Showing posts with label living below your means. Show all posts
Showing posts with label living below your means. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Income & Spending.....the February Report

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 February report--

I have 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 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 2025.

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

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

The amount extra we ended the month of February with?....$2,723.72


Income or FundFebrs We Can Access

The "income" in February---

*  Monthly annuity payment of $2,530.11

*  SS income of $3,906.60

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $1356.03

*  Rebating Cash-out  $389.82

*  USPS Refund  $8.40

Total "Income" for February....$8,190.96


Expenses in February---

*  Irregular bills in February were $595.58

*  Variable expenses in February came to $4,237.25

*  Medical Premiums in February were $634.41

Total Expenses....$5,467.24

$8,190.96-$5,467.24=$2,723.72

Slush Fund coming into February of $83,904.58 and the addition of $2,723.72 in February, our end of February 2025 Slush Fund comes to $86,628.30. 

The Slush Fund, on it's own page(tab at the top of the blog), shows an addition of $2,723.72.

Outgo

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

Here are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill and the WAM were the same as last month.

*  The Mastercard bill went down $37.77 in February.

*  Hubs Amazon card was $444.33 less than the previous month.

*  The Cellphone bill went down by $86.33 in February.  We changed carriers.

*  My Aviator c/c was $732.96 less than in January.


HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill went up by $79.14 in February.

*  My Amazon c/c was $46.14 higher than last month.

*  Hubs Aviator c/c was $1,960.16 more in February due mostly to the deposit we had to pay to the moving company.


And we had some "one off" bills in February--

*  Doc Co-Pay of $20.00
*  Vet Bill of $116.19
*  Hubs paid off his cellphone because we changed carriers so that was $459.39

The Food Budget costs for February are in another post HERE. Food costs are included in my credit card payments(mainly because I buy the food but sometimes these costs come out of our WAM cash too).

FINAL THOUGHTS for February 2025---

GOING FORWARD INTO March 2025--The cruise payment is due in March. ouch  We'll probably be in the negative in March because of that but we have the cash to pay it so no worries there.  Other than that the rest of the bills should be about the same, except the heat may be off more days than on because March is deep Spring here in the deep South so the electric bill should be less. 8-)

Here's hoping 2025 treats us all even better financially! 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 down/off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or retirement account?
Or did you blow all your excess monies after bills were paid on a "want"?

If you post 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 

Saturday, March 30, 2024

March Food Spending......2024

Onward to March's Food Spending Report.....




Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for March 2024.

I have posted March's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there. 
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in March.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods, Pet Food. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
****************
DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $7.74
Sales  $7.71
Value  $15.45
Savings  49.90%

KROGER
OOP  $546.02
Qs/Gift Cards $546.23
Value $1,092.25
Savings  50.01%

SUPER 1 FOODS
OOP $14.00
Sales  $11.11
Value $25.11
Savings  44.25%

WALMART
OOP  $347.11
Qs/Gift Cards $203.43
Value  $550.54
Savings  46.95%


********************
My best Store Savings Total was at Kroger with a savings of 50.01%.  My worse rate was at Super 1 Foods with 44.25%.  Not a bad savings rate.

I shopped at 4 different stores in MARCH.

TOTAL Spent in March......$914.87
TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$768.48
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$1,683.35
TOTAL Savings of........45.65%

This closes out the MARCH food/toiletries/etc. spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....What a mess March was financially as far as food spending goes!  Folks, it just keeps getting worse and worse.  If I remove all the stuff I bought to give to the food bank my spending would be much more reasonable.....but it would still be high.

The Monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by .34% in March to 49.07% compared to February's 49.41% savings average.  Not much of a change from last month so I'll take that, as it's still a high savings rate.
Since we have an adequate income and food should be a pleasure in life(no way am I going to eat unseasoned rice and beans for my remaining days like some people-because I don't have to). I will buy quality food and pay the price at the register.  I may not like the price but I will deal with it.

With 3 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $2,227.39 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2024.

2024 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$2,227.39
2024 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$4,373.44
2024 Grand Total Saved...............................$2,146.05
2024 Yearly Savings Total..............................49.07%

The average per month amount spent is $742.46 in 2024 so far but that's before all the rebate monies are added in.

