Tere! 1
Here be all my finances for May.
I spent the first 11 days out of the month living in Moscow, then took a trip to Crimea for 8 days, back to Moscow for 6 days, and I finished out the month in Tallinn in Estonia.
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 | € 3,501 |
$ 3,934 |
Total Expenses | € 3,511 |
$ 3,945 |
Profit/Loss | € 10 |
$ 11 |
Income
3M1K 2 | € 1,881 | $ 2,114 |
Freelance web development 3 | € 1,366 | $ 1,535 |
Elegant Themes affiliate payment 4 | € 75 | $ 84 |
Google Adsense payment 5 | € 72 | $ 81 |
Cheap Flight Checklist 6 | € 52 | $ 58 |
Book sales (via Amazon) 7 | € 43 | $ 48 |
Book sales (ebizfacts.com) 8 | € 12 | $ 13 |
Total Income | € 3,501 |
$ 3,934 |
Last Month | € 3,303 | $ 3,597 |
I was aiming to pull in $3k in May so pretty happy with how it shook out.
Expenses
Food & Drink
Eating out | € 253 | $ 284 |
Groceries | € 188 | $ 211 |
9 Total |
€ 441 |
$ 496 |
Last Month | € 372 | $ 405 |
Housing & Utilities
5 nights at Fili studio, Moscow 10 | € 251 | $ 282 |
15 nights at Tallinn shared apartment 11 | € 319 | $ 358 |
3 nights at Apartment ZHK Morskoy, Crimea 12 | € 64 | $ 72 |
1 night at Shaliapin House, Crimea 13 | € 32 | $ 36 |
Total | € 666 |
$ 748 |
Last Month | € 849 | $ 925 |
Health Care
12 months IMG Global Health Insurance 14 |
€ 1,165 | $ 1,309 |
Medicine 15 | € 2 | $ 2 |
Total | € 1,167 |
$ 1,311 |
Last Month | € 52 | $ 57 |
Travel & Transport
Rental car: 8 days in Crimea 16 | € 255 | $ 287 |
30-day Russian tourist visa (including agency fee) 17 | € 122 | $ 137 |
Fuel for rental car | € 53 | $ 60 |
Cable car to Ai-Petri in Crimea 18 | € 11 | $ 12 |
Metro in Moscow 19 | € 9 | $ 10 |
Train: Moscow city center to Moscow airport (SVO) | € 8 | $ 9 |
Train: Moscow city center to Moscow airport (DME) | € 8 | $ 9 |
Train: Moscow airport (DME) to Moscow city center | € 8 | $ 9 |
Passport photos for Russian visa | € 7 | $ 8 |
Parking in Crimea | € 6 | $ 7 |
Flights: Moscow (DME) to Crimea (SIP) round trip 20 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Flight: Moscow (SVO) to Tallinn (TLL) 21 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total | € 487 |
$ 547 |
Last Month | € 276 | $ 301 |
Business Expenses
Annual US LLC renewal 22 | € 223 | $ 250 |
PayPal fees 23 | € 84 | $ 94 |
3M1K refund 24 | € 65 | $ 73 |
3M1K affiliate payment 25 | € 44 | $ 49 |
Bluetooth headphones 26 | € 29 | $ 33 |
Proposal samples for 3M1K 27 | € 18 | $ 20 |
Virtual Post Mail 28 | € 9 | $ 10 |
Sven headphones 29 | € 8 | $ 9 |
Gumroad fees | € 8 | $ 9 |
Currency exchange fees 30 | € 6 | $ 7 |
Crimea SIM card | € 5 | $ 6 |
Phone credit | € 5 | $ 5 |
Cheap earbuds 31 | € 2 | $ 2 |
Google Drive storage (100GB) | € 2 | $ 2 |
Amazon Web Services (more storage) | € 1 | $ 1 |
Dreamhost web hosting 32 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total | € 508 |
$ 571 |
Last Month | € 549 | $ 598 |
Gifts & Donations
Treating friends to dinner | € 28 | $ 31 |
Flowers 33 | € 6 | $ 7 |
Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 34 | € 5 | $ 6 |
Total | € 39 |
$ 44 |
Last Month | € 57 | $ 62 |
Books 35
Extreme Ownership ***** | € 12 | $ 13 |
Ego Is The Enemy 36 | € 10 | $ 11 |
The Miracle Morning **** | € 9 | $ 10 |
Elon Musk ***** | € 7 | $ 9 |
Wait But Why Year One 37 | € 4 | $ 4 |
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly 38 ***** | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total | € 42 |
$ 47 |
Last Month | € 26 | $ 28 |
Clothing
Timberland Chukka sneakers (grey) | € 70 | $ 79 |
Sunglasses 39 | € 12 | $ 13 |
Total | € 82 |
$ 92 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Miscellaneous Expenses
Kara Dag park entry and tour in Crimea 40 | € 20 | $ 22 |
Toiletries | € 18 | $ 20 |
Netflix subscription | € 10 | $ 11 |
Ai-Petri bridge crossing in Crimea 41 | € 8 | $ 9 |
Sudak fortress entry (x2) | € 5 | $ 6 |
Tallinn free walking tour 42 | € 5 | $ 6 |
Sunscreen | € 4 | $ 4 |
Irish banking fee | € 2 | $ 2 |
Currency exchange fee in Crimea | € 2 | $ 2 |
Air hockey in Crimea 43 | € 2 | $ 2 |
Laundry detergent | € 1 | $ 1 |
Public toilets | € 1 | $ 1 |
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 79 |
$ 89 |
Last Month | € 99 | $ 108 |
Expense Summary
Health Care | € 1,167 | $ 1,311 |
Housing & Utilities | € 666 | $ 748 |
Business Expenses | € 508 | $ 571 |
Travel & Transport | € 487 | $ 547 |
Food & Drink | € 441 | $ 496 |
Clothing | € 82 | $ 92 |
Miscellaneous Expenses | € 79 | $ 89 |
Books | € 42 | $ 47 |
Gifts & Donations | € 39 | $ 44 |
Total Expenses | € 3,511 |
$ 3,945 |
Last Month | € 2,280 | $ 2,483 |
I was aiming to keep my expenses under $2.5k for the month so… yeah, missed that mark by quite a bit. At the beginning of the month I didn’t have any intention of buying a big new insurance policy, so that made a big difference.
