Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.
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, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings. It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings or these other categories.
Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums 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, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing etc.) Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account.
For 2015 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge. I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $28,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.
On to the April report.....
Outgo
The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 4 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $15,039.21.
That averages $3,759.80+ a month so far and is about $1,426.47 more than we need to put away every month to reach the $28K goal for the year.
THOUGHTS going forward into May----
Irregular bills coming in May......semi-annual car insurance bill comes due for our 2 main cars. This comes to about $1500 a year now. The bill for the spare car(for College Boy to use while home)comes due in August so we won't worry about that one now.
I am figuring our "nut" this month will be about $2,500 unless we purchase a freezer in the next week which increases our credit card bill for May.
With 4 months behind us we have $15039.21 down and $12,960.79 left to save in 20015. That means we are over HALWAY to our yearly goal. The amount left to save breaks down into $1,620.10 per month for the next 8 months of the year. I think we can easily do this number each month.
Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums 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, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing etc.) Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account.
For 2015 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge. I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $28,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.
On to the April report.....
I have posted my April End of Month $28K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.
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 $2,333.33.
I have to report that we finished up April with a HUGE amount of leftover cash.
The extra amount we ended the month of April with?.......$6,343.83
Income
We had $6,207.11 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.
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 $2,333.33.
I have to report that we finished up April with a HUGE amount of leftover cash.
The extra amount we ended the month of April with?.......$6,343.83
Income
We had $6,207.11 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Other monies received in April totaled $136.72. This included interest made on non-retirement accounts.
This brought us to our gain of $6343.83
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.
This brought us to our gain of $6343.83
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.
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
* Phone charges, internet and were approximately the same as last month.
* Electric bill went down $150.88 from March's bill because of a decrease in heating.
* Cash withdrawals went down by $230.48
* Electric bill went down $150.88 from March's bill because of a decrease in heating.
* Cash withdrawals went down by $230.48
HERE are the BAD THINGS
.
* Water bill was up $12.37 from March's bill. Don't know why.
* We had 1 irregular bill from a dental visit.
* Gas card bill went up $100.12 from March's bill. 2 round trips worth of gasoline to College Boy's school and Hubs putting most of his gas spending on this c/c rather than our other c/c.
.
* Water bill was up $12.37 from March's bill. Don't know why.
* We had 1 irregular bill from a dental visit.
* Gas card bill went up $100.12 from March's bill. 2 round trips worth of gasoline to College Boy's school and Hubs putting most of his gas spending on this c/c rather than our other c/c.
* The credit card bill was up $886.86 from March's statement. Almost $800 of this increase was for prepaid hotel charges for our May trip. While I didn't like seeing that big c/c bill it's nice to know that once we get home from our trip a sizeable chunk of vacation charges will already be paid. ;-)
The Food Budget costs for April are in another post, which is located HERE. I actually came in under budget on food/toiletries for April.....well, $1.41 over. ;-)
The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 4 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $15,039.21.
That averages $3,759.80+ a month so far and is about $1,426.47 more than we need to put away every month to reach the $28K goal for the year.
THOUGHTS going forward into May----
Irregular bills coming in May......semi-annual car insurance bill comes due for our 2 main cars. This comes to about $1500 a year now. The bill for the spare car(for College Boy to use while home)comes due in August so we won't worry about that one now.
I am figuring our "nut" this month will be about $2,500 unless we purchase a freezer in the next week which increases our credit card bill for May.
With 4 months behind us we have $15039.21 down and $12,960.79 left to save in 20015. That means we are over HALWAY to our yearly goal. The amount left to save breaks down into $1,620.10 per month for the next 8 months of the year. I think we can easily do this number each month.
So how was your April financially?
Did you spend less than the income you had in April?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on something you wanted?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on something you wanted?
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate with you or commiserate with you!
Sluggy
Sluggy
I am impressed with how much you save each month, well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gill!
DeleteI know most people can't save as much as we do as hubs income is pretty high compared to many. It really helps though to get your "nut" low and not having a mortgage, or any other debt for that matter, is a big part of that!
Most everyone CAN save something each month and should try.
Moneywise, this is the worst month financially in a long time. I suppose I can cut down on groceries. But, that still won't solve the problem. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI am impressed also. We bought a boat with some extra, though we did finance it. The interest rate is a percent and a half lower than what we earn in our lowest interest earning account. It made no sense to take it out and pay cash. In addition there is no payout penalty after 6 months, so we can change our minds then
ReplyDeleteIf your money is earning more than your interest rate on that loan that makes sense to handle it that way.
DeleteYou are doing great. Our April was not as lucrative. I paid out about $2000 for my cataract surgery. I am waiting to get the bills for the "Anesthesia" from both surgeries. I put it in quotation marks since supposedly I was given some IV valium, but I did not feel like I had anything. I was relaxed when I got there and felt exactly the same during surgery. But, oh well, gotta pay the man. Thank God for good insurance so it didn't cost more. Fortunately, I used money from my FSA so no credit card debt.
ReplyDelete