July went relatively smoothly. I didn’t overspend and I finally received a sizable and long awaited reimbursment. I also ended up receiving an additional $100 this month when my  lease ended on my old apartment and the subletter decided to finally return my security deposit, albeit 9 months late.

Assets	June-16	July-16	$ Change
Cash & Savings	$778	$1,374	+$596
Roth IRA	$7,922	$8,623	+$701
401K	$7,282	$8,115	+$833
FSA	$694	$440	($254)
Liabilities	June-16	July-16	$ Change
Credit Cards	$1,167	$295	+$872
Net Worth	$15,509	$18,258	+$2,749
% Change			+17.7%

I had some complications with my health and ended up being out of the office for one full month. Thankfully I can do my job remotely, so loss of employment was not a concern, but this did result in a decline in my FSA.I started off the year with $1,625 in my FSA account. It was important for me to get below the $500 threshold because that is how much I can carry-over into the new year. I got there in July.

My unexpected health issues mean that I will be putting off some dental work until next year. All the medical bills have not come in, and I’m expecting more next month. My doctors and I will also need to decide the best course of action in regards to my health, some of which are quite expensive.

Next year I’m not sure how much I will elect to put in to my FSA. I know I need my wisdom teeth removed in a hospital setting ($700?). I have another crown due, but I can probably hold off. I should use and budget my next year’s FSA for over the counter medications, vitamins, and contact lens solution.  I currently take advantage of reimbursing my transportation expenses to and from doctor appointments.

I’m STILL waiting for $1,000 worth of reimbursements that I haven’t included in my net worth, and now angrily so. I’ll be making some phone calls come tomorrow to correct this, definitely.  But in good news my net worth increased!

Assets	May-16	June-16	$ Change
Cash & Savings	$1,070	$778	($292)
Roth IRA	$6,900	$7,922	+$1,022
401K	$6,844	$7,282	+$438
FSA	$694	$694	0
Liabilities	May-16	June-16	$ Change
Credit Cards	$746	$1,167	($97)
Net Worth	$14,762	$15,509	+$747
% Change			+5.1%

The fact that me net worth increased is fairly surprising. The Brexit resulted in a sizable  but temporary loss in net worth part way through the month. I also went insanely over my spending budget. I’m not sure how my net worth increased by so much though, I am thinking there has to be an unsynchronized  account which tends to happen when I don’t post an update exactly at the end of the month. I’ll try to do better next month.

When the market went down following the announcement of the British exit from the European Union, I put some extra money into my Roth IRA, knowing I was planning to do so in August. If the markets had fallen for longer I probably would have put a little more in, but for now I’m strictly planning to put the extra August paycheck towards savings.

As previously mentioned, I went way over budget in spending in June. It was father’s day, my dad’s birthday, I bought renters insurance and then I just threw caution to the wind. I think I went over budget by $600-700. Maybe I’ll do a more detailed post on what happened, maybe not. I’m too bummed about it right now to actually want to. Hopefully next time I see myself going over budget I don’t totally go so off track. Since I did so poorly in June, I’ve cancelled my vacation plans for August.

I’m still waiting for $1,100 worth of reimbursements that I haven’t included in my net worth.  I won’t have time to update on May 31, so this is technically coming a day early.

Assets	Apr-16	May-16	$ Change
Cash & Savings	$834	$1,070	+$236
Roth IRA	$6,273	$6,900	+$637
401K	$6,213	$6,844	+$631
FSA	$1,103	$694	($409)
Liabilities	Apr-16	May-16	$ Change
Credit Cards	$1,070	$746	+$324
Net Worth	$13,353	$14,762	+$1,409
% Change			+10.6%

Below is an overview of my budgeted vs actual spending for the month of May. I went on vacation this month so I budgeted $500 more in the Everything Else category.

I only went over my budget in the Fixed Expense category because I used a bit more cellphone data than I would have liked, maybe next month?

I had some extra income and reimbursements which led to underspending in the Everything Else category.

I underspent on groceries due to the vacation. I stuck all my vacation expenses under Everything Else because it’s easier to keep track of the $500 usage that way.

Category	Budgeted	Actual	Pending
Rent	$1,650	$1,650		✓
Fixed Expenses	$70	$71		✗
Food	$125	$200		✓
Everything Else	$780	$488	-86	✓

Right now I’m waiting for some additional reimbursements. When that comes, I’ll have enough cash in my accounts to where I’m feeling comfortable. I’m thinking about using my third pay check in August to build up my cash cushion and emergency fund.

The Month of June

June will be a normal month. I’m not going on vacation and I have no trips planned. I will rollover my unused vacation spending into June because my vacation isn’t over until June 4.

I’ve decided to calculate my net worth as though I have not received a series of pending reimbursements.  Hopefully next month I’ll see a sizable increase in my net worth once everything falls into place.

Assets	Mar-16	Apr-16	$ Change
Cash & Savings	$491	$834	+$343
Roth IRA	$5,245	$6,273	+$1,028
401K	$5,645	$6,213	+$568
FSA	$1,228	$1,103	($125)
Liabilities	Mar-16	Apr-16	$ Change
Credit Cards	$42	$1,070	($1,028)
Net Worth	$12,567	$13,353	+$786
% Change			+6.3%

Below is an overview of my budgeted vs actual spending for the month of April. I “earned” an extra $250 this month, $150 came from per diem and $100 from cashing out my Amazon gift card balance.  In the table below, I have added these reimbursements to the Everything Else category. Eventually, this will result in a $319 underspend for the Everything Else category. I plan to use the $319 for my vacation.

I also received $280 from my health insurance.  This will go into my emergency fund.

I only went over my budget in the Fixed Expense category. This is due to a slightly higher than usual cellphone bill. I’m hoping to shave off $3 on next month’s bill since I’m using Project Fi.  I technically went over budget for food, but when I am eating to socialize, I classify it as Entertainment.

Category	Budgeted	Actual	Pending
Rent	$1,650	$1,650		✓
Fixed Expenses	$70	$73		✗
Food	$200	$200		✓
Everything Else	$280	$847	-$886	?

So it looks like I’ve comfortably met the spending goals for the month of April, conditional on $886 worth of pending reimbursements going through. These charges are what caused me to go over Everything Else

• -$17 – Flexible Savings Account
• -$659 – Reimbursment #1
• -$35 –  Reimbursment #2
• -$175 – Loan repayment

I am also expecting a $270 check.

The Month of May

May will be a different beast with me only being in the city half the month and taking vacation. But still I plan on changing the way I spend for May and June.  The next two months I’m going to try to limit my purchases to occur only once a week (the 7th, 14th, 21th, 28th of the month). Come July and August this will decrease to three times a month (10th, 20th, 30th). Maybe I will try twice a month at some point. I’ve already changed my due dates on my credit cards to correspond with the latter. I will also have $10/week in cash for discretionary spending. Usually this includes things like drinks and snacks when I’m out and about. Personal capital sent me a notice about my 9 transactions this week and that’s not okay.  Hopefully this has me spending a bit less.

Health Care Costs

I qualified for a program through my insurance to help manage my chronic illnesses. This program waives my copays and may help coordinate my care. The savings from this will be $1,000/year or more!