Income & Spending Report 2022.....the June 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 June report---

I had 2 goals for June.......
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.

I can report that we finished up June in the Red.

The amount we ended the month of June with?...-$3,538.09

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in June---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,235.81(after tax withholding)
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $160.97

* 1/3 of Quarterly 401K withdrawal=$1,733.36

*  SS of $2,432.00

*  Dividend of $18.48

*  Cash Deposit of $360.00(Hubs sold a gun and put some $$ into the household funds)

Total "Income" for June.....$7,940.62

Expenses in June---

* Irregular bills in June were $5,333.82

* Variable Expenses in June came to $3,918.76

* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,226.13

Total Expenses....$11,478.71

$7,940.62-$11,478.71= -$3,538.09

Slush into June of $44,108.86 in that Fund, subtract $3,538.09 and we get $40,570.77 going into July's 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows a subtraction of $3,538.09

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The Internet, cell phone and WAM was the same as last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill went up by $5.17 compared to last month.

*  The electric bill was $2.75 more than in May.

*  The gas bill was $48.55 last month.

*  The Mastercard bill was $147.51 higher in May.

*  The Amazon card bill was $296.18 last month.

*  We had 5 irregular bills due in June--

  *  The quarterly LTC premiums were due for $2,226.13

  *  The doggies had vet visits and shots for $218.00  

  *  A/C repair for $2,962.00

  *  6 Window replacements came to $3500.00

  *  A month of storage for $95.40

The a/c and windows are non recurring bills.

The storage is a short term bill for now.

The Food Budget costs for June 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 June 2022---It was a high spending month what with the $6,557.40 in home repairs and moving costs.   We were able to cover all but $3,538.09 of these abnormally high bills in June with our regular income streams.  The rest of the overage in spending came out of the Slush Fund which is why we have one. ;-)

The interest income on  the non-retirement funds was very low in June which wasn't expected.  Though the water, electric and gas were higher in June it was all small amounts.  The c/c bills were higher in June due mostly to Hubs purchasing painting supplies.

THOUGHTS going forward into July 2022--The only irregular bills due in July are the short term storage bill and my Ancestry membership renews in July.  We also have decided to take another quarterly 401K withdrawal in the 3rd quarter which nets us an additional $1,733.36 each of the next 3 months in 2022.  We should be well below our income this coming month.

So how was your June financially? 

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

Frugal Friday......the December 15th Edition

Let's so what frugal wins we had this week, shall we?

* Daughter's birthday was Wednesday but I let her open this little something earlier in the week.

Daughter loves a good Ugly Xmas Sweater so she got it early so she would wear it to class before they ended.
It's a T-Rex in a Xmas sweater.  Note the sleeves are hanging way over his hands. lolz
I paid less than $19 for this quality sweater on Cyber Monday with all my discounts. ;-)

* The $5 Amazon e-card I ordered from Coke Rewards which the email w/the code for never arrived finally got put right.  I contacted them and they resent it and all is right with Sluggy's world now.....yet I am reticent to apply coke cap codes to get any more for fear the same thing will happen again. sigh.  The "leave well enough alone" philosophy is taking hold on me here. ;-)

*  Cheap drinks and candy at Rite-Aid on Wednesday.......

*  Deals at Weis I talked about already.........

*  I sold two more items on eBay this week and shipped them out.  Two things just taking up space in the garage.
$20.91 profit in my pocket after fees. 8-)

The Frugal Wins are kind of thin this week as I haven't done much shopping(just Weis and Rite-Aid).

What have you done to stay frugal lately?

Remember the words of my buddy, the "Most Frugal Man in the World"..........

Sluggy

Let's Hear it For Tightwaddery!

When did it become a bad thing to be tight or mean with your money?  Being careful with your dollars when spending them is as important as being careful when you earn it.
Tightwaddery should not have a stigma attached to it.

Now being a miser, that's another whole level.
Some folks  who are considered tightwads have an unhealthy attachment to money and some don't.  It's just a way of dealing with a budget and still being able to do pleasurable things without going broke.
Misers don't enjoy their money(except when they are hoarding it).  Tightwads just have priorities on where to spend their money and where not to spend it.