Remember that I withdraw all my cash rebate monies(Ibotta, Shopmium, TaDa, Checkout 51 and other miscellaneous rebates sent to my Paypal)at the end of the year and add it back into my food budget, so at the end of the year my food spending will go down.  The other savings apps like Fetch, Shop Kick, Kroger Cash Back that let us get free gift cards(or $ off your grocery total-Kroger), those are added back in when I cash those points in along the way.  Alexa app gives me Amazon credit onto my account but I don't buy food on Amazon(sometimes I buy dog food there)so I really don't know how to count that.

LOOKING AHEAD TO APRIL 2024.....
Who the hell knows where prices will be in a month!  I have no crystal ball and the government just keeps printing money willy-nilly which makes our dollars stretch even less further.  Case in point, the 1.2 Trillion $ spending bill the Congress just passed without vetting it.  Where do you think the $ to fund this is coming from?  Taxpayers and the government will just print money to cover what we don't cough up, thus our dollars are worth less.  Economics 101.  We need a line item veto!  And we need to decrease the debt-it's so out of control!  *Off my soapbox now.*
I'll keep an eye on what we spend, rebate and coupon like a mad woman when I have to step foot in a grocery store and shop from my pantry when I can.  I won't be food shopping for more than half of April so that will help with the spending. 8-)

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in March?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?  It's really not that hard or time consuming; just keep your receipts and either track it in a notebook or on a spreadsheet.

*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons versus buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?

*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

*  Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?

Sluggy


Saturday, December 2, 2023

The November Food Spending of 2023

Onward to November's Food Spending Report.....




Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for November 2023.

I have posted November's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in November.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
****************

KROGER
OOP  $84.31
Qs/Gift Cards $336.92
Value $421.23
Savings  79.98%

OLLIE'S
OOP $9.76
Value $15.98
Savings  38.92%

SUPER 1 FOODS
OOP  $4.88
Value  $7.77
Savings  37.00%

WALMART
OOP  $207.13
Qs/Gift Cards $207.86
Value  $414.99
Savings  50.09%

********************
My best Store Savings Total was at Walmart with a savings of 50.09%.  My worse rate was at Super 1 Foods with 37.00%.  

I shopped at 4 different stores in NOVEMBER.

TOTAL Spent in November......$306.08
TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$553.89
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$859.97
TOTAL Savings of........64.41%

This closes out the NOVEMBER food/toiletries/etc. spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....The leftover travel stipend  monies helped pay for some food after we got home.  I also made strategic purchases with rebates as is my want.

The Monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 26.62% in November to 64.41% compared to October's 37.79% savings average.  The big factor is such a great difference in the savings rate came from that leftover stipend money from the trip to Ohio and catching some good deals.  Since we have an adequate income and food should be a pleasure in life(no way am I going to eat unseasoned rice and beans for my remaining days like some people)I will buy quality food and pay the price at the register.  I may not like the price but I will deal with it.

With 11 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $4,460.35 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2023.

2023 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$4,460.35
2023 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$7,757.88
2023 Grand Total Saved...............................$3,297.53
2023 Yearly Savings Total..............................42.51%

The average per month amount spent is $405.49 in 2023 at this point.

LOOKING AHEAD TO DECEMBER......December will be a crapshoot.  We have plans to travel to see family for part of the month so there should be less food spending than usual.

Remember that I withdraw all my cash rebate monies(Ibotta, Coupons dotcom, Shopmium, Checkout 51 and other miscellaneous rebates sent to my Paypal)at the end of the year and add it back into my food budget, so at the end of the year my food spending will go down.  The other savings apps like Fetch, Shop Kick, Kroger Cash Back that let us get free gift cards(or $ off your grocery total-Kroger), those are added back in when I cash those points in along the way.  Alexa app gives me Amazon credit onto my account but I don't buy food on Amazon(sometimes I buy dog food there)so I really don't know how to count that.

At the end of the third quarter of the year, I'd accumulated--$962.99 in Ibotta(most in my bank account as I don't like to leave Ibotta monies on the platform), $309.40 in Paypal from Shopmium ,Coupons dotcom as well as an odd rebate or two from another source, $43.35 in Kroger Cash Back I haven't spent, $36.78 in Shop Kick, $62.20 in Swag Bucks to redeem, $16.75 on Alexa for Amazon gift cards and some points on Fetch that aren't even worth considering at this point.  Without counting the Fetch that's $1,431.47 in cash or scrip total to put toward the grocery spending in 2023 which lowers my OOP on food spending to $2,342.73 give or take at that point.  I'll add in what rebates where earned in the fourth quarter too once 2023 is in the books. 8-)

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in November?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?  It's really not that hard or time consuming; just have your receipts and either track it in a notebook or on a spreadsheet.

