Income & Spending 2021....The January Report

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals(some months), 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.

  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 January report---

I had 2 goals for January.......
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 2021.

I can report that we finished up January in the black.
The amount we ended the month of January with?.....$337.34

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in January---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1,971.99
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $450.45

Total "Income" for January.....$5644.68

Expenses in January---

* Healthcare Premium for January was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in January were $406.00
* Variable Expenses in January came to $2929.35
Total Expenses....$5,307.34

$5,644.68-$5,307.34=$337.34
Slush into January of $34,308.14 in that Fund, add the $337.34 January overage and this brings the Slush to $34,645.48 going into February 2021.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $337.34 for January.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet and cell phone were the same as in December.

*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.

*  The Mastercard bill was $542.98 lower than in December

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* The water bill was $4.18 higher than December's bill.

* The electric bill was $93.78 higher than last month's bill. This one will continue to rise as Winter deepens.

* The gas bill was $31.54 higher than in December.

*  My Amazon card was $917.51 higher than last month.  Our Mastercard was compromised so I had to put food shopping on the Amazon c/c as well as some Xmas spending.

*  Hubs got his own Amazon c/c what with our Mastercard info being stolen.  He used it to the tune of $326.07 in January.

*  We had 2 irregular bills due-the yearly garbage bill and my eye exam and glasses paid for.

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on January---
It was a good month overall financially.  Not much leftover once every bills was paid but there was some income not spent.  I'll take this as a win since the monthly health insurance premium went up in 2021 by $88.23.

THOUGHTS going forward into February 2021----Hubs and I have yet to sit down and talk finances and the game plan for 2021.  We just haven't taken the time to do it in January so February it will be.  We are still working on satisfying our yearly insurance premium deductible(even with 3 dr. visits for  me and 1 for Hubs in January and an expensive specialty drug refill)so the HSA is taking a big hit right now.  There are no irregular bills in February but three in March(and one of those in big-property taxes)so we'll try to keep the February spending low.  Even so we may take a 401K withdraw in March after we sit down and go over the numbers.

Hubs has started the agony of doing the taxes too so we'll see who owes whom soon(we'll probably owe the state and the Feds will probably owe us as usual).

So how was your January financially?
  

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