Blog income went up a bit, but my expenses exploded… for a good reason though.

THE INCOME = $23,470.89

Day Job: $22,213.17

Day job .. is my day job. It’s what I earn each month, working 40 hours a week. Nothing to see here. Boring.

Anyway.

Blog: $1257.72

Advertising: $774.50

Affiliate: $256.63

Products: $226.59

Save. Spend. Splurge. Products sold, include:

• The Budgeting Tool
• The Investing Tool
• Book: How to start a blog and make an extra $1000 a month
• Book: How to invest your money forever and spend less than 4 hours a year (U.S. & Canada versions available)
• Wanderlust Scarves
• Consulting Services – Career and Money

LOOKS LIKE YOUR INCOME IS DOING BETTER?

Yes, I think the fixes I put in place last month have helped.

I still don’t know why I have lost such a large chunk from Google Adsense however. I used to make a lot more with them and now they’ve just gone kaput.

This is a good lesson to learn for you all — don’t rely on all of your income from one source, spread it out and make sure you keep hustlin’.

INCOME GOALS FOR THE NEXT MONTH

Umm.. I am NOT going to pick up more contracts after all

Can’t do it. They don’t really want remote workers and want to see my face in the office, which is one problem, but the second is the time. My job is very detail oriented and intricate, I cannot concentrate on two clients at once, I AM SURE to f**k something up.

*sigh*

I had such high hopes…

Planning for a contract end before the summer hits

So my contract ends just before my parents come up to visit and before our trip abroad to visit more family.

It ends at a nice time, and I’ll start looking for something to begin in the autumn, located locally and so on.

That said, I have to keep a big slush fund for spending for the next 12 months. Right now I have about $50,000 saved (will give more details tomorrow), and that should last me about 16-ish months if I spend around $3000 a month and am DILIGENT on NOT spending willy nilly.

THE EXPENSES = $4178.88

Déjà vu or what? February Expenses was around $4000 as well. :\ This feels quite normal now…

Technically, I did make my goal…

My goal was to stay under $3000 personally, and I did do that if you take out my expense of travel – $1219.78 it means I squeaked in under $3K with $2959.10 spent.

I just barely made it, and I only made it because I declined at least 2 lunch invites near the end of the month ($30 a pop)…

I would still like to drop it even more. Maybe down to $2500 but that might just be a dream.

My top 5 spending areas are very admirable this month

All stuff that I need. No fancy items here.

Now some specific categories I want to highlight this month:

Grocery

We spend a lot. I can’t seem to keep this under control. I’m resigned to a $1000+ bill a month for the 3 of us that will only increase as Little Bun gets older.

Household Equipment

My partner is determined to stop buying so much “outside bread” that is now too salty (it does have a LOT of salt in it compared to what we make at home), and to save about $100/month. Or so he says.

Children

If we both stop working, our daycare fees disappear. They cost about $875/month now, or about $437.50 each. This is a big chunk of my budget, and I would EASILY make my $2500 goal if I didn’t have preschool to pay for. I could even aim for $2000 a month.

I am always surprised at how expensive preschool and daycare is. I really think the parents who don’t make as much as we do, must truly suffer and scrimp to pay for their kids.

With a job that is minimum wage, there’s no point in sending your children to daycare if you have more than 2. Stay at home, you’ll save about the same amount. I can see why parents make the choice to stay at home instead. It’s tough though.

Eating Out, Treats & The Like

So I managed to keep it under about $200 for things like Starbucks and so on. I think this is a good compromise and good balance to have.

I want to still go out and eat with folks once a week, and have treats once in a while, but I can’t be doing it daily, y’all….

I’m happy with what I did this month.

Yoga

Bye bye yoga. I have way too many lunch meetings and I am far too sick to make it to yoga on a regular basis to justify a subscription.

*sigh*

Maybe if I get extended until the end of NEXT year, I’ll sign up again for a subscription again for the SUMMER only. WARM MONTHS ONLY.

What an effin waste of money yoga was for the months of November to March. EFFING WASTE. I’m so mad.

As for my super cute yoga gear they’re destined for going to the park and lounging at home. I may even wear it to Europe next year. Don’t give AF. Have to use them.

Style

I slipped near the month and put in two orders under a bit of stress for about $300 total.

The sizes are a gamble — Large and Extra-Small? *SNORT*…. so I have very low hopes that the items WILL stay without being returned in-person to the store.

What I am eying now, is favouriting items on Poshmark (my beloved retail outlet) and only IF I get extended until the end of this year, shall I allow myself a purchase on there. I’m eying some black chelsea-style boots because I am noticing I have them in dark brown and tan, but not black, and they would be quite handy for autumn/winter outfits.

Oh and of course, I found beautiful dresses that are super impractical. LOL.. Anyway, Poshmark will be my treat if I get extended.

Fees

FEES. Still mad AF at myself. You can read about how dumb I was here in my Week of Money Diary.