$24K Savings Challenge......September 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.

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 a Savings Challenge. 

For 2014 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $24,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the September report.....

I have posted my September End of Month $24K $AVING$ 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 $2,000.

I have to report that we finished up September with a good chunk of change.
The extra amount we ended the month of  September with?.......$2606.55.

Income

We had $2200.26 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in September totaled $406.29.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a per diem, 2 dividends and a refund on our car insurance after getting rid of the car early in September(the car insurance refund for the minivan will probably arrive sometime in October).

This brought us to our gain of $2,606.55.
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The water bill went down by $20.43 from August.
*  Cash spent went down by $170 from August.
*  The electric bill went down by $60.89 from August.
*  Cable and phone charges were approx. the same as last month.
*  The credit card bill(paid off in full each month) was low for us(under $1K).
 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The school taxes(part of the property taxes)were due.
*  The quarterly garbage bill was due.

Clearly the Good outweighed the Bad this month.  Having all the kids out of the house helped our bottom line.

 

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

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 9 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2014 is $17,023.83.

Our monthly average is $1,891.53 saved at this point in the year.
 

Only $6,976.17 Total left to meet the yearly goal and 3 months left to dig this up out of our income.
That comes out to an average of $2,325.39 for each of the next 3 months. 

Since I shoot for $2K savings per month and there are only 3 months left, we are $976.17 behind the eight ball, as we should have a full $18,000 saved to this point.  Not quite on schedule but REAL close!
October is our 2nd 2 paycheck month for 2014 so unless something runs off the tracks totally, we should be able to eek out enough savings in October to get a bit ahead of schedule.
  

 

Looking ahead for October......

*  I will continue to do this Savings Challenge and report in each month on how it is going.

*  We have no irregular bills due in October.

*  We will have our Reunion trip c/c bills due in October.  They came to $593.19. The current c/c bill is at $1189.91 and unless Hubs puts more gas charges on the c/c that will be the total owed since the bill closes in 4 days time from now.
 We will also incur more traveling bills this month but they won't be due until November's c/c bill(outside of the one night the hotel has already charged our card).

 

So how was your September financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in September?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings in an emergency fund or a retirement account?

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 with you or commiserate with you!

Sluggy

$24K 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 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 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 a Savings Challenge. 

For 2014 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $24,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the February report.....

I have posted my February End of Month $24K $AVING$ 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 $2,000.

I have to report that we finished up February with a nice hunk of cash but not the target amount.
The extra cash amount we ended the month of February with?.......$1,359.15.

Income
We had $856.52 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in February totaled $502.63.  This included interest made on accounts, blog revenue and our son began paying his own portion on the car insurance. 8-))

This brought us to our gain of $1,359.15 for February.
Since we have no debt anymore, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Water and Phone were the same as January's totals.

*  I spent under $400 for food/toiletries in February.
*  The credit card bill was $1100 less than January's bill.
*  The Cash withdrawals were $98.50 less than in January.
*  The music lessons were $40 less(1 less lesson this month.)
*  No expensive car repairs in February.(Just a small one.)
*  Eldest son started paying his portion of the car insurance bill.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The electric bill was $62.09 MORE than January's bill.  March's bill should be less.

*  The semi-annual car insurance was due and paid in February.
*  There are 5 Mondays in March so we need to pay for an extra music lesson this month.
 

 

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

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 2 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2014 is $1,564.47. 
Far short at this point of the $2,000 I need to put back each month.
February is historically a lean month for savings in our house because of car insurance being due this month.

In other financial news--Hubs received a nice sized bonus this month for his work last year.  I used part of it to finish funding #2 Son's college fund but have not "officially" accounted for the rest of the money yet.....meaning it's part of our Net Worth statement but no decision has been made about whether any of it will be put into this Savings Challenge.  We still have to decide where to put the rest of the funds.  I know some of it will go toward purchasing a car to replace the one Hubs now drives.  Perhaps I'll be able to put what's left toward the Savings Challenge but it's too soon to know.
 

 

Looking ahead for March......

*  I will continue to do this Savings Challenge and report in each month on how it is going.

*  We have yearly municipal taxes due this month. (They aren't actually DUE until 30 June but if I pay them before 30 April we get a discount on the rate.)  I usually pay it in April but I may pay it in March instead, just to get it outta the way.  ;-)

*  I am going on a quick trip to Delaware this month so lodging, gas & food expenses will happen.

*  No extra/3rd paychecks this month so no extra income in March.

*  And the annual Sewage payment is due. It is billed quarterly but if I pay it in full before 31 March I get a 3% discount and this is what I generally do so there's another irregular expense for March.

*  With 2 annual bills being paid in March and no extra paycheck in the month(that won't happen until May and again in October) we won't see much extra savings going toward this Challenge.  Perhaps our savings rate will pick up in April....
 

 

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?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings in an emergency fund or a retirement account?

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