Sunday, May 11, 2014

Month in Review- April 2014

Sorry for the radio silence last week. Life has gotten a little crazy and I needed a week off from writing to get caught up :) Month two was really about sinking into our new money routine. Last month was an experiment, but this month it feels like reality started to sink in and we had to start really making decision about how to spend our money. Here is a snapshot of where we stand after month two:

Unexpected Costs: 

  • Dentist Bill 
  • Adjustments to our 401k Contributions 
Unexpected Income:
  • Nothing extra this month, just the norm 
April Splurges:
Nick and I used our entertainment fund to sign up for the Dogfish Dash race that will take place in September. We also treated ourselves to a random Friday off, mid-month. We both took the day off, slept in, went for a long run, and went out to lunch at a Korean restaurant called Honey Pig.

Funniest Moment: 
Nick and I like to try "fun" beers; however, fun beers come at a larger price. "Fun" beers also disappear off the shelves quickly at our local beer stores. Over the past four years, Nick has gotten to know the beer guys at our local shops. They shoot him emails to let him know something rare is coming in or will hold one out back for him if it is something he specifically requested.

So this past month, we walked into our local store to pick-up a 6 pack of our go to frugal beer, Yuengling. The beer guy came running up to us with two great beers they had gotten in the day before that he was saving for Nick. This was the moment Nick had to break the news to his new friend that we were saving money and fun beers were going to be a rarity rather then a norm. It was like watching Nick break-up with a long-term girlfriend.

We picked up our $5 six pack and headed for the door. This may not seem like a funny moment but you have to admit it is pretty funny that A. we have a beer guy and B. that we had to kinda breakup with him...

Lessons Learned
Hmmm, we still haven't gotten the grocery money quite figured out. We went to Costco to do a one month bulk up trip- paper towels, toilet paper, oats, frozen fruit, and meat. Basically anything we could freeze and make it last a month or more. We ended up spending over half our food budget. By the end of April we were back to pinching pennies at the grocery store, so we still need to work on how we spend our weekly expense line, and be sure to leave money for the end of the month.

Total Payment to Debt: $39.76, on top of our minimum payments

Current Debt: $172,461.37

This months debt payment was significantly less then March because of the unexpected dentist bill, and  we needed to dip in to help cover additional life expenses. This was hopefully not a typical month and we are hoping to get back on track next month. 

We started with a total of 35 Student Loans, adjusted from 36 after a "place holder" line was removed, oops :). We are now down to 34 Student Loans and we need to pay $4,574.80 more in order to reach 33 :)

2 comments:

  1. Nice work and wonderful perseverance, Monica! Both you and Nick deserve a large congratulations for making it to 34 loans. Excited to read about the next month.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Maura! One at a time we will get to zero :)

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