Hi <<First Name>>! May was only slightly better than April with our online income, but we'll take it!!! We are still financially fine and it is interesting to return to my super budget roots. It's funny how less stressed you get after years of self-employment. With our rental income and my pet sitting, May ended up where it needed to be, but I still have my fingers crossed for a $6000+ June online...
Win the Monthly Prize!
Just to say thanks for being part of the BFS community, each month we give away a $25 Amazon gift card or Paypal cash AND a free copy of EITHER ONE of my eBooks to one lucky BFS newsletter subscriber! Congrats to May's winner! To enter this month's, please
jump over to this post and leave a comment- only one comment per person please! A winner will be chosen and notified at the beginning of next month.
Crystal Shards
It is the beginning of a new month. So as you may know, here is my complete online income and expense breakdown:
May 2014 Breakdown of Income and Expenses
- BFS - $765
- My Other Blogs - $565
- Affiliate Ads - $0
- eBook - $60
- Crystal for Hire (Freelancing like Writing and Blog Advertising Management) - $4015
- Minus Expenses (Paypal, Writers for Co-Owned Sites, Etc.) - $595.00
- TOTAL - $4810.00
That's about $40 better than April 2014, but not declining does make me happy. :-D
The rest of our income comes from
renting out our old house, renting out a
spare bedroom, and our hobby jobs.
Hubby works from home with me, but he is also a high school varsity and sub varsity football official from August through November and a softball official from February through May. It's a solid side hustle. I'm now pet sitting, which is
pretty successful too.
Right now, our total additional income is around $3000 a month. I aim for us to make enough from the business to count this as extra money, but in slow months like this one, it is definitely how we can afford to wait it out.
To put things into perspective, we need about $6600 a month just to hit our main budget categories, which covers our monthly bills like the remaining mortgage ($1000), a new-to-us car fund ($500), property taxes and insurance on both homes ($1200 a month), and income taxes ($2500 a month). We live on the other $1400 a month. If there is anything leftover after that $6600 is taken care of, it is divided between savings, investments, and fun. 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 60+ hour work weeks online generally divided between me and Mr. BFS. I put in another 20-30 hours into pet sitting now. When it's a sports season, Mr. BFS puts in about 20-30 hours a week into reffing.
We also end up paying about 32% 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 day job and do this full time. I just wanted 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 and the BFS team
newsletter@budgetinginthefunstuff.com
P.S. If you have any questions at any time, please contact me! Just hit Reply!
