$30K Savings Challenge MAY 2010 Totals.....Not so Good but Still on Track!

I have posted my MAY End of Month $30K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have to report that we finished up May in the black!

The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with was.......$1,183.24.

Income
We had $306.68 left over of DH's salary after expenses were deducted. Add in some rolled coins amounting to $16.00, a $115.81 in Rebates &, along with the flea market profits of $744.75 and you have a deposit of $1,183.24 toward the Savings Challenge!

Seeing as our monthly target is $2,500.00 to reach our Year End Goal, we are waaaaay short this month.

Outgo
As for the expenses in May.....it was a money gobbling month!

The electric bill went down $30+.  It should have gone down more because the heat was off....except we used extra hot water having an extra person here for the month, so more laundry(I use hot for my white loads) and showers plus DH started opening the pool up which uses more electricity as well as water.
The water bill went up too due to the increased water usage mentioned above.

 The credit card bill was up over $1100 due to DH's new glasses(2 pair) and the new cd player he had installed in his car.  There was also paying for daughter's SAT exam.  Those charges accounted for $900 on that bill.  The rest was gas and some eating out charges and was within our normal range of expenses.

Out-of-the-ordinary expenses in May besides the CC Bill ones.....yearly maintenance and repairs on the 3rd car for the teens' use, in the amount of $1,636.99.  Though this car is a workhorse it is very old and the teens are running it into the ground with driving all over the place.  This car needs to last through next school year as daughter is taking dual enrollment classes at a local college while in her last year of high school, and she needs wheels to get to the school  3 times a week.  If it goes, she has no transportation so we are putting a stop to the 'fun' use of this car.  It seems like she/this car has become the way for all the kids to travel places here and that's being ended.  It is going to be for getting to her job and very limited 'fun' travel from now on.  This car is costing us around $2K a yr. in repairs/maintenance at this point.  And then you add in registration, plates, inspections and insurance and it's becoming quite the suck hole.

There was also a yearly veterinarian check-up for the 3 dogs.  That blew a $454 hole in the budget as well this month.

The Food Budget costs for May are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food/Toiletries spending in May was $18.04 over the budgeted $300.00 for May, but by putting the rebate money that came in last month toward that expense I can say we came in under budget there.  After the rebate money we only spent $202.23 on food/toiletries and our Savings percentage was 82.97% which is quite respectable.

Looking Ahead to June....
We have a week long visit from a relative in June, but various teens will be leaving home for weeks at a time in June  so the food spending will probably go down overall.  I have lowered the food budget for June back to $250 but will try to do better than that.
The Credit Card bill as of June 1st is already over $1,300.  More than half of this is due to a car a/c repair.  The rest is just a bunch of smaller $40-$50 purchases like clothing for the kids, plants and manure for the gardens, hubby's internet chess subscription, out of the ordinary gas purchases from retrieving #1 son from college, associated eating out charges from the trip to his school, etc.
We also have another car repair that will showing up on this month's credit card bill.  No word yet on the amount but I am sure it won't be pretty!lol  At this rate, we are looking at a $2K or more cc bill for June.

Plus I put off paying the $1K for #2 son's weeks at camp until June since May was so hard on the budget.
So, that's $3K plus the ordinary utilities and food expenses coming up in June.  All the more reason to keep an extra sharp watch on spending this month.

I am hoping but not totally certain that we will be able to meet our monthly goal of $2,500 saved in June.

YTD Standings....
We have a Year To Date Total of $16,073.74 in Savings.  To save $30K for the year, we need to put away $2,500 per month average.  Even with our lackluster May total saved, we are still ahead at this point in the year of our final goal.

So how was your May 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

60K SAVING$ CHALLENGE-APRIL Update

I have posted my April End of Month 60K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.

I am once again able to say that we finished up April in THE BLACK!
Yesssss!

The MasterCard bill(which is paid off each month-NO BALANCE EVER!)was just over the $1K mark(Feb. it was over $2.3K) in April, under $100 more than the previous month.

We had a bit of rolled coins as usual, but you will notice there is NO eBay income again for April. I have just been so busy with the kids and other things in April PLUS the selling prices on eBay have been abyssmal so I just didn't bother trying to sell there. I did close my eBay store for now, so at least I wasn't spending money on that. I do have to continue to pay the auction management fee however, or lose all my photo & listing storage. It is worth the $10/mo. NOT to have to reload all that data back into my file storage and then reload it onto the management site when I do go back to selling. Trust me....it's alot of work and would waste too much of my time. I'd rather pay the $10 for it to sit there.

Out of the ordinary expenses for April were low....A small State Income Tax bill due & a deposit for #1 son's upcoming College enrollment. I pay the private Garbage collection bill quarterly so it was paid this month as well.

We saw a reduction in the cost of the electric bill, while the water bill held steady. In May, we'll be able to turn off the heat totally, so that will help bring the electric bill down some more. The gasoline/fuel bills are lower thanks to a small reduction in cost at the pump and I've been consolidating trips out to save gas.

On the other hand, I anticipate a large VET BILL in May as the doggies are due for their yearly check-up/tests. Not only are kids expensive, but pets are also!

I'm still spending too much on the food/household budget. Well, we do have the money for it, but I had hoped to lower how much I spend in this category. I'll be updating the Food Budget costs for April in another post-which is located Here.

Four Months into this Challenge, & so far we have a Savings Total of $9150.44 for the year.

Hubby's car is starting to show it's age, so this money will come in handy next year, as we'll probably need to replace his vehicle then.
It's so nice to be able to sleep at night, not worrying about not having Money in the Bank to cover the costs of things we want or need to do/buy.

Now is the PERFECT time to start saving money if you aren't already. Get started today!
If you don't know where or how to start, email me. I'd be happy to give some advice or pointers on how to start putting money away.

Check out Money Saving Mom's Blog April Financial Update Post to see how others are saving money and living more frugally Here.

Sluggy