2016 $38K Savings Challenge......August 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, $8K more than my goal for last year.

On to the August report.....

I have posted my August 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 August with a staggeringly low amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of August with?.......$964.60

Income

We had $669.66 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in August totaled $294.94.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a small per diem payment and a medical refund for over payment.

This brought us to our gain of $964.60
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges, electric bill, internet and cash withdrawals were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The gas card spending was down $65.47 from July as Hubs put less gas charges on the gas card.
*  The water bill was $9.69 lower than in July.  Obviously someone was not showering as much. ;-)
*  The direct medical spending was down $247.09 from July's total.  Lots of little co-pays and no big bills from Daughter's LA medical stuff....that is all paid off as of now.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The credit card bill was UP $1550.02 from the previous month's bill. Much of that was vacation spending.
*  The Electric bill was up 5.25.  Not bad considering more a/c was used in August than July.
*  House Insurance was due in August.  This is an annual bill.
* While I though I could get away with ditching car insurance on the third car, per state law we have to keep it insured until the designated dono charityr hauls it off, so I had to pay 3 months worth at $218.76.
We will get a pro rated refund once the car is physically gone.

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

With 8 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $23,253.64.

Final thoughts on August---

If not for the vacation spending on the c/c, a charity cash donation, an annual house insurance payment + a partial car insurance payment we would have hit the monthly goal of putting $3166.33 into the Savings Challenge kitty.
But life happens, doesn't it?

Compared to August 2015 we put $1897.55 LESS into savings this August.
.
We have $23,253.64 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $14,746.36 left to save over the next 4 months at this point to reach our goal of $38K saved.  That averages out to $3686.59 a month for the rest of the year.  This means for the rest of the year I need to average $519.93 MORE per month than our monthly savings target goal of $3,166.66.
bleh.

Only 4 months left in the year to get to my savings goal.  We are quickly running out of time in 2016.


THOUGHTS going forward into September----
September Bill Armageddon month-Property Taxes are due. bleh.
Fortunately our 3rd paycheck month is September this year so that will offset taxes.
Add in that we have finally hit that mark in the year where the government taxes go down so we get a little more in each payment.
We should be on track to have a large amount to dump into the Savings Challenge at the end of September....unless life happens again.  ;-)

So how was your August financially?
  

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

GREEN & THRIFTY THURSDAY...the Most Green & Thrifty

There is something most anyone can do that will make you extremely Green & Thrifty.

It doesn't involve giving up bathing.

It doesn't involve going off the grid(=giving up electricity).

It doesn't involve selling your car and walking or biking instead.

It doesn't even involve giving up meat.

Very simply, it's this....

Go plant something that will provide you with food to eat.

One of the best things you can do for this old Mother Earth and for your own financial bottom line is to grow some of your own food.

Just take a trip down the produce aisle of your local grocery store.

See those squash, bags of lettuce, green beans?

See what those things cost??

With a little bit of a financial investment in some seed, and some time, you can grow your own and stop giving some of your money to the grocery store!

It's almost as good as having a Money Tree growing in your backyard!!

It doesn't matter where you live in most cases, you can grow food.

If you have some land, cultivate as much of it as you can take care of.

If you are planted in a suburb, convert a piece of your lawn or commandeer a flower bed to put in some crops.

If you live in a townhouse with no or little yard, get some pots and make a container garden.

If you are a city apartment dweller, chances are there is a community garden in your town that you can participate in. If there isn't, there SHOULD BE, so get out there with some friends and make one happen!

When I moved to this little subdivision in rural Teeny Tiny Town almost 9 yrs. ago, NOT ONE House here had a garden! Some homes had flowers outside in the flower beds(not many) but nobody grew food.

My motto is.....if you have a choice between growing something that's nice to look at or growing something that's nice to look at AND it can feed you, grow the one that feeds you!

Get some seeds.

Put then in the ground.

Water when & if it's needed.

Watch the plants grow, flower & produce food.

Pick the food.

Eat it.

Anyone can do it.

EVERYONE should at least try!

But what if you've never grown anything before?

Just do it!

Ask for help from someone who has done it before or find help from any of the many online resources.

And don't be afraid to fail.

That's how we learn. Failure often is the best teacher!

I've had seasons where things got washed out, or the birds or other little critters ate my seeds or starts, or bugs munched on the food before it got picked or it was too cold or not enough sun or the plants got some disease.

Yep, everyone has those things happen.

But don't let what might happen keep you from trying!

But I live in a community that restricts what I plant, or won't let me plant a garden?
Then go Commando! Sneak a pepper plant here, a tomato plant there amidst the 'proper' shrubs and flowers. No one will be the wiser....
Do like me and rip out the nasty overgrown landscaped shrubbery and put in a garden bed.....or rip out a chunk of lawn and convert the space to a melon or bean patch.
Be the subject of neighborhood conversation!

You might just start something GOOD happening in your town.

Sluggy