Well hello there o’ legendary email subscriber. This is my March finance report, prepared and delivered to you from the fine city of Amsterdam.
As usual, I’ll share with you all the details of my finances below, along with a few notes that I think you’ll find interesting.
Diving in…
March Expenses
Food & Drink
Eating out | € 179 | $ 204 |
Groceries | € 140 | $ 159 |
Total | € 319 |
$ 363 |
Last Month | € 308 | $ 334 |
Still coming in well under my monthly target of €400. I rarely dine in restaurants, instead eating the majority of my meals at home. Most of my “eating out” expenses are coffees and drinks with friends.
Housing & Utilities
1 month’s rent for Amsterdam apartment | € 1,160 | $ 1,320 |
Total | € 1,160 |
$ 1,320 |
Last Month | € 1,160 | $ 1,258 |
Yup, I could save quite a bit on rent by sharing an apartment, but I’m happy to pay a premium for my own place in a central location.
Taxes
City sanitation tax | € 235 | $ 267 |
Total | € 235 |
$ 267 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
These are the kind of hidden costs that sneak up on you when you live long-term in a place like Amsterdam. Ah well. €0.64 per day to live in a clean city. Fair trade.
Health Care
Health insurance (monthly payment) | € 101 | $ 115 |
Cough syrup | € 6 | $ 7 |
Total | € 107 |
$ 122 |
Last Month | € 101 | $ 110 |
Travel & Transport
Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
I stayed put in Amsterdam most of the month, getting around primarily by bicycle. I did rent a car with my parents on St. Patrick’s Day and get out of town for a bit, but my parents paid for that.
Business Expenses
Accountant: AGC Associates | € 328 | $ 373 |
Macbook Air charger | € 89 | $ 101 |
PayPal fees (mostly for 3M1K payments) | € 55 | $ 63 |
Stripe fees (for 3M1K payments) | € 42 | $ 48 |
ActiveCampaign email marketing | € 41 | $ 47 |
Annual return filing fee | € 20 | $ 23 |
Elegant Themes upgrade | € 18 | $ 20 |
MemberMouse (for 3M1K) | € 18 | $ 20 |
Phone credit | € 15 | $ 17 |
Buffer social media management | € 9 | $ 10 |
Postage | € 6 | $ 7 |
Google Drive storage (100GB) | € 2 | $ 2 |
Amazon Web Services (more storage) | € 1 | $ 1 |
Printing/scanning/photocopying | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 645 |
$ 734 |
Last Month | € 762 | $ 826 |
Notes:
- The charger I had for my Macbook Air died so I had to buy another one. Of course, Apple charge insane prices for these kinds of things.
- Think I’m paying my accountant too much? You’re not alone. I addressed this in a previous report.
Gifts & Donations
Busker at Waterlooplein | € 2 | $ 2 |
Total | € 2 |
$ 2 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Books
Bête de Jour: The Intimate Adventures of an Ugly Man **** | € 4 | $ 5 |
Total | € 4 |
$ 5 |
Last Month | € 23 | $ 25 |
Listed above are only the books I paid for last month. I also get books as gifts and via rewards credit. You can see all my book recommendations and what I’m currently reading over on Goodreads. I usually get through a book a week.
Clothing
Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
Last Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
Miscellaneous Expenses
Salsa classes (x4) | € 44 | $ 50 |
Netflix subscription | € 8 | $ 9 |
Toiletries | € 7 | $ 8 |
Quarterly banking fee (Irish bank) | € 6 | $ 7 |
Laundry | € 4 | $ 5 |
Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 3 | $ 3 |
The Waterhole entry | € 2 | $ 2 |
Language cafe entry | € 2 | $ 2 |
Bin bags | € 1 | $ 1 |
Total | € 77 |
$ 88 |
Last Month | € 120 | $ 130 |
Expense Summary
Housing & Utilities | € 1,160 | $ 1,320 |
Business Expenses | € 645 | $ 734 |
Food & Drink | € 319 | $ 363 |
Taxes | € 235 | $ 267 |
Health Care | € 107 | $ 122 |
Miscellaneous Expenses | € 77 | $ 88 |
Books | € 4 | $ 5 |
Gifts & Donations | € 2 | $ 2 |
Clothing | € 0 | $ 0 |
Travel & Transport | € 0 | $ 0 |
Total Expenses | € 2,549 |
$ 2,901 |
Last Month | € 2,474 | $ 2,683 |
My goal was to keep expenses under €2,500, so went a little over there.
