$20K Savings Challenge.......April Update
In our family we save money. It is important to us to put money aside for "rainy days". You know.....those unexpected days when things happen in your life that you can't plan on, but that DO happen and they cost you money you didn't know you'd need to pay out.
Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job. We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it. This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, investments and retirement savings. It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on". From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.) Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge.
For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge. I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.
On to the April report.....
I have posted my April 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 April in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of April with?.......$3,108.15
Income
We had $1497.65 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Outgo
HERE are the BAD THINGS
The Food Budget costs for April are in another post, which is located HERE.
The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 4 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $8,597.78. Only $11,402.22 left to save and 8 months left to accomplish this.
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!
Sluggy
Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job. We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it. This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, investments and retirement savings. It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on". From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.) Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge.
For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge. I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.
On to the April report.....
I have posted my April 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 April in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of April with?.......$3,108.15
Income
We had $1497.65 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in a per diem expense reimbursement check and our federal tax refund and we get another $1,610.50. This brought our gain to $3108.15 for April.
Outgo
As for the expenses this April, here are the good and the bad side of things....
HERE are the GOOD THINGS
HERE are the GOOD THINGS
* The long distance phone bill was $4.04 lower.
* The cash withdrawals were $225 less than in March.
* The electric bill was $54.53 lower than March.
HERE are the BAD THINGS
* The water bill was $4.05 higher than March.
* The credit card bill went up $892.261(but was still paid off at month's end.)
* The music lessons were $60 more.
* The doctor bills were up $185.30 from last month.
* We had an additional prorated bill for $200.01 for car insurance since #2 Son has his license now. I'm not complaining though as it was suppose to be $400, but with taking Daughter off(sort of)the increase was less than expected.
* The doctor bills were up $185.30 from last month.
* We had an additional prorated bill for $200.01 for car insurance since #2 Son has his license now. I'm not complaining though as it was suppose to be $400, but with taking Daughter off(sort of)the increase was less than expected.
The Food Budget costs for April are in another post, which is located HERE.
We overshot the food budget by $35.49 last month.
The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 4 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $8,597.78. Only $11,402.22 left to save and 8 months left to accomplish this.
Looking ahead for May......
* We don't have any quarterly or yearly bills due this month. Yay us! ;-)
* Due to my visit to the ER and hospital stay and all the new doctor appointments and tests, we will have bills starting to roll in this month, so I can't even hazard a guess if we'll be able to make our monthly savings target of $1666.67 in May. We shall see in the fullness of time.
* Gas and eating out spending will be higher this month due to a trip to see our oldest son graduate from college. sniff, sniff
* Gas and eating out spending will be higher this month due to a trip to see our oldest son graduate from college. sniff, sniff
So how was your April financially?
Did you put ordinary living expenses on a credit card last month and not pay it off in full when due?
Did you spend less than the income you had in April?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in April, like a tax refund or bonus at work,
and what did you do with those funds?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debt or put extra toward your mortgage principle?
Did you spend less than the income you had in April?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in April, like a tax refund or bonus at work,
and what did you do with those funds?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debt or put extra toward your mortgage principle?
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!
Sluggy
I received $1350 in April and the first day of May.
ReplyDelete$750 was owed to me for work done three years ago.
$300 from some sort of settlement from foreclosure that never happened but was in the works. Wells Fargo was the bank but another entity paid it.
$200 from ATT for "reward" from signing up for a service I initiated.
How I used it: paid property tax two days before my house was sold for taxes, paid huge electric bill, bought a piddling amount of clothing I need, had oil changed in car. Life was just more pleasant after strawberries from the market and two $.99 pineapples, a few seeds, dirt, a few reduced plants. I still have a bit left. Oh, I wasted $75 on yard work that was half a$$ done by two guys who promised and did not deliver an honest job.
Here is the story:
http://practical-parsimony.blogspot.com/2013/05/money-rolling-in-bankruptcy-and-other.html
We did well, but forgot that our new mortgage doesn't deduct and pay for homeowners insurance -- so we had a "surprise" seven hundred dollars for that. Add on a new laptop and a car repair and we were over budget. We still managed to save -- just not as much as usual. The nice thing about spending below your means is that when your means unexpectedly take a hit, you can still afford it!
ReplyDeleteI did 1/3 of the year progress report. We're doing pretty well, but with lots of changes in the near future, it's important to continue to trim categories where we're overspending. http://thehawaiiplan.blogspot.com/2013/05/2013-is-13-over-how-is-your-budget.html
ReplyDeleteYou always impress me with how much you save and the fact that you never fall off the frugal wagon.
ReplyDelete