Income & Spending......the March Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity, 401K$ withdrawals, personal savings 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.

We went into retirement in June of 2017 with no debt, no mortgage, nor a car payment.

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 fund may be applied 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 2024. 

*  I do not include/report on our retirement accounts here, just the non-retirement ones.

 

I'm happy to report that we finished up March in the black.

The amount extra we ended the month of March with?....$3,069.80

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in March---

*  Monthly annuity payment of $2,608.66

*  SS income of $3,828.70

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $983.98

*  Stock Dividend of $19.95

Total "Income" for March....$7,441.29

Expenses in March---

*  Irregular bills in March were $1,279.32

*  Variable Expenses in March came to $4,263.74

*  Medical Premiums in March were $698.02

Total Expenses....$4,371.49

$7,441.29-$4,371.49=$3069.80

Slush Fund coming into March of $52,235.59 and the addition of $3,069.80 in March, our end of March 2024 Slush fund comes to $55,305.39

The Slush Fund on it's own page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $3,069.80

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill, the cell phone bill and WAM were all the same as in February.

*  The electric bill went down in March by $149.03

*  Hubs Amazon c/c bill was $1,092.77 lower than last month.

*  My Amazon c/c bill was $0.

*  The Mastercard was $210.65 lower than in February.

*  The American Airlines c/c was $238.88 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  We had 3 irregular bills in March--

*  The Kohl's c/c was $127.64(a one off).

*  The quarterly Long Term Care premiums of $784.55 were due.

*  Chester had a vet visit for $188.87.

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

FINAL THOUGHTS for MARCH 2024---This month turned out a bit better than expected, even with the high grocery spending.  Didn't go anywhere but doctors and grocery stores and didn't do anything that cost additional money.

THOUGHS GOING FORWARD INTO APRIL 2024--Well, we have to pay a couple thousand dollars of Federal Income Taxes this month. ick.  I'd rather do that than give the government an interest free loan of our money for a year though. ;-)

But on the other hand we have the quarterly 401K withdrawal this month which more than balances the taxes out.(State taxes are due in May, but even with that we are good.)  Food & toiletry spending will be much less this month.

Here's hoping 2024 treats us all even better financially! 8-))

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 down/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 all your excess monies after bills were paid 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