Saturday, April 28, 2007

April Budget Review

Here's a review of how things went with April's budget:
  • Unexpected Expenses: My wife received a speeding ticket ("Baby Brains", forgot to watch the speed) and I had to buy some equipment for work (will be reimbursed). Also had a bank charge due NSF.
  • Unexpected Income: My wife has a few more Mystery Shopping payments that are a bit overdue, she will be working with them on Monday to check the status. They were allocated to Savings anyways, so it's not that big of a deal. My on-call computer support job has been picking up and received a $200 bi-weekly check recently.
  • Auto Gas: It has been tight this month even with $300. The main reason I think is a mix between the prices going up and my on-call computer support job picking up. We also near the beginning of the month had a big trip to visit an older relative that took almost a full tank of gas. We are planning on bumping it up $30 to make it not so tight and don't have any major driving trips this month planned. Once we get a second car in the next month or two it will actually go down since my wife won't be driving me to work 2x a week.
  • Household Supplies/Toiletries: We decided earlier this month that we end up spending this every month, so instead of just lying to ourself about it that we won't a certain month, we will have a fund for it of $30/month. This includes garbage bags, laundry soap, toilet paper, tissue paper, cleaning supplies, etc.
  • Cell Phone: We share a plan with other people (I know, bad idea) and one of the people on it we haven't been able to reach to pay his portion, so we're taking care of it. We expected though for him not to pay, so it didn't affect our budget much.

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