Income & Spending....the March 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 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 2022.

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 March in the black.

The amount we ended the month of March with?...$1,606.35

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in March---

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

*  SS income of $3879.00

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $170.23

*  Stock Dividend of $19.11

Total "Income" for March....$7,304.15

Expenses in March---
* Irregular bills in March were $1,180.55

* Variable Expenses in March came to $2,246.26

* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,270.99

Total Expenses....$5,697.80

$7,304.15-$5,697.80=$1,606.35

Slush into March of $61,183.25 in that Fund, add the overage of $1,606.35 in March and we get $62,789.60 into April 2023's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,606.35.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The cell phone, WAM, Health Premium and internet were the same as last month.

*  The water bill was $3.08 lower than in February

*  The electric bill was $166.17 lower than last month.

*  My Amazon c/c was $145.85 lower than in February.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Hubs Amazon c/c was $13.75 higher than in February.

*  The Mastercard c/c was $78.72 higher than last month..

*  We had irregular bills due in March too--

  *   Long Term Care quarterly premiums of $784.55

  *  Federal 2022 taxes paid of $330.00

  *  PA 2022 state taxes paid of $66.00

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on March 2023---Regular bills were nice and low.  We did have 3 irregular bills come due this past month  but those didn't tip the scales out of our favor.

THOUGHTS going forward into April 2023--

Still having limited mobility(now it's my bum knee)so we still need to unpack stuff. ugh.

Louisiana state taxes will get filed in April(and we will owe about $700).  

No other irregular bills due in April but the lawn tractor purchase and cruise excursions will be paid for in April on credit cards(and promptly paid off).

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   

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

I had 2 goals for May.......
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to tuck back into a slush fund.  This slush fun may be to apply toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2022.

I can report that we finished up May in the Black.

The amount we ended the month of May with?...$2,663.84

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in May---

* Monthly annuity payment of $1,009.68(after tax withholding)
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $887.15

* 1/3 of Quarterly 401K withdrawal=$1,733.37

* RMSA account to pay for health premiums totaling $547.49

*  Blog Revenue of $106.07

*  SS of $2,432.00

Total "Income" for May.....$6,715.76

Expenses in May---

* Irregular bills in May were $642.03

* Variable Expenses in May came to $1,183.76

* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,226.13

Total Expenses....$4,051.92

$6,715.76-$4,051.92=$2,663.84

Slush into May of $41,445.02 in that Fund, add $2,663.84 and we get $44,108.86 going into June's 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $2,663.84.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The Internet, cell phone and WAM was the same as last month(WAM at $10 less actually).

*  The electric bill was $73.28 less than April's bill.

*  The gas c/c was $0.00(because we didn't use Sunoco gas at all but used other stations and put on m/c instead).

*  The Mastercard was $336.24 lower than March's bill.

*  The Amazon card was lower by $83.34 this month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

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

*  Semi-annual car insurance was due in the amount of $524.81

*  I paid $117.22 for a storage unit(1 month + security deposit)

The Food Budget costs for May 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 May 2022---It was a bang up month financially.  Spending was down. rah.  This was the last month with any money in the Medical Retirement Account.  It is now empty and we'll be using most of Hubs SS payment to cover healthcare premiums for the remainder of the year.  I also have the SS payments he received up until May tucked away in a savings account for emergencies.

Semi-annual car insurance was paid/due in May as was the storage rent as we need that to clean/empty the house and get it ready for showings.

THOUGHTS going forward into June 2022--The only irregular bills due in June are the Long Term Care premiums and another month of storage rent so that's not bad.  The dogs are due for annual checkups so that's a third irregular bill coming due. Will try to keep the variable bills low in June and hope the weather stays cooler so the a/c won't be needed too much.  

So how was your May financially? 

Did you spend less than the income you had in May?
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 2022....the April Report

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 2022.

I can report that we finished up April in the red.
The amount we ended the month of April with?....-$616.96

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in April---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,229.07(after tax withholding)
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $148.90

* 1/3 of Quarterly 401K withdrawal=$1,733.37

* RMSA account to pay for health premiums totaling $2,226.13

*  Cash in Pts. on M/C of $16.21

Total "Income" for April.....$7,353.68

Expenses in April---

* Irregular bills in April were $1,645.58

* Variable Expenses in April came to $4,098.93

* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,226.13

Total Expenses....$7,970.64

$7,353.68-$7,970.64=-$616.96

Slush into April of $42,061.98 in that Fund, subtract $616.96 and we get $41,445.02 going into May's 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows a subtraction of $616.96

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

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

*  The electric bill was $71.23 less than March's bill.

