How I Spent My Money in April
I’m breaking down how I spent my money in April and how it’s changed in comparison to March.
Investing: $500 (down $27.65)
I put the same amount of money into my IRA account as last month.
I cancelled my round-ups for Acorns for this month so that I could be more flexible with my money.
Quality of Life: $2159.14 (up $1150.87)
Paid for 2 months of art class instead of one month because my credit card got stolen and couldn’t switch the card on file; since I didn’t want to potentially get late fees, I just paid off the next month as well. This expense was complete planned and saved for from previous months.
Bought a bunch of jeans to try on, like 13 pairs of jeans. I will be returning at least 10 pairs of them after I try them on and pick my favorites.
Phone bill: $46.51 (up $5.41)
Changed the card on file and somehow got charged with more taxes now since my credit card’s billing address is in California ??
Short Trips: $0 (down $233.40)
Bought a ticket home after WFH was mandated at work last month.
Interest and Fees: $253 (up $174.41)
Last month, my one year subscription of YNAB was over so I paid for that
This month I applied for 2 credit cards, one being the AMEX gold so that was the bulk of this month’s interest and fees charge.
Rent: $1480 (no change)
Never really changes…
Utilities: $0 (down $48.47)
I included my home improvement items from last month as utilities because they don't seem to fit anywhere else.
Roommates were (and still are) wonderful and paid for WiFi and electricity since I’ve been out all month.
Self Care: $17.79 (up $7.79)
This is probably some form of vitamins.
I can’t really use more money on self care since everything is shelter in place. But I want to go to get a massage and chiropractor as soon as they open up. My back…
Subscriptions: $22.95 (up $14.95)
Audible and Spotify
My card was stolen last month (2 times... ) anyways. I paused Audible as I was waiting for my new cards and resumed it this month.
Groceries: $304.98 (up $235.82)
I think I really should rethink how I buy groceries…
2 bottles of wine, 1lb of coffee, 1 quart of milk, 1 bar of chocolate, 2 mangos, 1 pack of cherry tomatoes, 1 bag of kimchi, 6 freshly meals, $43 on imperfect
I did spend $85 on my anniversary day with Eric, we basically did an at-home KBBQ. To put this into perspective, on our last anniversary, I spent $85 on one bottle of wine for dinner. The groceries, along with the soju & sake he bought, covered lunch for us, dinner for us + his mom, and leftover meat for another day. AND a $16 TUB of kimchi.
Dining out: $130.04 (down $277.15)
This is so nice, my dining out was cut down significantly this month. Our family has been making a lot of food - including pizza and bread.
Transportation: $29.45 (down $47.45)
Miscellaneous transportation?
Total net month to month: up $954.32
This really isn’t too bad as most of this is from paying next month’s art class and the clothes that I bought just so I could try on and I’ll return most of them. I would probably end up keeping 2 pairs of jeans which would max be $200. So month to month would be about the same.
*Rest of the money went to various different savings accounts for my short term goals and emergency fund.
Projections for May:
Investing: $1000
Quality of Life: -$650
Expecting to get a lot of returns back for clothing
Phone bill: $46.51
Short trips: $0
Interest & Fees: $300
Paying my accountant
Rent: $1480
Utilities: $18
Averaging utilities between last 2 months and leaving some room for home improvement
Self Care: $25
Refresh on some vitamins; self care is vital in these times.
Subscriptions: $8
Probably pausing Audible for a month to really focus on actively reading the books I have.
Groceries: $200
I have enough food for the first half of May so I should be able to save a bit for the month.
Dining Out: $100
I’m going to try to stick to this lesser amount this month~
Gifts: $300
Many birthdays this month
Transportation -> Miscellaneous: $30
This is going to be my miscellaneous budget, it could be for transportation but leaving it up so I can have space in my budget for the unexpected.
Please stay safe and healthy.
