$28K 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 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 2015 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $28,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the February report.....

I have posted my February End of Month $28K $AVING$ 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 $2,333.33.

I have to report that we finished up February.
The extra amount we ended the month of  February with?.......$3,423.09

Income

We had $3285.23 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in February totaled $137.86.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts and a couple of mail-in rebates for products I bought last year.

This brought us to our gain of $3,423.09
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Phone charges, internet and  were approximately the same as last month.
*  Water bill went down $10.20 from January's bill.
*  Credit Card bill went down $1,240.98 from January's bill.  I think it helped not to have a $1K car repair on it like in January.  lol
*  Gas charge card went down $33.94 from January's bill.
*  Cash withdrawals went down $300 from January's withdrawals.
 

HERE are the BAD THINGS
.
*  The electric bill was up $23.14 over January's bill due to more heating.  Actually maybe this should be under GOOD Things since only used $23.14 more in energy in the middle of Winter is a "win".

*  We had some irregular spending too in February--we paid 6 months of car insurance and 6 months of garbage pick-up(I usually pay the garbage bill in 3 month chunks but we had the money now so why not pay ahead until July?).
 

The Food Budget costs for February are in another post, which is located HERE.  I spent more than I wanted to but it was still less than what was spent in January on food.

 

The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 2 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $4,898.26.
That averages a bit more so far than we need each month to reach our $28K goal so we are ahead of schedule for the year slightly.

THOUGHTS going forward into March----

We didn't make our $2,333.33 goal for Jan. but were able to make it for February with a bit to spare.

Irregular bills coming in March, after a glance at last March's bills, include our local real estate taxes.  Actually they aren't "due" until June 1st but I get a whole $26.97 discount for paying them before April 1st. ;-)  I know it's not much but why pay $26.97 more in June if you have the cash in March?  Spend a lifetime paying ahead for a small discount and over the course of your bill paying life it does add up.  8-)
We will also have the sewage bill to pay(I pay it once a year) and will be cutting a check for the state when I file the PA taxes(we always owe a bit, this year about $50).
Hopefully to offset the irregular/added expenses will be a modest federal tax refund.  The filing has been received and the money should be deposited into our account within 3 weeks(unless I screwed it up again this year(I always do-damn you Education Credits!)then it will be a week or so later.


With 2 months behind us we have $4,898.26 down and $23,101.74 left to save in 20015.
Let's just eat this elephant one bite(month)at a time and not worry about the whole pachyderm for the time being.  ;-)

 

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?
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 something you wanted?
 

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

$20K Savings Challenge Report for April

Ok, here is my April 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 April report.....

I have posted my APRIL 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 April in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of April with?.......$2,574.21!

Income
We had $2565.90 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $6.00 in Rebates applied against the food expenses & $2.31 in interest and  you get a total of $2574.21.

Outgo
Traditionally April has been a fairly normal month as far as spending goes.  No big tax bills or lump payments. 

As for the expenses this April......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The mild winter temps continued, which decreased our heating/electric bill by about $80.  I like that...

*   Hubs decreased his WAM withdrawals this month.
*  No car maintenance/repairs bills this month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* Credit card bill was fairly high at $1400+.  A large part of that was the Summer Camp bill for #2 Son.  The good news is this is the LAST CAMP BILL WE WILL EVER PAY!  #2 Son is in Counselor Training this year so next year he starts working at camp. Yay!!!!

The Food Budget costs for April are in another post, which is located HERE. My stocking-up and overspending in March did help me stay under $230 in food spending for April.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 4 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $6,590.80.

We hit our monthly goal in April and then some, so now we are only a little behind where we should be for the year at this point, because of our bad March total.

With 4 months done, we should be at $6,666.67 saved for the year.  Only $75.87 to be caught up!

So how much did YOU save in April?  Did you spend 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 April 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