April’s expenses were about what I expect will be normal, now that I have the monthly rent payment.

Entertainment expense was $0 since credit card rewards covered the Peacock and Hulu expense and a free gift card covered the Amazon Prime expense.

My transportation expense consisted of $124.88 for gas. That was helped a bit by a discounted gas gift card. We’re traveling more this month, and gas has gotten even more expensive, so I expect this expense to be higher this month.

Food expense was $369.51. That is divided between $352.65 for groceries and $16.86 for restaurants. The restaurant expense was much lower than normal due to using a free $100 McDonald’s gift card. The gift card is almost used up so food expense will probably be higher this month.

Travel expense came in at $49. That is for my IHG gift card which gives me one free night a year. Ideally, I use the free night when I would otherwise have to pay a lot for a hotel night. I messed up on this last year. I delayed using the free night trying to get the most value out of it and then almost forgot about it all together. I ended up using it for a hotel night on a trip where we would otherwise have just gone and come back the same day.

Utilities came in at $257.57. Internet was $40 and electric/water was $149.59. There was also a quarterly charge of $67.98 for trash. This expense should be slightly lower this month since there won’t be a trash bill.

Household expense came in at $585.93. The big bills were $251 for A/C repair and $100 prepay for my dad’s cremation. This was for miscellaneous household items and flowers, plants and other items for the yard.

I spent $20 for phone service. That was the usual monthly amount plus $5 for extra data.

The $10.43spent on health was for some over the counter medicine. This expense will be higher this month.

This month’s expenses will probably be about the same. How was your month?

I’m doing very poorly on my weight loss goal. Based on past experience, this isn’t much of a surprise. I started off the year well. I lost 5 pounds in January. I spent most of that month in Thailand and I find it easier to lose weight there.

Since January, I have gained weight. I’m only down a couple pounds for the year. I’m not sure how to do better on this goal. I have occasionally tracked my food. I need to increase my protein and fiber intake. Knowing what I need to do and actually doing it are two very different things. I’m still hoping I will figure out a way to eat better and stick to eating better.

I’m doing ok on my second goal. I’m at $2195 in bonuses so far this year. That is behind where I should be at this point to be on track for meeting the $8600 goal. I can make quick progress on this by doing some credit card and bank bonuses so I’m not too worried about making this goal. I’ve actually made most of my Roth IRA contribution for the year since I wanted to take advantage of the stock market dip earlier this year. The money from the bonuses will be used to reimburse for the contributions rather than being used to directly make the contributions

I’ll check in again on these goals at the end of Q2 and I hope I will be able to share better progress then.

March income was okay considering the lack of job income.

Dividend income came in at $280.53.

Interest income was $117.62.

I made $644.26 from eBay and $44.63 from other selling.

I made $148.72 from cash back.

I made $160.70 from job income. I’ve been having a difficult time getting placed on projects this year. I need to find a different job or ramp up my side hustle income.

I made $322.09 from social casinos.

I made $9.98 from surveys.

I made $150 from sportsbooks. The promos are beginning to dry up. This source of income will go down unless I can figure out another way to profit from the sportsbooks.

I made $111.35 from class actions and $10.02. Those are both random sources of income that I probably won’t get next month.

How was your month?

March’s expenses were unusually low.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Peacock, Hulu, and Prime. Credit card rewards eliminated the cost of Peacock and Hulu.

My transportation expense consisted of $130.51 for gas and $51.26 for an oil change.

Food expense was $434.81. That is divided between $310.08 for groceries and $124.73 for restaurants. I have some free gift cards for grocery and fast food that should allow me to lower this expense this month.

Travel expense came in at $0.

Utilities came in at $130. Internet was $40 and electric/water was $90 after being reduced by a gift card. This expense will go up this month.

Household expense came in at $94.35. This was for miscellaneous household items and a small income tax bill.

I spent $15 for phone service. That is the usual monthly amount.

The $215.70 spent on health was for an eye exam, a doctor visit, and some medicine..

This month’s expenses will be considerably higher. I’ve already made a rent payment and paid an A/C repair bill. How was your month?

February income was decent for a short month.

Dividend income came in at $116.98

Interest income was $111.50

I made $89.22 from eBay and $85.43 from other selling.

I made $43.20 from cash back.

I made $1483.82 from job income.

I made $394 from social casinos. That was an unusually good month.

I made $65.25 from surveys.

I made $200 from sportsbooks.

I made $100 from a bank bonus.

How was your month?

February’s expenses were a little high, but reasonable all things considered. The trip to try to get my stepdaughter’s visa was mostly a waste. Trump put a pause on all visas from 75 countries including Thailand the day before we left. This meant we had no chance to get the visa.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Peacock, Hulu, and Prime. Credit card rewards eliminated the cost of Peacock and Hulu.

My transportation expense consisted of $41.92 for gas, $5.57 for a taxi and $235 for six months of car insurance. This expense should be lower this month.

Food expense was $331.40. That is divided between $172 for groceries and $159.40 for restaurants. A couple of free gift cards helped keep this expense lower than usual. This expense will go up this month, but I hope I can keep it under $400.

