My first blog income report / Money Diary!

“A Goal is a Dream with a Deadline”

I love reading income reports & money diaries of other individuals and I have decided to pivot this website to include much more of my life. One of my dreams is to not worry about money, and be cash flow positive every month (meaning my income is higher than my expenses). My ultimate goal is to have make enough income in my investments where the question of “do you want to work?” becomes optional (i.e. financial independence-its a big topic that hopefully I will cover more and more on). I think I did pretty well this month, because it was cold, and cloudy most days. I also get seasonal depression due to less sunlight, so I just didn’t feel like doing anything. This meant that I saved money, even though my mental health probably took a beating.

Here’s how I did this month:

Income

$4,583.34 (Gross Salary)

Deductions

In order of magnitude:

• $1,540 (403b contribution) by contributing 33% of my paycheck into 403b, I lowered my taxes
• $542.98 (Taxes)taxes are only 12% of gross income because 1/3 is going to my 403b
• $220.84 (FSA – Medical)
• $181 (FSA – Transit)
• $120 (Medical Insurance)
• $16.36 (Vision Insurance)
• $12 (Dental Insurance)
• $5.78 (Required New York Paid Family Leave Deduction)

Final Monthly paycheck: $1,944.38

February Monthly Expenses

I call this my monthly expenses because these expenses hit my pocket book every month:

• Travel – $121 Unlimited Metrocard. Used by FSA card, so it was covered by my pre-tax deduction. I put a little extra every month so that I can potentially cover friends and family’s metro cards if they are in a pinch.
• Rent – $500 (This monthly rent is not realistic ANYWHERE in NYC, I live in with my significant other and he is covering 75% of the rent as well as Con Edison, our utilities provider). I’m fully aware that I will never ever be able to contribute so much into my retirement if I wasn’t being subsidized, and I hope that one day I’ll earn enough on my own that I can fully pay into my retirement, any student loans, and 100% of my rent without needing anyone’s assistance. If did not have my partner, I would be living with my mom right now, which most single people in NYC are doing because the rent is too high. The average 1br in Manhattan is $3,600 with the outer boroughs hovering around $2,000.
• Roth IRA – $458.33 A Roth IRA is essential in your lower earning years as it is capped at higher earning incomes, and phased out completely past a certain point. I treat my Roth IRA as a emergency savings account because you can take out your contributions at any point (but not the earnings on your contributions, that money you should wait til you’re 59 or you’ll get hit with a 10% tax penalty)
• Internet – $44.99
• Phone – $170.57 for 3 cell phone lines. My sister pays me back monthly for her share via Venmo, my brother does not. So my final cost for this hovers around $112.
• ASPCA – $25 on my credit card. I am not sure how to make this a bank deduction so that ASPCA is not hit with credit cards fees on their earn. This is going on my 2% cash back card so I am making 2% out of my charitable contribution (and everything else that I am putting on the card)

Remaining Balance after my monthly expenses: $804.15 (Metrocard doesn’t count because its deducted from my FSA)

Final February Expenses

Passport expenses –

My passport is a month away from being expired, and while this is a one time expense every 10 years or so, its pretty pricey.

• Passport Photos – $17 at FedEx in East Midtown, Manhattan. 2 passport photos for $17? Ridiculous.
• Passport processing fees – $110
• Shipping of old passport and application – $3.75

Total: $130.75

I screwed up on my passport application. I forgot to tape/staple the photos onto the application. I merely just placed it inside along with the application. I was being rushed at work and the post office was closing, so I sealed it without inspecting that I have completed all instructions. Hopefully it will be processed without a problem.

Baby Shower Gift at Babies R Us  – $50. Hopefully she doesn’t read this so she won’t know how much I spent. Though technically, the gift was on her baby gift registry so she ultimately does know how much I spent….

Acne – I went to a dermatologist to finally do something about the acne that is robbing my self-esteem. I initially wanted acutance but the dermatologist did not wanted to prescribe a strong medication so early, so I was perscribe:

• $75 epiduo
• $25 doxycycline
• $35 for a cleanser (I wonder if these are standard prices or higher because of NYC)

My co-pay was $50 but its covered by my FSA contribution.

Groceries – Around $125. I didn’t keep count so this is just an estimate, but it was 100% vegetarian. I do occasionally eat chicken or beef but I don’t cook it myself, just when I go out to restaurants. I was a true vegetarian/vegan for many years (since I was 8), but after a horrific gastritis bout with terrible anemia, I blur the lines between vegetarian and meat eater these days. For the month of February, I was fully vegetarian.

Remaining balance: $363.40

I gave $100 to my mom as a gift because my groceries do not cover everything I eat and she feeds me every time I visit her and provides fruits for on the go. She also takes care of the family dog which was mainly my responsibility until I moved out of the house.

Remaining balance: $263.40

$15.99 for the domain renewal for xoxoemmy.com via Bluehost.

The rest was spent on dining out…

Went to Chinatown twice: Once to Shanghai Cafe Deluxe for vegetable dumplings (they are most famous for the soup pork dumplings and you just visit them if you’re ever in Chinatown and need a cheap meal). Chinatown and East Village is where its at if you want cheap food. The other restaurant was a random Chinese restaurant that had a beef noodle soup that was very chewy and I disliked it immediately (spit it into a napkin when no one was looking) and regretted not getting tofu the entire time. My friend ate it instead.

Thai food (I used the Seated app so I got back $25 Amazon credit from our group dinner, will be using it on doggie snacks soon. If you’re new to Seated, you can use code “MASSIEL1” for instant $5 reward)

Bubble Tea at Gong Cha

 

I believe I had around $100 left for the month of February, which I will use for next month’s expenses.

so where’s the blog money?

This is a hobby right now and it doesn’t make any money worth writing about. Also I have never seen this site as a source of income. Maybe in the future it will change, but I do not consider this website a side hustle, just somewhere to improve my writing, and give a voice to myself.

Reflections

A very good month for me, as I didn’t go out as much I used to, and no one invited me anywhere (does this mean I have no friends?). March has a lot of friends’ birthdays so my expenses should be going up. My lease is also expiring, which means my rent costs is going to go up as well. I try my best to pay my credit card in full every month, and did so this month.

Goals

• Create a side hustle that’s worthy to write about
• Expand on XoxoEmmy so that its website that viewers would want to go to, as opposed to run away from…

This is my first income report / money diary, so please tell me if there is anything else you would like to see!