2018 Income & Spending Report.....the October Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity(like a pension) and 401K$ withdrawals(retirement savings), I am still going to keep track of our monthly spending and income, and hopefully we'll still be able to live BELOW our means and I'll have some leftover monies each month to tuck aside.

But this money leftover at the end of each month, at least for now(as we find our new financial "normal")won't be saved toward a yearly Savings Challenge.  This leftover cash will go into a "Slush Fund" for now to be used if we have any emergencies come up during the year.  If we still have Slush Funds at the end of the year we'll decide then what to do with those funds.

I have set up a page to track the Slush Fund.  Click on the tab marked "Slush Fund 2018" at the top of the blog.

  I am trying to be as transparent as I can with how much is coming in and how much is going out.  8-)

On to the October 2018 report--

I had 2 goals for October......
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to tuck back into a slush fund.  This slush fun may be to apply toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2018.

I have to report that we finished up October in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of October with?.......$402.22

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in October---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1813.48
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $377.04
* Blogging Revenue of $113.20

Total "Income" for October......$5521.88


Expenses in October---

* Healthcare Premium for October was $1813.48.(paid with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in October came to $3306.18
Total Expenses....$5119.66

Sinking Fund--The balance in the Sinking Fund coming into October was $468.37. No irregular bills were due or paid so the Sinking Fund goes into November at $468.37.


We went into October with $24,000.37 in the Slush Fund.
Add in October's overage of $402.22 to the Slush Fund and it stands at $24,402.59 going into November.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as in September.(Within $1 or so).
*  The water bill was $2.35 lower than last month.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in September.
*  The gas card bill was $22.88 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was $157.27  higher than last month. !!!  It turns out that the Aug. and Sept. electric bills were estimated as they didn't come out and read our meter.  Both months should have been higher than what we paid thus the October bill was double what we usually pay. ugh.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals were $80 higher than last month(due to the trip to Maine spending)
*  The c/c bill was up $142.81 higher than in September.
*  There was a $89.88 charge card bill on my Visa card this month.
*  We spent $150.00 at the church auction in September.
*  Chester was due for rabies and an annual check-up so there was a $100 vet bill this month.

The Food Budget costs for October are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food costs are covered in the credit card payment(sometimes our WAM cash too).

So we end October in the black with $402.22 in new general overage to add to the Slush Fund.
The Sinking Fund goes into November standing at $468.37.

FINAL THOUGHTS on October---
I knew going in that October would be a tight month--no 401K withdrawal, trip bills made the credit card high plus we took a bit more WAM out($80)than usual.  Then we had a vet bill for an appt. that I forgot was coming up in Oct. and a secondary c/c bill.  Add in the electric bill was double due to a correction. bleh.  Had we not had interest and a blogging revenue check come in we would have been $88.02 in deficit in October and would have had to pull money from the Slush Fund.  I don't like being so close to the monthly financial edge if avoidable.

THOUGHTS going forward into November 2018----
November.......let's see what's coming up.
Normal WAM withdrawal this month.
Normal food spending planned.
The credit card will be high but not as high as in October(The bill runs mid-month to mid-month so a few NC trip charges will be on it.).
Semi-annual car insurance will be due from the Sinking Fund and there isn't enough in it to pay it fully so we'll pull from Slush Fund or any general Overage in November to cover most of it.
No unusual financial stuff in November.....steady as she goes.

So how was your October financially?
  

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

Make this year was the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you didn't already or increase what you have banked now for your future self.
Or pay 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

2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....June 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 June report.....

I have posted my June 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 June with a less than stellar amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of June with?.......$1962.66

Income

We had $1734.33 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in June totaled $228.33.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a per diem and stock dividends.

This brought us to our gain of $1,962.66
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges, electric bill and internet were approximately the same as last month(With $1 or so).
*  The cash withdrawals were down $100 from last month.  Considering we took $500 in cash on our LA trip and we didn't go anywhere this month but had more food spending, that sounds about right.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Water use was up $21.35 from last month.  More people's laundry and showers so it was expected.
*  The gas card spending was up $111.89, mostly due to charging gas on the May trip to that card.
*  The credit card bill was up $1948.10 from last month.  Most of that was trip spending in May.
*  The direct medical spending was up $110.65 from May's total.
*  We "recycled" 2 tvs in June and had to pay $60 OOP in fees.

