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Tuesday, July 7

My Frugal Miser - June Income: $18,531

Even though the meeting industry is shut down, I managed to keep our income up.  There were some one-time inflows which made this the best month of the year.

The Airbnb is doing great.  We only had 3 empty days.  The trend is definitely towards shorter stays from drive-in guests.

Meeting work was zero.  It's possible we will work one day in July for a special gathering to demonstrate safe meeting practices.  I'm a bit skeptical about the meeting taking place, but we'll see.

Rental income only includes a house and a condo in Birmingham.  The other Birmingham house was vacant.

I received a $1,000 bonus for upgrading a bank account.  My partner received a lump sum for unemployment and made a hefty contribution towards our bills, which is posted in Other Income.

June Income: $18,531

$0 Mystery Shopping/ Merchandising
$0 Meeting Jobs
$1,424 Gig Apps (Rideshare, Scooter Charging, Food Deliveries, etc.)
$1,556 Amazon Deliveries
$1,665 Rental Income
$3,509 Airbnb Income
$23 Interest Income
$10,354 Other Sources

Investment Accounts Change in Value:  $21,873

My investment accounts continued to recover from the corona crash.  Unfortunately a couple of my positions may be permanently impaired.  The largest loss has been Tailored Brands, owner of Men's Wearhouse and Joseph A. Banks.  The company could be headed for bankruptcy and my 12,000 shares will likely not recover.

Sunday, July 5

My Frugal Miser - June Expenses: $24,319 (!!!)


I made a lot of progress in June towards reducing ongoing expenses.  I bought a used Elantra to replace the Sonata.  I will be selling the Sonata soon.  This will reduce auto expenses in a couple ways:  the Elantra is more fuel efficient, so I'll save on gas.  It will also reduce repairs.  The other thing I did was make a significant principal payment on the rental property mortgage.

The rental property has a 5.125% mortgage.  I had money sitting in a bank account basically earning nothing.  In June I paid $35,575 towards reducing the balance.  This cuts $150/month in interest.  I will pay off the entire mortgage as fast as possible, which means $449 in monthly mortgage payments will go away soon!


Large Expenses

  • I paid $1,358 for the yearly insurance on the Airbnb house.
  • I spent $2,308 on our rental properties.  We worked on the vacant Birmingham property last month.
  • $532 was spent on the Sonata.  This includes two new tires (an almost new tire had to be replaced due to damage from a nail) and an emergency repair that required a tow to the shop.
  • We replaced the carpet in our home's living room with vinyl tile.  Eventually I will probably extend the tile to the master bedroom.

Everything Else

Our food costs are always high.  In June we traveled to Birmingham and Las Vegas, which contributed to higher restaurant spending.  Fortunately the Vegas trip was super-frugal.  The hotel rooms were free, I had credits on Southwest for the flight, and I hit a Royal Flush on video poker, which paid for the trip.  I also spent $154 for a Groupon to tint the windows on the new car.

June Business Spending:  $3,970
June Personal Spending:  $5,959
June Car Purchase:  $14,390

June Expenses:  $24,319

$14,390 New Car
$1,151 Auto (service, gas, insurance, AAA, etc.)
$0 Bank Fees
$0 Clothing/ Personal Care
($10) Fun (vacations movies, gambling, alcohol, concert tickets) income this month
$856 Food
$406 Health and Dental
$2,605 Household/Mortgage Payment/Home Repair
$0 Interest Expense
$0 Miscellaneous
$640 Taxes includes quarterly tax payments
$0 App Jobs Expenses (tolls, car washes, etc.)
$0 Unreimbursed Job Expenses
$0 Reimbursed Job Expenses
$309 Utilities
$2,308 Rental Property Expenses
$1,662 AirBNB Expenses