For those following along at home, my household's finances looked like this at the end of April:

NOTE:   I carry no revolving, interest-bearing credit-card balance. I do, however, use credit cards to my advantage whenever possible. This includes using credit cards to generate rewards from normal, everyday usage, but always paying the balance in full each month. It also includes using low-rate offers to generate profits via arbitrage. At this time, I am holding a balance of roughly $8200 on one card, carried at zero percent interest through November 2005. Those funds are concurrently held in my account at ING Direct, where they earn me 3 percent annually.

Nothing major to report from this side, really. Net worth increased by a little over $1000, which is the smallest increase I like to see on a month-over-month basis. Liquid assets increased nicely, but these gains were somewhat offset by market-value declines in my investments.

My spending on "household items" leapt up in April, for whatever reason. March saw me spend just $159 in this category. I suspect that some purchases got categorized here that probably should have gone elsewhere. But I'm trying really hard not to become The Spending Nazi.

My medical insurance premiums rose in April also, as this is the month in which our plan year begins anew through my employer. (The previous month saw me spending $413 on medical insurance premiums.) This amount is going to rise again in May, as my child's policy renews for an amount that costs me roughly $13 more per month.

Those premiums just never go down, do they?

Michael | May 3, 2005

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