*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons versus buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?

*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

*  Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?

Sluggy


Thursday, November 11, 2021

Income & Spending 2021....The October 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 October report---

I had 2 goals for October.......
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 October in the black.
The amount we ended the month of October with?....$349.68

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in October---

* 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 $173.90
* Money moved to pay for Cruise of $4281.98
* Blogging Revenue of $109.06
Total "Income" for October.....$7,787.18

Expenses in October---

* Healthcare Premium for October was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in October were $2,950
* Variable Expenses in October came to $4,487.50
Total Expenses....$9,409.49

$9,759.17-$9,409.49=$349.68

Slush into September of $37,977.07 in that Fund, add in $349.68 and we get $38,326.75 going into October's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $349.68.

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet was the same as in September.
*  The WAM was $52 less than was taken last month.
*  The Water bill was $6.44 lower than in September.
*  The cell phone bill was $11.75 lower than last month.
*  The Amazon c/c was $489.76 lower than in September.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was $4.36 higher than in September.
*  The gas bill went up by $69.64 from last month.
*  The MC c/c was $1,484.29 higher than September.
*  We paid for the powder room renovation so $2,950.00 in irregular bills.

The Food Budget costs for October 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 October---It was a good month as we were able to cover the bathroom reno without dipping into savings.  I did have to take money out of one of the non-retirement accounts to pay for the December cruise but that's what the account is for...to use for fun things. ;-)
 
THOUGHTS going forward into November 2021---One irregular bill in November, the semi-annual car insurance.  Not a very large bill and it's doable.  We are not hosting Turkey day so that will bring some food costs down but the gas bill will be higher due to two trips to New Jersey(bridal shower and Thanksgiving invite).  Plus a shower gift will come out of November's income but won't break the bank.

So how was your October financially? 
Did you spend less than the income you had in October?
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

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Income & Spending 2021....the April 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 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 2021.

I can report that we finished up April in the black.
The amount we ended the month of April with?.....$317.87

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in April---

* 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 $243.27
* Transfer from Hubs private account to cover part of state taxes $252.00
Total "Income" for April.....$5,689.50

Expenses in April---

* Healthcare Premium for April was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in April were $577.00
* Variable Expenses in April came to $2,822.64
Total Expenses....$5,371.63

$5,689.50-$5,371.63=$317.87

Slush into April of $46,565.10 in that Fund, add the $317.87 in overage and we get $46,882.97 going into May.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $317.87 for April.

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet and cell phone were the same as in March.
*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.
*  The electric bill was $89.95 lower than in March.


HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The gas bill was $98.03 higher than in March.
*  The water bill was $3.74 higher than last month.
*  My Amazon c/c was $286.81 higher than in March.
*  The Mastercard was higher by $636.72 than last month's bill. 
*  We had to pay $577.00 to the state of PA for taxes in March. bleh.

The Food Budget costs for April 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 April---
Well we ended up with one irregular bill in April, Hubs filed the PA state taxes early.
Otherwise it was an ok month.  Any month I end up with more money than month is good. 8-)
I did spend a bit over on food than I wanted/planned to in April but it's all good.  I earned back $360.55 on Ibotta on the $426.43 I spent in April on food. (And that doesn't count the other 4 rebate apps I use so I almost got back all the food budget money I spent which gets addd back at the end of the year. 8-)))

THOUGHTS going forward into May 2021----
One irregular bill(semi-annual car insurance premium of $600+)in May and some bills on landscaping/gardening work will be coming in on the c/c and that's on top of the regular variable bills for the month.  And my vacation c/c bills...I don't even want to go LOOK at what those will be! lolz


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

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Income & Spending 2021....The March 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 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 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 March in the red.
The amount we ended the month of March with?.....-$407.28

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in March---

* 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 $463.19
* A Stock Dividend of $18.27
* A Fed. Tax Refund of $248.00
Total "Income" for February.....$5,923.69

Expenses in March---

* Healthcare Premium for March was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in March were $2,471.73
* Variable Expenses in March came to $1,887.25
Total Expenses....$6,330.97

$5,923.69-$6,330.97= -$407.28

Slush into March of $46,972.38 in that Fund, add the negative $407.28 in March and this brings the Slush to $46,565.10 going into April 2021.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an subtraction of $407.28 for March.

