Income & Spending.....The April 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 April report---

I had 2 goals for April.....
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 2023.

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 April in the black.

The amount we ended the month of April with?...$3,276.04

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in April---

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

*  SS income of $3879.00

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $377.41

*  Quarterly 401K withdrawal of $5,200.13(after tax withholding)

*  Venmo payment for a rebate deal $3.88

Total "Income" for April....$12,696.23

Expenses in April---
* Irregular bills in April were $2424.64

* Variable Expenses in April came to $5,800.73

* Health insurance premiums totaling $1,194.82*

Total Expenses....$9,420.19

$12,696.23-$9,420.19=$3,276.04

* Now that Hubs is on Medicare I include his supplement payment in variable/regular monthly expenses instead of the Health insurance premium.

Slush into April of $62,789.60 in that Fund, add the overage of $3,276.04 in April and we get $66,065.64 into May's 2023's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $3,276.04.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The cell phone, WAM, the water bill and internet were the same as last month.

* The Health Insurance Premium went down by $1,076.17 from March,

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  My Amazon c/c was $401.95 higher than last month

*  Hubs Amazon c/c was $2,703.81 higher than in March.

*  The Mastercard c/c was $350.41 higher than last month.

*  We had irregular bills due in April too--

  *   LA 2022 state taxes paid $784.00

  *  BOA c/c trip charges of $814.60

  *  My car had two faulty tire sensors replaced for $162.14

  *  We had plumbing work done at a cost of $663.90 ouch

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on April 2023---Regular and Irregular bills with both higher than in March.  The one bright spot was our health insurance premium was cut in half since Hubs is on Medicare now.  The plumber was costly but a necessary expense. We knew going into April the last of the cruise costs were due and the LA state taxes as well.  The car problem was an unforeseen expense.  The higher Mastercard bill was mostly a new toilet(see plumber hiring above).  I put those discounted gift cards bought before Easter on my Amazon c/c accounting for some of that increase in spending.  But the Mama Jama expense was on Hubs Amazon c/c-buying a riding lawn mower!

THOUGHTS going forward into May 2023--We've got car insurance(we'll pay it annually going forward)which is our only irregular bill for May.  We'll have more cruise/London expenses, and Hubs will most likely want to take more WAM in May for the trip so we can get British pounds and Euros for the places where we'll need them.  In addition since Hubs is now on Medicare our monthly Annuity payment will be reduced going forward.  This was a "front loaded" annuity-more of a payment until you hit Medicare/65 and then just over $500 less per month after then.  Even with that while I am still on private insurance we are still better off financially with those changes.

So how was your April financially? 

Did you spend less than the income you had in April?
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 2021......The June Report

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals(some months), 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 2021.

I can report that we finished up June in the red.
The amount we ended the month of June with?.....-$5,153.51

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in June---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1,971.99
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $178.85

* Stock Dividend of $18.27

Total "Income" for June.....$5,391.35

Expenses in June---

* Healthcare Premium for June was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in June were $1,253.69(Wayfair swing, Long term care Premiums, Vet appt., Dentist)

* Bathroom Renovation $5,292.00
* Variable Expenses in April came to $2,027.18
Total Expenses....$10,544.86

$5,391.35-$10,544.86=-$5,153.51

Slush into June of $47,165.11 in that Fund, subtract the $5,153.51 in shortage and we get $42,011.60 going into July's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows a reduction of $5,153.51 for June.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet and cell phone were the same as in May

*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.

*  The electric bill was $15.18 lower than in May

*  The Amazon c/c bill went down by $6.18  from last month.(It was actually lower by more but I overpaid it a bit in June.)

*  The credit card bill was $474.85 lower than in May.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $1.42 higher than in May.
*  We had a bunch of smallish an irregular bills this month; Wayfair, Long Term Care premiums, Kohl's, Vet Bill, Dentist.  

*  Then we had to pay the contractor for the bathroom renovation. ouch

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---Stayed under the food budget and all variable bills except the water bill were lower than in May but we had a significant amount of irregular bills and then we knew the bathroom reno would put us in the hole for the month but that's what the Slush Fund is for(funding extras like this).  I am ok with it all as the bathroom turned out better than expected(the bar for handymen around here is set pretty low). ;-)
 

THOUGHTS going forward into July 2021---

There are no irregular bills coming this month though Hubs got a new phone so the cell bill will be higher.  The cruise and airline tickets will be hitting the credit card this month so I need to figure what pot of monies I'll dip into to pay those portions of the trip costs. 8-( or 8-)))

Other than that it's smooth sailing for July(see what I did there? lol).

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

Income & Spending 2020.....the November Report

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals(some months), 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 November report---

I had 2 goals for November.......
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 November in the black.
The amount we ended the month of November with?.....$187.70

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in November---

* 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 $433.06

* Deposit for Booze I bought for someone on our trip  $35.00

Total "Income" for November.....$5539.41

Expenses in November---

* Healthcare Premium for November was $1,883.76(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in November were $520.43
* Variable Expenses in October came to $2947.52
Total Expenses....$5351.71

$5539.41-$5351.71=$187.70
Slush into November of $32,178.08 in that Fund, add the $187.70 November overage and this brings the Slush to $32,365.78 going into November.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $187.70 for November.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet and cell phone were the same as last month.

*  There was no gas bill(these stations were too high in price).

*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.

*  The water bill was $1.22 lower than October's bill.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was $25.18 higher than last month's bill. This one will continue to rise as Winter sets in.

*  The credit card bill was $1204.06 higher than in October.  This was mostly due to some big purchases by Hubs and the bill's from our October trip were on this statement.

*  We had a $390.86 bill from my Amazon card.  I don't use it much and I did help to lower that bill which I'll explain in tomorrow's Frugal Friday post. ;-)

*  There was an irregular bill due in November, the semi-annual car insurance premium of $520.43.

The Food Budget costs for November 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 November---
It was a good month overall financially.  No unusually high normal bills other than the c/c due to our trip but we knew that was coming. Any month we don't spend more on outgo than comes in is a good month with the monies.  Some large bills were due so not much overage to carry forward into the Slush Fund in November, but some months are like that.

THOUGHTS going forward into December 2020----Most of my Christmas shopping is done already so not much more will go on the credit card for December(besides food spending for the month).  My big expense this December will be the cost to mail/ship gifts.  I've got 7 packages(not counting Giveaway boxes)to ship to what seems like every state in the country this year! lol  Lots of $$ going to the USPS this year.....

We've got 2 irregular bills due in December-the Long Term Care Insurance premiums but that's it for non-usual bills this month.

Then we get to sit down and "Monday Morning Quarterback" the 2020 finances and plan out our 2021 spending.

So how was your November financially?
  

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