Wednesday 5 November 2014

October 2014: Income and Expenses

    After another month of working hard and keeping close track of my spending, it's time to post another income and expenses update! Altogether its been a fairly good month on both fronts with expenses lower than last months, although perhaps not as low as I would have liked considering my extra one-time purchases from last month. On a whole income was a lot higher due to there being three pay periods from my job, compared to the usual two. Dividends this month were also the highest I have had yet as well which is amazing!



Income
$
Work
1913.25
Other
49
Dividends
63.54
Total
2,025.79
 
    So income this month is quite a bit higher due to the triple pay period, averaged out though, my hours have been average, or slightly on the lower side. Due to that my 'other' income of tips from customers isn't as great as it could be either, but I consider that bonus income and do not really put it into my budgets as it can be variable. Dividend income this month was awesome, it's like I tipped myself this month for making good decisions in the past. The $63.54  from dividends represents 5% coverage of my expenses this month. But I reinvest them instead to steadily increase my passive income. This month I used to them to help buy my purchase of additional AQN shares.


Expenses
$
Rent
750
Phone
21
Travel
133.75
Groceries
99
Restaurants
39.14
Entertainment
85
Other
48.45
Total
1176.34

    As for my expenses this month they've been quite manageable, although there was some extra spending due to Halloween and having fun going out. Travel was a bit higher as well due to buying a transit pass and traveling around more which made it more economical to get that instead of tickets. Also has a useful tax credit for when tax time comes, so that's a plus. Groceries and eating out at restaurants was lower as well, which I think reflects having to buy fewer 'one time' ingredients and cooking stuff. Also having more stay in and nice home cooked meals for date nights rather than going out helps as well!

    Overall, due to the higher income this month and lower expenses I managed to achieve a savings rate of 41%, which beat out last months 20%! Had it not been a triple pay period however my savings rate would have been roughly 15%, which still isn't bad considering the national savings rate for households is about only 5.5% in 2013. So my 41% is very nice indeed! And perhaps I might have some extra capital laying about to invest again and put that money to work for me!





Hope everyone had a fun and safe(saving) October/Halloween!

4 comments:

  1. DW,

    Looks like a great month of saving. Your low expenses are commendable. It's been quite a while since I had expenses near the $1,100 mark. I remember those days fondly! But the amortization of an all-cash car purchase and health care have both really killed my budget lately. Now an engagement ring is on the budget, so I'm still working my way through it. :)

    The great news is that it doesn't take a whole lot of passive income for you to be financially independent. Even just $500 or $600 per month will change your life, as you then only need to make another $600 or so to make it.

    Keep up the great work!

    Best regards.

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  2. Thanks! It was a fairly good month for savings, although I still spent a bit more than I'd have liked, but that can be the price of having some fun :) And I generally don't have any large one off expenses. I'm expecting November to be quite a bit cheaper, and December will be expensive with Christmas shopping, plus paying for a trip I am going on in March, not sure if I will amortize that one or not yet.

    Well, I'm still quite some ways away from hitting into the hundreds per month, and currently I don't budget any spending on how much my portfolio brings in. Initially I set it up with all these monthly payers so that if I cannot put any new capital into my account then it would at least be able to buy a couple ETF shares on its own per month. So far i'v been fortunate enough though to be able to add extra capital to it and make stock purchases instead.

    I'll keep up the great work if you do! Although I would rather not work at all..... one day :)

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  3. Your expenses are very low! good job. Looking forward to seeing u snow ball your investments!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! It definitely helps that I don't have any big reoccurring expenses beyond rent, food and transit, plus a little bit of an entertainment budget to have fun with. My GF and I enjoy hanging in together, watching shows/movies or playing video games together rather than going out a lot. So in her own way she is frugal like that which is good :) Me to! So far though I need to keep 'making it snow' for it to keep rolling strong )

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