Income & Spending Report 2019....the September 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 September report---

I had 2 goals for Septmber.......
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 September in the black.
The amount we ended the month of September with?.....$2,246.26

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in September---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $618.74
* Two dividend checks totaling $109.27
Total "Income" for September.....$5,798.92

Expenses in September---

* Healthcare Premium for September was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in September came to $1703.99
Total Expenses....$3,552.66

$5,798.74-$3,552.66=$2,246.26

Slush into September $17,998.65+ $2,246.26 addition=$20,244.91

This would be great news except..........

We also had more expenses we planned to be paid out of the Slush Fund instead of regular "income" in September--The Annual School taxes(half of our yearly property taxes in PA), the two new mattresses and adjustable bed frame from Wayfair, and our Long Term Care quarterly premiums. These four bills came to $4,030.51 and were taken out of the Slush Fund.

$20,244.91 after overage of "income" applied-$4030.51=$16,214.40 in the Slush Fund going into October.
So the Slush Fund went down by $1,784.25 after all income overage added and then $4030.51 in extra bills were subtracted from it.

The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows a reduction of $1,784.25 for September.

Outgo

As for the variable 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 $2 or so).
*  The electric bill was $15.02 lower than last month.
*  The c/c bill was $1,381.267 lower than in August.
*  The gas card bill was $101.61 lower than last month.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in August.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $4.59 higher than last month.
*  The WAM was $39.50 higher than in August(to cover cash taken for farm produce and a vet charge Hubs covered with his WAM).
*  The Chase/Amazon c/c was $25.84 higher than last month's bill.
*  I had a $23.71 Kohl's charge bill.
*  Hubs  had a $12.15 Discover card bill.
*  There was $87.50 in vet charges(a year's worth of heartworm meds, and a test).

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

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on September----

Though we had a couple thousand bucks in income overage last month, we also had four large of "out of the ordinary" expenses in September(all 4 planned)which gave a "hit" to the Slush Fund.
It's all good though as the Slush Fund is for using for these extras and irregular bills.

THOUGHTS going forward into October 2019----

We have no irregular bills due this month.

Hopefully the electric will be low due to not needing much heat yet(but I won't be home and Hubs will jack the heat up too high  I can guarantee that! lolz).

The credit card bill will be higher again in October.....there will be trip charges--motel stay, extra gas, food out, etc

But no worries here on going over the "income".  We have over $16K in overage left from last year when we were withdrawing from the 401K so we just use that overage to absorb extra costs until that is gone and then we'll sit down and re-evaluate the spending, probably at the end of 2019 if any monies are left in the Slush Fund by then.

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!


Sluggy

Income & Spending Report 2019..........the August 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 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 August report---

I had 2 goals for August......
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 August in the black.
The amount we ended the month of August with?.....$286.13

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in August---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $601.16
Total "Income" for August.....$5672.07

Expenses in August---

* Healthcare Premium for August was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in August came to $3537.27
Total Expenses....$5,385.94

$5672.07-$5,385.94=$286.13

Slush into August $19,971.81+ $286.13=$20,257.94

We also had more expenses we planned to be paid out of the Slush Fund instead of regular "income" in August--the carpet and installation in the second bedroom(aka the Hubs' room), a chunk of $$ Hubs' wanted to spend on "his fun" and a large ER bill. The carpeting was one of the big expenses/improvements we are paying for in 2019 from Slush Fund monies but the other two expenses we decided to take from the Slush Fund too.  These three bills cost $2,259.29 out of the Slush Fund.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this August, 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 .23¢ lower than last month.
*  The c/c bill was $1,314.67 lower than in July.
*  The WAM was the same as in July.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as last month.
*  The Chase/Amazon c/c was $112.08 lower than July's bill.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $17.20 higher than last month.
*  The gas card bill was $20.67 more than in July.
*  Had a $44.98 on store card paid for new "drawers".
*  Annual House Insurance was paid this month out of reg. income.

