The Income & Spending Report.......February 2020 Edition

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.

  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 February report---

I had 2 goals for February.......
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 2020.

I can report that we finished up February in the black.
The amount we ended the month of February with?.....$2,318.74

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in February---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1,883.76
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $593.42
* A small 401K withdrawal of $1,129.16(the Feb. part of the 1st quarter withdrawal)
Total "Income" for February....$6,828.58

Expenses in February---

* Healthcare Premium for February was $1,883.76(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in February came to $2,626.08
Total Expenses....$4,509.84

$6828.58-$4509.84=$2318.74

Slush into February $18,539.48 left in the Slush Fund to take into March with that $2,318.74 overage brings Slush to $20,858.22
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $2,318.74 for February.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges(landline-last bill)and internet were approximately the same as last month.(Within $2 or so)and the landline is not a bill any longer going forward. yay!
*  The electric bill was $26.95 lower than in January.
*  The WAM taken was $350.00 less than last month(due to taking cash for traveling to LA in Jan)
*  The main c/c bill was $986.94 less than in January(again, due to road trip expenses last month).
*  The gas bill was about the same as last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $5.88 higher than in January.
*  We wrote the sister in-law a check to help with her mom's funeral expenses.
*  The new cell phone bill was paid.  It was large so we need to wait to see what it settles down to before we make any changes there.
*  We paid the vet $445.23 to have Dixie spayed.  Thankfully this is a one and done situation. ;-)

The Food Budget costs for February 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 February---

February's bills/expenses were nice and boring(except for that large cell phone bill I didn't see coming when we changed providers).  I was surprised that the heating bill was lower than January's bill.  Both months have been mild for PA weather-wise this year, but still.  The heating bill usually doesn't start going down until March but I'll take it as a win. lolz


THOUGHTS going forward into March 2020----

The $1K+ extra in March from the small piece of the 401K withdrawal we didn't apply to the HSA for 2019 tax purposes will give us a financial cushion into March bills, which includes 3 irregular bills-annual sewage, long term care quarterly premiums and county taxes for the year.  The sewage and taxes will be paid early as usual and we'll receive a small discount on those.  Every little discount helps keep more money in your pocket and I will gladly take advantage of them!  This February overage along with the piece of 401K withdrawal applied to March's income will cover all those irregular bills due plus extra leftover to carry over into April.
At that point we'll sit down and see if we need to make another quarterly withdrawal in the second quarter or not.

We will be receiving a small tax refund on our federal taxes but won't be counting on it for any expenses since it will most likely be used to cover what we owe in state taxes as PA for interest income and capital gains on the stock we sold.  No counting chickens until we know what we owe for that. ;-)

Financially we're in a good place going into March. 8-)

So how was your February financially?
  

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

2019 Income & Spending Report......the February Edition

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 take any more 401K withdrawals and use what is in the Sinking Fund and/or Slush Fund to cover all irregular bills that come up in 2019.

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 February report---

I had 2 goals for February.....
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 February in the RED. *whomp whomp*
The amount we ended the month of February with?.....-$55.12

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in February---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1863.84
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $374.59
Total "Income" for February....$5,456.59


Expenses in February---

* Healthcare Premium for February was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)**
* Variable Expenses in February came to $3,663.04
Total Expenses....$5,511.71

** The folks holding our retirement medical reimbursement account screwed up last month's reimbursement and shorted us a bit.  This month we got that shortfall back so that amount is a bit higher than it usually is.

Sinking Fund--The balance in the Sinking Fund coming into February at $468.37. Nothing was paid from this fund so it goes into March at $468.37.


We went into February with $23,573.94 in the Slush Fund.
Deduct February's shortfall of $55.12 and the Slush Fund goes into March at $23,518.82.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as in January.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was approx. the same as last month.
*  WAM monies was the same as in January.
*  The gas card bill was $30.61 less than last month(actually we didn't use the gas card last month).
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in January.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was up $67.84 from than last month.(Have I said how much I hate Winter and will      be glad when the kids move out yet?)
*  The c/c bill was $549.72 higher than last month.
*  Hubs had $27.71 in charges on his Discover card in February.
*  I had $30.16 in charges on my Amazon card(for a health supplement).

The Food Budget costs for January are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food costs are covered in the credit card payment(sometimes our WAM cash too).

So we end February in the red with a shortfall of $55.12, which was pulled from the Slush Fund overage, leaving the Slush Fund at $23,518.82 heading into March.
The Sinking Fund goes into Marcy 2019 standing at $468.37 with no deposits made into it in Feb.

