Last Month Before Baby (Apr. 2026)

Wow, the market has really whipsawed in recent months! Sadly, that reflects turmoil in the real world. We’ve been too focused on our soon-to-be newborn baby to keep much of an eye on our investments. Thankfully, in these—what could otherwise be—quite stressful times, we know our finances are on autopilot and we can focus on what matters for us in the here and now.

For our monthly donation, our theme is motherhood. You can read more about the three charities we’re considering and vote for your favorite in the poll below!

We track our income, spending, and savings each month to stay on our FIRE path and share it with you. Keep reading to see our monthly updates, tips, and charity reviews.

Budget Update

In the Sankey diagram below, the income on the left matches our expenses on the right.

We’ll run through the income and expense sources for the month and remark on any interesting items.

Income Summary

Our income fell short of our expenses this month, but that’s quite alright given our ongoing investment growth.

Gifts Received
We held our Baby Shower this month. Despite our attempts to avoid and redirect gifts—we still received quite a few. And some were in cash or gift cards. We’re tracking those here as they’ll offset expenses in the future.

We received about $273 in gifts.

Local Sales
Another big month via our local Facebook Marketplace!

• $125: Our old kitchen gas range found a new home! If we net this against the induction stove cost, the expense was just $375!
• $15: We upgraded our home internet router to a more modern WiFi standard recently and sold the old one; net upgrade cost was about $5!
• $165: Chris sold off his previous Apple Watch, a Series 8, after buying an upgrade—Series 10—this month for less than he sold the old one for!
• $90: We planned to upgrade our dumb thermostat with a smart one during our recent HVAC upgrade, but are holding back for now. We received two units for around $13 from our utility which means we earned quite a bit more than their cost!
• $180: Chris sold off a new iPhone 13 he purchased on a promo from MetroPCS; total cost was about $58 so this is a new little win!

We earned $575 from local sales.

Expense Summary

From our $5,191 monthly budget, we saved and invested $1,661 dollars.

After subtracting our credits, savings, and donations—we spent about $3,480 on living expenses.

That’s 73% of our FIRE budget from 2022 ($4,787/month).

Let’s break down some of the more exciting details this month.

Food & Dining

We’ve been nailing down some good strategies to avoid increasing food costs that are starting to feel like a rhythm. Instacart Chase promos, Too Good to Go app, Ibotta rebates, and shopping the sales.

Groceries
Our grocery costs remain, on average, quite low for two with weird diets. This month, it’s a little higher than last—but last month seemed to be an exception. We restocked a bit after chowing down on freezer food and what not with the fridge repair. Fortunately, it was just the thermostat. We’re anticipating an increase to begin next month though—we’ll be moving on to two mouths to feed!

Restaurants, Fast food, Alcohol & bars
Our dining out expenses reflect just two little events. We brought pizzas for a meal at Jenni’s sister’s one evening. And, of course, we stacked a discounted Dominos gift card with a BOGO promo to keep the cost quite low. And for the second event, we made use of Chris’s AMEX Gold benefit to have a very nice date night at a local restaurant. The Resy benefit knocked $50 off the roughly $78 bill. Chris will close that AMEX Gold next month so we wanted to get in while we could!

We spent $605 on food & dining this month. 

Shopping

We picked up a few upgrades and replacements for older items this month. But overall, after selling the old stuff, we came out ahead!

Electronics & Software

As mentioned on the income side of things, Chris bought a used—slightly scratched—Apple Watch Series 10 on eBay. Total cost after a discounted eBay gift card came to just $138. A steal for a single generation old Apple Watch with 100% battery health. He sold his Series 8 watch locally for $165, netting a small profit.

Also appearing on our income, Chris purchased a carrier-locked iPhone 13 brand new for just $55. The lock will release in a year and it still works fine on the initial carrier so he managed to sell it locally for $180. With no contract, his only additional cost was a $3 Google Voice phone number he transferred into the carrier to get the new customer bonus rate.

We spent $196 on shopping this month.

Childcare

Our childcare expenses continue, though they remain very manageable. Baby expected in May!

Baby Supplies

While we did attend more baby classes this month, most were free through some combination of insurance or the hospital. But, the big class—3 in person visits at about 3 hours per—were about $85. That appears in our “tuition” expense this month. We’ve certainly learned a lot!

