May Income/Expense Update

I've been really slacking on posting for the last couple of weeks, I finally go my Liebster Award post out after over a month of slacking. Things have been really busy with a couple of long and busy weekends and piled on of my weekdays that have grown longer because my girlfriend and I are carpooling and it ends up adding several hours to my day. Anyways, I hope to get back on track with my postings, starting with my May updates.


Expenses:
My expenses are listed to the side. On each line I have the budgeted amount per month, the actual
amount spent for the month of May.

My total expenses were just over $2390, which is just under my planned expenses.

Most of my categories were pretty good but my Grocery bills were ridiculous this month. This is due in part to the start of a new diet, but hopefully our shelves are now stocked so this will go down next month.

INCOME:
Paycheck: $4,664. 

% Expenses = 51% of income. Not fantastic but not bad. It well definitely help me get back on track but I need some fantastic months in order to reach my goal for 2015.

Dividend Income:
This month I earned $174 without lifting a finger. Not a great month but hey its money that I didn't have before. The following companies paid me this month:

Symbol Shares Div Total 5/1/2015 SPY 10 .93081 $9.31 5/1/2015 VZ 30 .55 $16.5 5/1/2015 CIM 68 .096 $6.53 5/1/2015 T 103 .47 $48.41 5/15/2015 OHI 65 .18 $11.7 5/15/2015 KMI 104 .48 $49.92 5/26/2015 HCP 56 .565 $31.64 $174.01

My budget was right on track yet I am still behind schedule on my savings rate. I am going to need to crack down on both the expenses and the earnings if I want to reach my goal of a 47% expense rate.
How about you? How was your May?


-Nick

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net