Income Update - April 2013

Another month has rolled by and it's been just an amazing start to the year.  My income has been higher than average every month so far this year, although June's will take a dip.  April was a pretty standard month with nothing really out of the ordinary so expenses stuck right in line with where I want them to be.  My minimum expenses for the month came in at $1,361.56 which brought my average minimum expenses down to $1,370.09.  My goal when I started the year was to get these expenses to average under $1,400 per month, so I'm on track for that.  My total expenses did creep back higher than I'd like but not by too extreme of an amount.  I spent a total of $1,554.60 in April, which raised my average total monthly outlay to $1,522.89.  I'm still okay with this number although there's still things I want to focus more on.

My food budget still seems pretty high considering I'm paying for myself only for most of the month.  Groceries came in under budget but the restaurants hurt my overall food budget.  Both of these I want to work more on lowering the expenses.  Overall I still came in under budget by $20.46, so there's nothing much to worry about and just some extra attention to be paid.  Cooking for myself while away at the rig is the biggest issue for my grocery budget.  I tend to go for convenience after working because the cooking equipment is different from rig to rig and usually mediocre at best.  I really hate having to learn whether the oven/stove cooks higher or lower than normal every time that I change rigs and it's a huge pain to me.  I love cooking though so I just need to quit being lazy and do it already.

As mentioned in my April dividend update, I received $67.71 in dividends last month.  Counting the $3.62 that I earned in interest, my total potential retirement income was $71.33 for April.  Nothing great but it's still money I didn't have to work for.  This covered 5.24% of my minimum expenses for April which was a decent amount considering I had a pretty low month of dividends.  My FI income, monthly income based on the 30 year US Treasury bond using my net worth excluding traditional retirement accounts, came in at $353.79 based on the 30 year rate of 2.93% at month's end.


*Minimum Expenses are only the expenses related to rent, utilities, car, food, minimum payment on debt and other necessities. In other words, the required amount of replacement income I would need for financial independence.
*Total Expenses are the total monthly outflow of money.
*Potential Retirement Income is income received from dividends, interest, cash back from credit card purchases and any other source of income not related to my job.
*FI is my liquid net worth invested at the 30 year treasury bond yield at the end of each month divided by 12 to get monthly income.

Monthly Income
Category Amount
Paycheck $7,363.43
Expense Check $1,829.12
TOTAL $9,192.55


Monthly Expenses
Category Budgeted Amount Actual Amount Subtotal
Rent $480.00 $480.00
Utilities $221.00 $134.98
Gas $150.00 $134.18
Car Insurance $95.00 $95.00
Groceries $200.00 $142.50
Restaurants $125.00 $137.94
Entertainment $0.00 $35.40
Cell Phone $100.00 $98.73
Other $49.06 $49.06
Miscellaneous $55.00 $146.81
Gifts $0.00 $0.00
EXPENSES SUBTOTAL $1,454.60
SAVINGS
Trip $314.00 $314.00
Roth IRA $0.00 $0.00
Emergency Fund $0.00 $20.46
Gifts $75.00 $75.00
FI savings $7,228.49 $7,228.49
Car Maint/Repair $100.00 $100.00
SAVINGS SUBTOTAL $7,737.95
TOTAL $9,192.55

I've updated my Progress page to reflect April's changes.

How did you do on your budget for the month?  Is there anything you're going to focus more on in May due to April's expenses?

Comments

  1. Sounds like you're doing pretty good. I can understand your frustration with having to learn a new stove. Every time I move into a new apartment, the oven needs some kind of fixing. It's either too hot or not hot enough.

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    Replies
    1. MyFIJ,

      The budgeting has been great this year. I'm really glad that the expenses are pretty level from month to month and the high income is always welcomed since every extra dollar goes straight to savings. The stove is really annoying, but there's really no excuse. I just need to suck it up.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. Keep up the great work. Your active income is awesome and even more so your expenses! It's not about how much you make its about how much you keep. You should be the example for that phrase.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marvin,

      The consistency of my expenses is what I really like. It's not $1,200 one month the $1,600 the next. Just a steady $1,350ish. And while I still track my expenses, I don't really worry about them too much and just kind of go with the flow. I've been thinking of changing my system though, because currently the expenses I'm worried about are just the required ones to maintain my lifestyle. No travel or anything like that. It'll be a big undertaking though to change my spreadsheet around so I'll probably leave it be.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. Awesome month again JC! While you are right the consistency of this expenses is pretty fantastic, I think your ability to gross a significant amount of income above and beyond that is pretty amazing. Out of curiosity, are you seeing any traction with your online income? You have a pretty significant amount of ads throughout the site.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. W2R,

      It truly was another great month! While the high income allows for faster growth, the expenses are the important part for anyone wanting to get control of their finances. A good defense truly is the best offense when it comes to personal finance. If you spend everything you make it doesn't matter what you income is.

      I've had some income but I haven't optimized it at all. All of that is still foreign to me. I bring in $20-30 per month, but hey that's income for something I'd be doing anyways. Later in the year I'll probably work a lot more on SEO and better ad placement but for now I'm not too concerned with it.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

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