$32K Savings Challenge for 2011.....AUGUST RESULTS

Ok, here is my Savings Challenge Update post.
Yes, the one where I piss everyone off.
Seems like folks don't want to hear about what I save, besides a few blogging friends who I cherish their cheerleading and constant support....you know who you are! ;-)
This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.

It's about the results of what you can do financially if you tighten your belt, stop buying CRAP and be persistent with keeping track of where every dollar goes(well, most dollars if you have a less than motivated spouse).

On to the August report.....

I have posted my AUGUST End of Month $32K $AVING$ 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 $2,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up August in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of August with.......$1,779.83.

Income
We had $1749.47 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $28.38 of Rebates applied against the food expenses and $1.98 in Interest on the Checking Account toward the Savings Challenge for a total of $1,779.83

I didn't count my $20 Toluna payout since I am keeping it to spend on myself. ;-)

Our monthly target is an average of $2,666.67 to reach our Year End Goal.
Obviously we didn't meet that target.
But we got a lot closer than I thought we would.
August was a big "money flowing out" month here.

Outgo
As for the expenses in August....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS
* We paid the Sewage bill for the year a couple of months ago, so no quarterly payment this month.
* The water bill held steady.
* I just barely went over the food budget.
* We made $335.50 at the Stockpile/Garage Sale.  This money was used for college necessities & gas to take kids to college so I didn't have to dip into the regular income for that.

HERE are the BAD THINGS
* The credit card bill was almost $1000....and it didn't include the cost of Daughter's new laptop.
* The semi-annual car insurance bill was due.  We've got 2 teen(next year will be 3 teens)drivers on that. We already pay almost $2500 a year for car insurance so I don't want to think about having another teen driver on our plan.  Oy!
* The electric bill was up $18 from July.
* The WAM & cash withdrawals were MUCH higher than usual.  As usual Hubs won't track his spending and get receipts so I have no clue where some of that money goes....sigh.
* I had to pay $316.47 to a local college for classes Daughter took while in high school last school year.  The program that covers the tuition expense only covered half of the cost so we are on the hook for this much.  I'm not complaining about this as it was a great rate and the credits transferred to her current college so that's a few credits less she has to take at the full rate there for a degree.  As I also just got done paying out over $16,000 in August for oldest 2 kids fall semester tuition, room and board and books, the timing of receiving this bill couldn't have been worse in my mind!  We now have 2 in college so the financial trauma to my constitution is doubled each semester.
While the college charges didn't come out of our monthly income, seeing all that money fly away sure takes my breath away.
Yowza!


The Food Budget costs for August are in another post, which is located HERE.  The actual Food/Toiletries spending in August was almost on budget when rebate checks were applied toward the food bill.  "Missed it by $2.02!" ,  she said in her best Don Adams voice.
But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. ;-)

What's ahead for September.......
There are the usual suspects: electricity, water, phone, cable, credit card bill, food cash, etc.

We will have more Marching Band associated expenses in September since it is Marching Band Season.
We will have the $2000 school taxes bill to pay.
The credit card will be killer this month.  It's already up to $1600(half of that is for Daughter's computer)and the billing period doesn't close until Friday.  meh.

YEAR-TO-DATE TOTAL.....
With 8 months behind us, our Savings total to-date for 2011 is $22,560.85.
We are just over $1,200 ahead of reaching our final goal at this point in the year.  If we end up having a really bad expensive month at some point in the next 4 months, this will help us to overcome it and still finish the year reaching our goal.  It's like a little "get out of jail free" card for our Challenge.  Having that little extra takes some of the pressure off me. ;-)
Plus we are due another extra paycheck in December....sweet!

So we have less than $10K to reach our goal for the year.  That means just under $2500 per month.

So how are your savings growing so far this year?
Do you have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses!  You really should, you know.
With the current financial climate in this country, you should try to put away into savings as much as you can each month.

So come along and Challenge Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal!

Not everyone can shoot for $32K, I fully get that!
But everyone can shoot for some number, right!?

Find a money goal that works for you and put that number out there for everyone to see.  It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Ooo, that sounded kind of creepy didn't it? ;-)

So how was your August financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?

Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.   Do you have any tricks or tips that help you to end your month before the money runs out?    Let us know!
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!

Sluggy

$32K Savings Challenge for 2011.....April Totals

I present to you April of the 2011 $32K Savings Challenge!

I have posted my APRIL End of Month $32K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals really 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 $2,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up April in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of April with.......$6500.35.

Income
We had $1823.86 left over from our income after our expenses were deducted.
Add in $62.99 of Rebates applied against the food expenses and the Tax Refund of $4613.50 you have a deposit of $6,500.35 toward the Savings Challenge!

