Sunday, June 6, 2021

Income & Spending 2021.....the May 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 May report---

I had 2 goals for May.......
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 May in the black.
The amount we ended the month of May with?.....$282.14

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in May---

* 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 $205.69
Total "Income" for May.....$5,399.92

Expenses in May---

* Healthcare Premium for May was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in May were $607.68(car insurance 6 mos.)
* Variable Expenses in April came to $2,538.11
Total Expenses....$5,117.78

$5,399.92-$5,117.78=$282.14

Slush into May of $46,882.97in that Fund, add the $282.14 in overage and we get $47,165.11 going into Mune.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $282.14 for May..

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet and cell phone were the same as in April.
*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.
*  The electric bill was $24.13 lower than in April.
*  The water bill went down by $5.02 from last month.
*  The credit card bill was $407.86 lower than in April.


HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The gas bill was $5.42 higher than in April.
*  The Amazon bill was $147.06 higher than last month.
*  We had an irregular bill, the semi-annual car insurance payment of $607.68

The Food Budget costs for May 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 May---Stayed under the food budget and most other bills wer trending down(except gas and Amazon)and we had money leftover so I'll call May a win. 8-)))
 

THOUGHTS going forward into June 2021----Well we are having the main bathroom renovated and we bought a new deck swing as the old one was rusted out.  The only irregular bill in June are the long term care premiums and we got a notice these are going up by about $100 each per quarter. bleh.
So the reno will cost us a chunk of our Slush fund which is looking quite healthy for now so I am not too worried about having a month where the bills are more than the income in June,


So how was your May financially? 
Did you spend less than the income you had in May?
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

5 comments:

  1. That's wonderful that you ended May in the black, SLuggy. We did OK in May too.

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  2. I spent less and had money left over. I called to pay my Belk bill and had no balance. So, happy dance here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We refinanced the house - yay!
    This will bring in several hundreds of dollars per month now.

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  4. What type of account do you keep your slush fund in? Mine is getting such a low interest rate currently.

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    Replies
    1. Our Slush Fund is quite modest and it's just a checking account so it's easily accessible. We have other non-retirement monies split between CapitalOne(use to be ING)and Ally Bank CDs. Nothing is giving what I'd call a "decent" rate of return for the last 12 years or so....thanks a lot Fed!

      Delete

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