |
| Previous Month | € 2,500 | $ 2,801 |
I was expecting an additional $3000 in affiliate income, but one program is delaying payments and giving me the run-around. Not cool.
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in January came from…
Here’s a progress chart for affiliate income since starting eBiz Facts…
💸 Expenses
🍽 Food & Drink
| Eating out | € 311 | $ 345 |
| Groceries | € 165 | $ 183 |
| Total | € 475 |
$ 527 |
| Previous Month | € 625 | $ 700 |
🏡 Housing & Utilities
| 1 month at Ubud villa | € 383 | $ 425 |
| Total | € 383 |
$ 425 |
| Previous Month | € 392 | $ 439 |
💪 Health Care
| Medical tests 2 | € 50 | $ 56 |
| Doctor visit | € 40 | $ 44 |
| Medicine | € 39 | $ 43 |
| SafetyWing travel insurance 3 | € 33 | $ 37 |
| Spa (x3) | € 27 | $ 30 |
| Massages (x2) | € 12 | $ 14 |
| Total | € 202 |
$ 224 |
| Previous Month | € 192 | $ 215 |
🛫 Travel & Transport
| Flights: DPS to SIN to TXL to DUB | € 237 | $ 263 |
| Flight: VLC to SOF (x2) | € 156 | $ 173 |
| 1 month scooter rental in Ubud, Bali | € 87 | $ 96 |
| Flight: DUB to VLC | € 75 | $ 83 |
| Indonesia social visa (including agency fee) | € 53 | $ 59 |
| Scooter fuel | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Total | € 615 |
$ 682 |
| Previous Month | € 333 | $ 373 |
💻 Business Expenses
| Outsourcing 4 | € 733 | $ 813 |
| Accountant | € 406 | $ 450 |
| Coworking Bansko (3 months) | € 329 | $ 365 |
| Teamwork project management software 5 | € 119 | $ 132 |
| ExpressVPN (12 months) | € 90 | $ 100 |
| PayPal fees | € 65 | $ 72 |
| Amazon Affiliate WordPress plugin | € 39 | $ 43 |
| Learnomatic Udemy WordPress plugin | € 28 | $ 31 |
| Pigeon 6 | € 26 | $ 29 |
| Ahrefs subscription 7 | € 24 | $ 27 |
| Patreon fees 8 | € 18 | $ 20 |
| Phone credit | € 16 | $ 18 |
| Zoom 9 | € 13 | $ 15 |
| Kinsta web hosting 10 | € 12 | $ 14 |
| TransferWise fees | € 11 | $ 13 |
| YouTube Premium 11 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Udemy: 6 Figure Freelancer | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Udemy: Advanced Upwork Proposals | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Udemy: Complete Copywriting Course | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 12 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail 13 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Copycall 14 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 15 | € 4 | $ 5 |
| Upwork fees | € 1 | $ 2 |
| Printing and scanning | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Respondent fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Dreamhost web hosting 16 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Sendy 17 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 18 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 2,002 | $ 2,220 |
| Previous Month | € 768 | $ 860 |
🎁 Gifts & Donations
| Gifts for friends | € 28 | $ 31 |
| Flowers | € 13 | $ 14 |
| Effective Altruism Fund 19 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 20 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| SamHarris.org subscription 21 | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Patreon: The Blindboy Podcast 22 | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Patreon: Úna-Minh Kavanagh | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Total | € 64 |
$ 71 |
| Previous Month | € 103 | $ 115 |
📚 Books
| #GIRLBOSS 23 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| How to Be an Overnight Success | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Leaders Eat Last | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Profit First | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Tall Tales and Wee Stories | € 0 | $ 0 |
| The Daily Stoic | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Where the Forest Meets the Stars | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Year of Yes | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 8 | $ 9 |
- See all my book recommendations and what I’m currently reading over at Goodreads
👕 Clothing
| Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 83 | $ 93 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| Laundry | € 28 | $ 31 |
| Toiletries | € 14 | $ 16 |
| Netflix subscription | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Titi Batu day pass | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Monthly banking fee (Hong Kong bank) 24 | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Kitchen supplies | € 7 | $ 7 |
| Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 80 |
$ 88 |
| Previous Month | € 105 | $ 118 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Business Expenses | € 2,002 | $ 2,220 |
| Travel & Transport | € 615 | $ 682 |
| Food & Drink | € 475 | $ 527 |
| Housing & Utilities | € 383 | $ 425 |
| Health Care | € 202 | $ 224 |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | € 80 | $ 88 |
| Gifts & Donations | € 64 | $ 71 |
| Books | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Clothing | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,820 |
$ 4,238 |
| Previous Month | € 2,610 | $ 2,923 |
I was hoping to spend less than €3000 for the month. Way off.
😢 Biggest Regret?
No regrets.
I could have spent less by delaying some payments – eg. flights, Coworking Bansko, the accountant – but they would have had to be paid eventually any way. Getting them out of the way saved me a bit of money and stress in the long run.
Overall I felt my money was well spent in January.
📊 Where That Leaves Me
I had €11,697 / $13,102 to my name at the end of December.
Taking into account all my January 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 €9,330 / $10,349. 25
🔮 Outlook For February
If that one troublesome affiliate program finally pays me, I’d be looking at about $7,000 total income. If not, it’ll be more like $4,000.
As for expenses, they should be far lower than January except for one thing: I’m planning on buying a $1,500 course to review. I still reckon I have a shot at keeping everything below €3000 though.
📲 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.
