My Frugal Miser - February Income: $6,785

February was okay. At first I wasn't going to pay myself a salary until the restaurant's economics improved but I backed off that just a little. Still, I only paid myself about $2.50 an hour so it's well below minimum wage. Mostly a way to cover my commuting expenses.

February Income
$642 Mystery Shopping*
$3,916 Rental Income

$1,000 Salary
$1,228 Other Sources
$6,785 Total Income for February
*I did very little mystery shopping in February; this represents payments made for work done in the past.

Notes:

• The category "Other Sources" includes non-recurring (or semi-recurring) income since I always seem to have a little something that doesn't fall into the other buckets.

Vehicles and the True Cost of Ownership: How Much is My Car Really Costing Me?

I drove fewer miles in my Pontiac G5 last month. I used the Corolla for a week, plus I don't really go anywhere except to and from work.

I determined that each mile I drive costs me $.0867 in depreciation. In February I drove 1,603 miles. My vehicle depreciation expense was $138.98.

Mystery shopping definitely consumed some miles! In February the only shopping I did was 17 gas station shops that provided $10 free gas at each location.

A Little Relief

It's been six whole weeks since the restaurant opened, and I've worked open to close every single day. It's a good thing we aren't open in the evening or I might have lost my mind! But, starting today - and only if we can pull it off - Chris (my business partner) and I are going to work staggered hours during the week. Chris will be at the restaurant from 5 AM until 11 AM and I will be there from 9 AM until 3 PM. Since the weekend is our busiest time, we will continue working open to close on those days.

I'm not throwing in the towel. I believe I can be more effective by working a 50 hour week instead of a 70 hour one. For the last six weeks I have left my house at 4 AM (it takes me an hour to get there) and usually arrive home some time around 5 PM... every...single...day.

Business is improving but we have a long way to go. Yesterday was crazy busy - in a two hour period we did nearly $800 in sales. The local newspaper featured a story about us on the front page of it's Saturday edition. Hopefully those new customers who read about us and tried us for the first time will start making our restaurant a regular eating choice.

I thought I would share a couple of photos of the restaurant. We have three unique dining areas - the main dining room, which has 12 booths and 5 tables, the back dining room, which features a huge bar with cable TV and several oversized tables, and an upstairs dining room for private parties which will seat about 50 people. In all the fire marshall will allow us to have 186 people in the restaurant. It's a great space - lots of brick and natural light and high ceilings.