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