The Food Budget costs for August 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 August "income" in the black with $286.13.

Then we deducted $524.37 for the carpeting, $749.45 for the ER bill and $985.47 for Hubs' "fun" purchases equaling $2,259.29 from the Slush Fund.

We added $286.13 to the Slush from August income overage and then deducted $2,259.29 from the Slush which leaves the August Slush Fund ending at $17,998.65 going into September.

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on August----

Though we had a couple hundred bucks in income overage last month, we also had three large of "out of the ordinary" expenses in August(1 planned, 2 not).
Luckily we could tap the Slush Fund for those expenses as $286.13 overage in income didn't go far to cover that $2,259.29 in expenses.  ;-)


THOUGHTS going forward into September 2019----

We have 2 irregular bills due this month; long term care and the annual school tax(which is a property tax).  Both of these will be drawn from the Slush Fund as planned.

Electric will be lower due to less a/c usage and not needing heat yet.

The credit card bill will be higher again in Sept.....besides the usual stuff we put on the card(and pay off each month), we bought a new mattress, adjustable base for it, and a twin mattress for the daybed in Hubs' room.  I shopped around, got free shipping and used a discount code but this still comes in at $1108.23 total and will be on the September c/c billing cycle.  Might be able to fully cover this on regular "income", might not.  It all depends on how the monthly bills play out in September(and if Hubs goes rogue again spending money for his fun lol).

But no worries here on going over the "income".  We have almost $18K in overage left from last year when we were withdrawing from the 401K so we just use that overage to absorb extra costs until that is gone and then we'll sit down and re-evaluate the spending, probably at the end of 2019 if any monies are left in the Slush Fund by then.

So how was your August financially?
  

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

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


Sluggy

2019 Income & Spending Report......the March 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 March report---This won't be pretty, like me. lolz

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 2019.

I can report that we finished up March in the RED. *whomp whomp*
The amount we ended the month of March with?.....-$2,845.44

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in March---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67 *
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $517.13
* Dividend income of $108.22
* Deposit into checking for M/C of $127.00
* Federal tax return of $1465.00
Total "Income" for March....$7,284.18


Expenses in March---this where it gets ugly. 8-(

* Healthcare Premium for March was $1,819.54(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in March came to $3,164.37
* Irregular Expenses in March came to $5,145.71
Total Expenses....$10,129.62

** The folks holding our retirement medical reimbursement account screwed up reimbursement and shorted us a bit a couple of months ago and are still figuring this out.

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


We went into March with $23,518.82 in the Slush Fund.
Deduct March's shortfall of $2,845.44 and the Slush Fund goes into April at $20,673.38.

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 in February.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was $10.25 lower than last month.
*  The electric bill was $109.10 lower than last month.
*  The health insurance premium was $29.13 less than in February.
*  The c/c bill was $529.27 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* There was $22.80 in charges on the gas card(last month nothing was put on it.)
*  Cash withdrawals were more-WAM was the same amount but I gave the kids cash for watching Chester while we were gone and some food money they spent on take-out, so $135 more used in March.
*  Hubs had $2152.50 doctor bill(haven't met the deductible yet).
*  I had $66.05 in charges on my Amazon card.
*  I had a $206.43 Kohl's bill-bought under garments, a comforter, etc.
*  I had a $35.27 fat lady clothing company bill.
*  We paid a combined $312.00 to PA and LA-2018 state taxes.
*  County/municipal taxes for 2019 of $1,371.85 were due.
*  Annual sewage bill of $446.20 was due.
*  Long Term Care quarterly premiums of $555.41 were due.

