Thank Tim Berners-Lee for the invention of the World Wide Web. Without him I wouldn’t be increasing my net worth as quickly as I am. Although, one could argue, without the web, I’d be spending less money, too. Nevertheless, here’s how money came to me and left me during the month of August, 2006.
Salary? Well, the one positive thing I can say is I will see three paychecks during the month of September. I’d much rather focus on the larger number posted for August’s, “business income.” Thanks to a few long-term advertising deals and a surprising AdSense boost, my income was stronger in September. I have no reason to expect this to continue; in fact, AdSense in September has returned to depressing levels already. Perhaps it’s just a result of the holiday weekend.
My entertainment expenses seem a little low in August. I thought I was having more fun.
You may notice my “business income” — the side income from website advertising, donations, subscriptions, and development services (but mostly advertising) — is only slightly lower than my net income for the month. This means that without this extra income, I’d be spending almost as much as I’m making, meaning bad news for long term growth. There is not much else I can cut back on, but here are a few suggestions:
* Get rid of Netflix: $15/mo
* Brown-bag my lunch instead of spending about $7 a day in the company cafeteria (or Wendy’s, or the mall food court, etc.): $150/mo
* Eliminate my phone and force people to communicate with me through email: $50/mo
* Grow my hair long or do my own trims: $15/mo
* Bring a sleeping bag to the office and camp out: $250/mo
* Bring a sleeping bag to the office, camp out, and drop the lease on my apartment, assuming no penalties: $1,500/mo
On the other hand, having “banked” $14,000 so far this year blows away anything I’ve done financially in my life so far. And I think it’s a pretty good accomplishment considering I’m not an investment banker at “the firm” like my dad’s girlfriend’s son will be when he finishes up at Harvard.
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