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

With 6 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $19,399.50.

Final thoughts on June---

June was a fairly expensive month for us, given all that credit card/trip spending.  Some regular expenses went up too and will be up for a couple years into the future.
No irregular bills due this month, that happens next month.

But compared to June 2015 we put $593.29 more into savings this June. 8-)
.
We have $19399.50 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $18,600.50 left to save over the next 6 months at this point to reach our goal of $38K saved.  That averages out to $3100.08 a month for the rest of the year.  We are just a little over saving half of what I want in 2016 so we are right on target at this point in the year.

We are at the halfway mark for the year folks!  I can't believe the year is half over.

In 2015 we put $18,797.36 into savings at the halfway mark so we are averaging slightly more saved per month in 2016 so far.

THOUGHTS going forward into July----
The only irregular bill I have to pay in July is a quarterly Garbage bill and that's not much.
August and September will be my Bill Armageddon however.(House and car insurance AND property taxes.)
There may be a short trip in July which will mean some c/c spending to pay in August. Our c/c balance due in July is hovering at $1K($550 of which is a car repair...ugh) so that bill will be a bit less this month that what it was in June(over $2500).

So how was your June financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in June?
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 the last half of 2016 why not make this 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.
Or pay extra on the principle of your mortgage is 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

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

$24K Challenge.......JUNE 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 June report.....

I have posted my June 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 June with a greater than needed amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of  June with?.......$2,302.33

Income
We had $2143.78 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in June totaled $158.55.  This included interest made on accounts, a allergy med rebate and 2 dividend checks.

This brought us to our gain of $2302.33.
Since we have no debt anymore, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The electric bill went down $47.21 from May's bill.
*  The credit card bill was $2196.18 less than in May.  Some of the spending(for the car and sofa)on it came out of the Bonus money received earlier this year so didn't affect this Challenge(good) but did affect our Net Worth(bad).

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The cash withdrawals were $50 more than May.
*  Quarterly Garbage bill was due.
*  Private music lessons were $40 more than May.
*  We had a vet bill for the dog....her annual check-up and shots.
*  We had 2 dental bills to pay.

 

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

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 6 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2014 is $11,672.54
That's only $327.46 short at this point of the $12,000.00 I should have put aside after 6 months.
I was $629.79 behind in May, I am less behind in June.

Yay!
  

 

Looking ahead for July......

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

*  The lime green chair purchase will be due on July's credit/card bill but so far we don't have massive amounts charged to the card....yet. lolz
 

 

So how was your June financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in June?
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

$24K 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.

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, 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 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 January report.....

I have posted my January 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 January with very little spare money to put aside.
The extra cash amount we ended the month of January with?.......$205.32.

Income
We had $142.78 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in January totaled $62.54.  This brought us to our gain of $205.32 for January.
Since we have no debt anymore, 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

 

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

*  I spent under $300 for food/toiletries in January.
*  The credit card bill was $300 less than December's bill.
*  The Cash withdrawals were $531.50 less than December.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The cable bill went up $5 per mo. after having been reduced by $5 for the last 6 months of 2013.
I believe they need to be called up and talked to.

*  The electric bill was $67 MORE than December's bill.  Ok, it's a Polar Vortex thing.

*  The garbage bill(which I pay quarterly)was paid.
*  An unexpected car repair bill of $982.59 paid in January.
*  Some extra credit card charges(store card & Hub's Discover) of approx. $94.

 

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

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 1 month accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2014 is $205.32. 
Not a very auspicious start to the new year and nowhere near the $2,000 I need to put back each month.
Usually we do better in January and have at least $1,000 extra income after the bills are all paid.

In other financial news--
I figured out how much of my Savings Challenge from 2012 is left now(since in 2014 it is no longer being used as an emergency fund, like it was in 2013)and can be put into "permanent savings" mode.
Of the $28,907.08 we saved in 2012, $23,611.66 was spent in 2013, leaving us $5,295.42 to throw into our permanent savings.  Not very much savings realized at the end of it all.

Our new emergency fund is the amount we saved in 2013, which totaled $24,033.60.
So we are off to 2014 with a nice sized fund for all those nasty surprises that might happen during this year.
 

 

Looking ahead for February......