We also bought over 40 cloth diapers for $80 locally, bought some special diaper soap for $11 on Amazon, and boom—we’ve got hundreds of reusable diaper changes ready to go. Tack on just $5 more for a cute child train book and childcare expenses were just below $100 for the month. Not bad since we’re expecting this kid to be out and about next month!

We spent $95 on childcare this month.

Expense Conclusion

While that covers the big stuff, we still had a few random things or small purchases to mention that might be of interest.

Home Improvement
Our small house projects to get the house ship-shape for baby continue. Our second floor toilet was running so new valve time. We have a bathtub we hardly use—we just shower in it—but Jenni’s growing belly has made tub time more attractive. We figured we could finally spring for a rubber stopper to make it possible. Then there’s the two smart thermostats we received greatly discounted through our utility we mentioned in the income section above—which created a nice little profit. And the remainder was for paint for our Jenni-office-converted-to-Nursery project. We finally settled on colors!

Home Improvement costs were about $121.

Furnishings
Facebook Marketplace creates some amazing opportunities for first time parents! Jenni wanted some sort of nursing chair and after a little research, we tried to hunt down an Ikea POÄNG armchair. We didn’t have much trouble! In fact, we found one in lovely condition in a nice light color scheme for just $20. Plus, no assembly required for us!

City Water
Our switch to no natural gas use occurred part way through this billing cycle with our city utility. Our typical monthly cost of about $24 was cut in half to about $12—which makes sense given the timing. Next month, it should be under $3 and accurately reflect our wastewater tax we pay. No more gas! The induction stove has been fantastic.

Amusement
Neither of us are sure when the last time we saw a movie in a theater was. It’s been quite a while! We watch the occasional movie at home, but since the pandemic, the appeal for a theater just hasn’t been there. Well, Project Hail Mary changed our minds. We’d both read the book so seeing the movie called for a proper date night out. And so, $20 later for a pair of matinee tickets, we were snuggled into our hugely cushy, reclining, reserved seats. Quite the change from what we remember! And, the movie was fantastic!

Sports
We did have one little sports expense this month—a registration fee for Chris to run one of his favorite races. It’s a local 10K with a long history and a ton of fun. This year, Jenni found herself on the sidelines cheering with a special homemade shirt to catch Chris’s attention…

How Much We Work

We like to keep track of how much time we spend doing work that is paid.

Let’s add this month to the list…

History of Monthly “Hours Worked”

Month	Chris (Hours Worked)	Jenni (Hours Worked)
May 2020	41	108
Jun 2020	38	96
Jul 2020	36	120
Aug 2020	39	48
Sep 2020	27	76
Oct 2020	26	104
Nov 2020	27	57
Dec 2020	28	57
Jan 2021	25	102
Feb 2021	24	104
Mar 2021	24	106
Apr 2021	23	85
May 2021	17	29.75
Jun 2021	19	66
Jul 2021	21	30.25
Aug 2021	23	16.5
Sep 2021	26	28
Oct 2021	22	49
Nov 2021	21	51
Dec 2021	64	27
Jan 2022	32	80
Feb 2022	29	63
Mar 2022	14	70
Apr 2022	15	21
May 2022	14	36
Jun 2022	6	12
Jul 2022	13	45.5
Aug 2022	15	96
Sep 2022	12	54
Oct 2022	14	34.5
Nov 2022	12	72
Dec 2022	11	16.5
Jan 2023	10	88
Feb 2023	11	81.5
Mar 2023	12	47.5
Apr 2023	8	1
May 2023	16	100
Jun 2023	10	109
Jul 2023	12	48
Aug 2023	16	54.5
Sep 2023	9	20
Oct 2023	14	22
Nov 2023	15	22
Dec 2023	16	12
Jan 2024	12	61.25
Feb 2024	14	28.5
Mar 2024	16	61.5
Apr 2024	12	22
May 2024	8	19.5
Jun 2024	18	19.5
Jul 2024	14	44
Aug 2024	18	81
Sep 2024	15	20
Oct 2024	18	51
Nov 2024	5	15
Dec 2024	19	12
Jan 2025	17	17.5
Feb 2025	4	8
Mar 2025	14	12
Apr 2025	3	11
May 2025	14	33
Jun 2025	12	2
Jul 2025	12	13
Aug 2025	16	13.5
Sep 2025	12	30
Oct 2025	13	40
Nov 2025	12	22.5
Dec 2025	13	16
Jan 2026	12	8
Feb 2026	12	12
Mar 2026	7.5	12
Apr 2026	22	14

Our part time work hours remain quite low—about 36. Most of the earned wages went to Jenni’s 401(k).