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

It was the perfect storm of bills in March.......3 irregular bills plus a large medical bill as we hadn't met the healthcare deductible yet came to almost $5K alone.  And then there was the MASSIVE credit card statement...over $500 for vacation related charges(more coming on April's statement!eek), an EZ Pass reload of $35, $100 for June event tickets bought, Hubs spent $87 on chess equipment, $104 Birthday meal for ex-college boy, $76 spent online at JCPenney's clearance sale(I got almost ALL my 2019 Xmas shopping done there!), $137 in CBD oil for my pain management, plus the usual food spending and cellphone bill.
*sigh*

So we end March in the red with a shortfall of $2845.44, which was pulled from the Slush Fund overage, leaving the Slush Fund at $20,673.38 heading into April.
The Sinking Fund goes into April 2019 standing at $468.37 with no deposits made into it in March.

FINAL THOUGHTS on March---
I wasn't mentally prepared for it to be so much money leaking out in one month.
bleh.  I knew it would be ugly but still.........
Thankfully we had that large pile of extra cash saved up from last year so no worries.
April is time to pick myself up and soldier on financially.

THOUGHTS going forward into April 2019----
No irregular bills in April thank goodness.  Only another LTC premium and semi-annual car insurance the 2nd quarterly of the year so we should be able to sock away a bit of cash in the next 3 months plus not have to pull cash from last year's Slush Fund either.  That would be nice. 8-)
I will remain vigilant about meaningless spending in April. ;-)

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

2018 Income & Spending Report.....May Edition

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 them.

  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 2018 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 2018.

I have to report that we finished up May in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of May with?.......$2903.35

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in May---

* 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 May of $1255.65 #
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $333.00

Total "Income" for May......$6620.29

# We made a 2nd quarter 401K withdrawal in April of $6K.  After withholding for taxes due we got $5170.70 net.  $1383.24 of that gets put into the Sinking Fund to cover irregular bills coming due this quarter(long term care insurance due in April, car insurance due in May). $3766.95 is the balance of the 2nd quarter 401K withdrawal.  This got divided by 3 and gives us $1255.65 extra in April to add to the income for the month(May and June will also get $1255.65)for general expenses.


Expenses in May---

* Healthcare Premium for May was $1813.48.(paid with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in May came to $3716.94.
* 6 mos. car insurance came to $911.74.(paid for from Sinking Fund)##


## 6 mo. car insurance premium expenses are due in May.  The carryover in the Sinking Fund coming into May was $1989.49.  $911.74 in car insurance paid leaves us $1077.75 in the Sinking Fund going into June.


We went into May with $10,362.43 in the Slush Fund.
Add in May's overage of $2903.35 to the Slush Fund and it stands at $13,265.78 going into June.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The electric bill was $101.14 lower than last month.
*  The credit card bill was $842.76 lower than in April.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals were the same as last month.
*  The LA house electric bill wasn't paid in May. The amount of that bill will be deducted from the refund of our deposit with the electric co-op there(that refund should arrive later in June).
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in April.

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $6.12 higher than April.
*  The gas card charges were $41.46 higher than last month.
*  The medical payments were $64.92 higher than in April(a dentist bill).
*  Semi-annual car insurance was due this month. This irregular bills is paid out of the Sinking Fund account.
*  We had a private c/c bill of $110.44 due in May(clothing).
*  Hubs used his Discover card and the bill was $38.14.

The Food Budget costs for May 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 May in the black with $2903.35 in new general overage so once it goes into the Slush Fund that Fund goes into June standing at $13,265.78. ($10,362.43+ $2,903.35=$13,265.78).
The Sinking Fund goes into June standing at $1,077.75

FINAL THOUGHTS on May---
While we did have a dentist bill due in May, that $200+ in charges turned out to be just $94.60 because the dentist wrote off a good piece of what our insurance didn't pay. 8-)
I was glad to see that the credit card bill was over $800 less compared to April.  The lower I can get it the better.  The credit card bill is a lot of miscellaneous spending here.  Besides the food spending which is how we almost always pay for groceries/toiletry spending, we had Chester's meds, a trip to Lowe's for some house stuff, gasoline purchases, a $100 Amazon bill(reloaded that account with funds and paid for it on our c/c), a 3 month phone service card for me, eating out spending, Hubs bought some home brewing supplies and $47.70 to Fedex as we had to pay to overnight papers for the LA house sale(which in hindsight was money wasted as we didn't have to overnight them because the freaking realtors delayed the closing! grrrr).