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

*  Hubs and I still need to sit down and go over how we did with the bills/savings in 2013 and see if there are any areas we need to cut back.

*  The car insurance is due in February and the bill is here already.  It's over $1600 for 6 months.
bleh.  We have been paying our oldest son's car insurance bill for the last 6 months(as he transitioned into the workforce full time and being on his own).  He was suppose to start picking up the tab on his share in February.  This might not be happening as he is looking for a new job and he may be unemployed very soon or even more underemployed than he is now.
If anyone wants to tell me that the economy is improving, just go tell someone else because I don't want to hear it! 8-(

*  February, historically, has been a higher expense month for us.  Besides 6 month's of car insurance being due, we usually have a fairly large credit card bill(that gets paid off) and of course, paying out of pocket for all medical bills still, since the deductible hasn't been met for the year.  And our deductible went up $1K this year so I am not very hopeful that February will end with us still holding much cash.  But there is always March and a new month to do better if February bombs out.

 

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?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle?

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.....December Update & GRAND TOTAL for 2013

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, 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, 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 December report.....

I have posted my December End of Month $20K $AVING$ 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 $1,666.67.
But seeing as I hit the $20K goal in October, we'll just see how much more I can sock away in December.

I have to report that we finished up December with a little pile of cash to tuck away.
The extra cash amount we ended the month of December with?.......$1,281.68.

Income
We had $1,157.18 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in December totaled $124.50.  This brought us to our gain of $1281.68 for December.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Cable, Phone, Water were all approx. the same amounts as in November.

*  I spent under $300 for food/toiletries in December.  (This almost makes up for overshooting that budget by $180 last month).
*  I didn't buy any living room furniture yet so no spending there. 

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  $310 more was spent in cash over November's total of cash spending.  I blame Hubs paying cash for Christmas stuff.

*  The electric bill was $100 MORE than November's bill.  I blame the cold weather/turning the heat up.

*  We had unexpected pet related spending of $104 due to the dog having ear infections.
*  The credit card bill was almost $500 MORE than November's bill. I blame Christmas again.

 

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

The 2013 GRAND TOTAL.....
With all 12 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 is $24,033.60. 
 

We surpassed our goal by $4,033.60!  8-)))
 

Looking ahead for January and all of 2014......

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

*  I need to sit down with Hubs and have our Yearly Financial Meeting to go over how and what we spent on in 2013 and see where we need to cut back, change or expand the spending for 2014.  We'll break down the monthly spending and analyze how we did financially in each category.  Then we'll look ahead into 2014 and try to anticipate where we'll need to put our money toward and how much we can hope to save.

*  Figure out how much of the money saved in the year before's 2012 Savings Challenge didn't get spent in 2013, so it can now be tucked away permanently into a savings/investment instrument.  Going forward into 2014, any funds saved in 2013's Savings Challenge now become our mini-emergency fund for 2014.  Any emergencies that can't be paid for using extra income each month after the bills are all paid will be paid for out of this $24,033.60 Savings Fund.(Then when 2015 rolls around whatever was saved in 2013 and not spent on emergencies/extras in 2014 gets tucked away permanently into savings.)

*  January credit card bill will once again be large like December's(due to Christmas and travel expenses)but will be paid off this month.  No interest paid evah! ;-)

*  The quarterly garbage bill is due this month.

*  Semi-annual car insurance will be due in February so I need to keep an eye on credit card spending in January so we don't have to dip into the Savings Challenge funds to pay the insurance.  It's just a matter of watching WHEN we spent not so much NOT spending on something.

 

So how was your December financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in December?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle?

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

Money Thoughts for 2014

Take control of your LIFE.....Don't let money control you, YOU make a plan and control the money.

Pay yourself first in 2014. (Take 10% off the top of your net income and put it away for when you won't have an income, because whether you like it or not, some day you won't.  It may hurt now, but you will be so glad later that you did this.)

Live intentionally and spend intentionally.

Enjoy your money, spend it on the priorities in your life, use it for good, spend it wisely, have a little fun, but put a little aside for emergencies.

Money is a tool.  Take care of your tools.

When 2015 rolls around, make sure you can say that you lived below your means in 2014.

Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge......May 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 May report.....

I have posted my May 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 May in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with?.......$3,129.06
This was only possible due to the 3 paycheck month in May, as we had a rather large hospital bill co-pay due this month.