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet, water and cell phone were the same as in February.
*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.
*  The electric bill was $118.61 lower than in February.
*  The gas bill was $26.30 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The Mastercard was higher by $14.60 than last month's bill. 
*  My Amazon c/c was $168.18 higher than in February.

The Food Budget costs for March 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 March---
It was a "meh" month as far as bills go.  Three irregular bills will do that to yah. lol  It's all ok though because we took that 401K withdrawal in February to cover these things, so no worries.

THOUGHTS going forward into April 2021----
We have no irregular bills in April so that's a good thing.  We have arrived at the "not much heat needed, no a/c needed part of the year" so electric should be lower.  Overall between electric and no irregular bills should mean lower costs overall for April unless something breaks(knock on wood it doesn't)this month.  I have a little trip at the end of the month once I get my second Covid shot + 2 weeks so that will mean a little extra $$ spent in April(gas, eating out, maybe a little shopping)but nothing the budget can't handle.

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 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

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Income & Spending 2021.....The February 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 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 2021.

I can report that we finished up February in the black.
The amount we ended the month of February with?.....$12,326.90

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 $1,971.99
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $393.51
* Blog Revenue check of $118.67
* A 401K withdrawal of $10,441.79(after taxes taken out)
Total "Income" for February.....$16,148.20

Expenses in February---

* Healthcare Premium for February was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in February were $0.00
* Variable Expenses in February came to $1,849.31
Total Expenses....$3,821.30

$16,148.20-$3,821.30=$12,326.90

Slush into February of $34,645.48 in that Fund, add the $12,326.90 February overage and this brings the Slush to $46,972.38 going into March 2021.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $12,326.90 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

*  Internet and cell phone were the same as in January.
*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.
*  The Amazon card was $1,243.61 lower than in January.
*  The water bill was $4.72 less than last month.
*  We took a 401K withdrawal of over $10K at the end of February even though we didn't need it to cover any bills.  This in advance of our property tax bill coming due on April 15th(I'll probably pay it in March just to get that over with)and the bulk of that withdrawal is for having work done on the house so it's earmarked.  Instead of allocating a portion of it each month for the next quarter and reporting that chunk of it as "income" each month I'm just getting it accounted for in one fell swoop in 2021. '-)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* The electric bill was $36.81 higher than last month's bill. Considering how much colder and snowier February was over January I am ok with that amount.
* The gas bill was $9.76 higher than in January.
*  The Mastercard was higher by $447.96 than last month's bill.  But that was because we had to use the Amazon Chase card when our credit info got stolen in December.  The Amazon card this month was over $1200 less than January's bill so we are down on c/c spending by $1,121.72 between all three c/cs(our joint, mine and Hubs).

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---
It was a good month overall financially.  Our expenses were VERY low with no irregular bills coming due and no surprise bills.  I like boring finances. 8-)
We sat down in February and figured out some of our financial game plan for 2021, thus the 401K withdrawal.  Even without that withdrawal we had $1,885.11 leftover in income after paying February's bills.

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2021----Hubs did a draft of the taxes and since he sold stock in 2020 we took a bit of a hit on the preliminary Federal return and will only get back $200+(and as always we'll owe the state a hundred or so).  We may do another post 2020 HSA deposit which will bring our taxable income down a bit and we can always use more $$ in our HSA. We'll run the numbers and decide in the coming weeks before we send off the tax return.

We do have an irregular bill due in March-the sewage bill which we pay annually to get the 3% discount.  That bill amount didn't go up from 2020's bill amount which is always a good thing.  The long term care premiums are due as well in March but between those and the sewage bill the total amount is under $1K so not a big concern within the monthly budget and income.

If I can spend another month staying away from the grocery spending in March that will help keep the spending for the month pretty low again so I am crossing my fingers. lol

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

Thursday, December 3, 2020

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

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Food Spending Report.....the May Edition

* Doing this Monthly Report a couple of days early since I'm finished food shopping for May. *

Onward to May's food spending report.......



Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2020.

