Here be all my finances for October, 2017.
I spent the entire month on the island of Gran Canaria, mostly in the capital city of Las Palmas.
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 | € 3,544 |
$ 4,124 |
Total Expenses | € 2,445 |
$ 2,845 |
Profit/Loss | € 1,099 |
$ 1,279 |
Income
3M1K 1 | € 1,571 | $ 1,828 |
Freelance web development 2 | € 1,185 | $ 1,379 |
Authority Hacker Pro affiliate payment 3 | € 514 | $ 598 |
Coaching / Consulting 4 | € 172 | $ 200 |
Waternet NL 5 | € 31 | $ 36 |
Book sales (via Amazon) 6 | € 20 | $ 23 |
Cheap Flight Checklist 7 | € 16 | $ 18 |
Bitcoin donation 8 | € 11 | $ 13 |
Patreon 9 | € 11 | $ 13 |
The Rabble-Rouser’s Guide To Travel 10 | € 9 | $ 10 |
Book sales (via ebizfacts.com) 11 | € 4 | $ 5 |
Total Income | € 3,544 |
$ 4,124 |
Last Month | € 2,089 | $ 2,469 |
Bounced back nicely from my lowest income month of the year.
I predicted no more than $3000 income in October, but 3M1K did pretty good, that unexpected affiliate payment came through, and the coaching gig fell into my lap.
Expenses
Food & Drink
Eating out | € 160 | $ 186 |
Groceries | € 251 | $ 292 |
12 Total |
€ 411 |
$ 478 |
Last Month | € 394 | $ 466 |
Housing & Utilities
5 Nights at Taghazout, Morocco apartment 13 | € 103 | $ 120 |
Cleaner 14 | € 35 | $ 41 |
Total | € 138 |
$ 161 |
Last Month | € 700 | $ 827 |
Health Care
IMG Global Health Insurance 15 |
€ 0 | $ 0 |
Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Travel & Transport
3-day car rental in Gran Canaria 16 | € 153 | $ 178 |
Flight: Cork (ORK) to London (STN) 17 | € 100 | $ 116 |
Flight: Las Palmas (LPA) to Cork (ORK) 18 | € 85 | $ 99 |
Fuel for Gran Canaria rental car | € 66 | $ 77 |
Flight: London (STN) to Las Palmas (LPA) 19 | € 65 | $ 76 |
Flight: Agadir (AGA) to El Aaiún (EUN) 20 | € 47 | $ 55 |
Flight: Las Palmas (LPA) to Barcelona (BCN) 21 | € 46 | $ 54 |
Flight: Barcelona (BCN) to Nice (NCE) 22 | € 46 | $ 54 |
Flight: El Aaiún (EUN) to Las Palmas (LPA) 23 | € 35 | $ 41 |
Train: Nice to Marseille 24 | € 34 | $ 40 |
Flight: Marseille (MRS) to Marrakesh (MRK) 25 | € 27 | $ 31 |
Parking for rental car in Gran Canaria | € 13 | $ 15 |
Taxis in Las Palmas | € 7 | $ 8 |
Total | € 724 |
$ 843 |
Last Month | € 944 | $ 1,116 |
Business Expenses
Outsourcing 26 | € 468 | $ 544 |
Mental Mastery 27 | € 255 | $ 297 |
PayPal fees 28 | € 65 | $ 76 |
3M1K affiliate payment 29 | € 42 | $ 49 |
Chatroll 30 | € 16 | $ 19 |
Phone credit 31 | € 12 | $ 13 |
Facebook ads 32 | € 10 | $ 12 |
Virtual Post Mail 33 | € 9 | $ 10 |
Buffer 34 | € 9 | $ 10 |
Gumroad fees | € 5 | $ 6 |
Amazon Web Services (storage) 35 | € 3 | $ 3 |
ActiveCampaign mailing list software36 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Dreamhost 37 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Elegant Themes subscription 38 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Google Drive storage (1TB) 39 | € 0 | $ 0 |
MemberMouse 40 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Teamwork project management software 41 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total | € 893 |
$ 1,039 |
Last Month | € 1,085 | $ 1,283 |
Gifts & Donations
Flowers 42 | € 21 | $ 24 |
Comedy benefit show for Puerto Rico 43 | € 10 | $ 12 |
Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 44 | € 5 | $ 6 |
Waking Up podcast donation 45 | € 4 | $ 5 |
