Now that we are living on an annuity, 401K$ withdrawals, personal savings and social security payments, I am still going to keep track of our monthly spending and income, and hopefully we'll still be able to live BELOW our means and I'll have some leftover monies each month to tuck aside.
We went into retirement in June of 2017 with no debt, no mortgage nor a car payment.
I am trying to be as transparent as I can with how much is coming in and how much is going out. 8-)
On to the February report--
I have 2 goals for February....
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to tuck back into a slush fund. This slush fund may be applied toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2025.
* I do not include/report on our retirement accounts here, just the non-retirement ones.
I'm happy to report that we finished up February in the black.
The amount extra we ended the month of February with?....$2,723.72
Income or FundFebrs We Can Access
The "income" in February---
* Monthly annuity payment of $2,530.11
* SS income of $3,906.60
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $1356.03
* Rebating Cash-out $389.82
* USPS Refund $8.40
Total "Income" for February....$8,190.96
Expenses in February---
* Irregular bills in February were $595.58
* Variable expenses in February came to $4,237.25
* Medical Premiums in February were $634.41
Total Expenses....$5,467.24
$8,190.96-$5,467.24=$2,723.72
Slush Fund coming into February of $83,904.58 and the addition of $2,723.72 in February, our end of February 2025 Slush Fund comes to $86,628.30.
The Slush Fund, on it's own page(tab at the top of the blog), shows an addition of $2,723.72.
Outgo
As for the variable expenses this February, here are the good and bad side of things.....
Here are the GOOD THINGS
* The water bill and the WAM were the same as last month.
* The Mastercard bill went down $37.77 in February.
* Hubs Amazon card was $444.33 less than the previous month.
* The Cellphone bill went down by $86.33 in February. We changed carriers.
* My Aviator c/c was $732.96 less than in January.
HERE are the BAD THINGS
* The electric bill went up by $79.14 in February.
* My Amazon c/c was $46.14 higher than last month.
* Hubs Aviator c/c was $1,960.16 more in February due mostly to the deposit we had to pay to the moving company.
And we had some "one off" bills in February--
* Doc Co-Pay of $20.00
* Vet Bill of $116.19
* Hubs paid off his cellphone because we changed carriers so that was $459.39
The Food Budget costs for February are in another post HERE. Food costs are included in my credit card payments(mainly because I buy the food but sometimes these costs come out of our WAM cash too).
FINAL THOUGHTS for February 2025---
GOING FORWARD INTO March 2025--The cruise payment is due in March. ouch We'll probably be in the negative in March because of that but we have the cash to pay it so no worries there. Other than that the rest of the bills should be about the same, except the heat may be off more days than on because March is deep Spring here in the deep South so the electric bill should be less. 8-)
Here's hoping 2025 treats us all even better financially! 8-))
So how was your February financially?
Did you spend less than the income you had in February?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay down/off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or retirement account?
Or did you blow all your excess monies after bills were paid on a "want"?
If you post your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate or commiserate with you!
Sluggy
