2017 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 savings 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 2017 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.
I have decided to lower the goal amount to save for the year to $35K.
Then Hubs decided to retire the end of June 2017, so this changes my goal again.

* I'm going to half my goal now, since I've got 6 months to get to the Savings Challenge Goal this year since Hubs is retiring effective June 30th.
This means the new revised goal is $17.5K for 2017 which was half of $35K.

On to the May report.....

I have posted my May End of Month $17.5K $AVING$ 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 $2,9916.66.

I have to report that we finished up May with a goodly sum.
The extra amount we ended the month of May with?.......$3393.75

Income

We had $3092.13 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted which was over my targeted amount to save per month.

Other monies received in May totaled $301.62.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts and a blogging revenue check.

This brought us to our gain of $3393.75
Since we have no debt, this all 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(Within $1 or so).
*  The water bill was $5.44 lower than in April.
*  The electric bill was $72.08 lower than last month's bill due to less cold weather.
*  The gas card bill was $29.73 less than April's bill.
*  The credit card bill was $1607.60 lower than in April, mostly because we didn't have any high deductible medical payments left to make.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The cash withdrawals were $449.50 higher than in April, mostly due to my trip to VA and Hubs buying crap not budgeted for.
*  The medical bills were $1.49 higher this month over last month's bills.
*  I had a small $24.79 payment due on my Kohl's account.
*  I paid 6 months ahead on our garbage bill in May, so a $168.00 irregular expense paid.
*  Our semi-annual car insurance premium was due this month so another $864.65 paid out.

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

With 5 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2017 is $18,145.63.
We have surpassed our revised goal by $645.63!
Sluggy does the Happy Dance!!!
And there is one more month to go to add to this total. 8-)

FINAL THOUGHTS on May---
We had a fairly low expense month and we were able to tuck away over the monthly goal of $29916.66.  The only really negative about May was the increased cash withdrawals that Hubs made.  He had an out of town conference while I was in VA so I am sure he spent $ there that the company didn't pick up the tab for plus I know there was some Take-Out happening at dinner time too.
Even with irregular bills of car insurance and 6 months of garbage pick-up paid ahead we did quite well keeping money in our pockets in May.   ;-)

Compared to May 2016 we saved $1562.26 MORE to put into savings this May.

THOUGHTS going forward into June of 2017----
The regular bills will be about the same as in May except the credit card bill will be about $500+  higher in June.
As for irregular bills, we also have to pay half of the Louisiana house insurance payment for the year in June so another irregular bill to satisfy.
But we should get a partial refund on the insurance as the house going forward won't be a rental so the insurance cost will go down, and when we sell the house, we'll get whatever is left of the insurance payment back then.

If all expenses go as planned we should be able to put about 50% of Hubs June net pay into savings and finish this Savings Challenge for 2017 strongly.

Five months into the year and we have put $18,145.63 into savings.
We have surpassed our $17.5K Saving Challenge target for the year with one month to go to save even more.  I am hoping to top out at over $20K when I complete this Savings Challenge at the end of June.

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!

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

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

2017 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 savings 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 2017 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.
I have decided to lower the goal amount to save for the year to $35K.
I barely made my $38K goal in 2016, what with our added expenses, so I think it's wise to back down the goal a bit again this year so I am not so stressed through out the year worrying about making the number.

We will have higher medical expenses this year and although the BF doesn't live here anymore the Daughter does still, so some every day bills will be higher than when it was just Hubs and I(and College Boy here during school breaks).

If I do better than I think I will and save OVER my goal that's great too. 8-)

On to the March report.....

I have posted my March End of Month $35K $AVING$ 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 $2,9916.66.

I have to report that we finished up March with a surprisingly to me large amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of March with?.......$4434.04

Income

We had $4188.14 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in March totaled $245.90.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts and quarterly dividends.

