April Budget Review

Wow, what a month! April was a great month. Not just because I made huge debt repayment and savings strides, but also because nothing seriously bad happened. It was a nice mellow and fun month to say the least.

We celebrated Ray’s birthday (hence the larger dining out total), wrapped up my staycation, made progress on my vision board and overall I just had a good time hanging out with friends and family with the weather being so nice lately.

My Highs

I made a huge payment on my car loan in April and I paid a little more than usual on my student loans too. This was thanks in most part to my tax refund but I’m happy I also maintained my regular savings rate and didn’t slack off just because I knew I would be making a lump sum payment. I know what some of you are thinking. I read a handful of those You Shouldn’t Be Getting a Tax Refund and Giving the Govt. an Interest-Free Loan types of posts and most of them seem pretty one-sided. Not everyone who receives a tax refund overpays to the government and that includes me.I make okay money but not spectacular enough to be required to pay anything close to 30% of my income in taxes. Since I didn’t start freelancing until early this year, I didn’t have any self-employment income to worry about and I also get a child tax credit since I ‘m a parent and a few other tax breaks Some of my coworkers who don’t have kids actually pay more than me in taxes but I know that as my income increases I won’t always get large refunds each year. So it was nice to be able to use the extra money to throw on my debt and if you want to see where I’m at now, you can always check out mydebt updates and for a more detailed background about my situation, I recently did an interview with the lovely ladies of Fruclassity.
I make okay money but not spectacular enough to be required to pay anything close to 30% of my income in taxes. Since I didn’t start freelancing until early this year, I didn’t have any self-employment income to worry about and I also get a child tax credit since I ‘m a parent and a few other tax breaks. (I should probably look into a few tax calcs just to be safe). Some of my coworkers who don’t have kids actually pay more than me in taxes but I know that as my income increases I won’t always get large refunds each year. So it was nice to be able to use the extra money to throw on my debt and if you want to see where I’m at now, you can always check out my debt updates and for a more detailed background about my situation, I recently did an interview with the lovely ladies of Fruclassity.
My ComEd bill was actually $80 this month so Ray and I didn’t have to split the bill or pay on it and I was just able to take care of it myself. I’m so happy we don’t have to mess with the heat anymore for a while.
I shopped around for lower auto insurance rates and I got them. Shout out to State Farm! And I was able to pay for a 6-month policy so I will just put money aside each month to get ready for the next 6-month payment. I really don’t like how the auto and insurance industry discriminates against younger people by making them pay more. Everyone gets in accidents no matter how old they are and despite me having a good driving record, when I went to rent a car this past weekend for a day trip, Enterprise charged me an extra $15 solely due to my age. It was so annoying but that’s an argument for a different day.
So Ray’s birthday was earlier this month and we like to do something special for each other even if it’s something small because we rarely ever get each other anything unless it’s a birthday or holiday. I was looking through my room and somehow I came across an old Amazon gift card I lost back in November. At my company’s holiday party, my boss gave my coworkers and I gifts and I received a $100 gift card. Before I even had the chance to use it, I misplaced it and I was really upset about losing free money basically. But long and behold, 6 months later, I came across the unused gift card and used it to buy most of Ray’s gifts so it was such a win. And he doesn’t mind a bit that I used a gift card, who would?

My Lows

I’m having a slight overspending issue with my credit cards. My groceries and fuel are actually paid through my American Express so I can get points and I pay it off every month. But the extra section of my budget for credit card payments for my other cards shouldn’t even be there. Ideally, I would not like to be using them at all and put the extra money into my moving fund. Slowly decreasing those numbers instead of having them increase each month is my plan so April was a bit of a setback.

Onto The Budget

Living Expenses/Utilities/Other Bills
Rent: $315
Fuel: $154.76
Groceries: $154
Household Toiletries: $20
ComEd: $80 (Hooray for the light bill finally going down)
HealthShare: $131 (Check out my review or Liberty HealthShare)
My Phone: $12
Daycare: $212
6-month Auto Insurance: $580 ($75 from this month, the rest from saving)
Gym: $14
Bed Payment: $25 (Read more about Ray and I’s decision to purchase our Tempurpedic bed here)
Credit Cards from last month: $182
Auto Expenses: $100 (registration sticker)

Entertainment/Misc.
Dining Out: $140.06
Son’s Soccer League: $26
Soccer Gear/Materials: $12
Gifts: $25 Gift Card
Entertainment: $11.30 (saw the movie Home with the kiddo over spring break)
Clothes: $0 (Halfway into my 6-month shopping ban)

Debt Payments/Savings
Car Note: $3,300
Student Loans: $640
Emergency Fund: $250
Moving Fund: $150

Professional Development
FinCon Pass: $307 (If you haven’t heard, I’m going to FinCon in Sept.! I actually paid for my ticket on March 31 right before the early bird special ended but it was with my AMEX and I ‘officially paid’ for it by paying off the balance with side hustle income this month)

Total: $6,841.12

How did your budget in April go? Anything good or bad happen? Let me know in the comments!

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