THOUGHTS going forward into June 2018----This month there is 1 irregular bills due, Long Term Care Insurance Premiums, so that will come out of the $1077.75 balance in the Sinking Fund.
Depending on the weather, electricity usage may stay about the same or go up a bit if the a/c is needed in June.  There are no big excursions planned for June so gas usage won't go up but the price per gallon has risen so our costs on that item may be higher.  Our eldest son may make a trip here for a few days once school is over(he teaches)so there may be beer outings or such.  He is a big spender when someone else is paying. lolz
The WAM withdrawal will be the same in June, $200.
I am going to make more of an effort in June to sell some things around the house by utilizing the FB yard sale group I am on since I really don't have enough to declutter/sell to have a physical yard sale.

Once June is done and dusted Hubs and I will probably sit down for a mid-year review of the finances and especially revisit the 401K withdrawals as we don't seem to really need them at this point since we do end up with extra money left at the end of each month.  But that's a discussion for another time.   ;-)

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!

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

The Transitioning Period--Adjustments Personal and Financial

* Just a post on my thoughts and ideas as we adjust to our new financial reality. *

So with Hubs retired and we are back from our grand road trip adventure, we have settled into our "new normal".
And so far, this new normal isn't too different from the old normal. 8-)

Especially until the 401K becomes available to us in October we needed to be seriously conscious of ALL our spending, especially the types that are discretionary to some degree.

Grocery spending and electricity and water usage have been scrutinized plus all "want" spending as well.  I've made a concerted effort to only run energy hog appliances during off-peak hours(after 5 pm to 7 am).  Not having to use heat or a/c has also gone a long way to keeping the energy bill down.

Hubs had a "light bulb" moment a week ago Friday.  When he worked, he use to get $ out of the bank every other Friday, $200 a pop of WAM(walking around money).  This is money he doesn't have to account for how and where it's spent.  I gave up a long time ago with trying to get him to save me receipts so we could track all his cash spending.

When we had our retirement budget meeting back in June we agreed on $100 per person per month of WAM.  Now that he doesn't need to buy coffee and/or lunch at work, plus he doesn't need to chip into office gifts, get as many haircuts and basically doesn't go anywhere, he really just needs a hundred a month for his wallet.  If he needs to buy gas or something for the house, etc. or I send him to the grocery store for something he is suppose to use his credit card.

So he was telling me that Thursday that he was going to the bank tomorrow I just looked at him and asked why.  Hubs said to get his WAM.  I just looked at him and said, "You've already got your WAM.  What? Are you out of money already??  I've still got my whole $100.".
He then went on to deny that he agreed to only getting $100 a month for WAM so I showed him the paper we wrote the retirement budget down on.  I guess he thought I wouldn't remember or something. hahaha
I guess he finally realizes that his financial day-to-day has been impacted by retiring.

One thing I did when we got back from our trip was take an inventory of our canned/jarred/boxed food/toiletries/HBA/paper goods. 
Here are the things we don't need to buy for the immediate future(I'd say we can safely hold off all this spending until 2018)---
* shampoo
* toothpaste
* tooth brushes
* mouthwash
* razors
* soap/body wash
* OTC meds
* hand soap
* dish soap
* dishwasher tabs
* laundry detergent
* bleach
* toilet paper
* facial tissues
* drinks
* cold cereal
* corn meal
* pasta
* canned tomatoes
* coffee
* olive oil
* peanut butter
* salad dressing
* croutons
And now includes tea bags after the Deal I gt on those on Friday.

Unless one of the items above is free, I am not buying them for the time being.

