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

I had 2 goals for August.......
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 August in the Black(for a change).
The amount we ended the month of August with?....$36.38

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in August---

* 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 $436.44

Total "Income" for August.....$5,630.67

Expenses in August---

* Healthcare Premium for August was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in August were $1,173.00(house insurance, trip cash, Oldest birthday check)

* Variable Expenses in August came to $2,449.30
Total Expenses....$5,594.29

$5,630.67-$5,594.29=$36.38

Slush into August of $39,033.52 in that Fund, add the $36.38 in overage and we get $39,069.90 going into September's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $36.38. rah.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet was the same as in July.

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

*  The electric bill was $3.79 lower than in July.

*  The cell phone went down by $82.25 from last month.

*  The water bill was $5.15 lower than in July.

*  The MC c/c was $1,032.10 lower than last month.

*  My Amazon Visa was $2,716.60 lower than July.(Cruise related stuff all paid for in July.)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The gas bill was $46.78 higher than last month.(Trip to MD accounts for most of that gas. Gas has been crazy expensive for here.)

*  3 irregular bills were due in August--annual home insurance, a birthday check for our oldest son and extra $$$ was taken for the trip to Alaska.

The Food Budget costs for August 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 August---The only variable bill that went up rather than down in August was gas for the cars.  I'd call that a win.
 

THOUGHTS going forward into September 2021---Well the gas costs will be high again as I have a trip down to see my brother and his wife and a side trip on the way home to see my Sissie. ;-)  Groceries shouldn't be too high as I won't be here to shop and Hubs won't. lolz  I paid ahead on my Amazon card so all the crap I bought in Alaska and barely fit in my luggage home won't be haunting my credit card....just half of it.

We have 2 big irregular bills coming due in September--Long Term Care premiums and our School taxes(which of course, went up again).  There will be a money meeting later this money to see whether to tap the 401K or just withdraw for these from the non-retirement savings.  More in the next monthly report on that.

We also made a big money decision which kicked in during August but I'll talk about that another time as it really won't affect our income/spending until Hubs Medicare kicks in about 20 months from now.  This matter will get it's own blog post in time.

So how was your August financially? 

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