For some reason during April, I kept thinking that I was spending a ton of money and that it was going to be a huge bust on the budget when I went to review my numbers at the April. Turns out that I would end up being completely wrong and my budget ended up coming in way under budget, balancing out the high spending of March with the camping trip that I took. At one point when I was looking over everything, I even went to go check my wallet to make sure the amount I had in wallet matched the amount remaining in my budgets and it matched up – perfectly. That usually does not happen, as I will go back and be off by 5-10 dollars and have to think about what I ended up spending that on before I do these budget posts, but this time there was no problems at all. The money in my wallet matched my spreadsheets perfectly, and obviously the spending I put on my credit cards does not lie. With the extra income, extra paid towards my student loans, and very low spending this makes April a great month for me from a personal finance perspective.
Here’s the spending breakdown for April:
The only category of spending that I actually went over in was my gas spending by $20, as well as spending $29 towards the “extra” spending category. I think the reason that I thought my budget was going to bad at first is because I actually went out to eat three times, and went out for just drinks another time. But looking back I basically paid around $10 for each time and got two drinks during happy hour which came in a lot lower than it seemed in my head!
Gas has been going up here which is what accounted for my increased spending this month, as well as the way I filled up towards the end of last month basically putting an extra gas tank into April instead. I also made two trips to visit my girlfriend at college, but that wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary. The higher gas prices do increase the cost of that trip though.
My extra spending was a very small portion of the budget this month, with that being a haircut and a new oil drain plug for my car (more expenses related to that will coming in May). I also contributed some money to a card/little something for a coworker that recently lost a relative. No wasteful spending to be found in this category either! Seems like I was being a little silly in my thinking of April as a high spending month, so let’s hope that May brings more of the same without the worrying part 🙂
Image Source: Death To Stock Photo
I know what you mean about feeling as though you’ve gone way over the budget. Well done for being under though. I’m super jealous at your rent $100? I don’t even want to convert that into £’s because I already know it’s practically nothing. Keep up the good work!
Yeah, normally I can keep track of things in my head pretty well but for some reason this month just threw me off for some reason.
No need to convert or to be jealous just yet, that is just the small “rent” I am paying for living at home. My parents have basically agreed that they won’t ask for more as long as I’m paying over the minimum amount for my student loans and not just blowing cash.
That will probably end up being around 10x that when I look to move out!
I think you had a successful month budget wise. You are killing your student loans.
That you very much, I would definitely have to agree with you this month. It’s because of my budgeting that has allowed to me do so well on paying on my student loans!
Money has a funny way of tricking our minds. As you thought you were “spending a ton of money” for April you see at the end your premise was way off. This is human nature. We tend to over or underestimate numbers to suit our predetermined mindset. Of course, when you track every dollar spent you get a clear no tricks report and can see how much actually went out.
So true, just like I recently watched a video on how we will go out of our way to save $20 on a $100 item, but we would never think to drive across town to another dealership just to save $50 on that car. Money is money, but our thoughts are irrational towards certain things!
And I do try to track all of my spending, credit cards help. Sometimes I may lose track of some cash spent, but it’s never been over $20 or anything crazy like that.