Income
We had $3045.02 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in a per diem expense reimbursement check and interest gives us another $84.04.  This brought our gain to $3129.06 for May.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The water bill was within a dollar of being the same as last month.
*  The credit card bill was $900 less.
*  There were no semi annual or quarterly  bills to pay.

*  The electric bill was almost $100 less.
*  The prescriptions were about $67 less than April.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The dr./hospital bills(co-pays/deductibles) were $1500 more than in April.

*  The cash withdrawals were $280 more(mostly because of graduation).

*  We had a $346 vet bill(their annual visits + meds).
*  The food bill was about $100 more than budgeted food(and $65 more than last month).

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

We overshot the food budget by $100.55 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 5 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $11,726.84.  Only $8,273.16 left to save and 7 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $1,181.80 per month for the next 7 months to reach the goal.

Looking ahead for June......

*  Still waiting for the other medical shoe to drop(ie--medical bills from tests and procedures to slowly drip into my mailbox).  I foresee more medical spending on co-pays and deductibles this month.
 

*  Hubs is repairing and opening the pool for the year, which means a sky-high water bill in June.

*  The only non-normal bill from last June was extra cash spending for a short vacation to Ohio, which isn't happening this June.
 

So how was your May financially?
 

Did you put ordinary living expenses on a credit card last month and not pay it off in full when due?
Did you spend less than the income you had in May?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in May like a tax refund or bonus at work,
and what did you do with those funds?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debt or put extra toward your mortgage principle?

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
 

Sometimes I Don't Like Being a Grown Up

This title means I sat down today and paid bills and it wasn't pretty.  But at least it wasn't as ugly as it could have been. ;-)

The second paycheck of the month hit the bank account credit union account on Friday, so I sat down this morning and paid the rest of the bills that need paying this month.
That would include the "monthlies"--electric bill, the credit card bill(which includes most of our gasoline purchases and some eating out).  The "rest of the bills" also includes the non-montlies like a $1197.71 car repair(I can now state for the record that I hate catalytic converters!) and the yearly school taxes(ditto school taxes).  I did receive a 5% discount for paying the taxes before Oct. 1st so it was a mere $1940.81.  I got about $76 off....go me!

After writing out the checks that needed writing, I now have $1246.24 LESS in my account than I had BEFORE the paycheck hit the account.!
Or to put it another way, I just spent $1246.24 MORE THAN the paycheck brought in.

Yah, still wrapping my head around that one!lol

Oh, and that doesn't count the $480 IN CASH Hubs took out of the bank on Saturday.  Ok, some of that was for me for my food budget, but most of it I will never get a single receipt back on what he blew it on.  I am guessing coffee and crap he buys at the hardware store.....crap he HAS already in the garage but he can't find because he refuses to CLEAN HIS WORKBENCH!
End of rant.......

I'll just say here that I am so glad that I put money aside each month for that tax bill(plus the other tax bill that comes due April 1st), plus the car insurance bill which I pay semi-annually. 

If I didn't and I had to basically pull money out of my ass for some of these bills, we'd be in a bad bad place financially....
A place called "Hello Credit Card!, let's put what we can't pay on YOU" and then only make minimum payments and stay in and increase our debt until we end up on Suze Orman's show as a warning to the world on how NOT to handle money, instead of downsizing out lifestyle and spending less on crap or "wants" so we can only be in debt for a short time while we turn our ship and get headed in the fiscally responsible direction.

But still......sometimes I hate being a Grown Up and doing the responsible thing instead of the easy thing or the thing I see other people doing that I know is only going to cause them pain at some point in the future.

But I have my eye on the prize.....the prize of a financially secure retirement.
Well, as secure as it can be considering the political atmosphere in this country. ;-) 

When I retire, THIS is the view I want to have when I have to pay my bills.....but with cuter feet......

Sluggy
 

For My Friends Friday

For all my friends who are debt-free and all my friends currently on the road to debt-free, this one is for YOU!

And if you aren't debt-free, what is stopping you from trying to get there!? ;-)

Let's all get up and dance!!!....but put down the scissors first.....




Happy Friday!

Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge Report for JUNE 2012

Ok, here is my JUNE Savings Challenge Update post for 2012.
This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.  It's just what we are able to save given our income and being able to hang tough against "unconscious" spending.

