Income & Spending Report....February 2018

Now that we are living on an annuity(like a pension) and 401K$ withdrawals(retirement savings), 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.
But this money leftover at the end of each month, at least for now(as we find our new financial "normal")won't be saved toward a yearly Savings Challenge.

The issue now is to cover all the bills with these two sources of income and not have to dip into the regular savings(that I built over the last 10 years)to pay our month to month expenses.

Got it?
OK, let's move on.

On to the February 2018 report--

I had 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 fun may be to apply 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 2018.

I have to report that we finished up February in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of February with?.......$9281.68

Income

The income in February---
* Monthly annuity payment of $3173.13(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1813.48
* January overage of $4604.28 that carried over into Feb. 2018
* One third of 401K withdrawal balance for Feb. of $851.10 ##
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $327.54

Total Income for February......$10,769.53

## The balance of the 401K withdrawal($2553.31)got divided by 3 and gives us $851.10 in January to add to the income for the month(Feb. and Mar. will also get $851.10/$851.11 respectively)for general expenses.


Expenses in February---
* Healthcare Premium for February was $1813.48.
* Variable Expenses in February came to $2533.13.
* No Irregular expenses were due or paid.

Total Expenses for February......$4346.61

$10769.53-$4346.61=$6422.92 overage for February.
Add in the Sinking Fund(carryover from Jan. since no irregular bills were paid out of it)of $2858.76 which leaves us with $9281.68 total to carry over into March.

Outgo

As for the expenses this February, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The electric bill was $83.90 lower than January(thank goodness!)
*  The gas card charges were $35.51 lower than last month.
*  The credit card bill was $1122.22 lower than in January.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals was $50 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $6.70 higher than in January.
*  The LA house electric bill was $30.41 higher than last month.
*  The medical payments were $365.79 more than in January.
*  $150.76 was due on two store charge cards.  Not bad or an unmanageable amount as these were much needed items(clothing)and priced right.

The Food Budget costs for February are in another post, which is located HERE.

So we end February in the black with $6422.92 in general overage.
The Sinking Fund goes into March standing at $2858.76.
Added together that gives us a cushion of $9281.68 for March.

FINAL THOUGHTS on February---No big charges I didn't know where coming in February and the "usual suspects" aka the variable bills were pretty low.
What I consider our "income" was the annuity and the partial 401k withdrawal of $851.10, so $4024.23 "income" for Februrary.  The Feb. bills(without the Healthcare premium which is covered fully by the RMSA refund)were $2533.13 so we had $1491.10 leftover from "income" when the month was over.  If we can cover the bills(variable and irregular)each month with "income" leftover, our overage will continue to grow into the succeeding month.

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2018----This month has 2 different irregular bills due; Real Estate taxes and the annual Sewage bill but we have enough in the Sinking Fund to cover those fully(plus a little leftover too).  As for variable bills-The credit card bill will be higher than I like due to Hubs trip to LA to take care of some house business there and Medical bills will be lower I'd like to say but we have some pending bills still to work off the deductible....after March this line item should settle down a lot.  If the weather stays milder(knock on wood!)the electric bill will see a reprieve. Unless Murphy happens we should be able to stay under our $4024.24 "income" for March on the bills.

Financially boring months are great. ;-)

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 off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?

If you posted 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!

Make this year was the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you have banked now for your future self.
Or pay extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy