Wednesday, May 4, 2011

April Budget Sum Up

First off, I want to apologize for slacking off a bit this past week. I've been feeling pretty tired lately, and before I knew it, it's May already! Crazy. Anyways, it's time for my April $100 discretionary budget summary. Because I did a lot of resting on weekends instead of going out this month, I managed buy 2 new shirts and still come out below the budget. Most of the cash spent were on coffee and other beverages (seeing a pattern here?)

Another reason why I was ultra careful with my fund this month is because I was looking forward to my trip to Boston the next few days. The fact that I know I'll be traveling means that I wanted to save as much as I can in April for that purpose, even if it's a separate budget. That's another thing that I have become aware of when it comes to budgeting money: mental accounting. It's basically a tendency for people to create categories in their mind, thinking that money from different sources can be used differently when, in fact, they're all "your money." For example, someone may spend his tax refund freely while being extremely stingy with his salary from work. At the end of the day though, his net worth is based on the collective amount he has, no matter the source. WellHeeled wrote a great detailed explanation of the concept on her blog a while back; I encourage you to go check it out.

For the month of April (excluding boot camp again) I spent a total of $72 even. Here's a breakdown:

  • $33.82 on coffee
  • $34.42 on other food/beverages
  • $3.51 on socks
  • $0.25 on parking

Besides this discretionary fund, I've decided to start a fitness budget. After weighing the cost and benefit of boot camp and other exercise activities, I think fitness is such an important part of my life that it deserves its own attention. This budget will include gym membership, classes (like boot camp), race registration, gear, and equipment. I'm not sure what amount to set this to though. Right now, boot camp is costing me $127 a month, but my rock climbing gym membership that's currently on hold is $55 dollars per month. I'll spend some time thinking this through and report back. Any suggestion is welcomed!

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