2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....May Update

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 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $40,000 this year, $10K more than my goal for last year.

I have reconsidered and changed my Goal from $40K to $38K for 2016.  With some things coming down the pike this year I thought it prudent to back up my Goal a couple of thousand.  8-)

On to the May report.....

I have posted my May End of Month $38K $AVING$ 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 $3,166.66.

I have to report that we finished up May with a less than stellar amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of May with?.......$1,831.49

Income

We had $1666.14 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in May totaled $165.35.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts.

This brought us to our gain of $1831.49
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

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month.
*  The May electric bill was actually down $82.67 from April's bill.  Less heat means less electricity used and the a/c isn't being used much yet.
*  Water use was down $21.35 from last month.  Hubs didn't spend time flushing the hot water heater in May so that may account for the decrease in that bill.
* The gas card spending was down $65.78 from April.  More gas charges were charged on the Master Card account instead.
*  The direct medical spending was up $16.17 due to my DME company not sending a monthly bill on time.  I am sure they'll figure this out and send it.  Can I say their billing dept. is a disaster? ;-)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The cash withdrawals/spending was up $70 from last month.  I don't quite understand that is wasn't HIGHER since we spent $500 of our cash on our road trip.  I figured it would be more?
*  The credit card bill was up $103.09 from last month.  If you figure extra gas spending was put on this c/c rather than the gas card, the spending here is about what it was in April.  All but 1 hotel stretch(which I prepaid on last month's c/c bill)will be coming in June on THAT bill. bleh.
*  Hubs put the humidifier filter purchase on his Discover card so we had charges on that in May.
*  I am paying the Garbage bill quarterly this year so $84 was due this month.
*  $100 school deposit for the 2016-2017 terms for College Boy was due.
*  We had to pay $300 OOP for our HVAC compressor replacement(labor only).  Hoping to get that reimbursed from the manufacturer as they sent us a bad unit and spending to replace it is their fault.
*  Between a year of house insurance and the title transfer for the LA house we are out $1672.27.

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

With 5 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $17,436.84.

Final thoughts on May---

May turned out to be a very expensive month for us.
No irregular bills due this month but over $2K in irregular/unexpected bills happened in May.
I am glad given our expenses this month we were still able to sock away something into savings.

But compared to May 2015 we put $557.29 less into savings this May. 8-(
It could have been worse I suppose.
.
We have $17,436.84 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $20,563.16 left to save over the next 7 months at this point to reach our goal of $38K saved.  That averages out to $2,937.60 a month for the rest of the year.
In 2015 we put $22,572.01 into savings in those 7 months so it's possible.  With our increased costs looming ahead for the rest of the year, it just might happen.
Stay tuned to find out which way it goes!

THOUGHTS going forward into June----
I don't even want to think about how much June is going to cost!  Trip spending on the c/c due in June is over $2,500 alone.  Then my food budget will probably go bust as we add 2 adults to the household.  Add in that electric and water costs will rise as well due to them.
On the good side of things, there are no irregular bills due in June.  August and September however will see large irregular bill amounts due(house and car insurance and property taxes).

Good things September is our other 3rd paycheck month, huh? 8-)

Darn you "life" for making me spend so much money and not save it all! lolz

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?

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!

As we go forward into 2016 why not make this new year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy

2016 $38K Savings Challenge......April Update

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 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $40,000 this year, $10K more than my goal for last year.

I have reconsidered and changed my Goal from $40K to $38K for 2016.  With some things coming down the pike this year I thought it prudent to back up my Goal a couple of thousand.  8-)

On to the April report.....

I have posted my April End of Month $38K $AVING$ 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 $3,166.66.

I have to report that we finished up April with a large amount leftover exceeding my target amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of April with?.......$6,190.53

Income

We had $5787.47 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in April totaled $403.06.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, blogging revenue and items sold.

This brought us to our gain of $6190.53
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

*  First off, April is a 3 paycheck month so the entire bonus paycheck goes into savings. 8-)))

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month.
*  The April electric bill was actually down $68.78 from March's bill.  Less heat means less electricity used.
*  The cash withdrawals/spending was down $330 from last month.
*  I received a check for blogging.  Not much but it was something.
*  I sold a book on Amazon.  This was a surprise because I had forgotten I still had a few listed on there. lol
*  I also sold some toiletries from the stockpile.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Water bill was up $12.95 from March as Hubs attempted to deal with a water heater issue.
*  The gas card bill was up $58.98 as Hubs put more gas purchases on this card.
*  The credit card bill was up $63.19 from last month.  I bought some clothes in April(undies and a swimsuit)so we spent a bit more than in March on the c/c.
*  The direct medical spending was up $30.92.  This was co-pays for Hubs eye issue.
*  Semi-annual car insurance premium was due for 2 of the cars.
*  I bought quite a few Summer weather clothing items as many of mine needed replacing.  I did however wait until there was a 50% off sale and I got good bargains on 8 articles of clothing including 3 dresses, another swimsuit and 4 shirts.
*  I prepaid on 6 of our hotel nights for our trip in May.  While not a "bad" thing per se, I'd rather put these charges on April's tally than on May's tally.  It helps to spread out the spending between the 2 months rather than have them all piled up on May's income, especially since April is a 3 paycheck month.

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

April was a pretty expensive month for us.  The regular bills were very low this month coming in at under $1800, but we had car insurance, clothing purchases and hotel charges prepaid to offset that. Still, we were able to save quite a bit even with those expenses.

With 4 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $15,605.35.

Final thoughts on April---
I am very happy with what we socked away in April given the irregular expenses this month.
But compared to April 2015 we put $153.30 less into savings this April.
.
We have $15,605.35 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $22,394.65 left to save at this point in the year to reach our goal of $38K.

