October $20K Savings Challenge 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, 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.
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 October report.....

I have posted my October End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog 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 October with a really big number!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of October with?.......$4,623.32.

Income
We had $4,417.91 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in October totaled $205.41.  This brought us to our gain of $4,623.32 for October.

 

Outgo

As for the expenses this October, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Evidently I overpaid(again!)the long distance phone last month so our bill was only .65¢ in Oct.

*  The electric bill was about $1 LESS than September's bill.  October's bill has ALWAYS been at least $50 more than September's bill before this year(due to the heat getting turned on).
*  The credit card bill was about half of what it was in September.

* And the BEST Good Thing.....October was a third paycheck month!, so we socked that away into the Savings Challenge.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  I overspent on the food budget by $19.

*  Spending on prescriptions increased due to the blood clot issue.

*  We had pet related spending of $237(kennel and vet bills)because of trips.
*  Cash withdrawals were about double September's amount but some of this was due to trips taken.

 

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

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 10 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $20,926.27. 
 

We surpassed our goal by almost $1000 AND we still have 2 months left in the year to save some more money!
 

Looking ahead for November......
 

*  No special Holiday spending this month.  We aren't traveling for Thanksgiving and the meal will be modest because it's just Hubs and I this year.  And if I can scare up a Turkey Day invite from someone, then we won't need to buy/cook anything special that day. lolz

*  No big annual or semi-annual bills come due in November(the next one is in February)but I do plan on buying some furniture this month as the living room is bare except for a rug.

 

*  We put the bulk of the Ocean City trip from October on the credit card so that will have to be paid off in full from November's paychecks.

Between paying for the October trip and purchasing furniture for the living room I don't think we'll have much leftover during November to throw into the Savings Challenge.  I'll keep the Challenge up until the end of 2013 just in case we have some spare funds the next 2 months.

 

So how was your October financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in October?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts 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

September $20K Savings Challenge 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 September report.....

I have posted my September End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog 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 September in the black but just barely!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of September with?.......$40.12

Income
We had -9.51 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Yeah, not such a great month here.
 

Other monies received in September totaled $49.63.  This brought us back into the black and our gain to $40.12 for September.

 

Outgo

As for the expenses this September, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Evidently I over paid the long distance phone last month so our bill was only .60¢ in Sept.

*  The food/toiletries bill was about $84 less than my $400 budgeted amount.

* Cash withdrawals were $70 less than in August.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The annual school taxes were due which ate up almost an entire paycheck.

*  The electric bill started going up, this month by only $7 but the trend will continue as the weather gets cooler.

*  Credit card bill was $700 higher than last month's bill which included the payment for the dog's surgery and a $600 car repair.

 

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

We came in under budget by about $84 last month but with the taxes due that wasn't enough to give us more than $40 leftover at the end of the month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 9 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $16,302.96.  Only $3,697.04 left to save and 3 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $1232.35 per month for the next 3 months to reach the goal.  It is going to be tight to get us to that goal but it's doable.  Especially since we still have a 3rd paycheck month left this year.  8-))
 

Looking ahead for October......
 

*  The heat will get turned on sometime in October so electric usage will increase.

*  No big annual or semi-annual bills come due in October(the next one is in February)so we can save a bit of money this month.

 

*  We have another short getaway trip this month, so those costs will come out of October's pay.  I usually take trip costs out of the last year's savings challenge pot, but with all the remodeling/heating and a/c costs and summer road trip costs so far in 2013, the 2012 savings have been depleted.  So all Oct. trip costs will be paid for out of this October's pay.

 

So how was your September financially?  It wasn't a great month for us.  If not for the dividend checks with received from some investments, we would have had to dip into our savings to cover our expenses in September.
  

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 September?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in September, a dividend 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 debts 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

$20K Savings Challenge.....July 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 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 June in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of June with?.......$3427.59

Income
We had $3242.23 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Add in a per diem expense reimbursement check, a check from Savings Star(for my coupon savings through them for 2012)and a rebate from the power company for recycling our old freezer and we have another $185.36 not spent this month.  This brought our gain to $3427.59 for July.

 

Outgo

As for the expenses this June, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Music lesson bill was $30 less due to paying a week ahead last month.

*  The food/toiletries bill was approx. $42 less than my budgeted $400 each month.

*  With the credit for the return of the new freezer, the credit card bill was only $200.70 in July.

