April is in general one of our spendiest months. So it isn't pretty...



Allowance - I bought books and shoes

Auto - Just gas - Actually $50 under budget. Don't ask me how. No big trips this month I guess. Too busy with work.

Childcare - Included $40 for drop-in care on a sick day for dh. Invaluable since he was sick at a time I could not easily take off work.

I already paid the preschool bill for May. So really, only ONE more month of this. Time flies when you spend too much money. But I am happy this will drop to a much more reasonable level in just a couple of months. BM will drop out mid-July and there is a unpaid week of vacation in there so will only pay $300 or so in July, and $300 monthly going forward.

Dining - About $15 was for my lunches/snacks for the month. $35 at Japanese Buffet. $4 for ice cream out and $10 for a BK run when dh was sick.

Groceries - Good month. Came in $35 under budget. I honestly don't think our groceries have gone up. I thought they had been up a tad the last 2 months, but I can explain that. Dh loaded up on sales stuff in February and in March I bought too much junk. I bought too much junk in April too - but it doesn't show. (Runs to our new Walgreens - it's evil. LOL). A very typical grocery month here. (Includes diapers, cleaning supplies, cat food, cat litter, and all that kind of stuff. I don't break out the "food" because it would take forever. But all the stuff to eat and to be clean and diapered - including cat - goes here).

Household - gardener - and bought some cloth napkins.

Insurance - life insurance (this is for $500k coverage each - we locked in the rate in our 20s. I have some additional coverage through my professional association - since as the bread winner I have more income to replace).

Medical - We had $50 lab charges on top of our premiums

Misc - $150 (budget) to Target and Walgreens for summer clothes for the kids and stuff we needed. Also got some camping supplies for our trip. I spent $10 on sunglasses for the kids too. $5 at Dollar Tree (Toys). & about $20 should probably go to groceries. $100 was for a gift for Mother's Day. We are going in with someone so will be reimbursed half.

Personal Care - haircuts for kids at beauty school. ($4 and $2).

Professional Dues - $375 will be reimbursed. $75 was political contribution along with it, not reimbursed.

Tax - Property Taxes

Vacation - Down Payment on Yosemite trip. Would not be so much but we are paying for my dad - Father's Day gift I guess.

I just realized IRS payment on 4/15 is not showing on here - that was $1200. So yeah, a spendy month...

Then again, everything was well within budget (Except I was thrown off by the IRS amount. But the stimulus rebate makes that rather a moot point).

This is the first full month we dropped using cash. Every dime is accounted for here.

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April Savings:

*Received $1500 overtime bonus (net of taxes) and deposited into mid-term savings, with another $15 I scrounged up to bring total to $2k.

*Earned $86 interest - added to mid-term savings. Balance is up to $2,087. Goal $5k by 12/31. Stimulus will help that along.

*Contributed $100 to our ROTHs ($50 to Vanguard Total Stock and $50 to T Rowe Retirement 2040).

*Earned $625 in employer retirement plan.

*Set Aside $900 for short-term savings.

*Set Aside $250 to medical deductible fund.

Savings Drains:

*Pulled $50 from medical fund, for bills.

*Pulled $4500 from short-term savings. Property Taxes, IRS, life insurance, money for camping, and cash for political contributions.

I updated my balances to the left. I wouldn't have a negative in short-term savings, but for the unexpected IRS bill. I pulled from there since I will replenish short-term fund with stimulus rebate, when it arrives.

Usually April and December are our big months, when property taxes and our big insurance bills come due. Likewise, IRS time and christmas time, etc.

BUT May is not looking to be much better. It looks like I may have $1500 in medical bills and we will spend almost $2k on vacation. So spendy spendy spendy... I am not particularly stressed about it though, since it fits in the budget. But we will have another high spend month in May.

Net Worth:

I accidentally over wrote my March #s so not sure how I fared compared to last month. (PRobably down? With all the cash outflow...). But our net worth is up $3k for the year. Almost, barely anyway.

Since my goal is to be up $25k-$30k for the year, I have a ways to go.