2019 Income & Spending....the December Report

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

Two changes we implemented for 2019 at our financial meeting in Jan.--

* Hubs wants to take $150 per person WAM(aka Walking Around Money)in 2019.  I found last year's $100 per month adequate but Hubs chafed at that little so we are upping it this year to $150 per person per month.
                                                                                                                                       
*As for our 2018 Slush Fund, this is how we are going to handle it in 2019......
We won't be taking a quarterly 401K withdrawal in 2019 until we "need" to, instead of taking one each quarter as we had planned back in 2017 when Hubs retired.  Why pull 401K monies out when they are earning more than our other regular bank funds?  Use those instead for now!

Since the Slush Fund ended 2018 with $23,164.17 in it and the Sinking Fund ended 2018 with $468.37 in it, we are, for now at least, not taking any more 401K withdrawals and using what is in the Sinking Fund and/or Slush Fund to cover all irregular bills that come up in 2019 plus a few projects around the house.

I have set up a page to track the Slush Fund.  Click on the tab marked "Slush Fund 2018-2019" at the top of the blog.

  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 December report---

I had 2 goals for December.......
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 2019.

I can report that we finished up December in the black.
The amount we ended the month of December with?.....$930.64

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in December---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $756.81
* Dividend income of $109.27
Total "Income" for December.....$5936.99

Expenses in December---

* Healthcare Premium for December was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in December came to $2602.27
* Irregular Expenses(Long Term Care Insurance Premiums)$555.41
Total Expenses....$5006.35

$5936.99-$5006.35=$930.64

Slush into December $17,507.99 + $930.64 addition=$18,438.63 left in the Slush Fund to take into 2020.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $930.64 for December.

We started 2019 with $23,164.17 in Slush Funds.
We ended 2019 with $18,438.63 in Slush Funds which means we spent $4,725.54 MORE than what we had coming in strictly as "income" in 2019(Income being, RMSA monies, Annuity funds, Dividends and Interest income, Blogging revenue, Federal Tax Refund).
* I don't include as income any Sales made(eBay or local)or no Poll Worker pay. The Sales ARE included as income we report to the IRS of course.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was $4.63 lower than in November.
*   The electric bill was $100.03 lower than last month.
*  The WAM was the same as in November.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as last month.
*  There was no Gas card bill(all gas was put on Mastercard)
*  The M/C bill was $422.08 less than November's bill.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The Amazon card bill was $571.79 higher than in November.
*  There were $73.65 in medical co-pays this month.
*  There was a $77.05 Kohl's bill in December.
*  There was an irregular bill due-Long Term Care Premiums of $555.41 due in December.

The Food Budget costs for December 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 December----

December was financially predictable.  There was Xmas spending on 2 credit cards, there was an irregular bill due and under $100 in medical co-pays from November OVs.
Surprisingly the electric bill was LOWER than in November!  That almost never happens as we have electric heat but hey!, I'll take it! lolz
We didn't have to pull any cash from the Slush Fund in December for any emergencies.


THOUGHTS going forward into January 2020----
Hubs and I will sit down in the coming week to go over the 2019 budget and all the numbers.
There will be some tweaking of the budget for 2020 and looking at the good and bad of our finances.
We'll be running the expected expenses for the coming year at that point and will come up with what income we'll have available for 2020 to live our best life.
More to come on the report of the Budget Meeting later this month.

So how was your December financially?
  

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

Income & Spending Report.....December Update

* As Hubs retired effective July 1, I am no longer doing my 2017 Savings Challenge.
We ended that on June 30th.  The goal was $17.5K saved for the half of 2017 that Hubs was working.
We actually saved $21,100.42 all totaled, so $3600.42 over goal!

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$(no 401K$ until October)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.
But this money leftover at the end of each month, at least for now(as we find our new financial "normal")won't be saved toward a yearly Savings Challenge.

