April Expenses- $825.80

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for April.

Household

$412.16

Transportation

$12.25

Food

$59.02

Entertainment

$166.72

Education/Debt

$80.00

Phone

$33.99

Medical/Dental

$61.66

Total

$825.80

This was a good month being slightly under a $10,000 a year budget.  My food expense was a little high since this figure is only for lunches and snacks.  I need to cut back on the fast food and junk food.  Entertainment was high since I spent $80 on gambling.

My expenses for this should go down if I go on my hike.  If I don’t hike my expenses will likely go up this month.  I’d like to hike but I have an opportunity to make good money over the next couple months.  If that opportunity does not come through than I will go hiking.  Either way is pretty good.  I should find out tomorrow if I get the money-making opportunity. If so it will start almost immediately, if not I’ll be leaving for my hike on Monday.

April Investment Income- $63.83

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My investment income had another nice increase last month to $63.83 from $58.12 the month before. This was due to the gains in the stock market. My personal stock portfolio is now showing a profit and my IRA is finally starting to gain back some of its losses.

Disclaimer:This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement accounts, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings. What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income.

Final Final

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I had my final law school final this week. I also picked up my regalia for the graduation ceremony.

These events would have been much more rewarding if I didn’t still have to finish my R&W. You are probably getting tired of me complaining about my R&W but I have to finish it next week so you will not be hearing about it much longer.

April 2009 Goal Review

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This is my monthly review of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year.

My first goal is to increase my passive income. I made some progress on that this month. I opened a reward checking account that pays 5.03% which produced a nice increase in the amount of monthly interest I receive.

My second goal is to lose thirty pounds. My weight went from 220.4 pounds to 219.2 pounds last month. I consider that not making any progress. I should be starting my hike soon which will take care of the weight loss. There is a chance I won’t hike though and if that happens I have a different plan for losing weight.

My third goal is to have my subscriber count reach 500 subscribers. I reached a new high of 393 subscribers during the month although I haven’t maintained it. Considering I haven’t done anything special to promote my blog this is good progress.

I made progress on two out of three of my goals last month which is ok. I’m aiming for three out of three this month.