Wow. Where did April go? It seems like just yesterday I was posting March’s report. April went by super fast due to a number of activities I participated in, which lead to a LOT of expenses. This month was basically shot in only 2 weeks. However, I tightened my belt and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Listed below are my expenses for the month and items of note after that.
Overall, not too terrible. My main budget categories were pretty great (only 1 red!!!), but as usual the “unbudgeted” categories killed me.
1) Gas- I honestly thought this was going to be way higher, but I managed to get by with only filling up when I made a trip on the weekend. I went somewhere every weekend in April (weddings, drill and other out of town activities), so that meant lots of driving.
2) Utilities- I get happier every time I get my bill because it keeps dropping! Thank goodness the weather is finally getting warmer! I can handle being hotter much better than I can being cold. My roommate will be moving out next week which will drop my last utility bill even more.
3) Food- the budget killer. I struggle with meal planning and not wasting food. If I plan out my meals for the week and stick to it, I’m fine. It’s when I don’t plan that I have problems. I only went out to eat for lunch 4 times last month (wahhooo!) and brought snacks along for various travels. I’m trying to get it down to $200/mo, which should be easily doable for a single female who is as tiny as I am. Thankfully, I’ve already started to cut back on the excess trips out which helps (I’m looking at you, delicious Domino’s pizza).
4) This is my last month of paying $900 for rent. I will be moving to a new place in June that while slightly smaller, will charge more. Go figure. I”ll be only a mile and half from work, so I should get some savings in the auto category.
5) Speaking of autos, I had some unexpected expenses pop up. The speaker on the front passenger side went out, so I bought a replacement set. I consider speakers to be a vital part of the car, and have been toughing out the no music phase by listening to podcasts on my phone. I also had the headlight burn out, which I was able to replace myself! Otherwise, that $70 would’ve been much higher.
6) I am moving to a new place and had to put a deposit down. I was lucky it was only $500 and not an entire month’s rent. Good news is I’ll get my old deposit back when I move out of my current place.
7) My niece’s birthday was this month. I managed to find a good toddler bed on Craigslist so now she has a real bed to sleep in!
8) Activities included a charity trivia night and seeing a movie. Not bad for one month!
9) Clothing was the one that hurt the most this month. While I got some great deals, I honestly didn’t need to get new clothes this month. I am moving to a new office where the dress code doesn’t mention jeans, so I will need some nicer clothing. It just could’ve waited a bit longer. I also haven’t bought much in the way of new clothing over the past year and some of my nicer shoes were getting worn out. Good news is I’m now set on clothes and shoes for a long time. Also included was my annual Amazon renewal fee.
10) Travel- while it says $778, I actually only paid $250 thanks to cashing in my travel reward points. I now have my plane tickets for the trip to Ecuador in October, and only need to put down a couple more payments to be completely set.
11) I needed cash for some activities and also had to reimburse my roommate for half of his portion, since he’s moving out in 2 weeks.
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