We've gotten quite a few projects completed or started around here since getting back from our trip.  Other than having to purchase supplies for some of these projects it has been a low expense month in some ways. (Not counting paying school taxes and the healthcare insurance premium.)  And speaking of premiums, we have also finally received 3 months of healthcare premium reimbursement.  Yay!!!  Going forward we will be submitting for reimbursement monthly so I don't have to use regular savings or monthly annuity income to cover this cost. 8-)

I am also staring a Sinking Fund for next year's irregular bills.  In the old days, back when Hubs was earning a nice paycheck I could just cash flow all these bills without having to dip into savings.  Now though we are living on half of what he use to bring home per month. In order to have enough saved up when each one comes due a Sinking Fund makes sense.  It's sort of like your mortgage company requiring you to pay more than your actual mortgage each month so they can also pay the real estate taxes for you too.

Here's my list of  irregular bills--

* home owner's insurance x 2(until the LA house sells)
* car insurance(semi-annual)
* garbage bill(quarterly)
* real estate taxes(annual)
* school taxes(annual)
* sewage(annual)

Presently this all accounts for $7654.77 worth of bills per year.  Break that down monthly and I need to put aside at least $637.90 per month to cover these costs.
Starting in October I'll be putting $650 of our annuity into this Sinking Fund.  I am figuring with deposits monthly and how our irregular bills flow month to month I'll be able to cash flow from this sinking fund through the end of 2018 if I start it in October which gives me a few extra months of putting cash aside(for a big bill due in March).

Here is how the Fund will play out(if no bills rise in 2018)......

October deposit $650-$84 irregular garbage bill=$566 carried forward to Nov.
November deposit $650+$566=$1216-car insurance $864.65=$351.35.
December deposit $650+$351.35=1001.35 with no irregular bills due.
January deposit $650+$1001.35=1651.35-garbage bill $84=$1567.35.
February deposit $650+$1567.35=$2217.35.
March deposit $650+$2217.35=$2867.35-$1371.85 real estate taxes + $430.68 sewage=$1064.82
April deposit $650+$1064.82=$1714.82-$84 garbage=$1630.82
May deposit $650+1630.82=$2280.82-$864.65 car insurance=$1416.17
June deposit $650+$1415.17=$2066.17-$1016.63 house insurance(if the house isn't sold yet)=$1049.54
July deposit $650+$1049.54=$1699.54-$84 garbage bill=$1615.54
August deposit $650+$1615.54=$2265.54-$668.00 house insurance=$1597.54
September deposit $650+$1597.54=$2247.54-$2102.31 school taxes=$145.23
October deposit $650+$145.23=$795.23-$84 garbage bill=$711.23
November deposit $650+$711.23=$1361.23-$864.65 car insurance=$496.58
December deposit $650+$496.58=$1146.58 with no irregular bills due.

I figure I'll be able to carry over $1146.58 of Sinking Funds into 2019 at which time we'll revisit paying the irregular bills that way.

February and December I have no irregular bills due.  Not having any bills taken out of the December and then the February deposit helps me get ready to pay the real estate taxes in March.
Once we sell the LA house June will also not have any irregular bills due that month(and this will help a bit with paying the school taxes in September from then on).

Financially things are going ok for now.  I suspect the electric bill will start it's inevitable climb in October once the heat goes on and won't let up until next April. Oh of the joys of living in the North East. ;-)  We shouldn't have a problem though covering the high electric months of Winter.

I am hoping I may be able to keep our monthly spending down within our monthly annuity payment for normal expenses long term.  This would mean just tapping the 401K monies for things like trips and the high deductible at the beginning of the year for the health insurance that we need to pay OOP before any benefits kick in.  Thus the 401K monies would last even longer than we thought they would.

That's about all I can think of now on this subject.  If other thoughts come up I'll address them.

Do you have Sinking Funds?  Have they helped you stay on track with your money and bills?
Was there something that happened that made you realize the finances are different now once you retired?
Are you adjusting to retirement?  What have been the challenges for you with it?  What have been the unexpected benefits?


Sluggy