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.
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…
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.
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/
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!
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?
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.
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…
In the works!