Net Worth Update

Net worth is not our primary measurement, and can understand it can be discouraging if you’re working yourself out of debt. We also understand it’s difficult to be transparent with our readers without divulging this information, so we continue to do so.

Account breakdown

Even with the wild swings in the market lately, our investments continue to be pretty stable. From a high level, our assets and liabilities are shown in the data table below as of April 30, 2026.

Description	Value (USD, $)
401(k)	1,342,911
Brokerage	1,156,877
Roth IRA	357,200
Traditional IRA	56,610
HSA	72,064
Real Estate	462,200
Mortgage	(127,371)
Miscellaneous Assets	25,000
Checking & Savings	12,720
Net Worth	3,358,212

• Miscellaneous assets include specific investments we’ve made in physical assets (think collectibles) and treasury bonds
• Amounts do not reflect the value of the businesses Chris owns or their assets, which should appear as income to us over future years
• Jenni’s Prius is omitted

The S&P 500 was up about 10.4% for the month. That’s crazy!

We were up about 8.1%. That’s a massive swing! A lot of it reflects recovery from recent turmoil, though. We lagged the market a little which tends to happen on big gain periods—though we also haven’t had the losses the market has had in recent months.

Overall, our net worth increased by around $250K this month.

Net Worth History

Date	Amount	% Change
July 2020	$1,555,289	–
August 2020	$1,597,334	2.7%
September 2020	$1,566,393	(2.0%)
October 2020	$1,568,182	0.01%
November 2020	$1,720,113	9.6%
December 2020	$1,810,864	5.3%
January 2021	$1,860,996	2.8%
February 2021	$1,878,154	0.9%
March 2021	$1,918,269	2.1%
April 2021	$2,010,849	4.8%
May 2021	$2,049,213	1.9%
June 2021	$2,093,896	2.2%
July 2021	$2,092,153	(0.1%)
August 2021	$2,130,761	1.8%
September 2021	$2,070,730	(2.8%)
October 2021	$2,151,272	3.9%
November 2021	$2,095,273	(2.6%)
December 2021	$2,160,235	3.1%
January 2022	$2,055,292	(4.9%)
February 2022	$2,058,001	0.01%
March 2022	$2,134,428	3.7%
April 2022	$1,968,069	(7.8%)
May 2022	$1,975,569	0.04%
June 2022	$1,868,397	(5.4%)
July 2022	$1,975,608	5.7%
August 2022	$1,878,352	(5.2%)
September 2022	$1,735,997	(7.6%)
October 2022	$1,820,287	4.9%
November 2022	$1,920,635	5.5%
December 2022	$1,866,513	(2.8%)
January 2023	$1,953,691	4.7%
February 2023	$1,882,656	(3.6%)
March 2023	$1,969,566	4.6%
April 2023	$1,981,934	0.6%
May 2023	$1,995,247	0.7%
June 2023	$2,092,479	4.9%
July 2023	$2,189,821	4.7%
August 2023	$2,140,296	(2.2%)
September 2023	$2,042,865	(4.6%)
October 2023	$2,015,648	(1.3%)
November 2023	$2,157,404	7.0%
December 2023	$2,261,458	4.8%
January 2024	$2,296,269	1.5%
February 2024	$2,365,110	3.0%
March 2024	$2,434,250	2.9%
April 2024	$2,371,284	(2.6%)
May 2024	$2,423,205	2.2%
June 2024	$2,472,353	2.0%
July 2024	$2,513,877	1.7%
August 2024	$2,560,215	1.8%
September 2024	$2,592,558	1.3%
October 2024	$2,576,903	(0.6%)
November 2024	$2,685,615	4.2%
December 2024	$2,621,732	(2.4%)
January 2025	$2,689,706	2.6%
February 2025	$2,665,053	(0.9%)
March 2025	$2,581,708	(3.1%)
April 2025	$2,588,737	0.3%
May 2025	$2,711,140	4.7%
June 2025	$2,818,049	3.9%
July 2025	$2,836,370	0.7%
August 2025	$2,915,960	2.8%
September 2025	$3,012,036	3.3%
October 2025	$3,067,605	2.3%
November 2025	$3,066,024	(0.05%)
December 2025	$3,077,922	0.4%
January 2026	$3,174,543	3.1%
February 2026	$3,212,548	1.2%
March 2026	$3,107,967	(3.3%)
April 2026	$3,358,212	8.1%

Previous Donation Winner

This month’s grant will help out youth gain an interest in preserving our planet through interactive activities and challenges. Congratulations to The Earth Rangers USA Foundation for sparking an interest in our youth in a creative way.

