April 2021 Budget Breakdown
Hello everyone! If you’re new to my blog, at the beginning of each month I take a look at the previous month to see what I saved, invested, and spent. I’m in the beginning stages of my journey to reach early retirement and reach financial independence. A great way to do this is by tracking your expenses, which I do with a great platform called Personal Capital which is completely free to use. I have all of my checking accounts, credit cards, Roth IRA, and brokerage account linked to it which makes it easy to get a birds-eye view of my spending and saving habits.
If you missed my March 2021 budget breakdown you can read that by clicking here. This month, I will only be going over the money that I spent instead of including the money that I also saved or invested. Let’s dig in!
Investing $4082 USD
After not investing for the past few months in order to save up money for my baby (who should be born everyday now), I have finally started investing again.
I invested the majority of this amount to my Roth IRA and reached my $6,000 yearly limit in my Target Date Retirement fund that is made up of stocks and bonds. The rest of it went to my brokerage account which I also invested in stocks and bonds.
For the rest of this year, I will only invest with money from my sales commissions and not my salary. I’ll see if I like this method and might even invest extra money towards the end of the year based on how much money my husband and I end up spending on our first child.
Rent & Utilities $1477
My husband and I split the rent of a 2-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco East Bay Area as well as the sewage, water, and electricity bills. This month came out to be a little bit higher than last month but overall it’s around what I have expected it to be. We are still keeping our options open to relocating to a lower cost of living state next year when our lease is completed.
Groceries $309.61
Our grocery bill was under $300 last month but is now over $300. This is due to buying some extra food for my parents which have come to help out with my the new baby who will be coming soon. I also haven’t been paying too much attention to shopping sales because I am very pregnant, uncomfortable, and the last thing I want to worry about is my grocery budget.
I’ve started combining going to the grocery store with ordering some of my produce and snacks from Imperfect Foods. They deliver sustainable, affordable foods straight to your house that may not be “pretty” enough to sell in a grocery store or happen to be a surplus. I’m loving the service so far, and would definitely recommend giving them a try to see how you like it. You can use my referral link to get $20 off your first order with them.
Charitable Giving $135
This month I donated $36 per month through an organization called ‘Save The Children’ and $99 for my quarterly donation to Childfund International. That money goes to the sponsorship of two young girls in Kenya. It helps to pay for their school fees as well as providing clean water for their villages. I plan on continuing these donations until they both graduate from high school.
Subscriptions $28.98
I am subscribed to Netflix and Amazon Prime which is where these costs come from.
General Merchandise $204.43
This month I bought less general merchandise because most of my prior purchases were for our baby. I purchased prenatal vitamins, toothpaste, healthy snacks, dishwashing pods, and some items for my husband’s car. Just a bunch of random items to be honest. I’m going to try to buy less next month and I’m sure that I will be too busy for online shopping anyways.
Restaurants $45.83
Once again, we ordered pizza! We order three pizzas from Dominos when my father visited us. The pizzas ended up lasting for two days so it turned out to be a good deal.
Debt Payoff $240
This goes toward my low-interest personal loan. I plan on paying this off in the next two years. But for now, I’m paying slightly more than the monthly payments.
Personal Shopping $176.45
I realized that I didn’t have enough postpartum clothing so bought more clothing from Bamboobies. I also found it increasingly more difficult to wear shoes that I couldn’t slip on due to how large my stomach now is. So I bought some slip-on shoes from All birds that are very comfortable and a cute shade of yellow. So far, I’m loving how comfy they are and it’s so much easier to slip them on and off.
Gasoline $78.17
This was to put gas in our two cars. I rarely drive my car except to go to my Doctor’s appointments and the grocery store.
In conclusion…
In the entire month of April, I spent and invested a grand total of….$6777.47 USD. I’m happy with this number because the majority of it is the amount of money that I invested in my Roth IRA and my brokerage account. I’m curious to see how my future monthly budgets will change after our baby arrives. I guess we will have to wait and see.
Do you track your spending? If so, tell me how you do so and I’d be happy to hear from you!
