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 May report.....
Outgo
The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 5 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $17,427.99.
That averages $3,485.60 a month put into savings so far. With this much saved already we only need to put away $1,510.29 each of the next 7 months to reach the $28K goal for the year and that's highly doable for us. ;-)
THOUGHTS going forward into June----
No irregular bills coming in June, which is good.
But on the bad side of things, I am figuring our "nut" this month will be about $4,000+ considering our credit card bill for the trip will come in at around $3K. Ouch.
There may be very little left over cash in June to put into savings.
With 5 months behind us we have $17427.99 down and $10,572.01 left to save in 2015. That means we are over HALWAY to our yearly goal!
Besides that $10572.01 I need to save out of the income this year to meet my Savings Challenge goal, I also have to find the cash to redo a bathroom this year. The bathroom redo is our big home project this year and we have yet to begin it. bleh.
Luckily we still have a chunk of Hubs bonus left, even after paying cash for his car. I am hoping that leftover chunk covers the bathroom project fully.
If not, I may have to scale down my Savings Challenge goal as the bathroom needs doing and soon!
If you have ever shared a bathroom with a teenage boy, you KNOW what I mean....... ;-)
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 May report.....
I have posted my May 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 May with a goodly amount of leftover cash.
The extra amount we ended the month of May with?.......$2,388.78
Income
We had $2,230.85 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 May with a goodly amount of leftover cash.
The extra amount we ended the month of May with?.......$2,388.78
Income
We had $2,230.85 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Other monies received in May totaled $157.93. This included interest made on non-retirement accounts and a per diem from Hub's work.
This brought us to our gain of $2,388.78
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.
This brought us to our gain of $2,388.78
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.
Outgo
As for the expenses this May, 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 $122.62 from April's bill mainly because we turned off the heat.
* Water bill went down by $10.23 from April's bill.
* Gas card went down $139.00 from April's bill.
* The credit card bill went down $366.73 from April's amount.
* Electric bill went down $122.62 from April's bill mainly because we turned off the heat.
* Water bill went down by $10.23 from April's bill.
* Gas card went down $139.00 from April's bill.
* The credit card bill went down $366.73 from April's amount.
HERE are the BAD THINGS
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* Cash withdrawals went up by $910.00 mostly due to vacation spending.
* We had a $737.55 semi-annual car insurance bill due in May.
* The c/c charge for the new freezer was paid. Glad it was bought and now it's paid for. 8-)
.
* Cash withdrawals went up by $910.00 mostly due to vacation spending.
* We had a $737.55 semi-annual car insurance bill due in May.
* The c/c charge for the new freezer was paid. Glad it was bought and now it's paid for. 8-)
The Food Budget costs for May are in another post, which is located HERE. I was surprised the May food spending wasn't worse than it turned out to be.
The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 5 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $17,427.99.
That averages $3,485.60 a month put into savings so far. With this much saved already we only need to put away $1,510.29 each of the next 7 months to reach the $28K goal for the year and that's highly doable for us. ;-)
THOUGHTS going forward into June----
No irregular bills coming in June, which is good.
But on the bad side of things, I am figuring our "nut" this month will be about $4,000+ considering our credit card bill for the trip will come in at around $3K. Ouch.
There may be very little left over cash in June to put into savings.
With 5 months behind us we have $17427.99 down and $10,572.01 left to save in 2015. That means we are over HALWAY to our yearly goal!
Besides that $10572.01 I need to save out of the income this year to meet my Savings Challenge goal, I also have to find the cash to redo a bathroom this year. The bathroom redo is our big home project this year and we have yet to begin it. bleh.
Luckily we still have a chunk of Hubs bonus left, even after paying cash for his car. I am hoping that leftover chunk covers the bathroom project fully.
If not, I may have to scale down my Savings Challenge goal as the bathroom needs doing and soon!
If you have ever shared a bathroom with a teenage boy, you KNOW what I mean....... ;-)
So how was your May financially?
Did you spend less than the income you had in May?
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 a want?
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 a want?
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 or commiserate with you!
Sluggy
Sluggy
I don't even want to discuss May or my budget. Selling my home meant a lot of minor repairs ($4000) and a lot of meals out (ka-ching) and a lot of gas driving back and forth. I gave up keeping track May 2nd. Anyway, it's done and starting June 1, we are back on track re-couping. UGH!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo impressive. I think you will save way more than you had hoped for this year even with a remodel. Why does our to do list keep growing?
ReplyDeleteI came in $50 lower than the grocery budget this month ($550 budget, $500 spending) but am trying to use up things in the fridge/freezer rather than going to the store until we go on holidays next week. The weather has been so warm the heat got shut off - but hot so AC got turned on although I try and live with the heat more than hubby. He works in his home office and it heats up and cooks him out so I can't complain if he turns on the AC. I don't include travel expenses in our monthly budget at all as I save all year for that part.
ReplyDeleteMay is over? How did that happen? Great on your savings!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the savings so far! I am feeling really poor lately. With medical expenses and some decrease in my income, I feel the need to tighten our belts. I got a raise at work this year, but OT was cut out. Since I made over $11,000 in OT last year, I am feeling the pain somewhat. Though we always manage on less than I make.
ReplyDelete