Our monthly target is an average of $2,666.67 to reach our Year End Goal.  We came in well over that amount due to the tax refund mostly.  Since we've been short of our monthly goal for all 3 of the previous months, this month's total sure helps to boost our yearly total so far!

Outgo
As for the expenses in April....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS
*The credit card bill was just over $600.
*The electric bill went down another $73.
*We ONLY spent $244 on car repairs/maintenance.  Unfortunately, this amount is great for us. ugh
*Dr. and test copays were only $13.83 this month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS
*Hubs took out way more WAM than normal this month.
*The real estate taxes were due this month(municipal and county).
*We had a vet visit for the beagle with the bad back.  She cost $77 for that one visit.
*We had a dental payment of $82.

Mostly the cash withdrawals and the annual taxes paid this month were the worst "bad things".


The Food Budget costs for April are in another post, which is located HERE.  The actual Food/Toiletries spending in April was more than $140 under budget.

What's ahead for May.......
Unless something comes up(and doesn't it always seem to!lol), it's just the usual suspects this month--electric, water, phone, cable, food, prescriptions, dr. visits, etc.
We do have the yearly dogs' vet visit this month but it shouldn't be as bad as it has been in the past because we are down to 2 dogs now and we kept them on heartworm meds all year so there won't be any re-testing fees for that this year.

So If I can keep the food spending on budget(in the face of having all 3 teens home in May), we should be able to put away a good sized amount into savings this month.

YEAR-TO-DATE TOTAL.....
With 4 months behind us, our Savings total to-date for 2011 is $11,636.88.
We finally are ahead of schedule with the Savings goal for the year!
Before April's addition we were running about half of what we need to save to this point, to meet our goal for the year.

And if you need to start putting money into savings......What's that you say?  You don't have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses!!??....consider playing along in 2011 with me and Challenging Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal!
Not everyone can shoot for $32K, I fully get that!
But everyone can shoot for some number, right!?

Find a money goal that works for you and put that number out there for everyone to see.  It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Ooo, that sounded kind of creepy didn't it? ;-)

So how was your April financially?  Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.   Do you have any tricks or tips that help you to end your month before the money runs out?    Let us know!
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!

Sluggy

$32K Savings Challenge of 2011......February Totals

Since I foresee food prices, as well as other expenses/costs/taxes to rise in 2011, I am only upping my Savings Challenge Goal by $2,000.  While I hope to bring in more income this year, I feel we will be spending more on necessities in 2011, thus the small increase in goals.

So I present to you February of the 2011 $32K Savings Challenge!

I have posted my FEBRUARY End of Month $32K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals really 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 $2,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up January in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of January with was a meager.......$374.00.

Income
We had $328.00 left over of DH's salary after our expenses were deducted.
Add in $46.00 of Rebates applied against the food expenses and you have a deposit of $374.00 toward the Savings Challenge!

Our monthly target is an average of $2,666.67 to reach our Year End Goal so we didn't even come close to our 2nd monthly goal in Feb.

Outgo
As for the expenses in February....we always seem to hemorrhage money in this month.
*The credit card bill(which is paid off each month)was over $1100 because Hubs replaced his dead computer. 
*Then the electric bill is a killer in the winter at $419.19. 
*The cable company raised our rate this month. 
*The semi-annual car insurance bill of $1486.37 was due. 
*We had a $676.85 AND a $110.35 car repair. 
*We paid our state income tax bill. 
*2 dental bills,
*A marching band payment(for #2 son's trip in the Spring),
*3 Dr. bills
*And the other usual water, phone, cash withdrawals for eating out and food purchases, gasoline, and Hubs WAM, etc. and we are left with $374. 
Most February's however, we end up going into the RED so I am NOT complaining that we're only left with a few hundred bucks!

The Food Budget costs for February are in another post, which is located HERE.  The actual Food/Toiletries spending in February was very low!  It figures....I go off of my self-imposed Spending Diet at the end of Jan.(which was a flop)and I actually was able to slice the food budget in half.

What's ahead for March.....
Looking back at last year's check register, I see we may have less $ outgo in March.
A quarterly sewage bill and the balance of #2 son's marching band trip to pay out, but otherwise nothing beyond the usual monthly bills. Knock on wood it stays that way and "Murphy" doesn't show up on my doorstep. ;-)



YEAR-TO-DATE TOTAL.....
With 2 months behind us, our Savings total to-date for 2011 is $2,667.97.

And if you need to start putting money into savings......What's that you say?  You don't have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses!!??....consider playing along in 2011 with me and Challenging Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal!
Not everyone can shoot for $32K, I fully get that!
But everyone can shoot for some number, right!?

Find a money goal that works for you and put that number out there for everyone to see.  It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Ooo, that sounded kind of creepy didn't it? ;-)

So how was your February financially?  Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.   Do you have any tricks or tips that help you to end your month before the money runs out?    Let us know!
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!

Sluggy