Travel expense came in at $195.30. That consisted of $145.44 for buses and shuttles and $49.86 for hotels.

Utilities came in at $45. This was for electric, water, and internet. Gift cards from our health insurance paid most of the electric bill. This expense will go up this month unless we get more gift cards.

Household expense came in at $41.40.

I spent $15 for phone service. That is the usual monthly amount.

The $6.67 spent on health was for some over the counter medicine.

The big expense was the $1554 for rent. This month we paid the annual home insurance bill rather than rent. Usually, we will be paying $600 a month for rent.

This month’s expenses should be a little lower. How was your month?

January income was pretty good considering that I was out of the country the last half of the month.

Dividend income came in at $16.14.

Interest income was $123.24.

I made $22.42 from all forms of selling.

I made $16 from cash back.

I made $2679.76 from job income. This month will probably be lower since I’m waiting to be added to a new project now that I’m back in the country and available to work.

I made $100 from social casinos. I’ll make more this month.

I made $24.36 from a class action.

I made $100 from sportsbook promos. These deals are slowing down now, but I will still make a little more money from the promos this month.

I made $200 from a crypto broker bonus.

This month’s income will probably be about the same, depending on when I start a new project.

How was your month?

January’s expenses were rather high. That was expected since we were in Thailand for the second half of the month and had lots of travel and visa related expenses. This month’s expenses should be much lower.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Peacock, Hulu, and Prime.

My transportation expense consisted of $70.78 for gas and $36.54 for local taxis and shuttles in Thailand.

Food expense was $420.07. That is divided between $262.03 for groceries and $158.04 for restaurants. That isn’t too bad considering we were away from home for the last half of the month.

Travel expense came in at $585.60. That consisted of $182.77 for airfare, $224.99 for hotels, and $177.74 for other expenses. The other expenses were mainly long-distance shuttles or taxis and buses.

Utilities came in at $200.01. This was for electric, water, and internet.

Household expense came in at $1015.71 This was mostly for a gold necklace for my wife and some gifts to my wife’s family.

Visa expense was $889.78. Most of that was for the medical examination. The hospital has a monopoly on doing medical exams for the U.S. visa so they charge a premium price.

I spent $26.89 for phone service. This was for the usual monthly bill plus cell service in Thailand.

The $51.84 spent on health was for medicine and a dentist visit. I got a cavity filled in Thailand for about $25.

This was another expensive month. This month should have much lower expenses. I need a couple of low expense months to help my bank account recover. How was your month?

December was another good income month.

Dividend income came in at $247.39.

Interest income was $131.98.

I made $157.21 from selling on eBay. I didn’t list anything since I was busy with work, but I still sold a few things.

I made $54.39 from cash back.

I made $2463.67 from job income. This amount would have been higher. There was unpaid time off for the holidays. Additionally, there were a few more days when they were transitioning to different documents, so there was no work available. This month my job income will be lower since I’ll be gone the last half of the month. I’m hoping they will have work for me when I return.

I made $350 from social casinos. That is better than normal. This month it will go back to the usual $100 a month.

I made $59.34 from a class action. The MGM class action settlement was more generous than most.

I made $96.78 from other selling.

I made $790.84 from a stock sale. I don’t track the monthly fluctuation in value of my accounts, but when I sell a stock in one of my taxable accounts, I do report it here. This sale was from an odd lot tender which increased the chances of it being a profitable transaction.

Lastly, I made $292.35 from sportsbook promos. There were lots of good deals last month since sports betting became legal in Missouri on December 1st. Those deals are slowing down now, but I will still make a little more money from the promos this month.

This month’s income will be lower since I’ll be in Thailand the last half of the month.

How was your month?

December’s expenses were once again rather high. This month’s expenses should be lower although still higher than I’d prefer since we’ll be traveling the last two weeks of the month.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Peacock, Hulu, and Prime. I let my Paramount Plus deal expire since I don’t have enough time to watch everything as it is.

My transportation expense consisted of $94.50 for three tanks of gas.

Food expense was $577.92. That is divided between $370.71 for groceries and $207.21 for restaurants. That is way too high. I’ll lower this expense this month. We’ll be traveling the last two weeks of the month which will complicate things. Food is cheap in Thailand though, so I still expect to lower this expense significantly.

Travel expense came in at $1146.24. That was for a cash flight for two to Thailand, seat selection fees on one flight, and the award taxes on a flight for two from Thailand back to the U.S. This will be less this month, although I still have to buy several intra-Thailand flights and several hotel nights, so it won’t be too low

Utilities came in at $228.40. This was for electric, water, trash and internet. This was about the same as last month. It should be a little bit lower this month since we won’t have a trash bill.

Household expense came in at $558.28. This was mostly for my Missouri Bar annual enrollment fee.

I spent $15 for one month of phone service for my wife.

The $116.97 spent on health was for a walking pad and my BP medicine.

This month will be another expensive month, although it should be less expensive than December. How was your month?