Since I foresee food prices, as well as other expenses/costs/taxes to rise in 2011, I am only upping my Savings Challenge Goal by $2,000. While I hope to bring in more income this year, I feel we will be spending more on necessities in 2011, thus the small increase in goals.
So I present to you February of the 2011 $32K Savings Challenge!
I have posted my FEBRUARY End of Month $32K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.
I have 2 goals really each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $2,666.67.
I have to report that we finished up January in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of January with was a meager.......$374.00.
Income
We had $328.00 left over of DH's salary after our expenses were deducted.
Add in $46.00 of Rebates applied against the food expenses and you have a deposit of $374.00 toward the Savings Challenge!
Our monthly target is an average of $2,666.67 to reach our Year End Goal so we didn't even come close to our 2nd monthly goal in Feb.
Outgo
As for the expenses in February....we always seem to hemorrhage money in this month.
*The credit card bill(which is paid off each month)was over $1100 because Hubs replaced his dead computer.
*Then the electric bill is a killer in the winter at $419.19.
*The cable company raised our rate this month.
*The semi-annual car insurance bill of $1486.37 was due.
*We had a $676.85 AND a $110.35 car repair.
*We paid our state income tax bill.
*2 dental bills,
*A marching band payment(for #2 son's trip in the Spring),
*3 Dr. bills
*And the other usual water, phone, cash withdrawals for eating out and food purchases, gasoline, and Hubs WAM, etc. and we are left with $374.
Most February's however, we end up going into the RED so I am NOT complaining that we're only left with a few hundred bucks!
The Food Budget costs for February are in another post, which is located HERE. The actual Food/Toiletries spending in February was very low! It figures....I go off of my self-imposed Spending Diet at the end of Jan.(which was a flop)and I actually was able to slice the food budget in half.
What's ahead for March.....
Looking back at last year's check register, I see we may have less $ outgo in March.
A quarterly sewage bill and the balance of #2 son's marching band trip to pay out, but otherwise nothing beyond the usual monthly bills. Knock on wood it stays that way and "Murphy" doesn't show up on my doorstep. ;-)
YEAR-TO-DATE TOTAL.....
With 2 months behind us, our Savings total to-date for 2011 is $2,667.97.
And if you need to start putting money into savings......What's that you say? You don't have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses!!??....consider playing along in 2011 with me and Challenging Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal!
Not everyone can shoot for $32K, I fully get that!
But everyone can shoot for some number, right!?
Find a money goal that works for you and put that number out there for everyone to see. It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Ooo, that sounded kind of creepy didn't it? ;-)
So how was your February 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!
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!
Sluggy
So I present to you February of the 2011 $32K Savings Challenge!
I have posted my FEBRUARY End of Month $32K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.
I have 2 goals really each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $2,666.67.
I have to report that we finished up January in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of January with was a meager.......$374.00.
Income
We had $328.00 left over of DH's salary after our expenses were deducted.
Add in $46.00 of Rebates applied against the food expenses and you have a deposit of $374.00 toward the Savings Challenge!
Our monthly target is an average of $2,666.67 to reach our Year End Goal so we didn't even come close to our 2nd monthly goal in Feb.
Outgo
As for the expenses in February....we always seem to hemorrhage money in this month.
*The credit card bill(which is paid off each month)was over $1100 because Hubs replaced his dead computer.
*Then the electric bill is a killer in the winter at $419.19.
*The cable company raised our rate this month.
*The semi-annual car insurance bill of $1486.37 was due.
*We had a $676.85 AND a $110.35 car repair.
*We paid our state income tax bill.
*2 dental bills,
*A marching band payment(for #2 son's trip in the Spring),
*3 Dr. bills
*And the other usual water, phone, cash withdrawals for eating out and food purchases, gasoline, and Hubs WAM, etc. and we are left with $374.
Most February's however, we end up going into the RED so I am NOT complaining that we're only left with a few hundred bucks!
The Food Budget costs for February are in another post, which is located HERE. The actual Food/Toiletries spending in February was very low! It figures....I go off of my self-imposed Spending Diet at the end of Jan.(which was a flop)and I actually was able to slice the food budget in half.
What's ahead for March.....
Looking back at last year's check register, I see we may have less $ outgo in March.
A quarterly sewage bill and the balance of #2 son's marching band trip to pay out, but otherwise nothing beyond the usual monthly bills. Knock on wood it stays that way and "Murphy" doesn't show up on my doorstep. ;-)
YEAR-TO-DATE TOTAL.....
With 2 months behind us, our Savings total to-date for 2011 is $2,667.97.
And if you need to start putting money into savings......What's that you say? You don't have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses!!??....consider playing along in 2011 with me and Challenging Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal!
Not everyone can shoot for $32K, I fully get that!
But everyone can shoot for some number, right!?
Find a money goal that works for you and put that number out there for everyone to see. It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Ooo, that sounded kind of creepy didn't it? ;-)
So how was your February 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!
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!
Sluggy
Ah, February... really, it's so short, it shouldn't be so expensive... right?
ReplyDeleteI blogged my financial Feb woes here:
http://ifartfairydust.blogspot.com/2011/03/februarys-numbers.html nothing very exciting.
Showed DH our overall picture in mint.com a couple nights ago, now that I had two months' worth of data tweaked so that it made some sort of sense. I figure January was really a total guessing game as I loaded in all the monthly, quarterly, and semi-annually bills I could think of, plus found out everything else that I never think to take into account.
In general, I'm shooting for $1200/mo to go to savings with a specific sub-goal of that being $396/mo to go to the new (used) car fund to replace DH's car in about 4 years.
Love your write-ups, Sluggy!!!! Here's to a good, frugal March for all of us.
Our killer month is January and I don't know why. We prepay all of our Christmas so......
ReplyDeleteYou are doing great, Sluggy. It looks like you had a lot of expenses, so saving anything is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteWe had a couple of car expenses. No repairs, just some maintenance, so Hubby's car should be good to go for the rest of the year. Yeah!
My electric bill was exorbitant, but the weather in Jan and part of Feb was outrageously cold. I actually have quite a bit left in the bank, but I have not gotten the brakes fixed, if that is what they need, nor have I had someone look at the boots on my car--something to do with rack and pinion steering. Savings? It is embarassing how small my goal is. But, since I have paid off the house and car (I love saying that), my meager income barely covers the monthly bills. There is no credit card bill...hallelujah.
ReplyDeleteTips? I start out cautiously...lol. When the month is about to end, along with the money, I just don't get in the car or go into a store except for milk, bananas, and a Sunday paper. I bought a watch and took it back because I decided I need money more than a watch.
$100 goes into a change purse for groceries. That $$$ ran out four days before the month was up, but I needed nothing. Splurges?
I am a sucker for $1 clothing items for my g-daughter. I bought a $35 blouse for my nine-year-old g-daughter and paid $4.98, maybe less. I don't spend that on blouses for me!!! Okay, it was more than $1.
All the bills are paid.