Here be all my finances for March. I spent 12 days out of the month traveling around Portugal and Spain with my girlfriend, and the rest of the time living 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 | € 2,378 |
$ 2,534 |
| Total Expenses | € 5,082 |
$ 5,415 |
| Profit/Loss | € 2,704 |
$ 2,881 |
Income
| 3M1K 1 | € 1,126 | $ 1,200 |
| Freelance web development 2 | € 827 | $ 881 |
| Cheap Flight Checklist 3 | € 305 | $ 325 |
| Sale of bicycle 4 | € 85 | $ 91 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) 5 | € 35 | $ 37 |
| Total Income | € 2,378 |
$ 2,534 |
| Last Month | € 4,380 | $ 4,616 |
I was aiming to pull in $2.5k in March and ended up right at that mark.
Expenses
Food & Drink
| Eating out | € 327 | $ 348 |
| Groceries | € 206 | $ 219 |
| 6 Total |
€ 533 |
$ 568 |
| Last Month | € 406 | $ 428 |
Housing & Utilities
| 2 nights at Quinta Beira-Mar in Sintra, Portugal 7 | € 150 | $ 160 |
| 3 nights at Chic&Cozy apartment in Porto, Portugal 8 | € 135 | $ 144 |
| 3 nights at Casa dos Mastros apartment in Lisbon 9 | € 130 | $ 139 |
| 1 week at two apartments in Las Palmas | € 110 | $ 117 |
| Cleaner for Las Palmas apartment 10 | € 20 | $ 21 |
| Total | € 545 |
$ 581 |
| Last Month | € 165 | $ 174 |
Health Care
| ~7 weeks World Nomads travel insurance 11 | € 103 | $ 110 |
| Symbioram 12 | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Total | € 114 |
$ 121 |
| Last Month | € 12 | $ 12 |
Travel & Transport
| Flights: Las Palmas (LPA) to Cork (ORK) one way 13 | € 97 | $ 103 |
| 3-day car rental in Portugal 14 | € 72 | $ 77 |
| Fuel for rental cars and scooter 15 | € 64 | $ 68 |
| Train: Barcelona to Girona 16 | € 23 | $ 25 |
| 24-hour scooter rental in Barcelona 17 | € 20 | $ 21 |
| Taxis in Porto | € 20 | $ 21 |
| Bus: Girona to Barcelona Airport (BCN) | € 19 | $ 20 |
| Buses in Lisbon | € 14 | $ 15 |
| Taxis in Barcelona | € 7 | $ 7 |
| Buses in Gran Canaria | € 6 | $ 6 |
| Tram in Lisbon | € 6 | $ 6 |
| Buses in Porto | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Parking in Sintra | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Total | € 356 |
$ 379 |
| Last Month | € 725 | $ 764 |
Business Expenses
| 30DBC refund 18 | € 2,816 | $ 3,000 |
| Outsourcing 19 | € 162 | $ 173 |
| 2 weeks coworking at CoWorkingC in Las Palmas 20 | € 120 | $ 128 |
| Elegant Themes 1-year subscription 21 | € 65 | $ 69 |
| The Cargo Ship Diaries book promo 22 | € 24 | $ 26 |
| Orange Go Europe SIM card 23 | € 20 | $ 21 |
| PayPal fees | € 13 | $ 14 |
| Book: The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck 24 | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Virtual Post Mail 25 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Currency exchange fees 26 | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Cheap Flight Checklist expenses 27 | € 6 | $ 6 |
| Postage | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Google Drive storage (100GB) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Amazon Web Services (more storage) | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 3,259 |
$ 3,472 |
| Last Month | € 2,019 | $ 2,128 |
Gifts & Donations
| Flowers 28 | € 70 | $ 75 |
| Footprints donation 29 | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Busker in Barcelona 30 | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 74 |
$ 79 |
| Last Month | € 29 | $ 30 |
Books 31
| The Right Stuff *** | € 7 | $ 7 |
| Total | € 7 |
$ 7 |
| Last Month | € 19 | $ 20 |
Clothing
| Costume for Carnaval | € 26 | $ 28 |
| Sunglasses | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Tailor 32 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Total | € 45 |
$ 48 |
| Last Month | € 2 | $ 2 |
Miscellaneous Expenses
| Entry to La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona 33 | € 28 | $ 30 |
| Toiletries | € 25 | $ 27 |
| Entry to Lisbon castle 34 | € 17 | $ 18 |
| Sunscreen | € 16 | $ 17 |
| Fiverr gig: Add Russian Subtitles 35 | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Netflix subscription | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Laundry | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Authentic Relating Games night 36 | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Quarterly banking fee (Irish bank) | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Umbrella | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Barcelona tourist tax | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Entry to Livraria Lello in Porto 37 | € 5 | $ 5 |
| Entry to Banys Arabs in Girona 38 | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Entry to Torre dos Clérigos in Porto 39 | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Entry to top of Elevador de Santa Justa in Lisbon 40 | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Printing | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 149 |
$ 159 |
| Last Month | € 280 | $ 295 |
Expense Summary
| Business Expenses | € 3,259 | $ 3,472 |
| Housing & Utilities | € 545 | $ 581 |
| Food & Drink | € 533 | $ 568 |
| Travel & Transport | € 356 | $ 379 |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | € 149 | $ 159 |
| Health Care | € 114 | $ 121 |
| Gifts & Donations | € 74 | $ 79 |
| Clothing | € 45 | $ 48 |
| Books | € 7 | $ 7 |
| Total Expenses | € 5,082 |
$ 5,415 |
| Last Month | € 3,656 | $ 3,853 |
I was aiming to keep my expenses under $5k for the month so I went a good bit over.
Biggest Regret?
Nothing significant in March. My biggest regret the previous month was taking on that 30DBC project that I had to refund, and that cost me $3k in March, but aside from that I spent only $2,415 despite spending 12 days doing full-on travel in Portugal and Spain. Not bad.
Where That Leaves Me
I had €10,169/$10,716 to my name at the end of February.
Taking into account all my March 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 €7,266/$7,742. 41
Outlook For April
I’ll be home in Ireland for a couple of weeks visiting family, so won’t have any housing costs there (I’m spoiled, so I am). I will be applying for a Russian visa however, and I’ll also need to book a flight to Moscow and pay for a month of accommodation there.
Aside from that, expenses should be pretty normal. I’ll aim to keep everything under $2.5k.
As for income, I’m going to get back into the swing of some freelance work, and 3M1K has been looking up lately so hopefully I can pull in $1.5k or more from that. I’ll aim for at least $3k total income.
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…
You’re the King of Transparency, Niall! I love the easy footnotes. Regular digital books should have different levels of this to suit both the skimmers and the meticulous. Btw, #20 might need a repair.
MoneyWiz!
See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AL4eHvlbFY
what app do you use for your budget management?