*  Cash withdrawals were $660 less than last month.

*  No doctor co-pays this month....woohoo!

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The electric bill was $2 higher than last month.
*  An additional $225 camp bill balance was paid in July.

*  The water bill was $27 higher due to more pool leakage.

*  I paid the 3rd quarter garbage bill early this quarter.
*  Annual homeowner's insurance was due and paid in July.

Overall, the Good outweighed the Bad in July.

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

We came in under budget by $42.14 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 7 months behind us, half the year, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $15,999.22.  Only $4,000.78 left to save and 5 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $800.16 per month for the next 5 months to reach the goal.
 

Looking ahead for August......
 

*  #2 Son is having 3 wisdom teeth pulled, so we have a co-pay of $411+ this month.
 

*  The credit card bill will be large again, due to the $500 car repair Hubs put on it and my "hobby" spending for dna tests.  This is in addition to the regular things we put on it, like gas and spending for the house.

*  The semi-annual car insurance is due in August so that's about $1,500.00.

These items combined may make it difficult for us to have $800.16 leftover when August ends.  But we'll see what we can do. ;-)
  

So how was your July financially?  It was a good month for us with the money.
 

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 July?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in July like a tax refund, a dividend 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 debts 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

$20K Savings Challenge.....June 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 June report.....

I have posted my June 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 June in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of June with?.......$844.79

Income
We had $629.95 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in 2 per diem expense reimbursement check, 2 stock dividend checks, a tow reimbursement and a refund on our car insurance(from removing daughter from the policy)and we have another $214.84 not spent this month.  This brought our gain to $844.79 for June.

 

Frankly, I am shocked that we had this much leftover from June's income because it seemed we experienced way higher than normal outgo.  But looking over the Good/Bad bullet points, besides the credit card bill, everything else wasn't so bad compared to last month.

Outgo

As for the expenses this June, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Music lesson bill was half of it's usual amount due to teacher being away for half the month.

*  The electric bill was almost $56 less.
*  The food/toiletries bill was less than my budgeted $400 each month.

*  The cost of our prescriptions was half of what it was in May.

*  Cash withdrawals were $20 less than last month.

*  The doctor bill co-pays were under $80 this month.(Last month was over $1500.)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  Quarterly garbage bill due.
*  The phone bill was up by $2+.

*  The water bill doubled, as predicted in last month's report.  This was mainly due to the repair and refilling the pool and is expected every May or June.

*  The credit card bill....OH!, the credit card bill....lol  It was $1857+ MORE than last month.  This will be going down to $1409.21 more than last month when the freezer gets returned.  Still too high. 8-(

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

We came in under budget by $119.26 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 6 month behind us, half the year, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $12,571.63.  Only $7,438.37 left to save and 6 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $1,238.06 per month for the next 6 months to reach the goal.

Looking ahead for July......

*  Still waiting for medical bills to come in.  I don't know what the hold up is, but since we switched doctors to our insurance/health provider affiliated doctors, we haven't had to pay any co-pays at visits.  This is something new for us. 
 

*  I suspect once we get the new a/c system installed this month and the heat ratchets up the electric bill will increase moderately.

*  Last July we had a $1500 car repair bill.  Hubs car needs some maintenance work so it will go in for that this July.  I hope the bill is not anywhere near last July's total though.
  

*  The annual homeowner's insurance is due in July.  Last year it was $596.  Will be curious to see  how much it goes up this year.  Between that bill and the semi-annual car insurance bill which comes due in August, we need to stay as frugal as possible(outside of the planned home renovations/repairs we are paying for in July/August)with the bills.

So how was your June financially?  It was pretty much a wash for us in terms of getting ahead.
 

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 June?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in June like a tax refund, a dividend 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 debts 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

The World Needs More Math Nerds

No explanation needed......

 

If you prefer rap......




Or maybe you lean toward pop music.....




Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge......May 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 May report.....

I have posted my May 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 May in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with?.......$3,129.06
This was only possible due to the 3 paycheck month in May, as we had a rather large hospital bill co-pay due this month.

Income
We had $3045.02 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in a per diem expense reimbursement check and interest gives us another $84.04.  This brought our gain to $3129.06 for May.

Outgo

As for the expenses this May, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The water bill was within a dollar of being the same as last month.
*  The credit card bill was $900 less.
*  There were no semi annual or quarterly  bills to pay.

