$20K Savings Challenge Report for May 2012

Ok, here is my May 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 "unconscious" 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 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 and/or our income tax refund.

On to the May report.....

I have posted my MAY 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 May in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with?.......$2,832.03!

Income
We had $2728.26 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $2.00 in Rebates applied against the food expenses, $101.31 in blog ad revenue & $.46 in interest(HAHAHAHAHA!) and  you get a total of $2,832.03.

Outgo
Traditionally May has been a fairly normal month as far as spending goes.  No big tax bills or lump payments. 

As for the expenses this May......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill was boringly the same.

*  The mild winter temps continued, which decreased our heating/electric bill by about $25.  The second consecutive month for a decrease....yay!

*   The credit card was $400 less than last month's bill.  It was still over $1K though. bleh!
*  No car maintenance/repairs bills this month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Credit card bill was fairly high at $1000+.

*  We bought a new dishwasher.

*  The new dishwasher meant hiring a plumber to install it(our house is weird)....that was $265!!!

*  Another vet bill for 1 of the dogs.  Not large but it's still unusual spending.

*  Cash spending(my food money and Hub's WAM money)was WAY HIGH!  I'm going to have a talk with him about reigning it in this weekend.

The Food Budget costs for May are in another post, which is located HERE.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 4 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $9,422.83.

We hit our monthly goal in May and then some, so now we are ahead of where we need to be

With 5 months done, we should be at $8,333.35 saved for the year, so $1,089.48 ahead for the year!

As for a look ahead at JUNE.....
* There will be another vet bill for surgery the beagle had this week.(It was put on the credit card.)
* The quarterly garbage bill will be due.
* Mini-vacation will cost money but most charges will be put on credit card so not due until July.(Good for June's figures but not for July's.)
* A 3rd paycheck in JUNE!!!  We will NOT use it toward our saving challenge goal however.  This check will go toward paying the home improvement projects that NEED to begin soon.

I figure I should be able to meet the monthly savings goal for this Challenge in June, barring any money fiascoes.

So how much did YOU save in May?  Did you spend 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 May financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
How much did you save in May?

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