Welcome to my April 2021 updates!

If you are new here, every month I post the progress I’ve made on paying off my student loans and on my savings. I’ve done this since I first started paying down my loans in July 2017 and it has been so worth it.

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $43,945.22

I house every month’s debt progress from the very beginning here if you want to check out the progress so far.

Student Debt

I’m continuing to focus all my income on down-payment savings so I am still only making the $880.77 minimum payments to my private student loan. I’m also continuing to take advantage of the COVID-19 forbearance on my federal loans so I have not made any payments there since March of 2020.

April Budget

Fixed Spending

As noted since February, my parents and I agreed that I would postpone any monthly payments to them while I am in the midst of the home-buying process. I will instead continue to save up and resume payments once the home-buying process is complete.

Other than that, my cell phone bill and Netflix make up the rest of my fixed spending.

Variable Spending

Gas – Unfortunately gas prices have been going up and I’ve been going out more.

Entertainment/dining out – Don’t let the numbers fool you. I actually dined out quite a bit this month. However, I realized my Venmo balance has grown quite a bit as I usually offer to pay with my card with my friends paying their amounts back to me through Venmo. So I decided to cash in the balance from the last couple of months.

It’s not a completely accurate picture of this month’s dining out spending as the balance I cashed out was from previous months’ carryover. But, for the most part, it should balance out previous months’ over-budget when I do my year-end review. So I’m taking this lazy way out.

Groceries – Minimal grocery spending as I dined out quite a bit this month.

Shopping – I needed new heels so I bought 3 pairs online and will return 2 of them once I decide which one I like best.

Miscellaneous

By some miracle, I do not have any miscellaneous expenses this month! 🙂

Savings

I’m holding off on making Roth IRA contributions while I focus on increasing my down payment savings. Last month I decided to increase the amount of money I allocate straight to my savings account from $500 to $1000. 

Since April was a 3-paycheck month, I was able to put away $3,000 into savings.

Goals for Next Month

I do have some good news on the home-buying process. But until everything is 100%, I’d rather not celebrate too soon so for now I’m just staying the course and saving as much money as I can.

I’m still working on my running goals #4 and #5 and while no massive progress has been made, I am happy to say I’ve been continuously running 5k and 5 miles nonstop on the days I decide to tackle those distances.