My Frugal Miser - May Income: $9,258

May was another decent month. I have to give a shout out to Hilton: I received a $458 refund for a prepaid hotel reservation I had to cancel. It was for a conference for my job, which I lost a few weeks before the conference started last September. While the rate was supposed to be non-refundable, I made a plea with Hilton for the refund and explained my situation. I had given up on getting it, and then without so much as an email notice, the refund just appeared on my credit card - nearly 9 months after the fact!

May Income
$2,837 Mystery Shopping*
$4,937 Rental Income
$1,484 Other Sources
$9,258 Total Income for May
*note that the mystery shopping income will always vary from the monthly summary amounts I post. Here I report actual payments received (cash basis accounting) whereas in my monthly mystery shopping update I report the amount I earned for that month.

Notes:

• There was a little drama with the vacant townhouse. In mid-May I found a tenant who placed a small, non-refundable deposit. She was to pay the first month's rent the day before moving in. Instead she emailed me to apologize and explain she had run into some financial issues. I wasn't surprised - nothing tenants do surprises me anymore. Still, I had to scramble to find a new tenant. Fortunately, an acquaintance asked to sign a lease and should be moving in this weekend. Later this month my most expensive property will become vacant.
  
• 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. For example, I included the $458 refund from Hilton in this bucket.
• In June I will be paying property insurance for all my properties. Since I don't accrue this expense, I will likely have negative income in the Rental Income category in June. I really should recognize this expense on a monthly basis, but that makes things too complicated for personal finances.