What have you done that would fall under the tightwad category?
I'll go first---
* I often will empty a vacuum cleaner bag and reuse it.  Have you seen the price of those things??! lolz
* I save and reuse bacon grease for cooking, much like my mother and her mother before her, etc. did.  My sister in-law does me one better as she has a "grease pot".....a dedicated container with a built in strainer for keeping your used bacon grease.  I am jealous of it and her! ;-)
* I have a sign on my dryer-Only for use on rainy days between the hours of 5pm and 7am and weekends(as that is when the rates are lower).
* I reuse plastic bags(Ziploc types), always!  Unless raw meat was in it the first go 'round.
* When my kids were little and their clothing sizes/growth from season to season was predictable I would buy deeply discounted clothing at the end of each season in sizes they would be wearing that season the next year and store them away until needed.  One Spring I bought 3 years of sweatpants and shirts for each of them at Walmart for .50¢ a piece.(And some of them got handed down to the younger ones and used twice or thrice.) 
*When traveling and the motel I am staying at offers a free breakfast(well not free really, the price is built into what they charge for the room)I will take extra items I don't eat for breakfast then on the road with me to consume later.  Sometimes these items are eaten at lunch or dinner time so I don't have to shell out even more $ for another "one never knows if it will be a good or a bad meal" on the road.  My "go to" take alongs are whole fruits(like a banana or an apple), a yogurt or two(if I have a cooler with me to keep this chilled until use), or bread and little containers of peanut butter.  A pb sandwich isn't the most elegant dinner but it's semi-healthy and filling and having one that is free helps stretch the travel budget.

I see Tightwaddery as a lifestyle choice.  Habits that just throw good money away/that are wasteful  get under my skin.  But I can part with my money for a good reason or for something I see as a good value or that gives me a benefit.
Frugality is the cousin of Tightwaddery but not as severe.

So what tips or habits do you have that the "normal" person/consumer would find strange, odd or questionable?

Sluggy
 

$20K Savings Challenge.....August Update

In our family we save money. It is important to us to put money aside for "rainy days".  You know.....those unexpected days when things happen in your life that you can't plan on, but that DO happen and they cost you money you didn't know you'd need to pay out.

Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.

On to the August report.....

I have posted my August End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up August in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of August with?.......$263.62

Income
We had $182.41 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in August was some bank account interest totaling $81.21.  This brought our gain to $263.62 for August.

 

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The water bill went down by almost HALF because we shut down the pool.

*  The food/toiletries bill was approx. $8 less than my budgeted $400 each month.

*  Electricity bill was about $20 lower than July's bill.

*  No quarterly garbage bill this month.

*  No doctor co-pays this month....woohoo!

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The cash withdrawals were $340 higher due to vacation spending.
*  The music lessons bill was $30 higher.

*  Semi-annual car insurance bill was due.

*  School photos for #2 Son paid for.
*  Wisdom teeth removal bill.

*  Wedding present check to sister in-law came out of monthly income.

*  Credit card bill was $1300 higher than last month's bill.

 

Credit card had a $500 car repair on it from July plus $350 in dna testing costs(3 tests for 3 different people) plus my yearly subscription to Ancestry dotcom was due(ouch).  I spent $80 on some new clothing which is also on that month's bill.  The other $400 or so was usual gas and eating out spending.

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

We came in under budget by $8.14 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 8 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $16,262.84.  Only $3,818.37 left to save and 4 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $934.29 per month for the next 4 months to reach the goal.
 

Looking ahead for September......
 

*  The credit card bill will be large again, due to miscellaneous vacation spending.  The gas/tolls/car rental/meals/lodging costs will be paid for out of savings from our vacation fund.  But the other spending/shopping will be coming out of regular income from this month. 

*  Now that the semi-annual car insurance is paid, September has me paying the yearly school taxes bill.  I pay it early to get the 2% discount.  It's not much of a savings but it's something.
  

*  The weekly music lessons are going up as we are going from a 45 min. lesson to a 1 hour lesson this month.  This adds $10 per lesson onto that bill, so most months it will increase that bill from $120 to $160 per month.  This bill will continue for another year, until #2 Son leaves for college.

 

*  Hopefully the temperatures in September will be moderate so we won't need to run the a/c(WHEN it gets fixed!argh) or the heat, bringing our electricity costs down for the month.

 

*  We have another long weekend trip the end of September, so whatever we pay cash for, those costs will come out of Sept's. pay.  If we put charges on the credit card instead, the October spending will be higher.   It's either pay the charges with September's money or pay it later with October's income.

Decisions, decisions....lol  In the end, as long as we have the cash to cover the costs(and we do), it's all good.

 

So how was your August financially?  It wasn't a great month for us.  While we had enough income in August to cover all our costs, we spent ALOT of money(for us)and ended up with only a couple hundred dollars leftover after paying all the bills.
  

Did you put ordinary living expenses on a credit card last month and not pay it off in full when due?
Did you spend less than the income you had in July?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in July like a tax refund, a dividend or bonus at work, and what did you do with those funds?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!

Sluggy