I have posted May's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in May.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 4(3 at home this month). No "kids" under 24.
*****************

CARONE'S/SHURSAVE
OOP  $9.98
Value  $15.46
Savings   35.45%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $4.00
Value  $6.98
Savings   42.69%

MAINES
OOP  $32.82
Value  $50.67
Savings  33.23%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $25.65
Value  $43.89
Savings  41.56%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP  $31.87
Value  $44.20
Savings  27.90%

PandR DISCOUNTS
OOP  $80.01
Value  $171.17
Savings  53.26% 

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/GCard  $188.34
Value  $188.34
Savings  100%

SURPLUS OUTLET
OOP   $77.41
Value  $146.08
Savings  47.01%

WALMART(+ online one)
OOP  $91.42
Value  $157.11
Savings  41.81%

WEIS
OOP  $207.74
Qs/Ads  $87.28
Value  $295.02
Savings  29.58%


*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, P and R Discounts at 53.26% and Surplus Outlet at 47.01%.   My worst savings rate was at Price Chopper with 27.90%.  Except for the "discount/surplus" stores and R-A of course my rates other places were a lot lower than usual.  I suspect it's because of the pandemic(both higher food rates at "regular" grocery stores and me not bothering to wait for a better price and grabbing some things when not a great deal for fear of not being able to find it later on?).  Who knows?

I shopped at 10 different stores in May.
I also earned $40.99 in cash rebates in May which helps offset the spending once I cash those in at the end of 2020.
I also took out any spending on food for the Memorial Day cook-out as that goes in the Entertaining Category(what little we do).  That was an additional $74.56 you don't see reflected in the numbers below.

TOTAL Spent........................................$560.90
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales................$369.68
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$930.58
TOTAL Savings of ................................39.72%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for May w/R-A........$560.90
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$188.34
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$188.34
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................49.87%

This closes out the May food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into May having no clue where we'd land on the spending since we didn't really alter our way of eating/what we ate last month.  Said spending was high, there's no debating that.  But given the circumstances lately I'll embrace still being under $600 for May. ;-)

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by .42% in May 2020 to 49.87% compared to the April 2019 rate of 50.29% savings average.  A very insignificant jump down in savings rate.  I'm all good with that!

With 5 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $1770.52 on food/toiletries in 2019.
Going into 2020 before the pandemic blew the wind out of my sails I wanted to stay at or under $4K for the yearly food spending.  At this point I don't think that will happen but we'll keep plugging along anyway.


2020 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$1770.52
2020 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$4875.66
2020 Grand Total Saved...............................$3105.14
2020 Yearly Savings Total............63.69%

The average per month amount spent is $354.10 at this point in 2020 which went up some from April's average.  As long as I'm around $400 per month it's all good.

LOOKING AHEAD To June 2020.............
Except for fresh produce(we do have some)we have good stores of food right now heading into June.
June is when I try to do less cooking(oven type)and more stove top, crock pot or grilling.  I also don't like to eat as much cooked foods preferring cold foods(salad season!).  If I can stay away from buying crappy snack foods the grocery budget should be a-ok.  Can I stay under $400 in food spending?  Maybe, maybe not.  Can I shoot for under $500 in the current conditions?  I hope so!


If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in May?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?

*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?

*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Income & Spending Report.....the March 2020 Edition

*Kim over at Out My Window blog is having computer issues and can't get into her blog.  She is ok(and as far as I can tell hasn't killed her Hubby yet)just can't blog right now.*

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 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 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 March in the black.
The amount we ended the month of March with?.....$1,494.29

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in March---

* 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 $452.37
* A small 401K withdrawal of $1,129.16(the Mar. part of the 1st quarter withdrawal)
Total "Income" for March....$7,634.08

Expenses in March---

* Healthcare Premium for March was $1,883.76(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular Bills in March came to $2,416.19
* Variable Expenses in March came to $1,839.84
Total Expenses....$6,139.79

$7,634.08-$6,139.79=$1,492.29

Slush into March of $20,858.22 in that Fund to take into April with the $1494.29 overage brings Slush to $22,352.51. going into April
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,492.29 for March.

