This article is a companion to the personal balance sheet, posted earlier this morning. Inside, I take a look at my spending and income throughout the month of October.
October was another fairly ordinary month, with only a couple of extra expenses included. After reviewing my expense categories for the month, I found a few surprises, both good and bad.
Continue reading to see the numbers. Clicking on the thumbnail will bring up a larger version of the table.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
- The report is made with Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Excel. Here’s an income and expense report Excel template.
Explanation and Details.
There’s nothing much to say about my day job salary. I haven’t seen a raise since the beginning of the year, and raises and promotions aren’t looking good until 2008. I suppose I’m just happy to be employed.
Income from my side business was good for the month of October, but there have been some changes in the industry that may result in a significant decline in the future. I’ve always been wary of making the side business my only job for a simple reason—it relies to heavily on Google. Google has made some changes this past month that might have a profound negative effect on my ability to create income in this form in the future.
My goal for several months has been to diversify my income sources so they are not as reliant on Google, which I have, but the company made some changes I didn’t expect, affecting more than I thought possible. We’ll see how that plays out in the next few months.
Apparently, I didn’t purchase any groceries this month, but I did spend a little more dining out. I am due for a trip to the supermarket, but not by much. I must have stocked up at the very end of September. Most of my grocery shopping is done at a Stop & Shop supermarket, conveniently located in walking distance from my apartment.
I purchased airline tickets for my trip to California for Thanksgiving. I feel I found a good deal, but it means I’ll be traveling on one of the “worst” days of the year—the Friday following the holiday.
Other that the above, it’s been an uneventful month. I believe some of the above may be miscategorized, so when I get a chance I’ll go back into Quicken and review some of the “Misc” expenses as well as some purchases I might have thrown into the wrong category. If I update the spreadsheet I’ll let you know.
It’s also important to note that I’ve changed my tax withholding from my day job to almost eliminate my paycheck and I’ve also scheduled an increased estimated tax payment for January in an attempt to avoid underpayment penalties. I simply didn’t plan for this much business income this year.
Looking at my year-to-date columns, there’s very little I could complain about. I’ve been spending more, certainly, but my increasing income has allowed me to spend more money while spending a smaller percentage of my income.
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1:20 pm (reply)
Can you explain more about the big changes that google made?
1:23 pm (reply)
Brian: It’s probably outside the scope of Consumerism Commentary, so I didn’t want to get too much into the details and bore everyone who may not be interested in blogging. It relates to advertising and search engine optimization.
I will probably write about it on Meta Best Blog Win once I’ve determined how it will affect my income, if at all.