Just to update, My Savings Goal for the Year in 2012 is $20,000.  It's well below what I've saved in previous years I know.  But we also have a goal of paying for 4 home improvement projects at Chez Sluggy this year.  We plan on cash-flowing these projects with the additional money we save and/or our income tax refund.

On to the June report.....

I have posted my JUNE 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 June in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of June with?.......$4548.57!

Income
We had $4534.74 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $11.97 in Dividend revenue & $1.86 in interest(HAHAHAHAHA!) and  you get a total of $4548.57.

Outgo
Traditionally June has been a fairly normal month as far as spending goes.  No big tax bills or lump payments.  Just a higher water bill(due to opening the pool)and some costs associated with getting the kids off to summer camp.

As for the expenses this June......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

* A third paycheck this month!

* The electric stayed about the same as May's bill.  It's still too high for me....

*  No car maintenance/repairs bills TO PAY this month.....we've got a whopper coming up in July however. 8-(

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The quarterly garbage bill was due....due but not expected.

*  Credit card bill was fairly high at $1300+.

*  The beagle needed surgery to remove a toe with a tumor.  It was not cancer(thankfully)but was cutting off blood flow to part of the foot, so had to be removed.  $400 of unexpected spending.

*  Cash spending(my food money and Hub's WAM money)was WAY HIGH again this month.  We need to sit down and talk about why this continues to be a problem.

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

I know I said in May that the 3rd paycheck would NOT go into the Savings Challenge pot, but would instead go toward the home improvement projects this year.  But we have an unexpected $1500+ car repair bill(which will be due in July) and our mini-vacation expenses(which was suppose to go onto the credit card-to be paid off in July) were paid for in cash instead in June, so we will put the extra check into the savings and then pull out of last year's Savings Challenge amount, the actual costs of the mini-vacation.  We also kept our income tax refund separate from the savings challenge monies, so we still have that to tap into for the home improvement projects.

Basically, it's all from the same big pile of money in the end so not a big deal.  This way, we put more into savings than we use from the old savings.  I know this makes no sense but trust me.....lol

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 6 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $13,971.40.

We hit our monthly goal in June and then some.  After falling behind what our monthly amount needed to be during the first 5 months of the year, now we are ahead of where we need to be.

With 6 months done, we should be at $10,000  saved for the year, so $3,971.40 ahead for the year!


I am so glad that June was a 3 paycheck month and we could put extra into the Savings Challenge and get a little ahead of my goal.  This extra paycheck in the cycle is the ONLY REASON we were able to put that much aside in June.....well "that" and we didn't go out and splurge on crap when we saw how much we had leftover at the end of June. ;-)

It's good because in the next 3 months we have largish irregular expenses coming due.
July is a car repair and homeowner's insurance.
August is semi-annual car insurance.
September is school taxes.

They are irregular because they don't come every month....like the water or electric bill.  But two things about irregular bills--
1.They are usually for large amounts(due to the fact that they don't come round every month).
2. You KNOW THEY ARE COMING!  Yep, every year....so don't stick your head in the sand and ignore them.  Plan for them.

Here is my plan for handling these 3 bills in the next few months.....

While the car repair bills in July, combined with the homeowner's insurance will top $2K, I will be able to pay them out of the reg. paycheck income.  The 2 variables in our budget, the food spending and the credit card bill will be less than anticipated/planned for in July, which will allow me to pay these irregular bills and the regular bills AND still have money to put into the Savings Challenge.

We get another extra paycheck month in August, so I'll split that check between paying the car insurance in August and the school taxes in September, leaving the regular paychecks those two months to pay regular bills and enough left over to put toward the Savings Challenge.

At this point, I only need to come up with $6028.60 for the rest of the year to make my $20K goal.  This breaks down to $1004.77 per month for the next 6 months.  I am confident I can find $1005 per month to set aside for savings.....barring some untoward event.


As for a look ahead at JULY.....
* Big car repair due.
* House insurance due.
* No trips planned other than maybe going to get #2 Son from camp this month.
* No celebrations here, no parties, just Boring McBorington at Chez Sluggy.

So how was your June financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
How much did you save in June? 

 Even if it doesn't look like a lot of money, figure out what percentage of your income you saved.  You might feel that it's a more substantial amount in those terms!

