$20K Savings Challenge Report for JULY 2012

Ok, here is my JULY 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. 
Our background info--We are a family of 5(kids are 21-16)with one living away from home.  We have 2 dogs. We own 3 cars at present and live in/own free & clear a 4 bedroom house in a small town.

On to the July report.....

I have posted my JULY 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 July in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of July with?.......$1641.83.

Income
We had $1639.44 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $2.39 in interest income(HAHAHAHAHA!) and  you get a total of $1641.83.

Outgo
The usual along with a couple of large irregular bills......1 expected and 1 out of the ordinary.

As for the expenses this July......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

* The water bill decreased by $30+.

* The electric bill decreased by $21+.

* The credit card bill decreased by $702.
* The cash withdrawals went down $1170.....even with that they were high!

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Home owner's insurance was due, but expected. $596.

*  Bill came in for the Minivan from last month's repairs. $1496.68.

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

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 7 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $15,613.23.

We missed our monthly goal in July by $24.84. Since June's savings but us ahead for the year, I am not sweating a shortfall of $25 in July.

With 7 months done, we should be at $11,666.69  saved for the year, so we are $3946.54 ahead for the year as of now!

In the next 2 months we have largish irregular expenses coming due.
August is semi-annual car insurance at about $1500.
September is school taxes about another $1950.

They are irregular because they don't come every month....like the water or electric bill.  But two things about irregular bills--
1.They are usually for large amounts(due to the fact that they don't come round every month).
2. You KNOW THEY ARE COMING!  Yep, every year....so don't stick your head in the sand and ignore them.  Plan for them. Set a 12th of their amount aside each month so that when the due date rolls around, you have the money saved up to pay them in full.

We may actually get a break with our car insurance.  #1 Son is buying himself a car.  Since it will be in his name, he will need to have his own insurance policy, therefore we can have him taken off of our policy.  We tired to tell him that with our driving records, ages and the fact we get multiple discounts on our coverage, he's better off putting the car in our name and staying on our policy, and just paying us the extra it costs us to cover him and his car.

But 21 year old men want to feel virile and independent I guess, and paying through the nose for their own policy must be a testosterone inducing manly thing.  

But what do I know....... ;-)

At this point, I need to come up with $4386.77 for the rest of the year to make my $20K goal.  This breaks down to $877.35 per month for the next 5 months.


As for a look ahead at AUGUST.....
* Car insurance due.
* No celebrations here, no parties, just Boring McBorington at Chez Sluggy.

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

 Even if it doesn't look like a lot of money, figure out what percentage of your income you saved.  You might feel that it's a more substantial amount in those terms!

We saved 28.74% of our take home income in July.  My goal is to shoot for 50% each month. If we hadn't had that car repair bill, we could have achieved saving 55% of the take-home income. 
Dang that car repair bill! lol

Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.
Did you have debt you were able to pay on?
Did you pay off a car, a house or a credit card?
Did something financial blow up on you last month?
What are you doing financially to change your life?

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