Outgo
As for the variable expenses this March, 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 electric bill was $52.94 lower than in February.
*  The WAM taken was the same as last month.
*  The main c/c bill was $70.17 less than in February.
*  The gas bill was $57.50 less than last month.
*  The water bill was $3.52 less than in February.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  We had a small $15.26 charge on my Amazon c/c.
*  We had a $100.96 Kohl's c/c payment due.  I had items to return(which would have lowered that bill)but since the brich and mortar stores are closed for the duration, I'll have a credit-around $25-with them once I can return those goods.
*  We had 3 irregular bills due in March-the annual sewage bill which I pay early/in full in March for a discount, the County tax bill which I also pay early/in full in March for a 5% discount, and our Long Term Care quarterly premiums.  That's $2,416.19 total in irregular bills paid in March. It is what it is......

The Food Budget costs for March 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 March---
March is always a high bill month due to 3 irregular bills being due at the same time.  Between the $1K+ from the piece of quarterly 401K withdrawal we took in January, the Federal tax refund,a Dividend and my small blogging revenue check we more than covered the bills and had a fair amount of leftover income when March was over.
I am bummed that my non-retirement accounts too a big interest generated hit in March and April will be no better.
We did move some money in our 401K back into one stock went it tanked mid March and we have made $10K there. yay us!  Let's hope it doesn't tank again or even worse! lolz


THOUGHTS going forward into April 2020----

Well who the hell knows what April will throw  at us all, right? ;-)
It's all a crap shoot for all I know in April.  Let's see.....all of PA has a stay at home order so I can't go anywhere and as long as I stay off online shopping sites we can't spend any extra money.
The electric bill should continue to go down(yay!)in April as well as the grocery bill(or not).
There may be more take-out in April if it keeps me from harming someone I'm trapped in this house with....I'm just sayin'. lolz
We have no irregular bills in April. yay!  The only irregular bills this second quarter are car insurance in May and Long Term Care Premiums in June which we can easily handle with regular monthly income.
We do have to pay state taxes from our state return sometime this quarter(they extended the deadline like the Feds did for the Federal returns)but that's not a big burden($60 or so).
Hubs being retired means we haven't lost a job here with the economic turmoil of the pandemic though Ex-College Boy has until this is over.  I am just thankful he hadn't moved out into his own apartment before this all happened or his finances would be in worse shape.  My other two are still employed as is the son in-law.  I feel for those who's world has been turned upside down.....
While a $1,200 check from the Feds will be a small token of relief it isn't going to go far if you've lost a job for who knows how long.

Financially at least, Hubs and I are in a good place going into April. 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 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

Thursday, January 9, 2020

2019 Food Spending Report.....the December Edition & Year End Total


Onward to December's food spending report.......



Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for DECEMBER 2019.

I have posted December's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in December.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(3-4 at home this month). No "kids" under 23.
*****************

ALDI'S
OOP  $16.50
Value  $28.92
Savings  42.95%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $10.89
Value  $45.11
Savings  75.86%

MAINES
OOP  $19.87
Qs/Ads $18.13
Value  $38.00
Savings 47.71%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $31.89
Value  $50.19
Savings  36.46%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT
OOP  $26.95
Value  $47.00
Savings 42.66%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $3.09
Value  $15.49
Savings   80.05%

P and R DISCOUNTS
OOP  $13.63
Value  $41.12
Savings   66.85%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $1208.19
Value  $1208.19
Savings  100%

WALMART
OOP  $7.62
Value  $10.88
Savings  29.96%

WEIS
OOP  $177.79
Qs/Ads  $224.44
Value  $402.23
Savings  55.80%

WENGER'S-Amish Outlet
OOP  $56.53
Value  $170.49
Savings 66.84%


*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Ollies at 80.05% and the Bread Outlet 75.86%.   My worst savings rate was at Walmart with 29.96%.
I shopped at 11 different stores in December.

TOTAL Spent.........................................$364.76
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$484.67
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$849.43
TOTAL Savings of ................................57.06%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for December w/R-A........$364.76
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$13073.02
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$17733.41
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................73.72%

This closes out the December food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent well under my $400 budgeted amount for food/toiletries in December.
Rah team.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 7.13% in December 2019 to 73.72% compared to the November's 80.85% savings average.
Black Friday R-A sales made November better than December, as it does most years.  But hitting that Amish Discount Outlet and P and R Discounters in Dec. gave me a very good savings percentage this month as well.

Now let's add all my small pots of monies I save throughout the year to put toward groceries....rolled coins, found money, refunds and "post coupons" as well as various cash back apps(Ibotta, Saving Star, Checkout 51, etc.).  That all came to $745.77.  See my Small Economies post for the details on all that.


With 12 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $3,914.82 on food/toiletries in 2019.