We saved 47% of our take home income in June.  My goal is to shoot for 50% each month.  Even with that extra paycheck last month however, I couldn't make 50%, as our expenses were just too high.

Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.
Did you have debt you were able to pay on?
Did you pay off a car, a house or a credit card?
Did something financial blow up on you last month?
What are you doing financially to change your life?

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

$20K Savings Challenge.....FEBRUARY Results for 2012

Ok, here is my February Savings Challenge Update post for 2012.
This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.  It's just what we are able to save given our income and being able to hang tough against "unconscious" spending.

Just to update, My Savings Goal for the Year in 2012 is $20,000.  It's well below what I've saved in previous years I know.  But we also have a goal of paying for 4 home improvement projects at Chez Sluggy this year.  We plan on cash-flowing these projects with the additional money we save.

On to the February report.....

I have posted my FEBRUARY 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 February in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of February with?.......$1,889.15!

Income
We had $1,867.30 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $21.49 in Rebates applied against the food expenses & .36¢ in interest and  you get a total of $1,867.30.

Outgo
Traditionally February has been a very tight month for the money.  Besides the usual expenses we have  semi-annual car insurance payment in Feb.  Add in that February is usually the highest electric bill of the year and this makes for heavier expenses.  Most years if we do not go into the negative in February I am happy.  Having leftover cash this year is thrilling! 8-)

As for the expenses this February......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  While the electric bill was high(as our heat is electric and it IS Winter!), the mild temperatures in Jan./Feb. kept our bill over $100! lower than the previous year's bill.

*  The cash withdrawals were relatively low and I underspent on the food budget in February.

*  The credit card bill(which is paid in full each billing cycle)was under $700 this month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* Car insurance premium.  #2 Son just turned 16 in Feb.  I am dreading how much it goes up once he goes to get his Learner's Permit....bleh.

* I wrote a check for our state taxes as we always end up owing a bit on the state form.

The Food Budget costs for February are in another post, which is located HERE.  I underspent my food budget by about $93, as we ate down supplies from the freezer/stockpile last month and I stayed out of the grocery store for the most part.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 2 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $2,993.91.

We surpassed our monthly goal in Feb. so now we are only $339.43 behind for the year.

So how much did YOU save in February?  Did you spent all your income or did you put something aside?

Do you have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses?
Do you have debt?

Start living below your means NOW and put some money away for emergencies and/or start paying down your debt.
And once you get debt-free, continue to throw that debt repayment money into savings.  You won't believe how fast you can accumulate wealth once you have no debt!

It is NEVER too early or too late to SAVE SOMETHING.
And the amount you save is NEVER too small!
Anything you can spare will go a long way to make you more financially secure in this crazy unstable world we live in.

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

Not everyone can shoot for $20K, 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.  Put it into paying down your debt, put it into savings, invest it or put it toward the principle in your home mortgage....just get busy and do this!

It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Put it out there online and let us all stalk your money too. ;-)

So how was your February 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

$20K Savings Challenge.....JANUARY Results for 2012

Ok, here is my first Savings Challenge Update post for 2012.
This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.  It's just what we are able to save given our income and being able to hang tough against so much spending.

Just to update, My Savings Goal for the Year in 2012 is $20,000.  It's well below what I've saved in previous years I know.  But we also have a goal this year of paying for 4 home improvement projects at Chez Sluggy this year.  We plan on cash-flowing these projects with the additional money we save.

On to the January report.....

I have posted my JANUARY 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 January in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of January with?.......$1,104.76!

Income
We had $1,095.76 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $9.00 in Rebates applied against the food expenses & you get a total of $1104.76.

Outgo
As for the expenses in December......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  While the electric bill was high(as our heat is electric and it IS Winter!), the mild temperatures in Dec./Jan. kept our bill lower than previous year's bills.  The Dec. bill was about $100 LOWER than the Nov. bill!  The electric bill was also $100+ lower than LAST January's bill!

*  The cash withdrawals were relatively low and I way underspent on the food budget in January.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  We had an unexpected $707.75 car repair bill for Hubs commuting car.

*  The credit card bill was still a bit high.  With retrieving kids from college(and I back again), there was more gasoline bought on the c/c in Dec.   Seeing as Christmas happens that month also, I don't think it was "that" bad a bill though.  ;-)

*  There was an unexpected doctor bill from this past summer.  One of the kids had to see a doctor while working at the summer camp and our medical plan refused to pay their part.  So we had to break down and cover an additional $111 in medical bills.

