September financial wrap up

First, let me just say that September is always a different financial month for us, as I get my yearly bonus & stock awards. That happened, and we moved, M started a new job & only received one pay check, and we're renting a house in California but haven't yet rented the house in Seattle yet. Hopefully it will be ready to list next week. Because the construction is not yet finished, those expenses (shivers) will be included in the October financial wrap up.

September Income:
My income - $26,039. (Includes bonus)
M's income - $3,700 (he dumped most of his income into a 401K, as he finally has access again, & is hoping to make up for lost time from earlier in the year when he couldn't contribute).
My stock awards - $22,365

Total income = $52,105.

Biggest September Expenses:

• 401K loan payoff - $39,607
• Rent - $5,000 (will be getting reimbursed $4,200/month for three months, but haven't received it yet)
• Main residence mortgage - $4,124
• Vacation mortgage - $2,250
• Food - $1,315 (we spent double our normal budget due to *lots* of meals out, & restocking our house with groceries.
• House - we spent $650 on house stuff. Moving is expensive!

Total spent for the month (including smaller categories not listed above, because I'm too lazy to list them all out, & I think your eyes would roll into the back of your head from boredom). :-)

$56,355

Total spent after we get reimbursed for our rent - $52,155. Almost exactly our income for the month! Off by $50.

Again, September was a crazy month on many fronts. I'm very pleased that we paid the 401K loan off as planned.

We need to get renters into our primary residence this month, as well as make progress with our vacation house. We are kicking around a couple of ideas: long term renters, or selling. We should hopefully start to see the first reimbursements from the move come in. So far, we've been paying all of that with our savings, which has been painful.

On to a much more frugal October! I need to get the food budget back down to $700 between dining out & groceries, and I also want to drop our house budget way down.

How about you? How did you do with your spending in September? What are you planning on working on in October?