2019 Income & Spending Report......the February Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals, 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.

Two changes we implemented for 2019 at our financial meeting in Jan.--

* Hubs wants to take $150 per person WAM(aka Walking Around Money)in 2019.  I found last year's $100 per month adequate but Hubs chafed at that little so we are upping it this year to $150 per person per month.
                                                                                                                                                           
*As for our 2018 Slush Fund, this is how we are going to handle it in 2019......
We won't be taking a quarterly 401K withdrawal in 2019 until we "need" to, instead of taking one each quarter as we had planned back in 2017 when Hubs retired.  Why pull 401K monies out when they are earning more than our other regular bank funds?  Use those instead for now!

Since the Slush Fund ended 2018 with $23,164.17 in it and the Sinking Fund ended 2018 with $468.37 in it, we are, for now at least, not take any more 401K withdrawals and use what is in the Sinking Fund and/or Slush Fund to cover all irregular bills that come up in 2019.

I have set up a page to track the Slush Fund.  Click on the tab marked "Slush Fund 2018-2019" at the top of the blog.

  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 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 2019.

I can report that we finished up February in the RED. *whomp whomp*
The amount we ended the month of February with?.....-$55.12

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in February---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1863.84
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $374.59
Total "Income" for February....$5,456.59


Expenses in February---

* Healthcare Premium for February was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)**
* Variable Expenses in February came to $3,663.04
Total Expenses....$5,511.71

** The folks holding our retirement medical reimbursement account screwed up last month's reimbursement and shorted us a bit.  This month we got that shortfall back so that amount is a bit higher than it usually is.

Sinking Fund--The balance in the Sinking Fund coming into February at $468.37. Nothing was paid from this fund so it goes into March at $468.37.


We went into February with $23,573.94 in the Slush Fund.
Deduct February's shortfall of $55.12 and the Slush Fund goes into March at $23,518.82.

Outgo

As for the variable 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 in January.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was approx. the same as last month.
*  WAM monies was the same as in January.
*  The gas card bill was $30.61 less than last month(actually we didn't use the gas card last month).
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in January.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was up $67.84 from than last month.(Have I said how much I hate Winter and will      be glad when the kids move out yet?)
*  The c/c bill was $549.72 higher than last month.
*  Hubs had $27.71 in charges on his Discover card in February.
*  I had $30.16 in charges on my Amazon card(for a health supplement).

The Food Budget costs for January are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food costs are covered in the credit card payment(sometimes our WAM cash too).

So we end February in the red with a shortfall of $55.12, which was pulled from the Slush Fund overage, leaving the Slush Fund at $23,518.82 heading into March.
The Sinking Fund goes into Marcy 2019 standing at $468.37 with no deposits made into it in Feb.

FINAL THOUGHTS on February---
I was prepared for it to be worse financially than it turned out to be.  While the c/c bill was higher than last month there was a lot of unavoidable spending on it.  Usual grocery spending and the monthly cell phone bill were on there but then we had ex-College Boy's birthday meal out, my new 2 pr. of glasses(could have been MUCH more $$$ if I had bought them at VisionWorks)and then there were three, count 'em three car expenses......1-my inspection and 4 new tires(and balancing), 2-Hubs' car inspection and 3- he needed new brakes/pads/etc. at a cost of $417.14.  So just those 5 irregular expenses came to $1,374.34.  Add in Hubs paid his chess subscription and then made a contribution to the Libertarian Party(which I contend he should pay for out of his WAM!loz)and we ended up with a rather high c/c bill for a non-Holiday spending month.
bleh.

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2019----
March........March will be ugly.
Besides a $2,152.50 eye doc bill(haven't met our medical deductible yet for 2019)I have to pay this week, we've got 3 irregular bills due in March; a quarterly long term care premium, county/municipal taxes on the house and the yearly sewage bill.  If none of these have gone up since 2018(don't know on two of them yet)we're looking at $2,357.94 for those 3+ the eye doc bill =$4,510.44 besides the usual suspects(reg. monthly bills).
These 4 bills will all be coming out of the Slush Fund.
Otherwise the all the regular bills should be about normal except for some trip eating out/travel expenses(gas/tolls/motels/etc.).  Again anything out of the ordinary we can pull from the Slush Fund to cover it if needed.
On the other hand.......there will be some dividend interest in March(not that that little bit of $$ will offset $4K in bills but it's "something" lol).
Any way I can keep spending in check in March I'll attempt it.  I'd like to keep the spending below our income level(except for those 4 irregular bills).  That will make me feel much better when March is over.

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!


Sluggy