$20K Savings Challenge.....OCTOBER Update

Ok, here is my OCTOBER 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.
Our background info--We are a family of 5(kids are 21-16)with one living away from home.  We have 2 dogs. We own 4 cars at present and live in/own free & clear a 4 bedroom house in a small town.

On to the October report.....

I have posted my OCTOBER 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 October in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of October with?.......$3,372.72

Income
We had $3,357.83 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in a teeny bit of interest at $1.89 and a couple of rebate checks worth $13.00 and it brought our gain to $3,372.72 for October.

Outgo

As for the expenses this October......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

* The water bill was $16 lower than last month.

* The doctor bills/rxs were $5 lower than last month.

* The credit card bill decreased by $250.
* The cash withdrawals were $80 lower.

And the big one....

* The car maintenance/repairs were $1631 lower than last month!

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill went up by $16, thus negating the $16 savings on the water bill. lol

*  The medical co-pays were up $36 from last month.
*  The music lesson costs went up $30 this month.

*  The quarterly garbage bill was due for an additional $84 in spending in October.

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

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 10 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is at  $19,588.47!

With 10 months done, we should be at $16,666.67 saved for the year.  

I am so thrilled that at the 10 month mark we are only $411.53 away from our yearly Savings Goal!!

This means that if I can keep our spending within our means for the next 2 months and eek out a small $205.77 each month in savings we will hit our $20,000 mark for the year.  And there are 3 paychecks in November so saving at least $411.53 over 2 months is very doable. ;-)

As for a look ahead at NOVEMBER.......

*  No irregular bills are due this month.

*  Normal monthly bills only are expected.
*  November is a 3 paycheck month.

So how was your October financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
How much of your income did you save in October?  Did you use it to pay down debt or build your Emergency Fund?

Even if what you are able to save each month 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 approx. 55% of our take home income in October.  My goal is to shoot for 50% each month.

Some months I can meet that goal.  Months where we have irregular or unexpected expenses we fall very short.

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