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 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 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 October in the black.
The amount we ended the month of October with?...$23,094.84
Income or Funds We Can Access
The "income" in October---
* Monthly annuity payment of $3,235.81(after tax withholding)
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $110.83
* Quarterly stock dividend check of $18.48
* A Quarterly 401K withdrawal=$5,200.51
* A big 401K withdrawal to cover moving expenses=$20,000.51
* SS of $3,570.00
* Garbage service refund from PA $30.00
* C.C credits on m/c statement of $37.75
* C/C credits on visa staatement of $5.76
Total "Income" for October....$32,209.27
Expenses in October---
* Irregular bills in October were $170.00
* Variable Expenses in October came to $6,718.30
* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,226.13
Total Expenses....$9,114.43
$32,209.27-$9,114.43=$23,094.84
Slush into October of $47,240.13 in that Fund, add October's overage of $23,094.84 and we get $70,334.97 going into October's 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $23,094.84.
Outgo
As for the variable expenses this October here are the good and the bad side of things....
HERE are the GOOD THINGS
* The cell phone, WAM, storage bill, as well as the Health Insurance premium were all the same as last month.
* There was no internet bill in October. We used Daughter's service gratis. 8-)
* We got a small refund from our garbage service in PA as we paid in full for all of 2022.
HERE are the BAD THINGS(so many bad things...)
* The Mastercard was $3,306.18 higher in October(gee I wonder why? Oh yeah, moving...).
* My Amazon c/c was $290.71 higher last month(again, moving).
* Hubs Amazon c/c bill was $142.59 in October.
* The September gas card bill that didn't get forwarded got paid this month.
* We had an irregular bills due in October too--
* We had to pay a deposit to turn on water at the LA house.
The Food Budget costs for October are in another post
HERE. Food costs are included in the credit card payment(mainly but sometimes our WAM cash too).
FINAL THOUGHTS on October 2022---
October was a very expensive month. Lots of bills from the move came due and were paid. While our PA house is still under contract we have utilities to pay there. This is the last month I'll pay the storage bill in PA. We had our quarterly 401K withdrawal in October but instead of reporting 1/3 of that each month I am just going to report the whole thing in October. We also made a one time withdrawal from the 401K to help with moving and setting up a new household costs. I am ok with yanking that much out of the 401K since it is larger than I thought it would be at this point in our retirement as we didn't tap into it for years when we first retired as Hubs had planned/wanted to. We had a large overage due to that which will be whittled down in the next few months as we purchase items for the new house(blinds, curtains, bathroom hardware, kitchen utensils, furniture, fenced in yard, a riding mower, etc. )
THOUGHTS going forward into November 2022--I am optimistic that costs will settle down going forward. While expenditures still need to be made we'll be spacing them out and prioritizing them. The PA house costs will be going away(utilities, storage fee). Plus we'll be getting refunds on some house items we prepaid for the year(house insurance, property and school taxes)which will be a nice little chunk of cash back into our bank account. And the profits from the check we get once the house is sold will replenish all those pots of funds that aren't 401K monies that I pillaged to purchase this LA house before the old PA house sold.
So how was your October 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
