April 2026: Budget Review and Life Update

Life Update

GRIEF

• No update here, so I'll repeat last month's update: This continues to be the centerpiece of my life. It is my immediate feeling when I wake up, as I go about my day, and as I drift off to sleep. It permeates everything.
  
  
• April was the fifth full month without my dad. The grief keeps getting worse and worse as reality starts to sink in.
  
  
• I am on Week 11 of an online group grief counseling now. It is so very helpful. I am going to be sad when it ends at 13 weeks. What will I do? I don't know, but I will need to make space and time for my grief. If I don't, I know it will spill out into my life anyway.
   

HEALTH & LIVING

• No update here, so I'll repeat last month's update: Still no flatmate. I'm not even going to look for one until after my PhD defense. Again, I say, what is money for if not a situation like this? 
  
  
• No update here, so I'll repeat last month's update: I have not been going to the gym. I'm just down in the dumps, never feel like going. It is the task switching aspect of it for me, plus wanting/needing to get certain bits of work done, plus the amount of time in my day it takes up. I wish I could get focused on my physical health again, but my grief just has taken over my life completely. 
  
  
• I have kept on the fish oil, magnesium, multivitamin, vit B12, Vit D and K, and Biosil drops regimen. I still need to add protein and fiber in there. 
  
  
• Relatedly, I recently realized that I feel better and more full when I eat red meat. I do not like the way beef and lamb taste in NZ (they are fully grass fed, which sounds like a good thing until you realize that that makes the meat very game-y to the US palate), so this is a problem. Part of the reason has to be because my ferritin is still very low, due to (TMI) heavy bleeding. I think I'm in full blown perimenopause but my doctor keeps denying my requests to investigate and treat it.
  
  
• I need to set my physio appointments up -  have done research and found one I want to try out. I think I'll go after some work stuff calms down. 
  
  
• I always have trouble in April. I always check out for like a week. That happened again this year. I could do nothing but call in sick and lay in bed. A few weeks later, I'm starting to feel a little better, but a lot of work piled up while I was away. 

 

TRAVEL & FUN 

• No update here, so I'll repeat last month's update: Still none of that is happening, though I have a weekly 'date' with some friends to catch up and watch a tv show. It is stabilizing and nice. They are so kind. I also went with some friends to see Project Hail Mary, which was wonderful. The audio book is incredible. My other friend's cat died and she moved about an hour away, so it is hard to see her. Another friend is having serious family issues, so she has been busy with them. Yet another friend moved to the bottom of the island. I am running out of friends. :(

FAMILY

• My sister found out there is something wrong with her blood counts. I'm scared.
  
  
• It was my Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary recently. It was intensely sad. 
  
  

PhD & WORK 

• I am totally overwhelmed. There is so much to do and so much pressure, and I just am not coping well.
  
  
• My supervisor asked AGAIN (again) about my defense. I am so tired of fighting for this boundary that I gave in and said she could give the signal to start planning it again. If I fail, I fail. I am so sad and emotional over it and have warned her what happens every time I think of it, so it'll be her fault if I blow it. I can't muster up enough resolve to fight anymore. 
  
  

MONEY THOUGHTS & MOVES

• With the high rent, gym membership, and new private health insurance, my spending is way above normal. That is just how it is right now.
   
• It is looking like I will lose my job starting in September this year, but my boss wants to keep me on my project. One option is to go freelance. I just thought of another option: I could ask my Kiwi colleague who owns her own business in my field to hire me as a staff member contingent on the project funding coming through. If she agreed, I would not have to deal with US and NZ self employment tax issues. Plus, as long as she charged less than 115% overheads on my salary like the Uni does, I would be better off financially than if hired by the Uni.
  
  
• My usual car service, Mevo, went into receivership and I had $1500 NZD worth of credit with them. I have disputed the charges as services not rendered with the US consumer financial protections office because I bought that credit on my US credit card in 2025. They are investigating, but I don't have a ton of hope that I'll get any of that money back.
  
