Hola from Gran Canaria!
Here be all my finances for September.
I started off the month in Tenerife, had to take a quick trip home to Ireland for a funeral, and finished out the month in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
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 | € 2,089 |
$ 2,468 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,220 |
$ 3,805 |
| Profit/Loss | € 1,131 |
$ 1,337 |
Income
| 3M1K 1 | € 1,299 | $ 1535 |
| Cash gift 2 | € 500 | $ 591 |
| Coaching / Consulting 3 | € 208 | $ 246 |
| GoSub affiliate payment 4 | € 38 | $ 45 |
| Taxi service 5 | € 20 | $ 24 |
| Cheap Flight Checklist 6 | € 12 | $ 14 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) 7 | € 12 | $ 14 |
| Total Income | € 2,089 |
$ 2,468 |
| Last Month | € 3,287 | $ 3,921 |
That’s the lowest I’ve pulled in in a single month this year. I predicted no more than $2000 and the gifts helped push me over that mark.
One notable absence above is any payment for freelance work. I actually billed about $1,300 there at the end of the month but none of the payments came through before October hit.
Expenses
Food & Drink
| Eating out | € 157 | $ 186 |
| Groceries | € 237 | $ 280 |
| 8 Total |
€ 394 |
$ 466 |
| Last Month | € 374 | $ 446 |
Housing & Utilities
| 1 month at shared apartment in Las Palmas 9 | € 553 | $ 653 |
| 3 nights at apartment in Puerto de la Cruz 10 | € 147 | $ 174 |
| Total | € 700 |
$ 827 |
| Last Month | € 599 | $ 714 |
Health Care
| IMG Global Health Insurance 11 |
€ 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
| Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Travel & Transport
| Flights: Tenerife (TFN) to Lanzarote (ACE) round trip 12 | € 223 | $ 263 |
| Parking fine in Puerto de la Cruz 13 | € 199 | $ 235 |
| Flights: Lanzarote (ACE) to Cork (ORK) 14 | € 198 | $ 234 |
| Rental cars in Tenerife (12 days total) 15 | € 158 | $ 187 |
| Fuel for rental cars | € 76 | $ 90 |
| Cable car to the top of Mount Teide (2 tickets; round trip) | € 54 | $ 64 |
| 2-day car rental in Gran Canaria 16 | € 19 | $ 22 |
| Parking | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Bus: Puerto de la Cruz to Tenerife North Airport (TFN) | € 6 | $ 6 |
| Buses in Gran Canaria | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Total | € 944 |
$ 1,116 |
| Last Month | € 768 | $ 916 |
Business Expenses
| Outsourcing 17 | € 392 | $ 463 |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card annual fee 18 | € 381 | $ 450 |
| 1 month coworking in Las Palmas 19 | € 169 | $ 200 |
| PayPal fees 20 | € 46 | $ 54 |
| Hunter.io 21 | € 29 | $ 34 |
| BuzzStream 22 | € 20 | $ 24 |
| Virtual Post Mail 23 | € 17 | $ 20 |
| Phone credit 24 | € 12 | $ 14 |
| Buffer 25 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Currency exchange fees 26 | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 27 | € 2 | $ 3 |
| Gumroad fees | € 2 | $ 2 |
| ActiveCampaign mailing list software28 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Dreamhost 29 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Elegant Themes subscription 30 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 31 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| MemberMouse 32 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software 33 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 1,085 |
$ 1,283 |
| Last Month | € 593 | $ 707 |
Gifts & Donations
| Flowers 34 | € 26 | $ 31 |
| Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 35 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Waking Up podcast donation 36 | € 4 | $ 5 |
| Total | € 35 |
$ 41 |
| Last Month | € 120 | $ 143 |
Books 37
| Pre-Suasion 38 **** | € 11 | $ 13 |
| A Book Of Bees 39 **** | € 0 | $ 0 |
| DotCom Secrets 40 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| The Late Show 41 **** | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Waking Up 42 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 11 |
$ 13 |
| Last Month | € 7 | $ 8 |
Clothing
| Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
| Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Miscellaneous Expenses
| Beach towel | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Netflix subscription | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Toiletries | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Beach lounger rental at Las Teresitas in Tenerife | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Quarterly banking fee (Irish bank) | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Siam Park locker rental | € 3 | $ 4 |
| 3 tennis balls 43 | € 2 | $ 3 |
| Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 1 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 50 |
$ 59 |
| Last Month | € 57 | $ 68 |
Expense Summary
| Business Expenses | € 1,085 | $ 1,283 |
| Travel & Transport | € 944 | $ 1,116 |
| Housing & Utilities | € 700 | $ 827 |
| Food & Drink | € 394 | $ 466 |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | € 50 | $ 59 |
| Gifts & Donations | € 35 | $ 41 |
| Books | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Clothing | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Health Care | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,220 |
$ 3,805 |
| Last Month | € 2,518 | $ 3,003 |
I predicted €2000 for September expenses so I was way off. I forgot that the annual fee for my credit card was coming up, and I unexpectedly had to fly back to Ireland and pay that €200 parking fine.
Biggest Regret?
My only regret was the €200 parking fine. That sucked.
It was 10pm on a Friday night and I was driving around Puerto de la Cruz for twenty minutes trying to find a space. In the end I decided to park on a big wide footpath outside our apartment. When I got up the next morning at 7:45am to move the car, it was gone. Apparently someone had reported it parked illegally and it got towed.
€120 to rent the car for 11 days. €200 for leaving it parked illegally overnight :-/
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 |
| September | € 1,131 | $ 1,337 |
| Total | € 408 | $ 344 |
Where That Leaves Me
I had €10,308/$12,295 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 €9,316/$11,007. 44
Outlook For October
I have about $1,300 due from freelance projects, so that will help the income side of things. As usual though, I’m not sure what to expect with 3M1K. Could bring in $500 from that, or $5000. Hard to predict.
I’ll estimate $2000 income on the low-end and $3000 on the high.
As for expenses, I don’t have any travel planned for October, so that will help keep it low. I will have to pay to extend my stay in Las Palmas and I might arrange a trip to Moscow for November, but no other major expenses expected.
I’ll try keep everything under €2000 and see how it goes.
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.