March Income
3M1K | € 2,414 | $ 2,747 |
Freelance web development | € 205 | $ 233 |
VAT refund | € 127 | $ 145 |
Google Adsense (YouTube videos) | € 84 | $ 96 |
Book sales (via Amazon) | € 26 | $ 30 |
Total Income | € 2,856 |
$ 3,250 |
Last Month | € 2,778 | $ 3,013 |
I was aiming to pull in at least €3k in March, so I fell a little short. Happy enough with the income from 3M1K, and I’ve got a ton of freelance work lined up for April; I’ll be back on track there soon enough.
Biggest Regret?
Hard to call it a regret since it meant I got to hang out with a good friend here in Amsterdam, but I ended up dropping out of the salsa classes mid-month, so it wasn’t really worth paying the €44.
The thing with salsa is that you need to be practicing more than twice a week if you want to get good. Otherwise it’s just frustrating because you’re forgetting moves from one week to the next. I wasn’t willing to invest more time in it so I decided to drop out altogether.
Where That Leaves Me
I had €5,026/$5,451 to my name at the end of February. After applying the most recent exchange rates (I have accounts in EUR, HKD and USD), those totals shifted a little to €4,963/$5,647.
Taking into account all my March income and expenditure, my total bank and cash balances now work out to €6,224/$7,083. 1
Outlook For April
I must book flights to the USA and have another city bill to pay, so expenses will be a bit higher in April. If I keep everything under the €3k mark, I’ll be doing well.
As for income, 3M1K should bring in another €2k at least, and I’ve got a lot of freelance work lined up that should amount to €2k minimum. If all goes well I may be able to hit the €5k mark.
Feedback Welcome
Thoughts? Questions? Speak up in the comments below.
Digging the pie graphs! Are they something you created on your own or are the graphs pulled in from some financial software/app you use? Thanks!
MoneyWiz generates the pie charts, and the bar graph up top is generated by Google Sheets.
I like and appreciate the pie graphs, Niall. Graphs are more human-friendly than tables–in the viewing, at least.
Whatever about accountants, just in the interests of critical thinking, and questioning long held beliefs, I must ask, do cough syrups actually do anything? Plenty of research would suggest not. Another few searches will also reveal that other older remedies such as honey and milk that your grandparents might have favored are shown to be equally ineffective in tests. Are all cough syrups just a massive scam?
Whether or not they work, should we suppress coughs in the first place? In most cases, it’s our body trying to facilitate the clearing of mucous and/or particulate. Cough suppressants are like fever reducers; in most cases, they get in the way of healing.
look at the evidence. You have two types of cough syrup: expectorants and cough suppressants. Both are chemically proven. Please look at the evidence
101 is expensive for health insurance for one person. Are you on a good plan?
Hi Barry,
It is expensive but in the Netherlands you are required to have health insurance and this is the price of the basic cover, for all the standard things you are likely to need, including treatment in hospital. What’s included is set by the government so all the insurance companies offer the same cover, although there are small differences between them in the costs. You can also pay for extra cover if you think you need it. Unfortunately, healthcare is pretty expensive these days but it is good!
It’s not that expensive if you compare it to other countries. In Germany the minimum payment is around 160€. If you’re self-employed it’s even higher. The same in Spain where 250€+ is the minimum if you have your own business (even if you don’t make any money from it). I actually was suprised that Niall can get away with 101. 🙂