
Pic of the day fromΒ The Telegraph
THE BLOG: FABULOUSLY BROKE IN THE CITY 2010
(A little Wordle action going on up there)
I feel like I’ve grown so much as a blogger this year. Thanks to everyone out there for making this blog what it is, you’ve made all of the following happen!
This was my original 2009 Year in Review.
2010 GROWTH IN REVIEW
- Became fluent in French
- Visited Paris, France and London, England for the first time
- Moved 19 times in total, in between 4 different cities and 2 provinces
- Managed to stretch enough to be able to touch my toes. Success!
- Tried vegan meals for the first time, and now we eat vegetarian 2-3 times a week*
- Did not shop for clothes or accessories for all of 2010 other than for some pants
- Turned a year older and am edging closer to 30!
*Miso soup broth with soba noodles, sliced mushrooms and green onions = heavenly
New goals for 2011 can be read here: New Year’s Resolutions — Past, Current and Future
2010 FINANCIAL YEAR IN REVIEW
2010 Budget Roundups and Net Worth Changes
Increases and (Decreases)
- January 2010 —($1732.93)
- February 2010 — $6928.24
- March 2010 — $18,865.61
- April 2010 — $466.93
- May 2010 = Lost somewhere π
- June 2010 — $13,834.19
- July 2010 — $12,000.09
- August 2010 — $11,267.91
- September 2010 — $15,791.64
- October 2010 — $18,136.00
- November 2010 — $18,933.16
- December 2010 — $20,355.37
Overall a pretty good year.
My net worth went up for the majority of the months, except for January and I think May’s lost budget.
(The Keeper of my Blog Posts. He clearly dropped the ball.)
TOTAL INCOME FOR 2010: $187,485.98
- This is GROSS income for the most part. NOT NET. I still owe taxes.
- Worked 9 months out of the year at 7 hours a day
- Assuming 2000* hours in a year for an average job, I worked 1415** hours of them
- This means if we average it out on the whole year, I worked about 28.3 hours a week***
- Freelancing work like writing or consulting is included
- I don’t count blog earnings of any kind in any of my income
- BF’s income is also never included in my estimates.
*50 weeks x 40 hours a week =Β 2000 hours in a typical work year assuming 2 weeks vacation
** 39 weeks x 7 hours x 5 days = 1365 hours + 50 hours of over time = 1415 hours worked
*** 1415 hours / 50 weeks = 28.3 hours a week assuming 2 weeks vacation
TOTAL BUSINESS & PERSONAL EXPENSES FOR 2010: $37,143.81
PERSONAL EXPENSES: $21,284.65
The following chart is just for my PERSONAL expenses.
Original goal was to stay at $20,000 but going about $1300 over isn’t earth shattering.
And now for the excuses π
I try to stay around the $1000 budget each month which I’ve done for the most part, but those one-off things like car insurance, car registration costs or travel, doesn’t get factored into my monthly budget.
The last 2 months were also brutal and far above the $1000 estimate.
The problem also came in assuming a low rent, around $300/month which is what we normally pay.
But since I also traveled and worked a lot this year andΒ with a hotel, parking and working costs (even just my personal allocations) in a city you don’t really live in, it justΒ gets expensive.
This year, I’m paying it forward since I had a stellar year, so my real net worth will be 10% less than shown.
Drop it isn’t reflected in my net worth yet because my chequebooks only just arrived (finally!). I can’t believe how many cheques I wrote this year. And theΒ 10% Β is in addition to anything earned from theΒ FB Budgeting Sheet.
BUSINESS EXPENSES: $15,859.16
Boring. Not showing a chart for this because you’ll leave this blog and never come back.
The bulk of it around 90% was: hotel, hotel, hotel.
And parking.
TOTAL SAVINGS FOR 2010: $130,100
- Saved about 68% of my gross income
- Net is lower but I haven’t paid taxes yet
- No charitable contributions written yet*
*You will see the drop in January’s roundup
FINAL NET WORTH FOR 2010: $185,355.64
I started the year with $55,254.70 in net worth.
I ended it with $185,355.64.
2010 Increase from 2009: +$130,101 or 235%
TOP 5 CATEGORIES OF SPENDING
I am not including business expenses in here.