*  The electric bill was almost $100 less.
*  The prescriptions were about $67 less than April.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The dr./hospital bills(co-pays/deductibles) were $1500 more than in April.

*  The cash withdrawals were $280 more(mostly because of graduation).

*  We had a $346 vet bill(their annual visits + meds).
*  The food bill was about $100 more than budgeted food(and $65 more than last month).

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

We overshot the food budget by $100.55 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 5 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $11,726.84.  Only $8,273.16 left to save and 7 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $1,181.80 per month for the next 7 months to reach the goal.

Looking ahead for June......

*  Still waiting for the other medical shoe to drop(ie--medical bills from tests and procedures to slowly drip into my mailbox).  I foresee more medical spending on co-pays and deductibles this month.
 

*  Hubs is repairing and opening the pool for the year, which means a sky-high water bill in June.

*  The only non-normal bill from last June was extra cash spending for a short vacation to Ohio, which isn't happening this June.
 

So how was your May 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 May?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in May 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
 

The $20K Savings Challenge of 2013....April Update

$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. 

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

 

*  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 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

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?

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

$20K Savings Challenge.......March 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 March report.....

I have posted my MARCh 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 March in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of March with?.......$1,352.60

Income
We had $1280.04 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in 2 quarterly dividends, some bank interest and a rebate check, and we get another $122.56.  This brought our gain to $1,352.60 for March.

Outgo

As for the expenses this March, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill was $13.18 lower than Feb.

* The electric bill was $99.82 lower than Feb.(Our heat is electric.)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The credit card bill went up $98.91(but was still paid off at month's end.)

*  The cash withdrawals were up $200 over last month.
*  The doctor bills were up $67.05 from last month.
*  The long distance phone bill was up $4.01 from last month.
*  We owed $44 in state taxes.
*  The yearly sewage bill was paid this month.

*  The yearly local taxes were due this month.(I received a discount from paying them before April 1.)

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

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

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 3 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $5,489.63.  Only $14,510.37 left to save and 9 months left to accomplish it.

We just missed our $1,666.67 target goal for the month, but not by much.  Considering the yearly taxes and the yearly sewage bills paid, I'd call March. a WIN for us on the money front.

Looking ahead for April......

*  We don't have any quarterly or yearly bills due this month.
*  Since #2 Son got his driver's license, we have an additional car insurance bill due this month, to the tune of almost $400. sigh.

*  Due to my health scare and visit to the ER and hospital, the bills will start 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 April.  We shall see in the fullness of time.

So how was your March financially?

Have you finished paying off those presents from last Christmas you put on credit?
Did you spend less than the income you made in March?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in March and what did you do with it?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debt or put extra toward your mortgage principle?
Did you receive a tax refund and what did you do with that money?

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

$20K Savings Challenge....JANUARY 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 January report.....

I have posted my JANUARY 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 January in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of January with?.......$2,761.06

Income
We had $2,579.14 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in a per diem check for mileage for some business traveling and some bank interest and we get another $181.92.  This brought our gain to $2,761.06 for January.

Outgo

As for the expenses this January, most of them were on the bad side, rather than the good side....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The medical bills were $192 lower.

*  The credit card bill was $98 lower.

*  There were no Xmas spending or car repairs/maintenance bills.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The cable bill  monthly price went up in 2013 by $4 a mo.

*  The cash withdrawals were $100 higher.

*  The water bill went up $4+.

*  The electric bill went up by $43.

*  The quarterly garbage bill is due in January.

 

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

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

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 1 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $2,761.06.

We surpassed our monthly goal by $1,000 in January!  This extra will be a very good thing later in the year, during some of our more financially challenging months, when we can't hit our target goal.

Looking ahead for February......

February is always a challenging money month for us, because our semi-annual car insurance premium is due, as well as our county taxes for the year.  I also have an unexpected dental bill to pay in February.

In addition, the electric/heating bill will be the highest one of the year this month.

I am hoping to keep the variable bills(food, credit card, Hubs cash withdrawals)wrangled in February to compensate.  And I will hope that none of the cars needs anything other than gas until March.

So how was your January financially?

Did you put the Holiday spending on credit, and do you have Christmas debt to pay now?
Did you spend less than the income you made in January?
Did you stay within your budget or not?

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