Income & Spending....the November Edition

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 November report--

I have 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 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 2024.

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

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

The amount extra we ended the month of November with?....$2,650.86

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in November---

*  Monthly annuity payment of $2,530.11

*  SS income of $3,828.70

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $970.48

Total "Income" for November....$7,329.29

Expenses in November---

*  Irregular bills in November were $3,683.05

*  Variable expenses in November came to $287.95

*  Medical Premiums in November were $707.43

Total Expenses....$4,678.43

$7,329.29-$4,678.43=$2,650.86.

Slush Fund coming into November of $83,268.64 and the addition of $2,650.86 in November, our end of November 2024 Slush Fund comes to $85,919.50.

The Slush Fund, on it's own page(tab at the top of the blog), shows an addition of $2,650.86.

Outgo

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

Here are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill is the same as the previous month.
*  The WAM was the same as in October.
*  The electric bill was $42.08 lower than the previous month
*  The Hubs Amazon card was $191.81 less than in October.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The cellphone bill was $10.08 higher than in October.
*  The My Amazon card was $35.59 higher than last month.
*  Hubs Aviator card was $531.99 higher than in October.
*  My Aviator card was $491.92 higher than last month.:
And we had some one off bills in November--
*  We had additional Car Insurance due to the tune of $223.97 because the new car is newer than the old car we traded in.
*  We had an AARP bill of $16.00.  Because of my UnitedHealthcare medigap plan I am forced to have an AARP membership. 8-(
*  We paid a Doctor copay out of the regular account for $20.00.
*  We had a bill of $27.98 for the coat I bought.

The Food Budget costs for November 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 November 2024---We had a few extra bills in November, but nothing we couldn't handle.  The extra monies was smaller than it could have been but we still had a surplus once the month was out.

GOING FORWARD INTO December 2024--I don't think I'll spend as much in December but the bill for the car is arriving in December. ouch
We will have the Long Term Care premiums due plus expenses for the Holidays too.

Here's hoping 2024 treats us all even better financially! 8-))

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 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

2018 Food & Toiletries Spending......July Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JULY 2018.

I have posted July'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 July.  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 4-5(4-5 at home this month). No "kids" under 22.

*****************
BIG LOTS
OOP  $56.80
Value  $93.59
Savings   39.31%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $20.79
Value  $77.72(retail bread is expensive!)
Savings  73.25%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $55.28
Value  $100.36
Savings  44.92%

MALACARI'S(produce)
OOP  $9.14
Value  $16.99
Savings  46.20%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PP/BC  $564.27
Value  $564.27
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE
OOP  $16.89
Qs/Ads  $20.10
Value  $36.99
Savings  54.34%

WALMART
OOP  $36.93
Value  $80.64
Savings    54.21%

WEGMAN'S
OOP  $58.15
Value  $82.21
Savings    29.27%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $179.77

Qs/Ads  $178.89

Value  $358.66

Savings  49.88%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet at 73.25% and Shursave Markets at 54.34%.  My worst savings rate was at Wegman's at 29.27%.

I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for July..........$433.75

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales...$413.41

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$847.16

TOTAL Savings of ................................48.80%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for July.....$433.75
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$1411.43
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.........$977.68
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items........69.27%

This closes out the July food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
July was almost on target spending wise.  I gave myself an extra $50 over my $400 budget since Eldest son was home for 5 days so we didn't have to "skimp" on dishes he likes.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went Up by 3.88% in July 2018 to 69.27% compared to June's 65.39% savings average.
The free stuff from Rite-Aid skewers my averages but without R-A I am at 48.80% savings.  So even without R-A we are doing well on the "savings" front.

With 7 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3071.08 on food/toiletries in 2018 which is a 72.78% savings rate for the year so far and averages out to $438.73 spent per month in 2018.  We are heading back down toward my $400 a month average target again and that's a good thing.

LOOKING AHEAD To August.......
Keeping with a $400 food budget for August.  No company is coming and no trips are planned.  The Daughter will be out of town for a few days but otherwise things will be "steady as she goes" here with the grocery spending.

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 July?
*  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

2017 Savings Challenge......June Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.

Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various savings pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings or these other categories.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account.

For 2017 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.
I have decided to lower the goal amount to save for the year to $35K.
Then Hubs decided to retire the end of June 2017, so this changes my goal again.

* I'm going to half my goal now, since I've got 6 months to get to the Savings Challenge Goal this year since Hubs is retiring effective June 30th.
This means the new revised goal is $17.5K for 2017 which was half of $35K.

On to the June report.....

I have posted my June End of Month $17.5K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $2,9916.66.

I have to report that we finished up June and the end of my 2017 Savings Challenge strong.
The extra amount we ended the month of June with?.......$2954.79

Income

We had $2570.23 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in June totaled $384.56.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts, two stock dividend checks and two per diem reimbursements.

This brought us to our gain of $2954.79
Since we have no debt, this all goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this June, 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 cash withdrawals were $$349.50 lower than in May.  I only withdrew $60 for the whole month and Hubs kept to his budgeted amount for WAM.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $20.69 higher than in May.
*  The electric bill was $25.23 more than last month's mostly due to the washer/dryer running more and the kids turned on the a/c units in their rooms.
*  The gas credit card bill was $52.03 higher in June from May's amount.  This is due to Hubs putting less gas purchases on this c/c over the Master card.
*  The credit card bill was $630.71 higher in June than in May.  This was mostly May charges like VA trip spending.
*  The medical bills were $5.40 higher this month over last month's bills.
*  We had to pay 6 months of insurance on the LA house in June.
*  I paid a $178.20 dental bill which catches us up with what we owe on co-insurance to the dentist.

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

With 6 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2017 is $21,100.42.
We have surpassed our revised goal by $3600.42.  Woohoo!


FINAL THOUGHTS on June---
We had a fairly high expense month in June.  Most of our regular bills were  higher than in May(though overall only about $400 more)and then we had two irregular bills due(one of them over $1K)plus the credit card bill was over $1K for various reasons.  So in the end, not a terrible month but not a great one either.

Compared to June 2016 we saved $992.13 MORE to put into savings this June.  June always seems to be a higher expense month for us.

THOUGHTS going forward into July of 2017----
The regular bills will be about the same as in June since the credit card bill for our trip charges in July will come due in August.  I won't be here for half of July to monitor the kids aka "them that leave lights and a/c on when not in the room people" using the utilities(water/electric)so who knows how high they will be.
As for irregular bills, we have no irregular bills in July but, that being said, we will have bills associated with getting the LA house on the market(putting water and lights on in our name plus changing the locks and paying someone to repair stuff)this month.
Between the trip and putting the house on the market July may be a budget buster since we will be operating on a reduced income until October.  Things will still get paid though, out of our deep cash reserves until Fall.
It will all work out in the end once we start tapping the 401K account and we get this LA house sold.

So this marks the end of my regular Yearly Savings Challenge feature.  Since we won't have regular paychecks coming in as income I was going to discontinue this feature on the blog.  We won't have enough disposable income going forward to have savings each month to put away.
Or at least I don't think we will.
But I'll put the question to you, the readers.
Would you find it instructive/helpful/interesting for me to post about trying to save going forward in retirement now?
Let me know.

So how was your June financially?
  

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

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

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

Eating Out Totals Updated

I finally got around to updating my Eating Out Page with totals spent in September and October.
Since the tab isn't visible at the top on my home page, you get see that page at the link HERE.

While the Regular Eating Out looks high in October, some of that was treating a visiting friend and family members for Breakfast.  As it wasn't "our" trip I put it under Regular Eating Out, though it was not really regular. 8-)

Sluggy