March spending recap
This was a purely “let’s take a peek” recap. I didn’t realize in March that I’d be doing this, so I have any savings goals. I haven’t tracked my spending in this way for YEARS. I used the Notes column to set some goals for April where I felt the spending was too high.
It only makes sense to review my investment contributions too. I spent $1,550 in March paying myself in various ways. Ideally, I’d like to get this number up to $2,000 over the next few months.
Now, the glaring issue to me, is that $3,659 + $1,550 = $5,209 (which is more than my $4,000 monthly income.) Now, $600 of that is taken off my paycheck before I ever see it on my pay stub, so I don’t count that since it’s not part of my $4,000. This leaves $4,609, which is an overspend of $600.
I know this overage is coming out of my savings account, which has $23,000 sitting in it at the moment. This amount really needs to be invested since it’s not doing me any favours just existing in my account as cash. But, this means that once most of that money is gone, I no longer have it as a back-up option ready to catch any overage I might have. Of course I’ll leave a few thousand in my savings account, but I need to get a handle on my budget.
My takeaway: As I’m researching ETFs where I can plunk this money into, I’ll also be trying to get a handle on my spending and creating a workable budget.
April goals
I’ve decided to start monthly goals on this blog, and here’s what they are for April:
- Track my expenses and meet my budget targets
- Blog at least once per week this month (kind of a cheat goal since we are mid-way through the month already)
- Finish The Value of Simple by John Robertson
- Better understand ETFs and consider a few options for me to invest in
- Write 500 words in my novel
That’s all for now,
Sovereign Squirrel