Total | € 40 |
$ 47 |
Last Month | € 35 | $ 41 |
Books 46
Sapiens 47 **** | € 1 | $ 1 |
The Art of Fully Living 48 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Smart DIY Investor 49 | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total | € 1 |
$ 1 |
Last Month | € 11 | $ 13 |
Clothing
Navy dress shorts | € 35 | $ 41 |
Light blue dress shorts | € 25 | $ 29 |
Black sports shorts | € 22 | $ 26 |
Brown dress shorts | € 18 | $ 21 |
Light brown t-shirt | € 6 | $ 7 |
Green t-shirt | € 6 | $ 7 |
Total | € 112 |
$ 130 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Miscellaneous Expenses
Stock market loss (BTSC) 50 | € 66 | $ 77 |
Acroyoga class (x2) 51 | € 24 | $ 28 |
Toiletries | € 14 | $ 16 |
Netflix subscription | € 10 | $ 12 |
Electric mosquito repellent 52 | € 5 | $ 6 |
Grocery delivery | € 4 | $ 4 |
Patreon fees 53 | € 2 | $ 2 |
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 1 | $ 2 |
Total | € 126 |
$ 147 |
Last Month | € 50 | $ 59 |
Expense Summary
Business Expenses | € 893 | $ 1,039 |
Travel & Transport | € 724 | $ 843 |
Food & Drink | € 411 | $ 478 |
Housing & Utilities | € 138 | $ 161 |
Miscellaneous Expenses | € 126 | $ 147 |
Clothing | € 112 | $ 130 |
Gifts & Donations | € 40 | $ 47 |
Books | € 1 | $ 1 |
Health Care | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total Expenses | € 2,445 |
$ 2,845 |
Last Month | € 3,220 | $ 3,805 |
I was aiming to keep everything under €2000 for the month, so I was overly optimistic by €445. Buying that Mental Mastery course was the biggest unforseen expense.
Biggest Regret?
I paid €51 per day for a rental car in October, which was strange because in September I paid only about half that price for renting the same type of car from the same company.
The regret is that I didn’t question the guy at the front desk more about the increase. I was tired and there was a language barrier so I just said to hell with it and agreed to pay whatever. That lazy move cost me €75, and annoyed me for the rest of the day.
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 |
June | € 1,755 | $ 2,006 |
July | € 166 | $ 196 |
August | € 769 | $ 918 |
Sepetember | € 1,131 | $ 1,337 |
October | € 1,099 | $ 1,279 |
Total | € 691 | $ 935 |
Where That Leaves Me
I had €9,316/$11,007 to my name at the end of September.
Taking into account all my October 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 €10,719/$12,474. 54
Outlook For November
I have $800+ due from freelance projects, and beyond that, it’s an adventure,
As usual, I’m not sure what to expect with 3M1K. Could bring in $500, could bring in $5000. Hard to predict.
I’ll take a guess of $2500 for income and see what happens.
As for expenses, I have a bit of travel coming up (France and Morocco), and a rent payment for Gran Canaria. Other than that, nothing major expected.
I’ll aim to keep everything under €2000 again.
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.
Impressive bookkeeping. I wonder what income level would cause you to lose track or no longer find the process worthwhile? $5000/month, $10000/month?
Thanks for the comment, Chad.
I think I’ll always find it worthwhile to track, but perhaps not to publicly report everything. I could imagine if my audience was much bigger that there might be too much scrutiny and criticism. But we’ll see. It’ll be a good problem to have 🙂