I really believe that the top 5 things you spend on in a year in total, is what you consider to be important in life.
If it’s let’s say buying clothes versus rent, then there might be a problem with priorities.
- Savings: $130,100 — Includes retirement, emergency.. everything.
- Rent: $4735.87 — Need shelter!
- Electronics: $3504.20 — WHUT? π No excuses here. Bought a laptop, cables broke, etc. Guilty as charged.
- Groceries: $2928.01 — We kept it down.
- Travel: $2673.61 — England and France π
So aside from that atrocious Electronics spending, I’d say I did okay.
HOW I DID COMPARED TO 2009
And this my friends, is why I budget and track my money — so I can compare from year to year.
Here is what 2009 was like for me.
I am not including business expenses in here.
Not too shabby.
I spent about $5300 less and I saved about $121,000 more.
Let’s hope 2011 is just as good, if not better.
I can imagine 2011 being more expensive however, seeing as $10,000 is going to that trip. Also, I don’t have any new work lined up.
NET WORTH CHANGE FROM 2009 to 2010
You can also see a lot in the numbers of my net worth from the start of 2009 to the end of 2010:
I tried to keep spending at a minimum a the start and then tried to bank the rest as I made it. It’s why I try not to spend like a rockstar.
I need to save my money for the years when it isn’t so hot.
New Money Goals for 2011
Will be working 2 months and then the gravy train stops
Contract is done at the end of February, so the rest of the year will be my oyster to travel, lounge around, blog some more…
Stay around $1000 – $1500/month in my budget for personal stuff
This seems like a good number that isn’t out of reach or too restrictive.
Still struggling with that one-off thing where I pay car insurance or registration in full, rather than averaging it out over the months.
So I’ll just keep doing what I did in 2010.
Spend only $10,000 on Asia
I’ll try and control myself from eating my way across the continent and to be 20 pounds heavier at the end. π
Hit $250,000 net worth
If possible.Β Not sweating if I don’t.
Money is meant to be spent. Not hoarded.
On to blog stuff!
2009 looked like this:
2010 looks like this:
That stupid pending comment won’t disappear. π
I somehow lost a lot of posts. Like 1000 worth.
I didn’t even delete that many, but something screwed up on my blog and my posts and comments disappeared. *sigh*
No worries. 2011 will be better π
WHAT IS MY BLOG WORTH?
Not that I’d ever sell it but here are some stats.
- Site Value Check = $4950
- My Website Worth = $7,192
- Website Outlook =Β $10,387.90
All over the gat damn place, eh? π
The real price is .. priceless. I love writing on here.
MY TOP 10 REFERRERS
- Give me back my five bucks
- An Urban Missy
- Me in Millions
- Frugal Scholar
- Well-Heeled Blog
- Out of Money Experience
- Saving 4 Later
- In a Moment
- The Asian Pear
- Punch Debt in the Face
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
WHAT ARE MY BLOG RANKINGS?
I always check out Money Crasher’s Page Rankings. They do all the work for me.
Here’s mine, #143:
I use MozRank not Google Page Rank, therefore Website Grader is the best tool out there to give you a summary of everything.
The website www.fabulouslybroke.com ranks 20,619 of the 3,120,547 websites that have been ranked so far.
A website grade of 99/100 for www.fabulouslybroke.com means that of the millions of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 99% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness.
My MozRank is 5/10:
If my blog were a country:
As for my Twitter account @brokeinthecity, Website Grader tells you about it too and the account ranks at 99/100 as well:
The year ended very well for me.
I am racing like a Hoverball Cat towards 2011 π
This 2011 is the year I’d like to:
- Travel and tour Asia for a month and a half on a $10,000 budget
- Learn Chinese
- Turn into a yogi pretzel
- Continue improving my French
- Stay around $1000 – $1500/month in personal spending
- Stay around the $25,000 – $30,000 range (factoring in cost of trip to Asia)
And possibly…
- Visit NYC again (if the bedbug epidemic is done)
- Keep tabs on my shopping; no more bans but I want to be careful
- Really review all my things again and cut 25% of it
- Hit $250,000 in net worth if I can
- Stay out of debt π <— I kid, I kid. π
I’m curious about the low utilities ($3.50 per month) and car insurance ($29.88 per month) you pay. How are these numbers even possible??
