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Published: February 9, 2017

9 Comments Finance Reports

January 2017 Finance Report

Here be all my finances for January. I spent the entire month living in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

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 € 2,828
$ 3,048
Total Expenses € 3,496
$ 3,768
Profit/Loss € 668
$ 720

Income

30DBC 1 € 1,392 $ 1,500
Freelance web development 2 € 586 $ 632
3M1K 3 € 438 $ 472
Chase Sapphire Reserve credit 4 € 233 $ 251
Google Adsense payment 5 € 78 $ 84
Coaching / Consulting 6 € 74 $ 80
Book sales (via ebizfacts.com) 7 € 15 $ 16
Book sales (via Amazon) € 12 $ 13
Total Income € 2,828
$ 3,048
Last Month € 4,140 $ 4,355

I was aiming to pull in at least $2.5k in January and beat that easily enough.

Expenses

Food & Drink

Eating out € 136 $ 147
Groceries € 239 $ 258
8 Total
€ 375
$ 404
Last Month € 410 $ 431

Housing & Utilities

2 months coliving in Las Palmas 9 € 773 $ 833
Cleaner for Las Palmas apartment 10 € 40 $ 43
Total € 813
$ 876
Last Month € 236 $ 248

Health Care 11

Total € 0
$ 0
Last Month € 108 $ 114

Travel & Transport

Flights: Gran Canaria (LPA) to Tenerife (TFN) round-trip 12 € 84 $ 91
Taxis in Las Palmas € 8 $ 9
Rental car 13 € 4 $ 4
Buses in Gran Canaria € 2 $ 2
Total € 98
$ 106
Last Month € 196 $ 206

Business Expenses

Outsourcing 14 € 766 $ 826
2 months coworking a CoworkingC 15 € 300 $ 323
Teamwork project management software 16 € 240 $ 259
MemberMouse 17 € 199 $ 215
Consultation with US tax attorney 18 € 139 $ 150
UpdraftPlus Premium 19 € 88 $ 95
ActiveCampaign mailing list software € 45 $ 49
PayPal fees € 19 $ 20
Irish business credit card annual fee 20 € 19 $ 20
Domain registration: cheapflightchecklist.com 21 € 13 $ 14
Book: The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck 22 € 12 $ 13
TransferWise fees 23 € 11 $ 12
Phone credit € 10 $ 11
Virtual Post Mail 24 € 9 $ 10
CoworkingC Pitch Night 25 € 5 $ 5
Gumroad fees € 2 $ 2
Postage € 2 $ 2
Google Drive storage (100GB) € 2 $ 2
Amazon Web Services (more storage) € 1 $ 1
Total € 1,882
$ 2,029
Last Month € 814 $ 856

Gifts & Donations

Food for homeless dude outside supermarket € 3 $ 3
Total € 3
$ 3
Last Month € 81 $ 85

Books 26

Tools of Titans ***** € 15 $ 16
At Home *** € 12 $ 13
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World **** € 11 $ 12
El Principito 27 € 2 $ 2
Total € 40
$ 43
Last Month € 34 $ 36

Clothing

Shoelaces € 2 $ 2
Total € 2
$ 2
Last Month € 51 $ 54

Miscellaneous Expenses

Spanish lessons 28 € 127 $ 137
Ticket for CoworkingC carnival party 29 € 70 $ 75
California Sports Club 30 € 40 $ 43
Toiletries € 17 $ 18
Tinder Plus 31 € 14 $ 15
Netflix subscription € 10 $ 11
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) € 2 $ 2
Laundry detergent € 2 $ 2
Kitchen cleaning supplies € 1 $ 1
Total € 283
$ 305
Last Month € 215 $ 226

Expense Summary

Business Expenses € 1,882 $ 2,029
Housing & Utilities € 813 $ 876
Food & Drink € 375 $ 404
Miscellaneous Expenses € 283 $ 305
Travel & Transport € 98 $ 106
Books € 40 $ 43
Gifts & Donations € 3 $ 3
Clothing € 2 $ 2
Health Care € 0 $ 0
Total Expenses € 3,496
$ 3,768
Last Month € 2,145 $ 2,256

I was aiming to keep my expenses under $2.5k for the month so I failed miserably there. It was a conscious choice though to pay for a few things in advance in exchange for discounts, which saves me money in the long run. All of those advance payments added up to about $1k.

Biggest Regret?

The client project I bought UpdraftPlus Premium for feel through, so that was a waste of $95. Hopefully I can use it on other projects. Also forgot to cancel my Irish business credit card and got stung with the €19 annual fee.

Where That Leaves Me

I had €9,780/$10,288 to my name at the end of December.

Taking into account all my January 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 €9,582/$10,329. 32

Outlook For February

I’ll aim to keep expenses below $2.5k again, which should be doable. Income should be close to $4k from freelancing alone, so I’ll aim to $5k total.

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...

9 thoughts on “January 2017 Finance Report”

  1. Hi Niall. How you getting on? Just found your YT/website today. Have you thought about adding your Kindle books to createspace to sell paperback versions?

    And any luck on Tinder? haha

    Reply
    • I deleted Tinder a couple of weeks ago!

      And yeah, I’ve considered doing the createspace thing but really don’t think there’s much of a demand for paperback versions of my books. I think I’ve only been asked about that twice over the years.

      Reply
  2. Hey! It’s my first time in this page. I’m just wondering what motivates you to publish all your personal and business data to the public.

    I’m also a web developer and have similar expenses as you.

    Reply
    • Hey David. Publishing all this data keeps me honest and accountable. I can’t lie to myself or anyone else about how much I’m spending or how I’m spending it. And it also pushes me to try earn more. Can’t say that there’s any downside really, apart from the time it takes to put these reports together!

      Reply
  3. There is usually a grace period for getting your annual fee back if you cancel your credit card. Call and ask…the last time I didn’t it was 90 days

    Reply
  4. I didn’t see any income post for the cheapflight checklist. Did that start in Feb.
    As always fascinating to see how you manage to make it all work. Thanks

    Reply
    • Thanks, Nancy. Yeah, the payments haven’t come through for the Cheap Flight Checklist yet. You’ll see them in the next report 🙂

      Reply
    • Hey Markus. I have ads on my videos but that generates about $1 per 1000 views, so $1k for 1 million views. Most people making big money on YouTube aren’t doing it via the basic YouTube ads. More through sponsorships. And I don’t have nearly enough subscribers to land a sponsor yet.

      Reply

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