Below you’ll find all my finance details for September 2019.
I spent the whole month in Bali, 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 | € 333 | $ 364 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,273 | $ 3,579 |
| Profit/Loss | € 2,940 | $ 3,215 |
🤑 Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 176 | $ 192 |
| Patreon 1 | € 126 | $ 138 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 31 | $ 34 |
| Total Income | € 333 |
$ 364 |
| Previous Month | € 2,411 | $ 2,650 |
It was a rough month for income, way down from August.
Two main reasons for that:
- A $750 affiliate commission I was paid for in August got refunded, and the $750 deducted from my September earnings.2
- I wasn’t paid another ~$500 in affiliate earnings that was due.3
It wouldn’t have been a great month without those issues, but with them it was fairly awful.
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in September came from…
| Affiliate | Related Content |
|---|---|
| Amazon | Miscellaneous |
| Respondent | Respondent Review |
| SafetyWing | Digital Nomad Travel Insurance |
| Survey Junkie | Survey Junkie review |
| Worldpackers | Travel Hacker’s Toolkit |
Here’s a progress chart for affiliate income since starting eBiz Facts…
💸 Expenses
🍽 Food & Drink
| Eating out | € 266 | $ 291 |
| Groceries | € 196 | $ 214 |
| Total | € 462 |
$ 505 |
| Previous Month | € 485 | $ 533 |
🏡 Housing & Utilities
| 1 month at Ubud villa | € 372 | $ 406 |
| 1 week at Chiang Mai condo 4 | € 80 | $ 88 |
| Total | € 452 |
$ 494 |
| Previous Month | € 402 | $ 442 |
💪 Health Care
| SafetyWing travel insurance 5 | € 34 | $ 37 |
| 1-hour massage (x3) | € 19 | $ 21 |
| Total | € 53 |
$ 58 |
| Previous Month | € 140 | $ 154 |
🛫 Travel & Transport
| Indonesia social visa extension | € 51 | $ 56 |
| 1 month scooter rental in Ubud, Bali | € 89 | $ 97 |
| Bali taxi | € 19 | $ 21 |
| Scooter fuel | € 6 | $ 6 |
| Total | € 165 |
$ 180 |
| Previous Month | € 360 | $ 396 |
💻 Business Expenses
| Kinsta hosting 6 | € 549 | $ 600 |
| Outsourcing 7 | € 473 | $ 517 |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card annual fee 8 | € 412 | $ 450 |
| Project 24 9 | € 411 | $ 449 |
| Dreamhost domain renewals | € 44 | $ 48 |
| Pigeon 10 | € 26 | $ 29 |
| Ahrefs subscription 11 | € 18 | $ 20 |
| Patreon fees 12 | € 17 | $ 19 |
| Zoom 13 | € 14 | $ 15 |
| YouTube Premium 14 | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 15 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail 16 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| TransferWise fees | € 7 | $ 7 |
| Copycall 17 | € 6 | $ 7 |
| PayPal fees | € 6 | $ 7 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 18 | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Respondent fees | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Upwork fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Dreamhost web hosting 19 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Sendy 20 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 21 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software 22 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 2,021 | $ 2,210 |
| Previous Month | € 727 | $ 799 |
🎁 Gifts & Donations
| Effective Altruism Fund 23 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Flowers | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 24 | € 5 | $ 5 |
| SamHarris.org subscription 25 | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Patreon: The Blindboy Podcast 26 | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Patreon: Úna-Minh Kavanagh | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Total | € 28 |
$ 31 |
| Previous Month | € 64 | $ 71 |
📚 Books 27
| All Marketers Are Liars | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Total | € 5 |
$ 6 |
| Previous Month | € 10 | $ 11 |
👕 Clothing
| Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| Laundry | € 24 | $ 27 |
| Entry to waterfalls in Bali | € 14 | $ 15 |
| Amazon movie rentals (x4) | € 12 | $ 13 |
| Netflix subscription | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Toiletries | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Monthly banking fee (Hong Kong bank) 28 | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Mosquito repellant | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Kitchen supplies | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 87 |
$ 95 |
| Previous Month | € 59 | $ 65 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Business Expenses | € 2,021 | $ 2,210 |
| Food & Drink | € 462 | $ 505 |
| Housing & Utilities | € 452 | $ 494 |
| Travel & Transport | € 165 | $ 180 |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | € 87 | $ 95 |
| Health Care | € 53 | $ 58 |
| Gifts & Donations | € 28 | $ 31 |
| Books | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Clothing | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,273 |
$ 3,579 |
| Previous Month | € 2,238 | $ 2,460 |
I was expecting to spend at least $3,000 for the month, without anticipating the Kinsta expense. Worked out about right.
😢 Biggest Regret?
It’s still early days but the Kinsta hosting hasn’t improved my site speed as much as expected.
I took a few days to make a bunch of other speed improvements and figured I’d see a big difference with everything combined. So far, I haven’t.
🗓 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 |
| June | € 1,906 | $ 2,163 |
| July | € 45 | $ 50 |
| August | € 173 | $ 190 |
| September | € 2,940 | $ 3,215 |
| Total | € 3,851 | $ 4,255 |
📊 Where That Leaves Me
I had €14,210 / $15,617 to my name at the end of August.
Taking into account all my September 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 €11,490 / $12,563. 29
🔮 Outlook For October
Definitely better than September!
Though I doubt I’ll end up in the green.
Affiliate income should be back over $1000 again, assuming due payments come through. Might get close to $2,000 if all the chips fall nicely.
Expenses should be $2,000 or less. I may end up buying another affiliate marketing course or two, but the ones I have in mind aren’t all that pricey
📲 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.