I am really wondering where you live that you could have less than $400 rent and ~$100 a month on groceries!? What part of the world do you live?
I freaken love you!! You inspire me! Would love to have a bigger net worth and slowly getting there but I have expensive hobbies like ballroom dancing… Soon I’ll quit my job to travel as long as possible and will have to rebuild some cash after that. Thank you for the info! I will find a way to make it work with your help! π
WOW. A business consultant who very rarely uses her cell phone? When clients need to get in touch with you, what do they use? Telegraph???Telegram??? Smoke signals? Bullsh…it again
I think she means personal, companies usually pay for employees work cellphones.
WOW! That was a great, inspiring post! BTW, how did you become fluent in French? Language course or ..?
My recent post Geldzaken weer op orde
I learned via Pimsleur and BF π He\’s from France, so he helps me a lot and we listen to French TV and French Radio (France).
Wow, incredible year in review! Love the detail!
Thanks Darwin π
Congratulations on a really good year! Worked 9 months and made $180,000 is a rock star! How awesome that you can speak French fluently. You got your act so together. Can't wait to hear about your Asia trip.
My recent post Total Makeover
Thanks Jane π I can\’t wait to GO on the trip. BF and I are getting excited.
How'd you become fluent in French in a year? I lived in Spain for about 5 months years ago. My Spanish got really good, but I never became fluent to the point where my thoughts were in Spanish … I was still in translating mode. Anyway, did you use Rosetta Stone or something before your trip?
No, BF is from France, so all I had to do was listen to Pimsleur mp3s, read French books, listen to TV and movies in French and just not get hung up on every word.
Soon, I started mixing French when talking to my mom and my thoughts started coming out in French. That was at my peak. π Sometimes I talk to myself in the bathroom in French as I\’m doing things π
Wow! Very impressive numbers. Congratulations! I really enjoy reading both of your blogs, and I get a lot of tips and lessons from you.
Thanks!! π You sent a lot of readers my way too. Thank you!
wow. crazy detailed. this is my first post to read on this blog. super interesting. thanks.
and unless you spend the bulk of your time in japan, it’ll be super easy to travel for that 6 weeks on $10000. when i lived in china, i made between $400 and $500 a month and only spent half — and i wasn’t trying to save money. that was pretty much buying and eating everything i wanted.
and every year i’d have a 6-week travel during the semester break (i was teaching). one year i spent $650 total in 6 weeks, going to thailand and staying on the beach, getting SCUBA certified and diving, kayaking, etc.
another year i went to tibet, hiked to everest base camp, crossed into nepal, then flew to those same beaches in thailand, for about $1000 (6 weeks again).
another year, spent the same time and money traveling from china by land into vietnam, cambodia, laos, and then to those same beaches.
no problems with that kind of money.
but learning the chinese language… not quite so easy.
No problem!
Okay so on Japan, I am not spending more than about 2 weeks there. In China I\’m going to Beijing, Shanghai, Macau, Hong Kong, and the bulk of my time will be there.
I am feeling a lot better about my budget after hearing your comment now!
Mandarin is giving me a problem right now. The tones are killing me, the singing… it\’s awful.
You had a great year, and I'm so happy for you. Kudos to you for striving towards your goals, and hitting it out of the park!
Thanks! π I hope 2011 brings a lot of growth too. Personal and financial.
Fantastic stats, especially financials :). I am drooling here.
Have a lot to learn yet, I see, so I will be hanging around here more.
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Aww thank you Elena π
Gosh I wish I was where you are!!! I would love yo go to Asia.. and have French down. …. Good luck with your 2011 goal but really you don't need luck when you've got the drive!!!
My recent post OSAP
Thanks Sarah. Having French down can be pretty easy with Pimsleur π It\’s the 2nd best to Rosetta Stone.
That was an awesome year. But I'm not sure you can call yourself Fabulously Broke anymore! π
Still, great money management and minimalist advice.
My recent post CSA Week 1
I talked about this before.. π It\’s hard to give up a moniker. Maybe in hindsight I should\’ve chosen something more generic? π
Shit girl!! You're probably the highest paid female under 30 out there in Toronto!! π Congrats on such a great year!!