This brought us to our gain of $4,434.04
Since we have no debt, this all 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 and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The water bill was $22.88 lower than last month's bill.
*  The credit card bill was $61.60 lower in March.  $920.73 of this bill was medical charges.
*  We had NO gas card bill in March.  That doesn't mean we didn't have gas charges but we just put them all on the credit card instead.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  There were two medical co-pays I couldn't pay on the credit card totaling $59.85.
*  The electric bill was $25.30 higher in March.  Not too bad and I'll take it.
*  The cash withdrawals were $350 higher than in February.  Mostly due to Hubs going back to work in the office, buying stuff again while he is away from home.
*  We had 2 irregular annual bills due in March-annual sewage bill and half of our property taxes.
*  I also had $196.89 in Kohl's charges which I paid in March(partly paid ahead).

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

With 3 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2017 is $10,134.58.

FINAL THOUGHTS on March---

I forgot we had an extra paycheck in March so that was a happy surprise, even though the first paycheck in March was still a lower disability paycheck.  We were able to save a large sum this month.
Compared to March 2016 we saved $513.45 LESS to put into savings this March.  Last March we also had a tax refund included in the savings total that month so without that, we'd be about $1200 more put into savings this March.

THOUGHTS going forward into April of 2017----
I pulled a "Doh!" moment in February when I set aside $500 of what was saved that month to pay medical charges that I thought would come due in March instead of letting that $500 go with all the other cash we saved in February into the Savings Challenge.  I totally forgot that March was a three paycheck month and we'd have an entire extra paycheck to put toward medical bills(that satisfied our high deductible)then.
Doh!
So those medical bills still have not arrived so I now have $500 from Feb. set aside plus $769.61 left from what I set aside in Dec. from that month's Saving Challenge total(to put toward the high deductible), making the kitty $1269.61 to put toward these medical charges when they finally arrive.  I am guessing this will happen in April.
These bills total $1579.76 so I just need to come up with the remainder of $310.15 out of the income in April to pay these in full and that is very doable.
There are no other big irregular bills due in April so bring it on! 8-)


Three months into the year and we have put $10,134.58 into savings.
There is $24,865.42 left to hit our $35K Saving Challenge target for the year.  This averages out to $2,762.82 per month for the next 9 months.

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!

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

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

2017 Savings Challenge......February 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 savings 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 2017 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.
I have decided to lower the goal amount to save for the year to $35K.
I barely made my $38K goal in 2016, what with our added expenses, so I think it's wise to back down the goal a bit again this year so I am not so stressed through out the year worrying about making the number.

We will have higher medical expenses this year and although the BF doesn't live here anymore the Daughter does still, so some everyday bills will be higher than when it was just Hubs and I(and College Boy here during school breaks).

If I do better than I think I will and save OVER my goal that's great too. 8-)

On to the February report.....

I have posted my Febuary End of Month $35K $AVING$ 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 $2,9916.66.

I have to report that we finished up February with a surprisingly to me large amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of February with?.......$2200.49

Income

We had $2054.29 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in February totaled $146.20.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts.

This brought us to our gain of $2200.49
Since we have no debt, this all goes into savings, BUT this month I am holding back $500 to put toward March medical bills, so only $1700.49 of that gain will go toward the Savings Challenge for February.

Outgo

As for the expenses this February, 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(Within $1 or so).
*  The water bill was $9.08 lower than last month's bill.
*  The electric bill was $102.77 less than in January.  All this weirdly warm weather has paid off here.
*  Cash withdrawals were the same as last month.  With Hubs still working from home, he doesn't go out much or have much opportunity to spend cash on coffee and such.  Now and again, he gets a sandwich out or takes me to Bob Evans for lunch with this $ but that's about it.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The credit card bill was $798.09 higher in February.  $920.73 of this bill was medical charges.
*  The gas card bill was $69.52 higher than January's bill.
*  There was a Kohl's charge bill of $4.70 after I used a gift card to purchase supportive shoes for Hubs to walk in as he recovers from his injury.
*  We had 1 irregular bills due in February-3 months of garbage disposal service.

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

With 2 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2017 is $5700.54.

FINAL THOUGHTS on February---

I knew February would be a bit lackluster since we were still operating with a partial disability pay situation this month.  Plus I needed to hold back some excess income to use in March to put toward medical bills that would arrive then.
Compared to February 2016 we saved $305.08 LESS to put into savings this February. It would have been about the same amount as last February if I didn't reserve that $500 to use in March.

