November a very good income month and a larger than budgeted expense month (see spreadsheet below).
Our total income in November was $14,923.69. In addition to my wife’s paycheck, she received an $800 auto allowance and a $130 company reimbursement for internet service and FasTrak pass. The big news was that she also earned a quarterly bonus of $12,490 gross ($7,664.17 net). Such a blessing! We received a $96.79 home owner’s insurance refund for removing our jewelry rider (another post, another time) and earned $5.60 in interest income from our online savings account.
In November, we spent a total of $9,201.88. Some of our larger non-standard expenses were $597 for airline tickets, $373 urgent care bill for our son, and $1,100 in extra mortgage principal payments. If you subtract out our extra mortgage principal payments, our expenses were a slightly more reasonable $8,101.88. Better than last month.
Next month should be a pretty typical income month. Obviously Christmas will bring additional expenses in the form of gifts and holiday travel, but hopefully not too much.
Aren’t bonuses great? What do you plan to do with it? Sock it away for retirement?
Yes, my wife’s bonuses are a huge blessing and always go to something worthwhile. This bonus was used to pay down some of our 0% credit card balance, bolster our savings account balance, and make an additional payment of $1,100 to our home mortgage.