My recent post Weekend Ramblings and PF Blog Love- Homeless Man Edition
Thanks! This is just one year though, not a lifetime.
Hmm, yeah, I putaside money every week for those irregular bills so it should technically even out…but this is really our first year and car expenses especially were a lot of guesswork. I need to sit down, BADLY, and tweak those amounts.
And of course, congrats on such a great year. I started reading in…late 2008 maybe? Can't believe it was such a short time ago you were still with the company, and in such a short time grown into a bigshot consultant.
My recent post Sharing the love with Love Drop!
Eeeep! Not a bigshot consultant here, but more that I got lucky and became way more frugal since 2008. (OMG I feel old now)
Thank you
You did okay! (sarcasm)
Good for you, your dedication to your finances is really impressive.
My recent post 2010 Financial Review
Thanks!
Can I just say that I heartily approve of your ongoing inclusion of silly cat pictures in your posts? As if I didn't love this blog enough already!
Great job on 2010. You should be so proud of yourself.
I\’m practically hunting down LOLCat archives to find pictures to match my words π
I think they\’re adorable.
Thank you!
Great growth in 2010 FB. Impressive income as well.
My recent post How To Make 2-000 A Month In Online Income
Thanks a lot. π
WOOT! You go girl!
Out of curiousity though, is this just your personal net worth or does that includes your company's assets? It's hard to figure out when an entrerpreneur/consultant begins and ends sometimes (at least for me).
Now after kicking ass in 2010, you can enjoy a relaxing vacation in Asia. π
My recent post King of the House
Thanks!
Personal / Business = All the same. I\’m a freelancer so whatever I have in the business is essentially my personal net worth.
I own the company 100% as a private shareholder and I don\’t have any employees, machinery or debts, so it\’s my entire, personal net worth which includes my company\’s assets.
Then every year I take out the full amount allowed for dividends after paying taxes at the end of my fiscal year.
You had a really great year.
I am fairly new to your blog, but I am wondering how you accomplished learning French. I am curious because I am also interested in learning.
Thanks
My recent post Productive Day
My BF is French so he helped me, and I picked up some books on verbs and basic dictionary words (as well as phrases), and used Pimsleur.
I really recommend borrowing Rosetta Stone Level 1 in French from the library. Rosetta Stone is $500 USD as a software but it is FANTASTIC. I\’m really considering an investment in it. I just can\’t pick a language, and I am not sure I would stick with Mandarin.
I'd say these are some stats to be proud of! Other than the freelancing gig, did you feel like you worked harder than the year before? Or was it more of a hitting-your-stride moment? Darn that cat for losing your posts, by the way.
I tried doing wordle for my site, but couldn't get it to work. Something about cookies or something.
My recent post Shake It to Shrink It
I don\’t think that I worked any harder than 2009. Actually, that isn\’t fair because 2009 I didn\’t work at all.
In 2008 however, the year I actually worked, I was at a company for most of the year, then freelanced like mad near the end for about 3 months. That year, I REALLY worked. Far more than this year anyway.
It may have been more of a hitting my stride moment.
Want me to Wordle you and send the images? π
As I said in Twitter FB you are my hero…this post is so, so brilliant, I don't even know where to start. It's not the numbers (even though they are really impressive) it's the financial detail, the being in control of your money, how you manage your spending vs saving…I could go on. lol
Laura you\’re making me blush up a storm over here.
No brilliance on this side.. just plain ol\’… money tracking π
Great job ! those are really inspiring numbers. Hope you can achieve your 2011 goals too.
just curious – is going to India part of your trip to asia too ?
My recent post Never be shy to ask !
Er no. π India, Bhutan, Mongolia and Southeast Asia except for Singapore is not on my trip.
Perhaps I should look into it though. I\’ve always wanted to go.
Your blog posts continue to inspire me to be more frugal and minimalist. I love it!
When you go to Asia, write plenty about the culture/food and take plenty of pictures! You've gotta share that dream trip with all of us.
I will take lots of pictures and smack myself into at least uploading them or something if there are too many π I promise
You killed it! Super well done, beautiful.
