$60K Savings Challenge NOVEMBER Totals.....More Great Progress!

I have posted my NOVEMBER End of Month 60K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right(near the bottom) for the specific numbers.

We had another Excellent month growing our Savings in November!

I have to report that we finished up November in the Black again.

The amount we ended the month of November with was......sit down for this......$3,189.49!
Woot!


The electric bill went up less than $20 from Oct.'s bill.  Not bad considering that the heat was on fulltime this month while Oct's bill saw the heat just being put on occasionally. 

The water bill went down again in Nov. another $3.  I guess the kids are getting a couple more wears of out their clothes before putting them into the hamper.lol
All other regular bills...Cable, Internet, Phone, etc. are the same each month.

The Food Budget costs for November are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food/Toiletries spending in November was low after rebate income was figured in and compared to the value of the items bought we saved over 93%.

So, what did I do right in November to come out of it with over $3K extra?

First, we have no mortgage payment or car payments.  Those are the 2 big Bugaboos that suck down your income.  Having bought a modest house and having paid if off asap combined with paying cash for cars(which means we always buy cars we can AFFORD and don't finance), means we have been able to cut our living expenses dramatically.  It didn't happen over night though and there were many years of living well below our means and socking every penny into savings.  But knowing that those lean years wouldn't last forever and that there was a shining Goal of being debt-free at the end of it all made it so worth it.

Secondly, we had no other large bills....taxes, sewage, insurance, etc. this month.  These are paid quarterly or semi-annually and not due in November.

Thirdly, we stayed out of restaurants and I didn't do as much running around in the car, saving gas and shopping expenditures.  That was reflected in the lower credit card bill in November.  The cc bill(which is paid off every month-NO BALANCE)went from $845.49 in October to $536.51 in November. While not a big difference, there was less gas needed for the car since I didn't travel far last month(except to Acme)& we didn't dine out much. 

We are Eleven Months into this $AVING$ Challenge, and we have a Savings Total of $21,760.57 for the year.

What's ahead for December....
Looking at my check register from last December I see that we have some quarterly bills coming due this month.  Nothing large but they add up before you know it.

We do have ALOT of out of the ordinary expenses for December....
an additional amount toward car insurance(daughter has been added as a licensed driver)
a vet bill for a very sick dog
clothes for 2 of the kids
possible holiday travel expenses(gas, hotels, eating, kennel boarding-budgeting at least $800)
oral surgery bill for daughter(insurance covers some of this)
orthodontist bill for son(we pay upfront for the discount and insurance covers some)
holiday gifts (mostly for our 3 kids, we are considering not exchanging gifts with the adults this year)

Besides hubby's paychecks, I've opened up my eBay store this month(though it's been slow selling so far), and I am waiting on over $200 in rebates, so we have a good potential on the income side.

Income up, expenses way up.....we'll be lucky to NOT go negative in December.
I am hoping for the best, but bracing for the worst.  If we have any money leftover at the end of December I will count myself extremely lucky!

Be sure and check out how others are doing with their finances this month at Money Saving Mom.

So how was your November financially?  Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.   Do you have any tricks or tips that help you to end your month before the money runs out?  Let us know!

And what are your plans for your money in 2010?  It's time to start thinking about how to get a fresh start to Financial Freedom next year!


Sluggy