*  I had a Kohl's bill this month due to buying clothing & bedding for the kids in December.

The Food Budget costs for January are in another post, which is located HERE.  I underspent my food budget by about $100, as we were sick(and didn't eat)and we ate down supplies from the freezer/stockpile last month.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 1 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $1,104.76.

We missed our monthly goal by $561.91 in January.

Adding that amount to next month makes our February goal $2,228.58.  I don't foresee saving that much this month, so we'll save what we can and see where we stand at the end of February, and go from there.

So how much did YOU save in January?  Did you spent all your income or did you put something aside?

Do you have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses?
Do you have debt?

Start living below your means NOW and put some money away for emergencies and/or start paying down your debt.
And once you get debt-free, continue to throw that debt repayment money into savings.  You won't believe how fast you can accumulate wealth once you have no debt!

It is NEVER too early or too late to SAVE SOMETHING.
And the amount you save is NEVER too small!
Anything you can spare will go a long way to make you more financially secure in this crazy unstable world we live in.

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

Not everyone can shoot for $20K, 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.  Put it into paying down your debt, put it into savings, invest it or put it toward the principle in your home mortgage....just get busy and do this!

It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Put it out there online and let us all stalk your money too. ;-)

So how was your January 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.....DECEMBER & 2011 Grand Total RESULTS

Ok, here is my last Savings Challenge Update post for 2011.
This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.  It's just what we are able to save given our income and being able to hang tough against so much spending.

On to the December report.....

I have posted my DECEMBER 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 December in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of December with?.......$4,355.36!

Income
We had $4186.70 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $6.00 in Rebates applied against the food expenses, $.84 in Interest on the Checking Account, $141.82 in dividends, and a refund of $20 on our car insurance rate toward the Savings Challenge & you get a total of $4355.36.

Our monthly target is an average of $2,666.67 to reach our Year End Goal.
This month we blew that goal out of the water, thanks to an extra paycheck.  8-)

Outgo
As for the expenses in December......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

* The electric bill went up only $71.....that's good seeing as the heat was on!

* The food spending was almost on budget at $307.74
* The water bill was $50.50.  This is low when all the kids are home(extra showers and laundry).
* There were no taxes due this month...yay!!
* I continued to consistently sell in my eBay store in December.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* The credit card bill was $1750+.  Even though $350 of that was fees paid to eBay on sales there we were still over our usual $1000 average on the credit card bill.  No matter the amount of the bill, it is paid off in full each month, ALWAYS.

* $1180 in car maintenance/repair bills.  Seems every time we take a car in for oil change or regular maintenance they find something else. ugh.
* Had $85 in unexpected medical associated bills to pay. (Need I mention #2 son lost his retainer AGAIN after getting the 1st replacement 2 weeks before hand, so we had to pay for ANOTHER replacement. He's repaying us for it with his allowance.)
*  Still a LARGE amount of cash withdrawals by Hubs. I'm not complaining this month because some of it was him buying me Christmas presents. ;-)

The Food Budget costs for December are in another post, which is located HERE.  We kept almost to the food budget amount again in December so I am calling it all good.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 12 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2011 is $34,461.31.
YES!
We blew our $32K Goal out of the water!!!

The extra paycheck in December gave us a hefty amount to tuck away after all the bills were paid AND left lots of room for Christmas indulgence!

So how did your savings go for the year?
Do you have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses?
Do you have debt?
If you don't have the former, start living below your means NOW and put some money away for emergencies.
If you have the latter, start living below your means NOW and put a smaller amount away for emergencies and use the rest of your leftover cash each month to pay down your debt.
And once you get debt-free, continue to throw that debt repayment money into savings.
It is NEVER too early or too late to SAVE SOMETHING.
And the amount you save is NEVER too small!
Anything you can spare will go a long way to make you more financially secure in this crazy unstable world we live in.

So come along and Challenge Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal or Debt 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.  Put it into paying down your debt, put it into savings, invest it or put it toward the principle in your home mortgage....just get busy and do this!

It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Put it out there online and let us all stalk your money too. ;-)

So how was your Deember 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