Hi <<First Name>>! Happy New Year's! This one just started and I'm already tired...is that a good sign or a bad one? I'm going to say it's a good one since we are busy with work and life is good. There are worse things than lack of sleep. ;-)
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Crystal Shards
It is the beginning of yet another new month. So as you may know, here is my complete online income and expense breakdown from the last one:
December 2015 Online Income and Expenses
- BFS - $2950
- My Other Blogs - $400
- Affiliate Ads - $0
- eBook - $50
- Crystal for Hire (Freelancing like App Review Replies and Blog Ad Management) - $2750
- Minus Expenses (Paypal, Writers for Co-Owned Sites, Domain Renewals, Etc.) - $350
- TOTAL - $5800
Thankfully, we also diversify with other income streams since this one has been iffy...
December 2015 Other Income
Overall, we brought in about $10,200
In all of 2015, we brought in about $107,000 between all of our income sources!
To put things into perspective, we need about $6050 a month just for our monthly nut, which covers our monthly bills like the remaining mortgage ($1000), my new car payment ($275), a new-to-us car fund ($225), property taxes and insurance on both homes ($1300 a month), and income taxes ($1500 a month). We live on the other $1750 a month. If there is anything leftover after that $6050 is taken care of, it is divided between savings, investments, and fun. It helps make up for not-so-good months that pop up (which happens more than I'd like with self-employment). You can check out our
our budget anytime.
Our main financial goal is to continue making enough overall to work from home as long as possible since we both prefer self-employment over "normal" day jobs. Our secondary goal is to use the majority of any extra money that we ever have to reach financial independence as soon as possible (we are aiming for age 50 or before). We may still choose to work even if we ever have enough saved not to, but we would like to make that choice ourselves.
DISCLAIMER: Please keep in mind that this income comes from 30+ hour work weeks online divided between me and Mr. BFS. We put in another 50-60 hours a week split up into pet sitting (80+ hours during the holiday weeks). When it's a sports season he's involved in, Mr. BFS puts in about 20-30 hours a week into reffing. My personal minimum work week has become about 60 hours.
We also end up paying about 25-30% in income taxes since we do have to cover the employer's part as well. I was working 100+ hours a week personally for over a year before I was able to leave my old day job. I just want to be clear that this isn't easy money in any respect. I want to inspire everyone to accomplish their dreams, no matter what it takes. I am not saying it will be simple or fast. It just can be done.
Thanks for being the best readers ever!
Crystal Stemberger
newsletter@budgetinginthefunstuff.com
P.S. If you have any questions at any time, please contact me! Just hit Reply!
