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Published: January 3, 2017

7 Comments Finance Reports

December 2016 Finance Report

Here be all my finances for December. I started the month in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, moved to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on the 4th, and spent a week back home in Ireland over Christmas.

First time seeing one of these finance reports? Click here for a quick intro.

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 € 4,140
$ 4,355
Total Expenses € 2,145
$ 2,256
Profit/Loss € 1,995
$ 2,099

Income

Freelance web development 1 € 1,926 $ 2,026
3M1K 2 € 1,203 $ 1,266
Wandering Earl Myanmar Tour refund 3 € 737 $ 775
Coaching 4 € 152 $ 160
Christmas cash gift € 50 $ 53
Coworking In The Sun coliving deposit refund 5 € 50 $ 53
Book sales (via Amazon) € 22 $ 23
Total Income € 4,140
$ 4,355
Last Month € 2,093 $ 2,223

I was aiming to pull in at least $2.5k in December and beat that easily, even without counting the gifts and refund

Expenses

Food & Drink

Eating out € 186 $ 196
Groceries € 224 $ 236
6 Total
€ 410
$ 431
Last Month € 335 $ 356

Housing & Utilities

11 days apartment sublet in Puerto de la Cruz 7 € 216 $ 227
Cleaner for Las Palmas apartment 8 € 20 $ 21
Total € 236
$ 248
Last Month € 677 $ 719

Health Care

~13 weeks of World Nomads Travel Insurance 9 € 108 $ 114
Total € 108
$ 114
Last Month € 101 $ 107

Travel & Transport

Bicycle 10 € 99 $ 104
Bicycle lock 11 € 30 $ 32
Taxis in Las Palmas € 17 $ 18
Taxis in Puerto de la Cruz € 16 $ 17
Bus: Cork to Waterford € 15 $ 16
Buses in Gran Canaria € 7 $ 7
Bus: Cork Airport to Cork City € 6 $ 6
Skateboard 12 € 6 $ 6
Total € 196
$ 206
Last Month € 223 $ 237

Business Expenses

Outsourcing 13 € 433 $ 456
Amazon Gift Card 14 € 95 $ 100
Amazon Gift Card 15 € 48 $ 50
ActiveCampaign mailing list software € 43 $ 45
TransferWise fees 16 € 40 $ 42
Domain renewals € 31 $ 33
Captains’ Hats 17 € 29 $ 31
PayPal fees € 28 $ 29
Teamwork project management software 18 € 23 $ 24
MemberMouse 19 € 19 $ 20
Phone credit € 10 $ 11
Virtual Post Mail 20 € 9 $ 10
Notecards 21 € 3 $ 3
Google Drive storage (100GB) € 2 $ 2
Amazon Web Services (more storage) € 1 $ 1
Total € 814
$ 856
Last Month € 835 $ 887

Gifts & Donations

Christmas gifts for friends and family 22 € 44 $ 46
Donation for baby Alexandra 23 € 30 $ 32
Donation to 22 Stars 24 € 5 $ 5
Scouts donation at SuperValu 25 € 2 $ 2
Total € 81
$ 85
Last Month € 0 $ 0

Books 26

Confessions Of The Pricing Man **** € 13 $ 14
All The Light We Cannot See **** € 13 $ 14
A Walk In The Woods **** € 8 $ 8
Total € 34
$ 36
Last Month € 15 $ 16

Clothing

Checked shirt € 20 $ 21
White shirt € 18 $ 19
Wine sweater € 7 $ 7
V-neck t-shirts (x3) € 6 $ 6
Total € 51
$ 54
Last Month € 0 $ 0

Miscellaneous Expenses

Spanish lessons 27 € 89 $ 94
California Sports Club 28 € 55 $ 58
Sunscreen € 23 $ 24
Surfboard and wetsuit rental (x2) € 20 $ 21
Netflix subscription € 10 $ 11
Toiletries € 6 $ 6
Quarterly banking fee (Irish bank) € 6 $ 6
Postage € 4 $ 4
Hex key 29 € 1 $ 1
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) € 1 $ 1
Total € 215
$ 226
Last Month € 133 $ 141

Expense Summary

Business Expenses € 814 $ 856
Food & Drink € 410 $ 431
Housing & Utilities € 236 $ 248
Miscellaneous Expenses € 215 $ 226
Travel & Transport € 196 $ 206
Health Care € 108 $ 114
Gifts & Donations € 81 $ 85
Clothing € 51 $ 54
Books € 34 $ 36
Total Expenses € 2,145
$ 2,256
Last Month € 2,319 $ 2,463

I was aiming to keep my expenses under $2.5k for the month so pretty happy with how things shook out 🙂

Biggest Regret?

I needn’t have bought a bike here in Las Palmas, as there’s one sitting unused at CoworkingC that I found out later I could have used for free.

Oh well.

One big expense I saved myself were round-trip flights from to Taiwan from Amsterdam (leaving end of March, returning end of May) which I booked at the end of the month. Those flights cost $628, but thanks to the sign-up bonus on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I got them for free 🙂

Where That Leaves Me

I had €7,336/$7,792 to my name at the end of November.

Taking into account all my December 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 €9,780/$10,288. 30

Outlook For January

I’ll aim to keep expenses below $2.5k again, which should be doable. Income is harder to predict, especially 3M1K. But sure I’ll aim to beat $2.5k and see how it goes.

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.

Curious as to how I track everything I earn and spend? Check this video…

About The Author
Niall Doherty – Founder and Lead Editor of eBiz Facts Born and raised in Ireland, Niall has been making a living from his laptop since quitting his office job in 2010. He's fond of basketball, once spent 44 months traveling around the world without flying, and has been featured in such publications as The Irish Times and Huffington Post. Read more...

7 thoughts on “December 2016 Finance Report”

  1. I’m living in Ireland (where you from) and would like to try the same way of life as you do.
    How did you sort out legal questions like opening company, paying taxes?
    If you paying taxes then what percentage (on average) of your income?

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Hey Paul,

      Short answer: it’s complicated!

      The most basic form of company in Ireland is Sole Trader, but you actually need to stay in Ireland and be a permanent resident for that. You could get away with just having a mailing address, but technically you’d be breaking the law.

      I had an Private Limited Company for a year but that proved overly complex and expensive. I had to pay an accountant in Ireland to be a director of the company as one director has to be a permanent resident in the EU. And then there’s all the hassle of VAT and such.

      Now I have a US LLC, but the jury’s still out on whether that’s a long-term solution. I’m still not 100% sure how it will work tax wise.

      Here’s a FB group where you may be able to get some better answers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/205470759903160/

      Reply
  2. I enjoyed “A walk in the woods” because it was just an average age guy doing something different. It’s easy to dismiss the blogging or traveling like a nomad as a young persons game, but the book shows you can do anything at any age. The movie was pretty funny because of Nick Nolte as his bumbling climbing partner. Totally fun!

    Reply
  3. How can you directly substract total income from total expenses (some of which are biz expenses?) Do you run it all as “personal” and no separate biz accounts?

    Reply
    • I do have separate accounts but since I’m essentially a one-man business I like to keep it simple in the reports and have one total figure for income and another for expenses.

      Reply
  4. Any plans to publish a travel hacking guide (cheap flights, hotels, bonuses)? You’re the man to do it. I’d pony up a few bucks for a book…

    Reply

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