$20K Savings Challenge.....JANUARY Results for 2012

Ok, here is my first Savings Challenge Update post for 2012.
This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.  It's just what we are able to save given our income and being able to hang tough against so much spending.

Just to update, My Savings Goal for the Year in 2012 is $20,000.  It's well below what I've saved in previous years I know.  But we also have a goal this year of paying for 4 home improvement projects at Chez Sluggy this year.  We plan on cash-flowing these projects with the additional money we save.

On to the January report.....

I have posted my JANUARY End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals 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 $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up January in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of January with?.......$1,104.76!

Income
We had $1,095.76 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $9.00 in Rebates applied against the food expenses & you get a total of $1104.76.

Outgo
As for the expenses in December......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  While the electric bill was high(as our heat is electric and it IS Winter!), the mild temperatures in Dec./Jan. kept our bill lower than previous year's bills.  The Dec. bill was about $100 LOWER than the Nov. bill!  The electric bill was also $100+ lower than LAST January's bill!

*  The cash withdrawals were relatively low and I way underspent on the food budget in January.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  We had an unexpected $707.75 car repair bill for Hubs commuting car.

*  The credit card bill was still a bit high.  With retrieving kids from college(and I back again), there was more gasoline bought on the c/c in Dec.   Seeing as Christmas happens that month also, I don't think it was "that" bad a bill though.  ;-)

*  There was an unexpected doctor bill from this past summer.  One of the kids had to see a doctor while working at the summer camp and our medical plan refused to pay their part.  So we had to break down and cover an additional $111 in medical bills.

*  I had a Kohl's bill this month due to buying clothing & bedding for the kids in December.

The Food Budget costs for January are in another post, which is located HERE.  I underspent my food budget by about $100, as we were sick(and didn't eat)and we ate down supplies from the freezer/stockpile last month.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 1 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $1,104.76.

We missed our monthly goal by $561.91 in January.

Adding that amount to next month makes our February goal $2,228.58.  I don't foresee saving that much this month, so we'll save what we can and see where we stand at the end of February, and go from there.

So how much did YOU save in January?  Did you spent all your income or did you put something aside?

Do you have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses?
Do you have debt?

Start living below your means NOW and put some money away for emergencies and/or start paying down your debt.
And once you get debt-free, continue to throw that debt repayment money into savings.  You won't believe how fast you can accumulate wealth once you have no debt!

It is NEVER too early or too late to SAVE SOMETHING.
And the amount you save is NEVER too small!
Anything you can spare will go a long way to make you more financially secure in this crazy unstable world we live in.

So come along and Challenge Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal or Debt Goal!

Not everyone can shoot for $20K, 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.  Put it into paying down your debt, put it into savings, invest it or put it toward the principle in your home mortgage....just get busy and do this!

It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Put it out there online and let us all stalk your money too. ;-)

So how was your January financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?

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