Our April 2026 Budget in Percentages | Family of Four
We kicked off April in the Outer Banks for our annual spring break trip, so it was already shaping up to be an expensive month before anything else happened. And then everything else happened 😅.
Beyond travel, April brought expensive dental work for me (a crown), new dental gear to prep for E's upcoming orthodontic treatment (an expander and braces… water flossers and electric toothbrushes are now part of our daily routines), an art class for E, and some clothing I ordered. All of these things combined pushed us a couple hundred dollars over budget.
To cover the overage, I pulled from a few different places. I have a retiree medical account that was opened for me during grad school. I had no idea the university was contributing to it until after I graduated, and since I'm no longer there, I can use it freely. It took a little legwork to get back into (forgotten login, outdated address), but it was worth it. I also used some HYSA interest to help cover the gap. For the rest, rather than pulling from savings, I just trimmed our May grocery, dining, and flexible spending budgets by about $400 total to account for what we overspent.
Looking ahead to May: the kids have birthdays and there's a wedding at the end of the month, so I'm expecting to tap into our gift savings fund. I'm also making a change to how I move money around. Instead of moving extra funds into savings at the end of the month, I'm going to move set amounts over at the start and pull back only if needed. Basically the "pay yourself first" approach that I've been cheerfully ignoring for years. Better late than never!
Other income = dental reimbursement, cash back from credit card points, and money from my business for quarterly taxes
Highlights
Savings rate: 0%
Top spending categories:
Mortgage (21.3%)
Groceries (16.0%)
Medical/Dental (14.8%)
Taxes (13.7%)
Quarterly tax payments
Irregular bills that hit (pulled from sinking funds):
Cell phone bill (5.0%)
Recycling (0.3%)
Reflections & Looking Ahead
What changed most compared to a “normal” month?
Travel, dental costs, art class for E, and buying clothes
What felt good this month?
Using the grad school retiree medical account to offset the large dental bill. Once we pay for E’s orthodontic equipment it’ll zero out, but it’s been a nice resource to have available (and a good reminder to check whether you have forgotten accounts like this just waiting to be used!)
Is there anything we’d tweak for the future?
The shift to paying ourselves first in May. Small change, but I think it'll make the end-of-month money shuffle feel a lot less reactive/chaotic.