  

 

MONTHLY CHALLENGES

• Previously my challenge was to get back on the healthy exercise and eating train, but I keep failing. Therefore I give UP. I can't do it right now. It is time I face it and just try to get through the days as best I can.

April 2026 Budget

I am earning a full salary now so things are extremely comfortable. I'm able to spend and save at levels like never before. 

Income: $8,921.43

Salary: $8,577.64

Lending Crowd repayments: $73.41

Zagga repayments: $10.38

Garage rent: $260 

Spending: $4,921.43 (55.2%)

Savings: $4,000 - $2,216.65 saved to Squirrel and earmarked towards my $25K Freelance Consultancy Start Up Fund. $783.35 transferred to my US bank account to pay credit card bills/automatic savings. $1K kept in my NZ bank account to be able to pay off my NZ credit card bills. 

Spending categories (budgeted amount in parentheses):

Rent: $2,240 - no flatmate

Groceries: $416.49 ($500)  

Electricity & Internet: $497.15 ($300) - 2 month's worth

Eating out: $184.07 ($250) - Breakfast with friends ($35.87); Pizza Hut ($58.04; Better Burger ($24.66); McD's ($28.80 + $16.10 + $2 + $18.60)

Charity: $260 ($50) - donation to grad school fund to help undergrads get field work experience, which is essential to people in my career 

Cell phone: $20 ($20) 

Medical: $472.85 ($100) -  supplements (Vit C, fiber, B12, L-thianine), medical insurance premium, blood pressure cuff, large pill organizer for supplements)

Misc: $600.87 ($1K)

alcohol: $0 

entertainment: $0 

self care: $113.16 -  1x massage; brow wax and tint, lash tint

fees: $109.99 - $10 fee for Cityhop membership, $59.99 sheet set for primary bedroom (flatmate room); $40 for chatgpt monthly fee

gifts: $47.97 - $2.04 for the bag to mail cousin some NZ gifts; $33.95 shipping costs; $4.99 mother's day card; $6.99 for cute bookmark magnets for mom

goods and wants: $206.48 - camp stove fuel in case of power outage during forecasted big storm ($10.99); $116.52 stuff from American store; $59 wireless earbuds; $19.96 moved to May income

transportation: $123.27 - flamingo scooters x 6 ($22.98); $7.80 for ferry from Devonport to Auckland CBD; $92.49 cityhop car for 1 day to do errands

travel: $0 

Savings and Funds Activity Update

• I transferred $2,216.65 NZD to Squirrel. That balance sits at about $60K, with $6,390 of that invested in various peer-to-peer loans at $100 each at 4.75% to 6.5% p.a.
  
  
• I have about $94K in Rabobank. 
  
  
• I still have two Zagga investments ($2K total).
   
• I am (still) waiting for Lending Crowd to start up again.

• I have now saved up for my last short-term goal of $25K to live off of after my job loss in September. I have no other short or medium term goals left to save up for. Any funds left over at the end of the month will now get transferred to USD to pay for my US credit cards and invested in US investments. 

   

Net Worth Tracking

NZ Savings (cash): $157,200 NZD. This includes investments in peer to peer loans.

Peer to peer lending: $8,993.92 (Zagga, Squirrel, open principal at Lending Crowd)

• LendingCrowd: $657.66 NZD - principal still owed, repaid with interest in weekly installments
• Zagga: ~$1945.77 NZD 
• Squirrel: $6,390.49 NZD

Kiwisaver: $134,317.74 NZD

US investments: $74,933.69 USD

Total Net Worth - NEW METHOD (April 2026): $320,224.23 NZD

I now only count long-term savings and investments in my Net Worth. This month's NW represents an increase of $25,483.83 NZD since last month, and an increase of $17,930.26 NZD since the beginning of the year. 

What is counted in my Net Worth now: 

• $60K NZD Former House Down Payment Fund (I will drip feed this into US investments)
• Kiwisaver (NZ retirement)
• Roth IRA
• Traditional IRA
• Berkshire Hathaway investment fund (non-dividend yield fund)
• Non-retirement investment account