$32K Savings Challenge for 2011.....June Totals or the Treading Water Edition

I have posted my JUNE 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 June in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of June with.......$316.92.

Income
We had $267.96 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $48.96 of Rebates applied against the food expenses and you have a deposit of $316.92  toward the Savings Challenge!

Our monthly target is an average of $2,666.67 to reach our Year End Goal.  Do I have to even say we came in well under that amount for June?lol
As I look back over the past 2 years of doing Savings Challenges, I see that June is typically a very expensive month for us.  In 2010 we only saved $547.73 in June.  So our pitiful savings this month are nothing out of the ordinary for us.

Outgo
As for the expenses in June....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS
* We paid the Sewage bill for the year, so no quarterly payment this month.
* The electric and credit card bills were not higher than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS
* The water bill was doubled from last month(we opened the pool).
* We paid cash for camp.
* The WAM money was much higher than usual.
* We had a kennel bill for boarding the dogs.
* We had an electrician bill for running a line to the pool.
* We had a washing machine repair bill.


The Food Budget costs for June are in another post, which is located HERE.  The actual Food/Toiletries spending in June was more than $147 over budget or $98 when you take off my rebate check total which I use toward the food bill.

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

No non-monthly bills this month.
Plus this month will see 3 paychecks....yay! 8-)
So If I can keep the food spending on budget, we should be able to put away a good sized amount into savings this month and make up for June's lackluster showing.

YEAR-TO-DATE TOTAL.....
With 6 months behind us, our Savings total to-date for 2011 is $15,250.91.


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 June 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

$30K Savings Challenge JULY 2010 Totals.....Xtra Paycheck Time!

I have posted my JULY 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 July in the black....with a healthy addition!

The extra cash amount we ended the month of June with was.......$3,161.44.

Income
We had $3,066.46 left over of DH's salary after expenses were deducted. Add in $94.98 of Rebates applied to the food expenses and you have a deposit of $3,161.44 toward the Savings Challenge!

Seeing as our monthly target is $2,500.00 to reach our Year End Goal, this month will go a long way to keep us ahead of schedule.

Outgo
As for the expenses in July.....it was our most expensive month so far this year!

While this month saw the water bill drop to almost half and a nice decrease in the electric bill there were many 'out of the ordinary/non-repeating' bills this month.

Out-of-the-ordinary expenses in July...
Yet another car repair at $277.30.
A deposit for camp for next year for $50.00.
Dog licenses were due at $18.00.
That June Food Stamp Challange Food Bank donation for $100.00.
House insurance at $609.00.
And the whopper.....car insurance semi-annual payment of $1,482.63.
UGH!
That's $2,536.93 in out of the ordinary expenses.

The credit card bill(paid off each month)was $624.36, which was less than half of the previous month's total.

Even though July was a bad month for bills and spending, the thing that salvaged our goal this month was that extra paycheck that came this month.  If you gets paid on a biweekly basis, you know all about those 2 extra paychecks a year that sneak into 2 of your pay months.  This year for us it's July and December.  Did I mention that I love July and December?lol

The Food Budget costs for July are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food/Toiletries spending in July was .94¢  under the budgeted $200.00 amount and our Savings percentage was 80.45% which is right about average for us this year so far.

Looking Ahead to August....
Well the first week of August wasn't very frugal as we were on vacation.lol
Most of the costs for the trip were budgeted for & taken out of monies we saved in last year's Savings Challenge.  No funds were taken out of this year's income to pay for this trip.  And for heaven's sake, we didn't take out a loan or use a credit card to finance this trip....but of course, you probably figure that already.  ;-)
There were some items I bought while on vacation that will come out of the food budget for August.  I'll explain fully in a later post.

August is college tuition time but that comes out of the college money account we have funded over the years.
It's still a heart stopper of a bill, even if you have the funds set aside to pay it....

Looking at last August as a guideline, I don't see any unusual or reoccurring large bills coming due this month.   We will have a large credit card bill to pay fully in August(from charges for the vacation trip)but that has been budgeted for & that part of the bill will be funded from sources besides the monthly income.  The only unusual charges will be for any of the various repairs/upgrades we need to do on the home and possibly for the purchase of a new freezer.

But I am determined to get through August frugally and meet our monthly goal of $2,500 saved this month.
It's going to be a challenge this month so cross your fingers I meet that goal!

YTD Standings....
We have a Year To Date Total of $19,782.91 in Savings.  To save $30K for the year, we need to put away $2,500 per month average, at this point in the year we need to have $17,500 saved. With the extra paycheck in July we are looking good for meeting our Savings Challenge for the year!

So how was your July 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