Our monthly budget does not change much.
It is primarily fixed expenses, like rent, phone bills and car insurance, which remain the same month after month. Even the amount budgeted to our miscellaneous line (more on that here) stays the same most months.
So instead of giving a line-by-line breakdown for our monthly budget update, I do something a little different. Each month, I share five highlights from our budget, along with three goals for the month to come.
Here is the update for May 2018.
Monthly Budget Update: May 2018
In May, we…
- Paid $1,550 toward debt!
This is the biggest snowball contribution we have ever made toward debt.
After paying off the car, we rolled the monthly payment, as well as all the extra we were paying onto the next debt: the credit line! This debt has been hanging around for a long time and it feels good to FINALLY be making progress on it.
Remaining balance: $6,802.00
- Re-applied for interest-only student loan payments
This is our second time using this option. The goal is to use this time to make as much progress on the credit line as we can, hopefully paying it off before we go back to making the full minimum payment on the student loan.
On interest-only payments, we pay $240 a month toward the student loan. The current loan balance is about $48K. Ugh.
- I got a small raise!
I had my annual performance review in April, which resulted in a two-step raise. It did not have a big impact on my take-home pay, but every little bit helps. Added bonus: I got some retroactive pay, too!
- We finishing filling our emergency fund!
Instead of a $1K emergency fund, we opted for $5K. Considering our rent alone is $1K, I did not feel comfortable having so little in the bank.
A $5K buffer won’t get us much farther, but I feel better about that number than $1K, that’s for sure.
- Decided to pause our snowball for June
People who follow me on Instagram will already be aware of this. One of the things we want to do in the fall is go on a trip…to Iceland! We have been saving money for this over the last few months, stashing it away in a sinking fund, and while we do have quite a bit saved up, it won’t be enough to cash flow the entire trip. So we are pushing pause to fill the fund.
June 2018 Goals
Looking ahead, in June we will…
- Book our vacation!
Now that we know how we’re going to pay for it, it’s finally time to start booking! We have done a lot of research and I think we have settled on some key things. It’s going to be expensive, but it will all be paid for outright and I am really looking forward to visiting a new country!
- Save for Ontario trip!
Every summer, I travel to Ontario to visit my best friend. This year, I am going near the end of July and I. Cannot. Wait! My plan is to have a few hundred dollars put away for this. Should be doable.
- Declutter
Spring is here…which means the urge to purge is very real. I got a start on this in May, tossing a few items up on Kijiji/Facebook; I want to continue this in June.
Your turn! How did May turn out for you? What are your goals for June?
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