LOOKING BACK

Things. Have. Been. Crazy. Lately.

They’re finally winding down so I can write this.

I received a little feedback via my Ask Sherry Anything! Form (THANK YOU!) that my net worth and money updates have not been timely.

I totally, absolutely 100% agree.

Life just smashed through my window and I have been just trying to pick up all the pieces without falling apart.

I can’t detail out the two of the things that have been happening, but in the past few months this has happened just on my real life stuff:

• Root canal
• Got extremely sick & fatigued for 3 weeks, and needed antibiotics to clear it
• Car broke down in the middle of nowhere in winter with a toddler
• Car needed fixing (2 separate events: axle, shocks and from that breakdown)
• Tax audit – It went well as expected, thankyouverymuch, but that was stressful and I had to prep for it
• Started potty training my toddler which any parent can tell you is a 24/7 exhausting surveillance & constant prodding
• Bank card was stolen – had to get a new one, and re-setup everything all over again including online passwords
• Wrapping up my company’s fiscal year end – In progress to close the books (I do all my own taxes)
• Filing forms, taxes and preparation for final salary deducations – In progress (I do this on my own too)
• Thing #1 – Took me every night, 3 hours a night, for a full week to resolve plus sleepless nights
• Thing #2 – In progress, took me about 2 weeks running like a chicken with my head cut off with a toddler to collect all the needed forms and documentation

It has been very, VERY stressful, and I have been trying to just stay afloat.

Then winter hit. LOL.

That was fun.

Then on top of that, the blog stuff. I had unwittingly committed to things I thought I would have time for, and that included:

• Writing my new book: Start a Blog Like a Boss – How to Make Money and then promising end of November delivery (GURK! O_o)
• Designing & launching the new site for the future books
• STEEP learning curve (took me a full month, 3 hours a night) of formatting the written draft into ePub, Mobi and PDF to print as an 8″x10″ book; man that is a hell of a job, I wish I had known a few things before I started into that
• Coding for the new site with Paypal so that the e-book versions can be downloaded automatically
• Holiday Gift Guides
• Guest Posting (Psst! Check out my posts on Distant Francophile)

Then on top of ALL of that:

• Trying to have a life – birthdays, anniversaries, life events
• Trying to sleep because my toddler still wakes up crying (or counting to 10 in his dream during the night)
• Staying in touch with family & friends – Skype calls, messaging, emails
• Planning for family trips – for my family to visit and for us to visit family in Europe

So… I’m sorry.

I have been really busy and I have been putting off net worth updates until the last possible minute because I have been uninterested in doing it (takes intense concentration, I log into 50 accounts and then have to format all the data).

But without further ado…

BLOG ONLY INCOME = $1489.36

I know I said I wouldn’t post my income because I am still paying back that debt to myself I incurred in redoing the blog design, but…. well. Here you go.

The above is only from the blog, not from my actual day job because I’m not working right now.

I’ll go back to work maybe in the Spring once Baby Bun is older and maybe after our vacation to Europe to see family around early summer.

Income breakdown:

• $866.09 = Advertising revenue
• $377.50 = Affiliate revenue
• $245.75 = Book sales, mostly the e-books for Start a Blog Like a Boss – How to Make Money

I’m surprised at it jumping up almost $500 this month, but I suspect it is gearing up to the holiday season and these advertising-related earnings will drop back down come January.

Even so. Wow.

I had no idea I could make that kind of money off the blog.

That was what I made in a whole year before I started to do all the things I detail out in my book on how I increased my revenues with a few little tweaks.

Thank you all for your support!

EXPENSES = $3546.79

My expenses this month far outstripped my income from the blog, but if I took out my root canal, it wouldn’t have looked so bad.

I would have only been in the hole about $682.43 as a difference over and above what I earned from the blog, which is about the amount I spent on stocking up from the Black Friday sales (David’s Tea stockup and Paula’s Choice).

Not bad.

MY TOP 5 CATEGORIES OF SPENDING

MY NET WORTH = $503,570.73 or +1.44% +$7253.36

This is OBVIOUSLY mostly from investing gains because my income barely even covered my expenses this month.

I spent about double what I made off the blog, so the gains are all from my investments.

MY NET WORTH FROM THE PAST 12 MONTHS

Not bad considering I haven’t worked in a longgg time but it looks terrible from last year when I was rolling in the dough from my day job. LOL.

MY DIVIDEND INCOME

As you might recall, I sold off a chunk of my investments to buy my condo in cash, so the dividends have taken a hit as a result, but I still have the long-term plan (once I work again) of shoving it all into dividends so that I can live off that income.

I only have the numbers up to October because I don’t get my statements until about 3 weeks after the month has closed.

(I am with Questrade by the way, use my referral link for 10 free trades with every $1000 account signup)

Even so, I am kind of surprised my dividend income hasn’t gone down to zero.

I don’t count it in my INCOME above though, because I put all of it on a DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) to buy more stock from the dividends automatically.

Like a money snowball 😉

BABY BUN’S NET WORTH = $16,513.98 +1219.04 or 7.38%

Baby Bun however, is KILLING IT. I love that he is such a good saver already 😉

IT IS ALL MOSTLY INVESTING GAINS

I want to note that I only contributed $278 in total to his account this month, the remainder has been SOLELY from his investment gains in the stock market, so $941.04.

He has more money than I ever had at his age, and even until 25. He is so far ahead of the game it isn’t funny.

HOW DO YOU INVEST HIS MONEY?

If you’re interested in how I invest his money (and my money), I am already planning on writing a book on it (by popular demand) and releasing my investing tool on how I do it (I only spend about half an hour every 3 months on his investments and that includes logging in).

In the meantime, SAVE YOUR MONEY until my book & investing tool launch 🙂

You will need at least $100, preferably $1000 to start.

(And yes, it is going to be relevant for Americans, which is why it will take me even longer. I am doing two versions.)

LOOKING FORWARD

I bought SO MUCH IN DECEMBER and am excited about all of it.

I know it’s only the first week or so that I am writing this post as a roundup, but be prepared for a HUGE What I bought shopping roundup for December.

HUGE SHOPPING SPREE.

I really really spent like crazy.

I have these few things to accomplish in December:

1. Complete Baby Bun’s potty training until I feel comfortable that he can do it without me pestering him (will take 6 months to really sink in).
2. Enjoy the Christmas with my little family & my friends (one is about to pop her second out, so I really want to cherish this time with her).
3. Close out my company books for the fiscal year & complete deductions.
4. Review my life To Do list and get it under control – I feel like I have way too much on my plate right now

What about your December?

P.S. Here are all of my budget roundups in case you want to peruse over previous months.