Biggest Regret?
Losing my earbuds and sunglasses in Crimea ended up costing me $56, so that felt a bit wasteful. Other than that, can’t say I have any regrets from all the above.
Year To Date
Here’s how I’m doing so far 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 |
Total | € 1,635 | $ 1,735 |
Where That Leaves Me
I had €8,254/$9,007 to my name at the end of April.
Taking into account all my May 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 €8,314/$9,342. 44
Outlook For June
Welcome to the part of the program where I try to predict how much money I’ll earn and spend next month, and inevitably get it very wrong.
Last month I predicted $3,000 income and $2,500 expenses, and ended up with almost $4,000 for both.
Way off.
With that in mind, I went back through my last fifteen finance reports and calculated how much my predictions are usually off by.
The result: On average I underestimate income by 10% and expenses by 21%.
For June I’m thinking $3,000 for income and $2,500 for expenses, so I’ll probably end up at $3,300 and $3,025 respectively.
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.
Glad to see you got yourself some health insurance Niall. It is important to get while you’re young and healthy, and you are a role model to many. Nobody ever knows if they’ll need it, but reality is, the older you get the more likely you’ll need it one day.
Will you be able to draw a pension in Ireland doing this sort of work?
Nope. I’m not paying any social security in Ireland, so not entitled to a pension as far as I know. With that in mind, I’ve started saving and investing a lot more seriously in the past year.
Amazing how you knew that we’d all be asking how you track your finances!! I’m very impressed with your web page/blog. Your very well organized.
As far as using the app Money Wiz 2, I’m not comfortable with an app tracking my expenses. I have tried to write down where my money disappears to but, I’m sure like most I forget half the time.
Great job. Always look forward to your posts!!
Joanne
Niall, you seem to give a lot of books five stars. Is it a case of rating inflation, where five is the new three, or does your initial decision process just result in better picks, thus avoiding the stinkers altogether? And if the latter, what’s your picking process?
Books are a huge time investment, IMO, and I’ve had the sense for a few years that most 150-300 page modern books can (i.e. should) be distilled to a few actionable pages, tops, like executive summaries do for us. Thoughts?
Loving your stuff and hope the health insurance change is not indicative of anything serious,
Hey Scott,
I only give 5 stars if a book really blows me away. I’ll give 4 sometimes even if I didn’t get a lot out of a book but can see a lot of value in it for other people. The Miracle Morning was like that last month. I was already doing most of the recommendations in there, but I can see how it would be helpful to a lot of people so I gave it 4 stars.
I think I have gotten better at picking good books. That’s easy enough to do now, just by average ratings on Amazon, and through recommendations from friends and bloggers/podcasters who have recommended stuff I liked in the past. I’m also quick to abandon a book if I’m not getting much out of it, or else just skim through it fast and move on.
A lot of books can be distilled down, sure, but by skimming you can get through those bloated books quickly and come away with the main points. You can also search for podcast or YouTube interviews with the author and you’ll often get the main points that way in a lot less time.
And nothing to worry about with the insurance stuff. Wouldn’t help me with an existing condition anyway, which thankfully I don’t have!
Skimming and quitting are definitely underrated reading skills. I’m glad you utilize both.
I sometimes think back to all the books I’ve read, consider how much I remember from them, and it’s embarrassing. I now make sure to type out salient points in my categorized notes as reminders. Given how meticulous you are with your finances, do you keep track of important book lessons, too? Derek Sivers-style perhaps?