FINAL THOUGHTS on February---
I was prepared for it to be worse financially than it turned out to be.  While the c/c bill was higher than last month there was a lot of unavoidable spending on it.  Usual grocery spending and the monthly cell phone bill were on there but then we had ex-College Boy's birthday meal out, my new 2 pr. of glasses(could have been MUCH more $$$ if I had bought them at VisionWorks)and then there were three, count 'em three car expenses......1-my inspection and 4 new tires(and balancing), 2-Hubs' car inspection and 3- he needed new brakes/pads/etc. at a cost of $417.14.  So just those 5 irregular expenses came to $1,374.34.  Add in Hubs paid his chess subscription and then made a contribution to the Libertarian Party(which I contend he should pay for out of his WAM!loz)and we ended up with a rather high c/c bill for a non-Holiday spending month.
bleh.

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2019----
March........March will be ugly.
Besides a $2,152.50 eye doc bill(haven't met our medical deductible yet for 2019)I have to pay this week, we've got 3 irregular bills due in March; a quarterly long term care premium, county/municipal taxes on the house and the yearly sewage bill.  If none of these have gone up since 2018(don't know on two of them yet)we're looking at $2,357.94 for those 3+ the eye doc bill =$4,510.44 besides the usual suspects(reg. monthly bills).
These 4 bills will all be coming out of the Slush Fund.
Otherwise the all the regular bills should be about normal except for some trip eating out/travel expenses(gas/tolls/motels/etc.).  Again anything out of the ordinary we can pull from the Slush Fund to cover it if needed.
On the other hand.......there will be some dividend interest in March(not that that little bit of $$ will offset $4K in bills but it's "something" lol).
Any way I can keep spending in check in March I'll attempt it.  I'd like to keep the spending below our income level(except for those 4 irregular bills).  That will make me feel much better when March is over.

So how was your February financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in February?
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....February 2018

Now that we are living on an annuity(like a pension) and 401K$ withdrawals(retirement savings), 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 these two sources of income and not have to dip into the regular savings(that I built over the last 10 years)to pay our month to month expenses.

Got it?
OK, let's move on.

On to the February 2018 report--

I had 2 goals for February......
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 2018.

I have to report that we finished up February in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of February with?.......$9281.68

Income

The income in February---
* Monthly annuity payment of $3173.13(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1813.48
* January overage of $4604.28 that carried over into Feb. 2018
* One third of 401K withdrawal balance for Feb. of $851.10 ##
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $327.54

Total Income for February......$10,769.53

## The balance of the 401K withdrawal($2553.31)got divided by 3 and gives us $851.10 in January to add to the income for the month(Feb. and Mar. will also get $851.10/$851.11 respectively)for general expenses.


Expenses in February---
* Healthcare Premium for February was $1813.48.
* Variable Expenses in February came to $2533.13.
* No Irregular expenses were due or paid.

Total Expenses for February......$4346.61

$10769.53-$4346.61=$6422.92 overage for February.
Add in the Sinking Fund(carryover from Jan. since no irregular bills were paid out of it)of $2858.76 which leaves us with $9281.68 total to carry over into March.

Outgo

As for the expenses this February, 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 electric bill was $83.90 lower than January(thank goodness!)
*  The gas card charges were $35.51 lower than last month.
*  The credit card bill was $1122.22 lower than in January.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals was $50 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $6.70 higher than in January.
*  The LA house electric bill was $30.41 higher than last month.
*  The medical payments were $365.79 more than in January.
*  $150.76 was due on two store charge cards.  Not bad or an unmanageable amount as these were much needed items(clothing)and priced right.

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

So we end February in the black with $6422.92 in general overage.
The Sinking Fund goes into March standing at $2858.76.
Added together that gives us a cushion of $9281.68 for March.

FINAL THOUGHTS on February---No big charges I didn't know where coming in February and the "usual suspects" aka the variable bills were pretty low.
What I consider our "income" was the annuity and the partial 401k withdrawal of $851.10, so $4024.23 "income" for Februrary.  The Feb. bills(without the Healthcare premium which is covered fully by the RMSA refund)were $2533.13 so we had $1491.10 leftover from "income" when the month was over.  If we can cover the bills(variable and irregular)each month with "income" leftover, our overage will continue to grow into the succeeding month.

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2018----This month has 2 different irregular bills due; Real Estate taxes and the annual Sewage bill but we have enough in the Sinking Fund to cover those fully(plus a little leftover too).  As for variable bills-The credit card bill will be higher than I like due to Hubs trip to LA to take care of some house business there and Medical bills will be lower I'd like to say but we have some pending bills still to work off the deductible....after March this line item should settle down a lot.  If the weather stays milder(knock on wood!)the electric bill will see a reprieve. Unless Murphy happens we should be able to stay under our $4024.24 "income" for March on the bills.

Financially boring months are great. ;-)

So how was your February financially?
  

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

Make this year was the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you have banked now for your future self.
Or pay 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