Monthly Costs to Work From Home

Monthly Costs to Work From Home – Detailing my monthly costs during my year off. Blog, trading, and food expenses. 

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Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to spend money when no budget has been set?  I certainly have.  When you’re unaware, it’s so much easier to turn a blind eye and swipe your credit card without concern.

That’s why I started to track my expenses.  It’s even more vital when you don’t have a salary coming in every two weeks.  So a little while back, I started tracking my expenses.  Then I started to write about them to show the costs of working from home as a trader and blogger.

And more recently, I started the full disclosure expense report to hold myself accountable.  Unfortunately though, the month of May was a disaster for spending.  I even spent more than December which is during the holiday season.

Nevertheless, there’s always another month to improve.  So here is this month’s report detailing the costs to work from home.  Below I’ll break down my trading, blogging, grocery, and any other significant expenses that went through my account during the month.  Let’s begin.

[bctt tweet=”The Monthly Costs to Work From Home | Breakdown of #Trading #Blogging #Food Costs” username=”reversethecrush”]

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Total Monthly Costs

Total Spent in May: $2671.42

Compared to April: Up $438.86

That number probably looks pretty typical to all you salaried folks out there.  I used to spend about $2,500 a month on average.  And lately, I’ve been right around that very range.  But overall, my expenses have dropped significantly by working from home.

My overall costs could be as low as $1500 to $1800 a month if I was really desperate.  The recent additional costs have come from renewing my drivers licence, taxes, and spontaneous fun.

That said, the goal is to spend less than I have been.  And that’s what these reports are geared towards.  I want to spend less than $2000 in June, however, it’s going to be quite the challenge unless the Warriors make quick work of the Cavs.  The games get me out more for drinks.  As if the patio-season weather wasn’t enough.  But there are more affordable ways to have fun such as tennis, biking, and relaxing down by the waterfront (with a backpack full of icepacks and Tall cans).  Oh and Netflix.

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Food Costs

Grocery: $245.43

Dining out: $103.54

The monthly costs of going out was up because of my time spent away.  And groceries were along the same line they usually are.  No real issues to go on about here.

But regarding food, it recently became clear that I’ve become somewhat of a food snob.  Living with someone working in the restaurant industry for more than 2 years will do that to you.  But I recognized this when I had dinner with my parents during the month.

We had pasta and salad, which was good, but made me take notice of how particular I’ve become.  And for the record, my parents can both cook.  I would say that they’re better than average actually.

But it’s the little things that you notice.  Things like how the noodles need to be undercooked.  Soggy noodles are absolutely disgusting and I made sure to cook the pasta to my liking while I was there.

Other factors leading me to conclude my food snobbery are plating.  Pasta is an ugly food that needs to be contained within a bowl or sunken plate.  Something that gives it form.

And bagged salad.  That’s not something I’d touch now either.  I hardly even eat your typical lettuce.  It’s usually arugula coupled with my freshly chopped vegetables.  Sure it takes longer, but the nutrition and taste is worth it.

Food is one of those items where I’d argue paying more is definitely worth it.  Another example of this is a restaurant I went to with my friend.  We went to this cheap breakfast spot during my week off.  And to be honest, I hated the place.  The environment was gross, bathrooms questionable, and the food was not restaurant worthy.

The potatoes were deep fried, some of them double fried and stiff.  The scrambled eggs were overcooked.  They were dry and overly yellow around the edges.  It seemed like the grill must not have been clean.  Like there was older pieces of egg in my egg.  And it was an ugly looking breakfast.  They basically brought it over as a big pile without any thought whatsoever to it’s appearance.  Remember, we eat with our eyes.

Now, the meal was only $6.95, but It would have been worth paying double to get something better.  Sorry to trash your spot Derek, but I wouldn’t want to go back there.

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Trading & Investing

Commissions: $165.31 (Down $115.59 from April)

Trades Placed: 17

Other Fee’s: $2.59

Commission costs were down since there was 11 less trades completed than in April.  Less is often more.  I’ve been focusing more on good setups and moving up the stop limits.  I’ve also been taking losses quicker.  The end result is exactly what I was aiming for.  I’m making more on the winning trades and losing less on the bad ones.

Another positive is that average commission cost was down in May as well.  The average commission was $9.72 per trade (including buy & sell).

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Blog Expenses

Total Spent: $1.21

I spent a total of $1.21 on the blog for the month of May.  Less than I made with Google Adsense actually so I’m running a profitable business here (haha).

The $1.21 is actually from an ongoing Google Adwords campaign that I’ve continued to let run.  This campaign brought in 9 clicks to the website during the month for an average cost of $0.13 per click.  It’s not really doing much.  I’m more using it to familiarize myself with the different advertising tools available.  I’ve got a budget set for a maximum spending of $0.25 per day.

Otherwise, the blog cost me nothing.  I’ve prepaid for the web hosting costs through Bluehost.  I guess I did spend $25 to get through the door of Casa Loma.  Can I consider that a blog expense for all the photos I snapped?  Probably not.

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Final Thoughts on Monthly Costs

I drastically overspent this past month, but it was honestly was one of the more exciting months in a while.  The combination of the weather, NBA Playoffs, Casa Loma, and time spent away made it pretty swell.

But the spending in June needs to be toned down.  And though I admit it will be challenging, I will simply need to exercise discipline.

In the end, working from home is still much cheaper than the day job.  I save $324 per month just on transit and coffee money alone!  And as you can see, the total costs of trading and blogging for the month only totalled $169.11.  Which I bet is still cheaper than any commute, car payment, or even lunch expenses at the day job.

But I must admit, when you have more time, it can be quite difficult not to spend more on fun activities.

Question: How does this compare with your spending?

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I am not a licensed investment or tax adviser. All opinions are my own. This post may contain advertisements by Monumetric and Google Adsense. This post may also contains internal links, affiliate links to BizBudding, Amazon, Bluehost, and Questrade, links to trusted external sites, and links to RTC social media accounts.

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