May Net Worth Update (-$12,703.04)

May was the craziest month we’ve had in quite awhile. We ended up short selling our condo and moving into a rental unit. The rental unit is twice the size of our old place and will save us $1,000/month. Because of this, our net worth dropped $12,703.04 from last month to $33,251.66 (click on spreadsheet below).

Since the short sale is better for us in the long term, but not great in the short term, I’m skipping my standard “what worked” and “what didn’t work” in this net worth post. Here are the details for May, good or bad:

The costs involved with selling our condo and getting a new place totally decimated our savings account. Here’s a quick rundown:

• $5,000 cash to our 2^nd mortgage as part of the short sale deal
• $2,050 for rental deposit
• $2,015 prorated rent for new place
• $260 for movers

On top of all of that, we spent:

• $980.46 for new bedroom set
• $204.79 Wife's medical bill
• $270 for dog's annual shots & teeth cleaning

With all of the cash outlay, our cash and savings dropped to $4,122.93. We should be able to start building our cash back up with $1,000 we are saving every month renting. We contributed a total of $1,025.19 to our retirement accounts, and saw them increase $2,945.13. Our taxable accounts also increased $198.76.

I’m not sure what to expect for next month yet. We’ll still be dealing with some of the transition costs from owner a condo to renting. God willing, we should be able to start filling our savings account back up.

$1,000 bonus - spent!

My wife and I already spent her unexpected $1,000 bonus she learned about on Thursday. Yeah, it didn't take us long.

We purchased a new bedroom set yesterday for $920 including tax, delivery and set-up. The photo below is of the complete set, but we only purchased the bed, nightstand, and the dresser (without the mirror).

We had planned to pull money out of savings to get a bedroom set, so word of her extra bonus came at a perfect time.

-1MansMoney

$1,000 Unexpected Bonus

My wife was informed by her company yesterday that she will be receiving a $1,000 bonus this weekend. This is in addition to regular bonus that she should receive in July.

Her company has exceeded their sales targets and, therefore, they are hooking up all of the sales reps. This is a huge blessing. We're going to use the money to buy a bedroom set that we were planning to pull money out of savings for.

My wife has been doing such an awesome job with her new company. She’s working hand-in-hand with the VP to secure a huge account. They have a meeting with the account next week that will include both the VP and CEO of her company. Talk about great face time!

Vacation To Hawaii

My wife and I just booked flights to Hawaii in September using my Delta SkyMiles. This is my first trip to Hawaii (my wife's 2nd) and we're both looking forward to some time off.

It was 52,000 SkyMiles per ticket, plus $10 per ticket in taxes. If we would have had to pay for the tickets, they would have cost $610.64 each.

It's nice to score two free tickets from miles I earned on business travel. Using the 104,000 miles knocked my SkyMiles balance down to 29,233 miles. I will be adding more miles when I go on my next business trip in a couple of weeks.

April 2009 Income Statement

April was a pretty typical income month (click on spreadsheet below) and a reasonable month in terms of expenses.

My wife’s paycheck was reduced because she began her 5% 401(k) contribution and a $50/check HAS contribution. She also received $66.80 Citi cc reward, $100 wife's internet and cell reimbursement, and $14 state tax relief check.

After spending too much last month, we worked hard to keep our expenses down in April. It helped that I was on a business trip for 1 week this month. Our expenses totaled only $6,201.35, but that included a large $1,100 payment for 15 months of my gym membership. So, we would have been well below our $6,040 monthly budget if if the gym bill was not due this month.

Next month should be another average income month. Outside our regular paychecks and my wife’s standard monthly internet and cell reimbursement, we should receive $50 HSBC cash back credit card reward. We have a $204.79 medical bill for my wife and might be spending $160 to get our dog’s teeth cleaned.