THOUGHTS going forward into May----

We have no big irregular yearly bills due in May.  We will have a bit larger credit card bill however but nothing really huge.
Bills will go up in May with College Boy home for the Summer.  I am not worried about the bills for May, it's the June bills I am NOT looking forward to as 2 kids will be home full time that month plus most of the vacation charges will be on that month's c/c statement(which we pay in full each month).
bleck.

Darn you "life" for making me spend so much money and not save it all! lolz

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 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!

As we go forward into 2016 why not make this new year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy

2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....March Update

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 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $38,000 this year, $10K more than my goal for last year.

I have reconsidered and changed my Goal from $40K to $38K for 2016.  With some things coming down the pike this year I thought it prudent to back up my Goal a couple of thousand.  8-)

On to the March report.....

I have posted my March End of Month $38K $AVING$ 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 $3,166.66.

I have to report that we finished up March with a large amount leftover exceeding my target amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of March with?.......$4947.49

Income

We had $2,803.42 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in March totaled $2389.61.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a tax refund and 2 stock dividends.

This brought us to our gain of $4947.49
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges, water bill, and internet were approximately the same as last month.
*  The March electric bill was actually down $63.66 from February's bill.  With electric heat this is an amazing total for heat and lights, etc. in northern, mountainous PA. February and March are generally our highest electric bill months in the year.  I will be glad to see the electric start to slowing decrease even more for the next 7 months.
*  The credit card bill was down $474.99 from last month.  No travel and little shopping=not much spending on that card, other than gas purchases.
*  The gas card bill was down $46.67 as Hubs put more gas purchases on the Mastercard.
*  We received a tax refund this month.
*  The monthly medical bills were down $1,150.29 from February's total.  Yep, we paid off all those high deductibles now for the year.
rah.
go
me.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Of course we had Real Estate taxes due in March and a sewage bill to offset all that medical bill we didn't have this month.
It's always something, isn't it? 8-(

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

March was a pretty expensive month for us.  The regular bills were very low this month coming in at under $1800, but we had taxes and a yearly sewer bill to offset that.  Still we were able to save quite a bit even with those expenses.

With 3 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $9414.82.

Final thoughts on March---
I am happy with what we socked away in March given the irregular expenses.
And compared to March 2015 we put $1150.37 more into savings this March
.
We have $9K+ saved so far in 2016, and we are only $8.185 behind at this point in the year.
We will be catching up for sure with the financial goals in April when the first 3 paycheck month of the year rolls around.
Yay 3 paycheck months!

THOUGHTS going forward into April----

I happily await April, the first tree paycheck of the year month for us. In addition I should receive a check for blogging in April which is a happy extra.  8-)

We do have a big car insurance bill due in April(under $1K though)but even so we will be able to catch-up(and even get a bit ahead)with where we should be with our savings goal for the year in this month.
May and June we have no irregular large bills so we should gain traction if we can keep the credit card bill under control.  I can do that IF we don't travel and we are suppose to travel in May so the bills will roll in from travel in the May and June c/c statements. sigh.

Again, it's so hard to save when you want to "live" life too because that means spending something.  ;-)

So how was your March financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in March?
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!

As we go forward into 2016 why not make this new year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy

2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....January Update

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 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $38,000 this year, $10K more than my goal for last year.

I have reconsidered and changed my Goal from $40K to $38K for 2016.  With some things coming down the pike this year I thought it prudent to back up my Goal a couple of thousand.  8-)

On to the January report.....

I have posted my January End of Month $38K $AVING$ 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 $3,333.33.

I have to report that we finished up January with a goodly amount leftover but not my target amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of January with?.......$2,462.76

Income

We had $2,192.83 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in January totaled $269.93.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a per diem and blogging revenue received that month.

This brought us to our gain of $2462.76
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges, water bill and internet were approximately the same as last month.
*  The electric bill was only up $126.69 from last month's bill.  With electric heat this is an amazing total for heat and lights, etc. for January in northern, mountainous PA. Our lowest January electric bill up til now was $359.28.  We beat that by $35+ this year.
*  The cash withdrawals were down $300 from December's totals.
*  The gas card was down by $37.53 in January.  This will mean higher c/c charges in Jan. as some gas was put on that card instead of the gas card.
*  Medical payments were down $340.12 from last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS(and the not so bad)
.
*  The credit card bill was up $492.64 from last month.  Some of this is Christmas spending, some medical and some College Boy's books for the semester.
*  There was a Discover bill to pay.
*  There was a Kohl's bill to pay.
*  I paid 3 months of garbage service ahead.  Usually I pay this semi-annually or annually in one big payment sometime in the first half of the year,  but in 2016 I will be making quarterly payments instead.

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

January was a fairly expensive month for us, especially since all medical expenses are paid out of pocket as we haven't met our high deductible for the insurance yet in this calendar year.  This will continue into February.
We also had high credit card usage in late Dec./early Jan. so that bill was a bit more than I had planned.
Even with everything accounted for we did fairly well on our spending in January.

With 1 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $2,462.76.

Final thoughts on January---
Even with increased Holiday spending and medical costs we saved a substantial amount.
And compared to January 2015 we put nearly one thousand more into savings this January.

THOUGHTS going forward into February----

Big irregular bills due this month are car insurance and the medical bills(for once they are NOT mine!lolz but Hubs and Daughter)which will be paid totally out of pocket.  The medical is already at $1600+ for Feb. and Daughter's bills haven't arrived yet.  I think we may max out our HD in Feb. at this rate. 8-(
There is no travel or planned extra spending so far for February so I hope we can stash away at least $1K this month.
Only time will tell though.....

So how was your January financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in January?
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!

As we go forward into 2016 why not make this new year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy