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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Tonya@Budget and the Beach says
Huge debt repayment! Great job! Glad you found that gift card too. I would have been kicking myself! 🙂
Chonce says
Thanks Tonya! Yeah I was slightly devastated when I lost the gift card but I got over it. I was more than ecstatic to recover it after all that time, haha.
thesingledollar says
That’s so cool! I actually don’t have much of an objection to getting a big refund; it’s not like the interest you would have made on $3000 in a year is all that spectacular. As long as you don’t budget in expectation of it, I think it’s great to take a big lump sum that’s handed back to you in the spring and drop it on something important to you like debt payoff or emergency fund or whatever.
Chonce says
That’s a solid point. This year my refund worked out very well for me 🙂
Jennifer @ WanderlustWallet says
We have a Tempurpedic mattress set too, and we love it. While living in our (furnished) temporary apartment for a couple of months right after moving abroad, we really missed our bed. The one provided was way too firm and pretty terrible. We were so excited to get our sea shipment with our wonderful bed, haha. Congrats on your huge debt repayment for April!
Chonce says
Yeah those beds are awesome. It was uncomfortable at first and took me a few days to get used to it though but I love that we have a 10 year warranty.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
We paid in a ton of money last year, so we were set on getting a refund this year. We ended up getting a big refund, and I’d much rather have it be this way than have to pay in. It’s much better than having to write a big check to the IRS imo.
Chonce says
Same here. Now that I’m freelancing though I’m hoping things will just even out and I’ll still get a small refund. But I’m still going to be setting money aside to pay taxes just in case, but I highly doubt it.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
The IRS actually lost one of my quarterly estimated tax payments…I have no idea how long it will be until I get it. I have all the documentation that shows the check cleared but for whatever reason they can’t find it. Currently in the “hard trace” division….So even if you think you’re getting a refund you may have to wait a while…or I just have really bad luck!
Chonce says
That really sucks, I’m sorry to hear that. Hope everything works out in the end though.
Kayla @ Femme Frugality says
Can’t wait to meet you at FinCon! It’ll be my first time going too and I bought my ticket the day they went on sale because I was so excited. 🙂
Chonce says
Awesome, can’t wait to meet your either! Those early bird specials were extremely helpful in cutting the costs of the conference.
Jessica says
Way to go on that big debt payment! You’ll have your car paid off in no time! Just to clarify, do you usually count your credit card spending in the budget for the month you spend it or the month you pay it? I also use my AMEX for the points and pay it off when I get the statement. I’m never sure how to put it in my budget!
Chonce says
Thanks Jessica and great question! I might do it kind of weird, but since I only use my AMEX for gas and groceries, I simply list the amount spent on each category and I pay it off early the following month.
My ‘credit cards’ category is for all my other credit cards and the miscellaneous expenses I use them for (that do not appear in my budget review). I limit myself to spending $300/mo. on AMEX so what I spent on gas and groceries for April will be getting paid off this week. And what I spend on gas and groceries for the month of May will be reported for those two categories in my May Budget Review, but I will pay the card off in early June. The main reason why I report it when I spend it on the card is because I’m basically paying for it since I’m using a similar amount of money to pay off last month’s balance. I could really just pay for gas and groceries with my own cash but there’s no fun in that since I don’t get reward points that way. Hopefully that makes sense.
Jason @ TheButlerJournal.com says
Congrats on a good month. April was great for me. I paid off my discover credit card. I need to purchase my Fincon pass before it increases again.
Chonce says
It’s best to utilize the early bird rates for FinCon before they raise the price again soon. Can’t wait to meet you at the conference!
Charissa says
Nice job on the big payments towards your car and the student loans! You are rocking.
Chonce, I want to nominate you for the Liebster Award. This post will tell you more about it, http://www.cookwithashoe.com/general/nominated-for-the-liebster-award/