2019 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$3,914.82
2019 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items....$17,733.41
2019 Grand Total Saved...............................$ 13,818.59
2019 Yearly Savings Total............77.92%

The average per month amount spent is $326.24 in 2019.

LOOKING AHEAD To January 2020.............
I won't actually be grocery shopping until we get back from the wedding so that leaves 24 days in January to spend on food/toiletries.
Perhaps we'll stay home/out of the food stores and eat down except for needing fresh veg/dairy.
Let's see how little I can spend in January on groceries.
Anybody want to make a guess on how much I spend on this category in January? ;-)

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in December?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?

*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?

*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

Sunday, May 5, 2019

2019 Income & Spending Report.......the April 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 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.

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 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 2019.

I can report that we finished up April in the BLACK!
The amount we ended the month of April with?.....$414.19

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in April---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $573.85
* Blogging Revenue of $100.51
* Deposit into checking for M/C charges reimbursed of $100.82
Total "Income" for April....$5846.07


Expenses in April---

* Healthcare Premium for April was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in April came to $2611.31
* Irregular Expenses in April came to $971.90
Total Expenses....$5431.88


Outgo
As for the variable expenses this April, 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 March.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was $7.83 lower than last month.
* The c/c bill was $286.76 less than in March.
*  The electric bill was $87.60 lower than last month.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in March.
*  The WAM/cash withdrawals were $185 lower than the previous month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* There was a $14.21 higher charge on the gasoline credit card.
*  Hubs had $641.16 doctor bill(we have now met the deductible for 2019).
*  I had $223.07 in charges on my Amazon card.
*  I had a $31.67 fat lady clothing company bill.
*  I had a $76.00 dental bill for a filling repair.

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


So we end April in the black with a $414.19.  Added to the Slush Fund going into April at $20,673.38 makes it go into May at $21,087.57.

The Sinking Fund goes into May 2019 standing at $468.37 since nothing was paid out of it in April.

FINAL THOUGHTS on April---
It was a good, lower spending month.  We mostly sat home and didn't spend out of the ordinary this month.  No irregular bills were due.  We finally hit our healthcare deductible OOP so lower medical charges going forward.

THOUGHTS going forward into May 2019----
May should be pretty low in the spending department too.
Electric will be lower as the heat is off.
No more big eye doc bills for the rest of 2019.
The c/c bill should be much lower than in April.
The only "ugly" bill is the semi-annual car insurance bill is due in May and Ex-College Boy pays his cut which is about 1/3 of that bill.
The daughter graduates and moves out so electric/water/food consumption will go down going forward.
We still have not needed to make a 401K withdrawal in 2019 to this point.  We still have a nice cushion of Slush Funding so 401K can sit and make us interest. 8-)))

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

Sunday, August 5, 2018

2018 Income & Spending Report.....July Update

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.  This leftover cash will go into a "Slush Fund" for now to be used if we have any emergencies come up during the year.  If we still have Slush Funds at the end of the year we'll decide then what to do with those funds.

I have set up a page to track the Slush Fund.  Click on the tab marked "Slush Fund 2018" 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 July 2018 report--

I had 2 goals for July......
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 July in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of July with?.......$2795.65

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in July---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1813.48
* One third of 401K withdrawal balance(after funding Sinking Fund)for July of $615.69 #
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $372.92
* Blogging revenue check of $116.10
* LA house water deposit refund $34.90

Total "Income" for July......$6171.25

# We made a 3rd quarter 401K withdrawal in July of $6K.  After withholding for taxes due we got $5147.07 net.  $3300.00 of that gets put into the Sinking Fund to cover irregular bills coming due this quarter(house insurance in Aug., LTC insurance and school taxes in Sept). $1847.07 is the balance of the 3rd quarter 401K withdrawal.  This got divided by 3 and gives us $615.69 extra in July to add to the income for the month(Aug. and Sept. also got $615.69)for general expenses.


Expenses in July---

* Healthcare Premium for July was $1813.48.(paid with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in July came to $1562.12


Sinking Fund--The balance in the Sinking Fund coming into July was $557.48.  The addition of $3300.00 in July from the 401K withdrawal gives us a balance of $3857.48. No irregular bills were due in July so the Sinking Fund goes into August at $3857.48.


We went into July with $17,010.20 in the Slush Fund.
Add in July's overage of $2795.65 to the Slush Fund and it stands at $19,805.85 going into August..


