2019 Income & Spending Report......the March 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 taking any more 401K withdrawals and using 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 March report---This won't be pretty, like me. lolz

I had 2 goals for March.....
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 March in the RED. *whomp whomp*
The amount we ended the month of March with?.....-$2,845.44

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in March---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67 *
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $517.13
* Dividend income of $108.22
* Deposit into checking for M/C of $127.00
* Federal tax return of $1465.00
Total "Income" for March....$7,284.18


Expenses in March---this where it gets ugly. 8-(

* Healthcare Premium for March was $1,819.54(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in March came to $3,164.37
* Irregular Expenses in March came to $5,145.71
Total Expenses....$10,129.62

** The folks holding our retirement medical reimbursement account screwed up reimbursement and shorted us a bit a couple of months ago and are still figuring this out.

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


We went into March with $23,518.82 in the Slush Fund.
Deduct March's shortfall of $2,845.44 and the Slush Fund goes into April at $20,673.38.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this March, 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 February.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was $10.25 lower than last month.
*  The electric bill was $109.10 lower than last month.
*  The health insurance premium was $29.13 less than in February.
*  The c/c bill was $529.27 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* There was $22.80 in charges on the gas card(last month nothing was put on it.)
*  Cash withdrawals were more-WAM was the same amount but I gave the kids cash for watching Chester while we were gone and some food money they spent on take-out, so $135 more used in March.
*  Hubs had $2152.50 doctor bill(haven't met the deductible yet).
*  I had $66.05 in charges on my Amazon card.
*  I had a $206.43 Kohl's bill-bought under garments, a comforter, etc.
*  I had a $35.27 fat lady clothing company bill.
*  We paid a combined $312.00 to PA and LA-2018 state taxes.
*  County/municipal taxes for 2019 of $1,371.85 were due.
*  Annual sewage bill of $446.20 was due.
*  Long Term Care quarterly premiums of $555.41 were due.

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

It was the perfect storm of bills in March.......3 irregular bills plus a large medical bill as we hadn't met the healthcare deductible yet came to almost $5K alone.  And then there was the MASSIVE credit card statement...over $500 for vacation related charges(more coming on April's statement!eek), an EZ Pass reload of $35, $100 for June event tickets bought, Hubs spent $87 on chess equipment, $104 Birthday meal for ex-college boy, $76 spent online at JCPenney's clearance sale(I got almost ALL my 2019 Xmas shopping done there!), $137 in CBD oil for my pain management, plus the usual food spending and cellphone bill.
*sigh*

So we end March in the red with a shortfall of $2845.44, which was pulled from the Slush Fund overage, leaving the Slush Fund at $20,673.38 heading into April.
The Sinking Fund goes into April 2019 standing at $468.37 with no deposits made into it in March.

FINAL THOUGHTS on March---
I wasn't mentally prepared for it to be so much money leaking out in one month.
bleh.  I knew it would be ugly but still.........
Thankfully we had that large pile of extra cash saved up from last year so no worries.
April is time to pick myself up and soldier on financially.

THOUGHTS going forward into April 2019----
No irregular bills in April thank goodness.  Only another LTC premium and semi-annual car insurance the 2nd quarterly of the year so we should be able to sock away a bit of cash in the next 3 months plus not have to pull cash from last year's Slush Fund either.  That would be nice. 8-)
I will remain vigilant about meaningless spending in April. ;-)

So how was your March financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in March?
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