Monthly Review: April 2018

Another exciting month coming in hot. The biggest thing that pops out in this month is I started taking private pilot lessons. It’s an expensive hobby for sure but I at least wanted some hours to apply to my dream Air Force job. That dream is to be a Flight Test Engineer. The first step to that is getting accepted into Test Pilot School located at Edwards AFB in California. With that I would get to fly tons of different aircraft over the course of a yearlong training program. After graduating I would test upgrades to current aircraft or, if I’m lucky, brand new aircraft never flown by the field! I flew three times this month, bought some regular flights, grabbed a few concert tickets and took a trip to New York. Let the breakdown begin!

Income: $8,336

My income is a little inflated this month because I had some work trips and didn’t spend any of my Per Diem. That came out to an extra $415 on top of my standard $7,921. As always, all numbers shown are after taxes. On to the no fun category.

Expenses: $2,777.92

Another month well above my average. That’s not good. But I did manage to still save 66% even though I bought $300 worth of training materials and spent $685 on flying lessons. I also snagged plane tickets to Austin, got 3 concert tickets, and lived in up in NYC. Now time to breakdown the deets of these expenses.

Going Out: $119.21

Here we have some unseasonably high numbers. This is due to a trip out to New York City and enjoying some good food and drinks with Leslie and the crew. The damage wasn’t bad at all as far as average people go but…we ain’t average here. The food included some amazing lobster mac as well as some fish ‘n chips from The Folly.

Groceries: $40.22

Another month doing real well in the grocery department. I was living on the road about 7 days this month and still living off the insanely discounted meats I packaged up and froze back in February.

Bills: $1036.65

Bills for this month include Rent ($775), Unlimited Data Cell Phone ($85), Spotify ($5), Car Insurance ($96.65), and Utilities ($75). I FINALLY got Chegg cancelled. It’s a great service when you need it but I totally dropped the ball. I actually finished my last class for my Master’s Degree from the University of Arkansas. I’m set to graduate officially in May.

Travel: $330.63

The places I actually traveled this month were New York City to hang out with the GF and then Chantilly, VA for work. Leslie and I attended a country concert (Eric Paslay) and me and a co-worker hit another country concert (Easton Corbin). The expenses for travel came from those tickets plus tickets to see Brantley Gilbert and Kid Rock, Bus ticket to New York, and a flight to Austin. Closing out the concert onslaught this month was Justin Timberlake who put on a true performance at TD Garden.

We also got this awesome experience where we got picked up in a Mercedes and chauffeured to our box seats at the New York Redbulls major league soccer match. It included insane views and all-inclusive meals and drinks. I have to give big props to Leslie on getting us the hook-up for this one. Only thing better than amazing events are amazing free ones.

Learning to Fly: $1037.54

Always keeping myself and the handful of readers on our toes with a new category. This month it’s to take flying lessons. I’m super excited about finishing the complete program but I am in an accelerated pace this month because I need the documented hours to go onto an application for Test Pilot School. The costs were $688.55 for actual instructed flight time while the rest was for all the materials to get me going.

Miscellaneous: $147.63

Couple random things this month including a blow torch to seer food that I’ve cooked in the Sous Vide, some transcripts I had to order, some nice new Tupperware for all my meal prepping, and some random stuff to finish up the work on the new truck. If you meal prep as much as I do, please invest in some nice containers that’ll last and won’t warp. They’re worth their weight in gold.

Gas:  $66.04

 Pretty standard month. Not actually driving the truck yet. Still getting the radio all installed and how I want it. This was all from driving the Fusion which gets ~40 mpg.  

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $12,769 to $240,469

Well I’m almost back to where I was in January. Been a rough few months but I think we’re stabilizing on both the stock and crypto fronts. Still sucks waiting for that illusive $250k mark but it’ll make it all the sweeter when it comes. Keep saving and trust the process.

Thanks for reading! If you want more detail or would like to see a different way of breaking down spending please reach out with a comment.