Outgo
As for the variable expenses this July, 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 June(Within $1 or so).
*  The water bill was $25.62 lower than last month.
*  The credit card bill was $775.73 lower than June.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals were the same as last month.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in June.


HERE are the BAD THING

*  The electric bill was $10.26 higher than last month.
*  The gas card charges were $46.26 higher than in June.
*  We had a dental bill of $30.60
*  We had a Discover card bill of $11.43(Hubs' extra card)
*  The Passport cost me $160.


The Food Budget costs for July 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 July in the black with $2795.65 in new general overage to add to the Slush Fund.
The Sinking Fund goes into August standing at $3857.48

FINAL THOUGHTS on July---
It was a very good month in terms of low spending/bills and a couple of extra revenue streams(blogging, utility deposit).

THOUGHTS going forward into August 2018----This month there is one irregular bills due(house insurance at $648).
The WAM withdrawal will be the same in August, $200.
I don't foresee any extraordinary bills other than the c/c bill is a little higher due to some irregular charges(yearly Ancestry account fee, my car was serviced, fees for birth certificate, $300 in eating out and beer purchases while Eldest son was here, adding up to the tune of $600+).


So how was your July financially?
  
Did you spend less than the income you had in July?
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 increase 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

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Income & Spending Report.....September 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 in August and September.

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 September report--
I had 2 goals for September......
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 the next month.

I have to report that we finished up September in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of September with?.......$3145.15

Income

The income in September was the monthly annuity payment and the August overage of $562.41.
Other monies received in September totaled $5198.61.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts, two stock dividend checks and almost $5K of that gain was a reimbursement of 3 months of healthcare premiums(paid back from our RMSA account).  (Going forward I won't include the healthcare premium paid each month on our monthly bills as it will be automatically reimbursed now.)

This brought us to our gain of $3145.15  Thank goodness that healthcare premium reimbursement came in when it did!  Had it not, we would have been in the negative and would  have had to dip into regular savings to pay all the bills that came due in September.

Since we have no debt, this will get put aside to apply to the irregular bills coming due in October--a quarterly bill for long term care insurance and a quarterly garbage collection bill and then carry over into 2018 if it's not needed to pay bills before 2017 is over.

Outgo
As for the expenses this September, 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).

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $6.54 higher than in August.
*  The gas card bill was $50.59 higher than last month.
*  The cash withdrawals were $220 higher than in August(because no cash was withdrawn in Aug.)
*  The electric bill was $9.77 higher than last month's bill.
*  The credit card bill was $807.79 higher in September compared to August
*  The medical bills were $1.79 higher this month over last month's bills.
*  School taxes were due.
*  We had a small dental bill to pay in September.
*  We had to pay the September health insurance premium of $1771.94.
*  We made two donations to charity(Houston Food Bank and Americares for Puerto Rico relief).  While these aren't "bad" things, having received our RMSA reimbursement meant we could cut two checks this month to these charities rather than having to wait until better cash flow in October to do so.


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

So we end September in the black with $3145.15 to apply to the two irregular bills due in October.
This will be more than enough to cover those two bills.


FINAL THOUGHTS on September---Lots of bills both regular and irregular were due in September.  And most of the regular bills were all a bit higher than the previous month. 

I have to keep stopping myself from freaking out when I pay bills and remind myself that no, our bills aren't higher.  It's just that some bills were paid out of Hub's paycheck(before he retired)automatically from his gross pay, before I got his take home pay.  Now those bills are needing to be physically paid by me.  They aren't NEW bills.  They are just getting paid differently.  Maybe in a month or two I can get that through my thick head. lolz

THOUGHTS going forward into October of 2017----

I'll be setting up a sinking fund to cover our irregular costs for 2018, meaning I'll set aside a specific amount each month in 2018($650)from the annuity payment so that when these irregulars come due I have cash enough in that account to pay those bills without dipping into regular savings.

There is one more big irregular bill in 2017 coming in November--the semi-annual car insurance premium of approx. $900.  I should be able to cover that with regular income this year but I think I'll begin the Sinking Fund in October of this year anyway and get a jump on the 2018 irregular expenses so we can cash flow all the irregulars in 2018.
Other than this, all the regular bills should be about the same in October as they were in September.


So how was your September financially?
  
Did you spend less than the income you had in September?
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