Income & Spending....the March Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity, 401K$ withdrawals and social security payments, 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 March report---

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 2022.

This month I also had a goal to survive the move and have a little fun.  So far, so good.;-)

I can report that we finished up March in the black.

The amount we ended the month of March with?...$1,606.35

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in March---

*  Monthly annuity payment of $3,235.81(after tax withholding)

*  SS income of $3879.00

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $170.23

*  Stock Dividend of $19.11

Total "Income" for March....$7,304.15

Expenses in March---
* Irregular bills in March were $1,180.55

* Variable Expenses in March came to $2,246.26

* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,270.99

Total Expenses....$5,697.80

$7,304.15-$5,697.80=$1,606.35

Slush into March of $61,183.25 in that Fund, add the overage of $1,606.35 in March and we get $62,789.60 into April 2023's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,606.35.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The cell phone, WAM, Health Premium and internet were the same as last month.

*  The water bill was $3.08 lower than in February

*  The electric bill was $166.17 lower than last month.

*  My Amazon c/c was $145.85 lower than in February.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Hubs Amazon c/c was $13.75 higher than in February.

*  The Mastercard c/c was $78.72 higher than last month..

*  We had irregular bills due in March too--

  *   Long Term Care quarterly premiums of $784.55

  *  Federal 2022 taxes paid of $330.00

  *  PA 2022 state taxes paid of $66.00

The Food Budget costs for March are in another post .  Food costs are included in the credit card payment(mainly but sometimes our WAM cash too).

FINAL THOUGHTS on March 2023---Regular bills were nice and low.  We did have 3 irregular bills come due this past month  but those didn't tip the scales out of our favor.

THOUGHTS going forward into April 2023--

Still having limited mobility(now it's my bum knee)so we still need to unpack stuff. ugh.

Louisiana state taxes will get filed in April(and we will owe about $700).  

No other irregular bills due in April but the lawn tractor purchase and cruise excursions will be paid for in April on credit cards(and promptly paid off).

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