My recent post Vlogging Terrifying
Thanks Clare! By the way, your video = awesome. I\’m shy but I think that could be something in the works…. for me π
I'm so making that miso and soba soup this weekend!
Thanks for giving me someone to look up to π
My recent post Hiccup
Mmm miso and soba. I want to make that again tonight, actually.
Er.. you\’re welcome? π Happy to help.
You = rock star. That is all. How can I become a top-tier, badass IT consultant who pulls in that kind of cash for those hours worked? Nearly triple your gross income at the time you started the blog! (yes I get that you may work only 2 months this year and didn't work in 2009, but $185k for 9 months is still certifiably badass).
I recently discovered I enjoy miso soup so that soup sounds delicious (minus mushrooms).
1. I just think I got lucky this year. It\’s rare for people to work more than 6 months in a year, so I\’m certifiably pleased that it made up for 2009\’s lackluster earnings.
2. Oh my goodness.. you\’re right. It is triple my gross income from when I started. That is kinda nuts, I didn\’t even think about it.
3. How can someone not like mushrooms? They make the soup for me! π Are you allergic?
Wow. This is such an impressive post. I LOVE your blog, and enjoy all of the pics and side notes. I live in an area where making $200,000 is the norm, but I would imagine the people I know who make this didn't save 1/100th of what you did. Our household income is close to that, however, our expenses are much higher. You've inspired me to SAVE MUCH MORE than we have in the past, even with college expenses and two more kids to get through….
My recent post January Challenge- Saying No
Well you have 4 kids!! Of course you will spend more.
Once I have kids, I\’m sure I\’ll save less. I know as a child, I sucked out all the money my parents had just in food costs….
wow, all those numbers and graphics just made my head spin. Kinda makes me feel infantilish about my own financial tracking capabilities and my blogging skillls – but there's plenty of room for me to learn π
I did undertand the bigger picture, and I agree wtih Fig – 2010 was a very good year for you. oh, and I LOVED the hoover cat pictures you used!
My recent post Pay day!
That hover cat = genius. I\’m using him (her?) in all my future posts for a laugh. It\’s just too cute.
If you need any help, holler at me. I\’d be happy to help.
Great job last year! You are INSPIRING! It's true!! 2011 is giong to be a huge year for me (financially)! It's the year I'm FINALLY going to get myself out of debt! You have been an inspiration! π THANK YOU! and as soon as I can afford your spreadhseet, I'm going to get it! But sadly, things are BEYOND tight right now :unfortunately π
My recent post little bits of happiness
*high fives you*
Did you get that book you won? How do you like it so far?
Thanks a lot for the super kind words, and I\’ll be waiting via email π
WOWOWWW!!! I am so impressed!!!
Fantastic 2010. The BF better hang on to Ms. Fabulous, that's all I have to say.
Your blog is one of the most entertaining out there so keep it up. Are you planning to post from the road? It'll be tougher, but I bet you'll get a lot of followers.
My recent post Overheard In The Break Room- an xtranormal animation
Hahah! I\’m hanging on to HIM π
He and I make a good pair. We\’re both very much alike, and very different. I can actually say he\’s my soulmate and mean it.
Thanks a lot for the kind words Joe. I\’m actually scheduled up to Jan 2012 right now, so this blog won\’t go on hiatus any time soon.
I\’ll try and post in between here and there as I\’m touring, but I\’d rather enjoy the moment than focus on a blog π
Good Job FB! Your full finanancial review and blog review is truly inspiring. I remember months back when I just started to have interest in PF and was thinking about a blog. Yours I read relegiously and still do. Not only is it inspiring, but it's also motivational. Needless to say, I don't want to drag this on, but you had an excellent 2010. When you do you plan to look for a new contract? How long you plan to stay in Asia? Anywhere in particular?
My recent post Your job- do you love it or love the money
Thank you very much π
1. New contracts — not really actively searching. I mean, I\’ll apply for them but if someone needs me, they call. I don\’t need to prospect.
2. Staying in Asia 1 – 2 months. BF and I haven\’t decided but we do want to go for a real big trip.
Going to: China, Japan, Singapore. Different cities within each, except for Singapore which is a city country.
Nice! 2011 was a great year for you! π
It was a stellar year, no doubt. Thanks!