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Home > April 2021 Recap - Spending & Summary

April 2021 Recap - Spending & Summary

May 3rd, 2021 at 05:09 pm

I live for these monthly recaps lol. 

April spending was a bit lower than the last 2 months, and a few hundred higher than my lowest month so far this year (January coming in at ~$715).  I have a feeling the slightly higher spend from the last 2 months is an accurate reflection....but isn't that why we track it?  To get an accurate picture of what is being spent/what happens??

Category: April Spend/YTD Spend - commentary

Alcohol: $0/$30.32 - this refers to alcohol purchased independently....at a liquor/wine/beer store, not as part of a grocery run (categorized in groceries), at a bar or with a dinner out (categorized in dining).  Funny how life changes.  I was a big wine aficiando for a long time, and this number would have been much higher at this point in the year during that time.  I expect there to be an addition to this category in May for Mother's Day but my sister may end up grabbing it.

Car/Gas: $3.49/$209.70 - this month's spending must have been on parking.....I'm happy to say that I was able to make it the entire month without needing gas!

Clothing: $40.35/$129.52 - I'm going to need to place an Old Navy order soon, so I purchased a $50 gift card for $33.50 from Raise.com (I do this often....depending on the store, they often have heavily discounted gift cards and it's a good way to stack sales from the actual store itself).  I also spent $6 out of pocket at another store that I like that I had some rewards credit for.  Couldn't quite get the cart to line up to be net zero but $6 is pretty close.  Overall, if this is my YTD out of pocket with a third of the year done, I think I'm on track for a low spend year in this category!

Dining/Entertainment: $62.79/$205.75 - a few takeout orders, and a stop at an amazing bakery for some goodies when I was starting my week off from my diet lol.  The bakery is pricey but worth it!

Education: $40.23/$185.63 - this was the review books for the CLEP exams I am taking.  Have to decide if I am going to include school fees that are covered by loans in this category or not.  I think I should be starting to get bills from the school soon.  At least I hope so....summer semester starts in less than 4 weeks.  

Gifts: $67.50*/$216.55 - I pre-ordered some desserts from another fancy bakery for Mother's Day.  Starred because my sister is going to send me the money for half, but hasn't yet, so her reimbursement will be reflected in May spending.  

Grocery/Household/Toiletries: $477.03/$1742.72 - by far my largest category, but ya gotta eat.  Since this is inclusive of a few different categories it's not an accurate picture of what I spend on groceries alone, but it would be too annoying to go back and update it now, so I'll probably break it out further next year if I feel the need to get more granular.

Medical: $60/$92.06 - my therapist's office started charging me a co-pay again.  I didn't pay one for a long time, as during COVID, my insurance stopped co-pays for telehealth, which is what these appointments are considered.  I have to double check to make sure they're back on again....was nice to not have to pay anything OOP for this.  I have have a few other co-pays for which I've gotten a bill in the mail.  I'll pay those sometime this month, so they'll be reflected in May.  

Miscellaneous: $49.07/$232.45 - everything in this category this month (and actually this year) could technically be considered a new category, Fitness, but I didn't feel like adding it lol.  This month was my OOP cost for a gadget for my bike, a wrench to change the pedals, and an entry fee for a DietBet.

Office Supplies: $0/$87.92 - no spending here this month.  I expect something for May.....I have to drop my shredding off at Staples, and want to buy a small under desk shredder (since I can't just take it to the office every few months anymore lol)

Personal Care: $35/$194 - this was a long overdue pedicure.  Worth.every.penny.

Pet: $102.53/$218.87 - I didn't really need any pet food or litter yet, but Chewy had a good percentage back on Rakuten, so I placed an order.  I'm still filling in my needs of non-perishable items, based on how the girls are adjusting (very glad I didn't buy any beds.....I took 2 from my mom's house that one of the cats was obsessed with there....she hasn't even acknowledged them here lol).  I don't think I'll need to buy food or litter til at least June, though.  

Subscriptions: $2.99/$186.46 - monthly iCloud storage

Travel: $37.91/$37.91 - my OOP expenses for Vegas.  Pretty much any money I spent while away went in this category, even if would fit in another.  I didn't spend much money, since everything was pre-paid by my mom and it wasn't a leisure trip.  

Total: $938.66/$3729.63

This spending summary is so helpful to me every month to go back and see what I spent money on.  There are definitely a few items that I am annoyed at myself for, but all I can do is use it for learning.

Next up is the summary of debts & savings.  I look at this in two ways - change from the start of the year, and change from the start of the previous month.  Pretty fun that I have increased my savings by the same percentage that I have decreased my priority debts.  (Nerd alert lol).  All in all, everything is going in the right direction.  Debt continuing to go down (although I think the pace will slow for a while.  Not expecting any more large cash infusions til the summer, which are helping to accelerate paydown).  Savings continuing to go up, and even if there are times when it goes back down, it's because I needed to pay for something that in the past would have gone on a credit card.  I'm confident that by next January, when I am starting 2022 tracking, I'll be funding my spending categories (and will conventiently have an entire year's worth of spending data to extrapolate from!) so I can hone in on focusing on growing savings since those costs will be covered from sinking funds and savings can be just that.  

If I weren't on a diet, I'd give myself a cookie!  lol.  For now, mental satisfaction will just have to do.

 

 

 

3 Responses to “April 2021 Recap - Spending & Summary”

  1. Wink Says:
    1620061600

    Your debt reduction % is really impressive! Your savings is looking great too. This is proof positive that setting a budget and sticking to it works. Great job.

  2. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    1620098637

    That debt reduction is super impressive. I mean to see a 10% reduction in 4 months is a lot.

  3. FocusedinmyForties Says:
    1620143140

    Thanks, Wink & LAL! I'm really happy with my progress. The way I have been tracking the "consolidated balances" amount is a bit misleading....I'm tracking how much is left to be settled, not how much left there is to pay....I don't want to swap that methodology mid year, but if everything has been settled by the end of this year, I will convert over to tracking how much is actually left to pay.

    Progress is progress tho!

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