Below you’ll find all my finance details for May 2019.
I spent the entire month in Bali, Indonesia, mostly in Ubud.
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 | € 2,559 | $ 2,931 |
Total Expenses | € 2,388 | $ 2,735 |
Profit/Loss | € 171 | $ 196 |
Income
Affiliate income (see below) | € 1,345 | $ 1,540 |
Consulting / Project Management 1 | € 1,005 | $ 1,151 |
Patreon 2 | € 113 | $ 130 |
Freedom Business Builder 3 | € 69 | $ 79 |
Book sales (via Amazon) | € 27 | $ 31 |
Total Income | € 2,559 |
$ 2,931 |
Previous Month | € 2,907 | $ 3,261 |
I was aiming to pull in €2,000 in May, so did a bit better than expected. Some of the affiliate income I received were overdue from the previous month.
Affiliate payments came from:
- The Authority Site System
- Earn More Writing
- Private Internet Access
- Respondent
- SafetyWing
- Tai Lopez
- Udemy
Expenses
Food & Drink
Eating out | € 383 | $ 439 |
Groceries | € 212 | $ 243 |
Total | € 595 |
$ 682 |
Previous Month | € 497 | $ 557 |
Housing & Utilities
6 weeks at Ubud villa | € 513 | $ 588 |
1 night at Kuta hotel | € 6 | $ 7 |
Total | € 519 |
$ 594 |
Previous Month | € 308 | $ 345 |
Health Care
Gym membership in Ubud (6 months) | € 171 | $ 196 |
Ubud Health Center 4 | € 160 | $ 183 |
1-hour massage (x5) | € 34 | $ 39 |
SafetyWing travel insurance 5 | € 33 | $ 38 |
Foot medication | € 27 | $ 31 |
Doctor visit | € 25 | $ 29 |
Teeth cleaning | € 22 | $ 25 |
Strepsils | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 473 |
$ 541 |
Previous Month | € 48 | $ 54 |
Travel & Transport
1 month scooter rental in Ubud, Bali | € 93 | $ 107 |
Indonesia visa extension | € 49 | $ 57 |
Scooter fuel | € 6 | $ 7 |
Total | € 149 |
$ 171 |
Previous Month | € 265 | $ 298 |
Business Expenses
Outsourcing 6 | € 273 | $ 312 |
SmarterQueue 7 | € 18 | $ 21 |
Ahrefs subscription 8 | € 17 | $ 20 |
MemberMouse 9 | € 17 | $ 20 |
Phone credit | € 17 | $ 19 |
Patreon fees 10 | € 15 | $ 17 |
Dreamhost domain renewal | € 11 | $ 13 |
PayPal fees | € 11 | $ 12 |
YouTube Premium 11 | € 10 | $ 12 |
Google Drive storage (1TB) 12 | € 9 | $ 10 |
Skype credit | € 9 | $ 10 |
Virtual Post Mail 13 | € 9 | $ 10 |
Respondent fees | € 3 | $ 4 |
Amazon Web Services (storage) 14 | € 3 | $ 3 |
Upwork fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
Dreamhost web hosting 15 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Teamwork project management software 16 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total | € 424 | $ 485 |
Previous Month | € 1,186 | $ 1,331 |
Gifts & Donations
Effective Altruism Fund 17 | € 9 | $ 10 |
Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 18 | € 5 | $ 6 |
SamHarris.org subscription 19 | € 4 | $ 4 |
Patreon: The Blindboy Podcast 20 | € 3 | $ 3 |
Patreon: Úna-Minh Kavanagh | € 3 | $ 3 |
Flowers | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 24 |
$ 28 |
Previous Month | € 65 | $ 73 |
Books 21
Moneyball **** | € 5 | $ 6 |
The Soul of a Butterfly 22 | € 3 | $ 3 |
Total | € 8 |
$ 9 |
Previous Month | € 28 | $ 31 |
Clothing
Quicksilver shorts | € 43 | $ 49 |
Underwear (6 pairs) | € 37 | $ 42 |
Socks (7 pairs) | € 11 | $ 13 |
Rain poncho (x2) | € 6 | $ 6 |
Total | € 97 |
$ 111 |
Previous Month | € 10 | $ 11 |
Miscellaneous Expenses
Household items | € 14 | $ 16 |
Anjuna Deep Open Air: Bali! | € 13 | $ 15 |
Toiletries | € 13 | $ 15 |
Laundry | € 11 | $ 13 |
Netflix subscription | € 11 | $ 13 |
Standing fan | € 9 | $ 11 |
Monthly banking fee (Hong Kong bank) 23 | € 8 | $ 9 |
Kitchen cleaning stuff | € 5 | $ 6 |
Ubud Monkey Forest entry | € 5 | $ 6 |
NBA League Pass (1 week) | € 4 | $ 5 |
Mosquito repellent | € 3 | $ 3 |
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 2 | $ 2 |
Rice fields “donation” | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 99 |
$ 114 |
Previous Month | € 260 | $ 291 |
Expense Summary
Food & Drink | € 595 | $ 682 |
Housing & Utilities | € 519 | $ 594 |
Health Care | € 473 | $ 541 |
Business Expenses | € 424 | $ 485 |
Travel & Transport | € 149 | $ 171 |
Miscellaneous Expenses | € 99 | $ 114 |
Clothing | € 97 | $ 111 |
Gifts & Donations | € 24 | $ 28 |
Books | € 8 | $ 9 |
Total Expenses | € 2,388 |
$ 2,735 |
Previous Month | € 2,667 | $ 2,991 |
I was aiming to keep everything under €2,000 for the month. Went a little overboard, mainly due to health care expenses.
Biggest Regret?
None for May.
2019 So Far
Here’s how I’m doing this year in terms of profit and loss:
January | € 653 | $ 747 |
February | € 529 | $ 601 |
March | € 242 | $ 272 |
April | € 240 | $ 269 |
May | € 171 | $ 196 |
Total | € 777 | $ 883 |
Where That Leaves Me
I had €15,918 / $17,856 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 €15,140 / $17,339. 24
Outlook For June
My freelance income will be almost non-existent. Work with my main client is fading out (as planned), and I’ve turned down some other freelance work so I can focus on building up my affiliate income. Speaking of which, I should be able to pull in at least $1,000 again as an affiliate. Other than that I won’t be earning much.
My expenses are quite low in Bali, but I’ll need to book a trip for a visa run in July, probably to Kuala Lumpur, so that will cost a bit. If I can keep my expenses down around €2,000 I’ll be doing well.
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.
Great! I’m glad to see that you increased your affiliate income! 🙂
Dude. How did you get your Ahrefs subscription that cheap is n a monthly basis? Message me the deets if possible.
I split the cost with some friends. We all use it, but not enough to justify having a separate account each.
Ah I hate the monthly fee charged by the banks. Over here in Singapore, some banks impose a “fall below” fee. If your account balance falls below a certain amount (normally S$1,000), then the bank would charge you S$2 for that month. Quite ironic I think. They make you poorer when you are in fact, poor, which is the reason you can’t maintain your account balance in the first place.
Cool! What about making a visa run to Penang? 😉 I will be moving there at the end of July.
For your affiliate income, I believe this is what they truly credited to your bank account after the refund period (if any)?
I’d love to visit Penang but will probably just do KL for the next visa run since it’s easier. The less travel the better for me this year!
Not sure what you mean about the affiliate income. There is usually a holding period for refunds, but that wasn’t the cause of the delay last month.