Our Reader’s Fund seeks to leverage the principles of FIRE to build a lifetime of giving.

Thank you for your participation in our polls over the last 5 years. We’ve given over $10,000 to deserving charities with your help in deciding which organizations to donate to.

Polls are now open for our next round of candidates: Motherhood Charities.

Charity Round-Up

As we anticipate the birth of our first child, it was fitting to support motherhood charities. Being a parent is one of the most rewarding and challenging things a person can do. Having support from your family and community goes along way in ensuring your little one has a great life. These charities help Mom’s be set up for success in a variety of ways from the health of the pregnancy and delivery to access to breastmilk if needed.

Each organization has great charity ratings. We invite you to learn more about their great work and join us in donating to one of them by casting your vote.

Summaries below include the impact metrics and a link to their Candid profile, which details the nonprofit’s operations and transparency.

1)​​ Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee

Why? Engaging kids in earth conservation to inspire lifelong commitment of the natural world.

Where? Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee USA.

What? Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee is a nonprofit organization that provides safe pasteurized donor human milk to the little babies that decide to come into this world a little earlier than they should have. During their stay in the NICU, these vulnerable babies receive breastmilk instead of formula decreasing the risks of serious health complications but also increasing the rates of maternal breastfeeding upon discharge.

[Candid] [About]

2) Global Doula Project Inc

Why? It’s hard to put into words exactly what a Doula offers until you’ve have the experience. They dramatically decreases the need for unnecessary medical procedures, is there for the couple to provide support, guidance, and answers before during and after delivery, and helps ensure your birth wishes are followed.

Where? Globally.

What? Global Doula Project Inc is a global nonprofit organization increasing the availability of doulas around the world. In many cultures, it is very common to have a doula as part of standard care. But in others, parents aren’t even familiar with the term. This organization works in the following ways:

• Financial Aid for Doula Training.
• Presenting impact stories of the benefits of a Doula support prenatally, during labor, and during postpartum care.
• Funding for Doula organizations worldwide including: birth, postpartum, and death doulas.

[Candid] [About]

3) Midwives at the Edges 

Why? Giving birth is one of the most challenging things humans are designed to do. Midwives spend more time with Moms and offer a different approach to labor and delivery, preventing unnecessary procedures and improving the outcomes of both mom and baby.

Where? The United States, India, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, South Eastern Asia, Southern Asia, and the Middle East regions.

What? Midwives at the Edges s a national nonprofit organization helping train midwives to live and provide care in low resource settings in remote settings. They equip local health systems to train midwives, they have mobile maternity care units, and have a specific program to bring breath to infants not breathing at birth or mom’s that are hemorrhaging.

[Candid] [About]

Nonprofit poll

After reviewing the list above, please take a moment to vote for which nonprofit you think will put funds to use in the best way.

(Have trouble using or seeing the poll above? Some reader tools or apps may not display it. View this page in a browser or use this link to our Reader Fund page, which has a copy of the poll!)

Thank you for taking the time to vote!

One of our primary goals with TicTocLife is building a stream of giving within the FIRE community, and that starts with knowledge.

What’s Next

While May will, almost undoubtedly, change our lives…for a while, at least, it should be a pretty quiet month. We’ve cleared out our calendars to do final baby prep and just enjoy time with one another. Soon, it’ll be three—and the shift from just the two of us will be a big piece of the change.

Baby shower done. Classes done. Baby checks are all healthy; everything points to go.

He or she is on the way, getting closer each day. We can’t wait.

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Our shortlist of names is complete—now we’ll just have to see their face and see if we can figure out who they are. What do you think, boy or girl?
Let us know in the comments or on Threads and X (Twitter)!