$20K Savings Challenge.....NOVEMBER Update

Ok, here is my NOVEMBER 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 4 cars at present and live in/own free & clear a 4 bedroom house in a small town.

On to the November report.....

I have posted my NOVEMBER 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 November in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of November with?.......$6,762.91

Income
We had $6,752.37 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in a teeny bit of interest at $.54 from the interest bearing checking account and a rebate check worth $10.00 and it brought our gain to $6,762.91 for November.

Outgo

As for the expenses this November......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

* The water bill was the same as last month.

* The credit card bill decreased by $270.
* The cash withdrawals were $50 lower.

*  Music lessons went down.

And the big one....

* There were NO car maintenance/repair bills in November.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The medical/dr. bills were $125 higher than last month.

*  The electric bill went up by $72, mostly due to the heat being on fulltime now.

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

We managed to stay within our $400 food budget in November.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 11 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is at  $26,351.38!

We have hit our target for the year and then some.  That 3 paycheck month in November put us well over the top.

And there is one more month to go!   Even though we have passed the Challenge Goal, I'm going to keep with it to the end of the year.  Maybe I can add another thousand or two to my Grand Total for 2012.
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I'm so happy we hit the Goal before we end the year.  We were lagging behind on the targets for each month so many times earlier in the year.
And don't think I didn't have one BIG URGE to just take that extra 3rd paycheck in November and not count it and put it toward this savings challenge!
With Christmas so close, I could have seen myself take that big wad of paycheck cash and blow it on one massive Mother Of All Christmas Spending Sprees!  Like a blast from the shopping/Xmas spending past it would have been!
So sweet.....especially with where financially things are heading for us little guys after we jump off the fiscal cliff in 2013 and beyond.  It would have been a last hurrah of blatant consumerism, right? ;-)

But I kept it together and didn't go back to those old ways and kept my grimy little fingers off that check and sent it to savings to keep us that much more solvent in the coming years.
It's not as flashy and fun but it helps me sleep well at night, which is worth all the new trinkets and gadgets in the world. 8-)

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As for a look ahead at DECEMBER.......

*  No irregular bills are due this month.

*  Normal monthly bills only are expected.
*  We may have a car repair bill this month.

Be sure and check back with me after 2012 ends on our final tally for this Savings Challenge.  Let's see if I can run through the tape at the finish line! 8-)

So how was your November financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
How much of your income did you save in November?  And did you use it to pay down debt or build your Emergency Fund?

Even if what you are able to save each month 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 approx. 74% of our take home income in November.  My goal is to shoot for 50% each month but that extra paycheck made my percentages shoot quite high.  It's too bad I can't get it that high in a normal month.  We do have 2 kids in college and another one headed there in another 18 months.....so we NEED to be saving like crazy.

But most months aren't this insanely good.

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 and cheer you on!

Sluggy