April Income/Expense Report

Here it is, my monthly cashflow report. This month was something of a success - I knew going in that my income was going to be significantly lower. I also knew going in that I wanted to throw a barbeque, do my lemon tree project, and pay for a night out to dinner for Boyfriend & I - I managed to do all of those things and sock more into savings than any other month this year. Not buying groceries (save for some stuff for the bbq, some of which is in the freezer for next time) helped, and so did very careful tracking of my expenses. Here's a side-by-side income/expense category comparison between March & April.

The bills category includes my rent, and almost all of our utilities were lower this month, except electricity which went up a few bucks. I spent far more on leisure than usual - throwing the bbq, Boyfriend's band played a few shows (I donated to one venue and drank a beer at two others), and going to a wide release movie (even with a student-priced ticket I was reminded of why I almost never see just-released movies.) Gas prices having been shooting up insanely, so my auto expenses were higher. My ebay seller fees for March came due in April, so I wound up spending a bit more there as well. But for the most part, spending was down in every category and $192.50 of that went into savings. Looking back on April, I definitely could have put at least $50 more away, but I'm still pretty pleased with how I did.

My goal for May is to keep excess spending to a minimum. Aside from Boyfriend's birthday (we're taking a short jaunt to San Diego), I want to spend a little as possible on leisure activities. My grocery shopping shouldn't hurt too badly (I'm 2/3 done and I've only spent about $31.) I want to put at least $200 into savings in May as well. Most of my income will come from my wages, I expect much less from other sources this month. Well, aside from the government, and most of that rebate check is going to be socked away like I never got it.

Income & Spending for March

As promised, here's my cashflow and net worth report for March. I haven't quite settled yet on just how exactly I'll be presenting this, but for now this format will do. I've got quite a few areas to try to avoid spending next month, the greatest of which is groceries. I could potentially Not Spend upwards of $400 next month if I am disciplined.

I don't believe I'll feel deprived at all by curbing my spending so radically. As I said in my post announcing my plan to use my stores of food instead of shopping, I don't expect to bring in nearly as much income in April as I did in March. So in order to offset that, I'll be spending quite a bit less. I've got plenty of books to read, a Netflix account (Boyfriend and I have every episode of Star Trek ever queued up), basic cable, a high speed internet connection, board games, a bunch of unfinished craft/mending projects begging for my time, the list goes on.

I do plan on planting a dwarf citrus (most likely lemon) tree in a planter with some flowers and herbs around the middle of the month, and I plan to spend $100 or less on that project. Other than that, I plan to incur no major expenses except utility bills, rent, and gas for my car.

Preaching by Example

Any blogger writing on financial matters should be accountable for the advice they give. To that end, I'll be reporting my income and net worth at the end of every month in what I'll call my "Full Disclosure" post, which will be followed within a day or two by an Income vs. Expenses report. My hope is that these posts will inspire my readers to cut out a few luxury goods or learn a few DIY tricks to cut their excess spending. Below is a report of my income so far this month. The blacked out lines are income from a "surveys for cash" site I'm a member of, and I sometimes choose to sign up for free trials to get a higher payout, which is what the blacked out line in the expense category represents. I'm not disclosing the name of the site at this time as it's a referral site and I feel that posting a referral link would compromise the integrity of a fledgling blog.

This report was generated using Microsoft Money 2004.