*  The gas c/c was $31.30 less than in March(because we didn't use Sunoco gas much but used other stations and put on m/c instead).

*  The water bill went down by $5.11 compared to last month.

*  The Mastercard was $336.24 lower than March's bill.

*  The Amazon card was lower by $83.34 this month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

All the regular bills were lower but we had 3 Irregular bills to pay in April--

*  Yearly Real Estate taxes of $1,414.58 were due.

*  I paid $200 toward our December cruise.

*  State taxes of $31 were due.

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 2022---As predicted in March's wrap-up we did indeed finish in the red in April.  Mostly due to vacation expenses in March that got paid in April.  Nothing we didn't anticipate though.  The irregular bills were also expected in April.  We took a small quarterly 401K withdrawal but divided over 3 months it didn't add enough income not to be short in April.  Thankfully we have the Slush Fund to draw from for this overage of bills.

THOUGHTS going forward into May 2022--Besides the semi-annual car insurance(an irregular bill), things should be lower.  Regular bills like electric will continue to go down as we heat with electric but it won't be hot enough for the a/c yet.  If we can keep the c/c bills lower in May maybe we can come out ahead this month.

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 Report 2022........the January 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 January report---

I had 2 goals for January.......
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 January in the black.
The amount we ended the month of January with?....$1,590.18

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in January---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,229.07(after tax withholding)
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $204.10

* 1/3 of Quarterly 401K withdrawal of $2,051.69

* RMSA account to pay for health premiums totaling $2,226.13(yeah, they went up again!)

Total "Income" for January.....$7,710.99

Expenses in January---

* Irregular bills in January were $425.40

* Variable Expenses in January came to $5,695.41

Total Expenses....$6,120.81

$7,710.99-$6,120.81=$1,590.18

Slush into January of $37,456.18 in that Fund, add $1590.18 and we get $39,046.36 going into February 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,590.18

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The WAM was $150 lower than was taken last month.

*  The Amazon c/c was $309.79 less than in December.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The internet bill went up by $3 per month this year.

*  The water bill went up $6.65 in January.

*  The electric bill was $77.07 higher than in December.(Winter, huh!)

*  The gas bill was up $38.54 from last month.

*  The cell phone bill is now $53.60 per month more(until this new phone is paid off).

*  The M/C bill was up $614.70 from December's bill.

*  We had Two Irregular bills in January-

  *  We paid the annual garbage bill in January.

  *  I had a dentist bill of $95.40 this month.

The Food Budget costs for January 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 January 2022---Well we knew the cell bill, the internet costs and the healthcare premiums would be higher in 2022.  Internet was three whole dollars higher so no biggie.

We sat down and talked money after which we have decided to take quarterly regular draws from the 401K of $6K per quarter this year.  Between the real estate taxes in March, the school taxes coming up in September and paying for the Wedding rehearsal that's a lot of big irregular bills coming down the pike, two of which get paid with the firsst quarters withdrawal.  Things should loosen up financial once we get past March.

The RMSA which covers the healthcare premiums will run out mid-May but that's a whole other issue I'm not addressing today.

 

THOUGHTS going forward into February 2022---The wedding is a little over a week away.  Pray that there are no blizzards here in the Mid-Atlantic the weekend after Super Bowl!  Other than bleeding money for this wedding we will be all good financially until March.

So how was your January financially? 

Did you spend less than the income you had in January?
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....the December Report

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals, I am still going to keep track of our monthly spending and income, and hopefully we'll still be able to live BELOW our means and I'll have some leftover monies each month to tuck aside.

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

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

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

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

  I am trying to be as transparent as I can with how much is coming in and how much is going out.  8-)

On to the December report---

I had 2 goals for December.......
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to tuck back into a slush fund.  This slush fun may be to apply toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2019.

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

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in December---

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

Expenses in December---

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

$5936.99-$5006.35=$930.64

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

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

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

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

HERE are the BAD THINGS

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

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on December----

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


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

So how was your December financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in December?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?

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


Sluggy