THOUGHTS going forward into March of 2017----

Now that Hubs is back on regular pay rates we should make better progress with our savings goals.
Well except for March being one of our irregular bills/property tax months AND all those medical bills that I expect to arrive this month.

Two months into the year and there is $29,299.46 left to hit our $35K Saving Challenge target for the year.  This averages out to $2,929.95 per month for the next 10 months.

So how was your February financially?
  

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

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

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

2017 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 savings 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 2017 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.
I have decided to lower the goal amount to save for the year to $35K.
I barely made my $38K goal in 2016, what with our added expenses, so I think it's wise to back down the goal a bit again this year so I am not so stressed through out the year worrying about making the number.

We will have higher medical expenses this year and although the BF doesn't live here anymore the Daughter does still, so some everyday bills will be higher than when it was just Hubs and I(and College Boy here during school breaks).

If I do better than I think I will and save OVER my goal that's great too. 8-)

On to the January report.....

I have posted my January End of Month $35K $AVING$ 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 $2,9916.66.

I have to report that we finished up January with a surprisingly to me large amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of January with?.......$4,000.05

Income

We had $3596.03 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in January totaled $404.02.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts plus my grocery rebates. I applied the rebates this month since all the December grocery bills were put on the credit card(and the c/c bill due in January included these charges.).

This brought us to our gain of $4000.05
Since we have no debt, this all 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 and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The credit card bill was $1191.90 lower in January.  Most of the c/c spending was food expenses as I put all grocery shopping on the credit card and pay it off monthly.  As most of the Xmas spending was done in November there was little put on this card in December.
*  Cash withdrawals were $100 less than last month.  With Hubs still incapacitated and not leaving the house except with me for doc appointments he hasn't spent cash so hasn't needed WAM(walking around money).

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $8.76 higher than last month's bill.
*  The gas card bill was $16.75 higher than December's bill.
*  The electric bill was $113.84 more than in December.  Two reasons for this-January is colder than December so the thermostat got nudged higher plus with Hubs living on the daybed in the living room I had to keep the downstairs warmer 24/7.  I usually don't heat downstairs very much at night when everyone sleeps upstairs.
*  On the medical bills front-we had a $3.68 balance on Daughter's chiropractic co-pay bill from October she forgot to pay, I had to give College Boy $20 for two refills of his medicine while away at college, and another DME bill for me of $175.65 had to be paid totally OOP as we haven't met our deductible. This all meant medical bills were up$165.61 over December's amount since we had met maximum OOP last year and were paying no co-pays the last 1.5 months of the year.
*  There was a Kohl's charge bill of $7.88 which was the balance I owed after a purchase using my Kohl's cash and Kohl's birthday coupon.
*  We had 3 other irregular bills due in January-a car registration, a driver's license renewal and items College Boy needed for school which came to $42.97, making another $109.47 more in irregular expenses.

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

With 1 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2017 is $4000.05.

FINAL THOUGHTS on January---

I wasn't expecting to have such low expenses in January.  It was a good shock, trust me. lolz
I suppose most of it was due to the fact that other than Rite-Aid(where I don't actually pay money)and the grocery stores I stayed out of stores last month.
Compared to January 2016 we saved $1537.29 MORE to put into savings this January. 8-)

THOUGHTS going forward into February of 2017----

I will continue to do this Yearly Savings Challenge in 2017 and we'll shoot for $35,000.
I foresee February being a more expensive month than January was.  We will have more medical bills this month plus electric will be higher in February than it was in January.
Another reason is that the first February paycheck was $700+ less so yes indeed, the disability pay dropped to 70% of income.  Given I foresee higher expenses for February and half of our Feb. pay checks are lowered, money will be a bit tighter this month and not as much leftover to put into savings.
We've got another $30,999.95 more to save this year to reach our Savings Challenge goal. That means we need to save $2,818.18 in each of the next 11 months to save $35K for the year.

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!

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

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