The issue now is to cover all the bills with just the annuity payment each month plus some liquid savings(checking account cash)until October.
October is when Hubs turns 59.5 and then we can access the 401K retirement savings.  Until then things will be tight here at Chez Sluggy, so all the leftover monthly cash will get tucked aside to pay irregular bills that will be popping up for the rest of the year.

Got it?
OK, let's move on.

Though nothing will be put toward it the rest of 2017(probably), the 2017 $17.5K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals are still available
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

On to the December report--
I had 2 goals for December......
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 apply toward irregular bills that are coming due in subsequent months.

I have to report that we finished up December in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of December with?.......$4754.49

Income

The income in December was the monthly annuity payment,the healthcare account reimbursement and the November overage of $4007.15 that carried over.  I also had interest on non-retirement accounts, 2 small stock dividend checks and grocery rebates which brought us to $7931.52 of total income.  Expenses in December(including funding the Sinking Fund)came to $3177.03.
* We didn't include the portion of the c/c Hubs used to pay for the "rescue mission"in our spending for the month because it wasn't "our" spending on things we benefited from.  That $1443.64 was paid out of savings.  It reduces our savings a bit but I'd rather do it this way than have it come out of our monthly income.*

This brought us to our gain of $4754.49  If you deduct the overage from previous months that carried over into December and the Healthcare payment and reimbursement from the equation, this means we spent $3.09 MORE than what we brought in in December for the annuity payment only and December spending included some Xmas spending.  So far we are doing ok without accessing the 401K account.

Since we have no debt, this December overage will get put aside to apply to the $3K in high deductible insurance payments we will need to pay in January for my prescriptions and Daughter's chronic pain injection.  That should eat up $3K+ of that overage we have been carrying forward each month lately.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The LA house electric bill was $42.04 lower since we didn't have to have the A/C on there now.
*  The medical payments were $51.92 less than in November
*  The credit card bill was $445.52 lower than last month.  This accounts for only our regular type charges we put on the c/c, not the rescue mission charges.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals were the same as in November.

*  The Sinking Fund carries over at $1016.74 into December.  No irregular bills were due this month so the SF just sat and grew a bit. 8-)

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $7.62 higher than in November.
*  The electric bill was $109.84 higher than last month's bill.
*  The gas card charges were $85.09 higher than in November.
*  I had $72.67 due on store cards for Xmas spending due.
*  There was $400 in Christmas and Birthday cash given out to the kids.
*  We had to pay the December health insurance premium of $1771.94.

The Food Budget costs for December are in another post, which is located HERE.

So we end December in the black with $4754.49 to apply to a new year of High Medical Deductible Payments going into 2018.
Plus the Sinking Fund goes into January standing at $1016.74.

FINAL THOUGHTS on December---It was an ok month financially, even with a big fat electric bill(!!!) and Holiday spending.  I separated the "rescue mission" costs put on the credit card($1443.64)and used some savings account funds to pay this off, and not use our regular income for that.  This will take a small chunk out of our net worth going forward into 2018.
We were successful in holding the line on the bills and not accessing the 401K account in 2017.
Yay us!
As the c/c bill came in it made us grateful(and I hope the sister in-law was grateful as well)that we have saved for emergencies in our married life as soon as we had the extra cash to do so.  Nobody likes to think about tomorrow and being old or disabled or unemployable or having disasters that money can help alleviate.  But it does and will happen to everyone.  It's best to take stock of your finances as soon as you can and plan for those dark days that WILL happen.
Don't spend money you don't have on things you don't need.  Pay off your credit cards(If you use them)every month and never carry a balance.  Tuck money aside for emergencies.

THOUGHTS going forward into January 2018----

Electric usage(and thus costs)will rise this month.
Food spending shouldn't be over $400 as I plan to eat down the freezer and not leave the house much.
Most of the usual bills(besides heating-electric)will be about what December's levels were.
Besides seeing some high medical bills due to the deductibles resetting on Jan. 1st, I am planning and hoping for a financially boring January.  As little money as possible going out and as much money as possible coming in or staying put where it is in our accounts.

So how was your December financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in December?
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!

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy