Income & Spending for October 2023

Now that we are living on an annuity, 401K$ withdrawals and social security payments, 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.

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 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 fund may be applied 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 2023.  

 

I'm happy to report that we finished up October in the black.

The amount extra we ended the month of October with?....$6,653.23

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in October---

*  Monthly annuity payment of $2,608.66(after tax withholding)

*  SS income of $3878.950

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $842.25

*  401K Quarterly withdrawal of $5,200.13

Total "Income" for October....$12,365.04

Expenses in October---

*  Irregular bills in October were $2,746.91

*  Variable Expenses in October came to $1,793.71

*  Health insurance premiums totaling $1,171.19*

Total Expenses....$5,711.81

$12,365.04-$5,711.81=$6,653.23

* Now that Hubs is on Medicare, I include his Vision Care, and his Medicare supplement in this number with my Healthcare Premium.  His Part B comes directly out of his SS check before we get it.

Slush into October of $72,951.47(take $35,000 out which we moved into a CD leaves $37,951.47) and the addition of $6,653.23 October's 2023 Slush Fund comes to $44,604.70

The Slush Fund on it's own page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $6,653.23.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The WAM, the water bill, Health Insurance premium, vision care, Hubs supplement plan and internet were the same as last month.

*  There were no charges on my Bank of America or Amazon c/cs in October.

*  The electric bill was $89.76 less than in September.

*  The cell phone bill was .78 lower this month.  

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The Mastercard c/c was $37.56 higher than in September.

*  The Aviator c/c was $1044.98 higher than in September.

*  Hubs Amazon c/c was $64.02 higher than last month.

*  We had an irregular bill of $1,173.63 for a year of homeowner's insurance.

*  We had irregular bills for $1,448.65 for work done in the kitchen.

*  I paid 2 small medical bills out of reg. checking instead of the HSA totaling $124.63.

The Food Budget costs for October are in another post HERE.  Food costs are included in the credit card payments(mainly but sometimes our WAM cash too).

FINAL THOUGHTS for OCTOBER 2023---Not a bad month considering the 401K withdrawal got dumped into our checking account this month.   Even though we had a few irregular bills the 401K funds more than covered those.  I'm calling October all good.

THOUGHTS going forward into NOVEMBER 2023---We have the yearly garbage disposal bill, a vet bill for the dogs and Hubs car needs work this month.  That's about all the big bills coming due in November other than credit cards bills.

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 down/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 all your excess monies after bills were paid 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!

Sluggy

Income & Spending 2021.....the December Report

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals(some months), 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.

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 December report---

I had 2 goals for December.......
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 2021.

I can report that we finished up December in the black.
The amount we ended the month of December with?....$1,761.30

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in December---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1,971.99
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $180.13

* Cash put into bank to cover some groceries of $42.30

* eBay sales of $37.04

* Rebates/Post Coupon/Refunds of $3,445.02

Total "Income" for December.....$8,917.20

Expenses in December---

* Healthcare Premium for December was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in December were $1,853.13

* Variable Expenses in December came to $2,976.79
Total Expenses....$6,801.91

$8,917.20-$6,801.91=$1,761.18

Slush into December of $35,694.88 in that Fund, add $1,761.18 and we get $37,456.18 going into January 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,761.18

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet was the same as in November.

*  The WAM was the same as was taken last month.

*  The Water bill was $3.97 lower than in November.

*  The cell phone bill was the same as last month.

*  The gas bill was $50.48 lower than in November.

*  The Amazon c/c was $281.32 than last month.

*  The MC c/c was $152.72 lower than November.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was $103.24 higher than in November

*  We had Four Irregular bills in November-

*  I had a $128.58 Kohl's charge bill.

*  We paid the quarterly Long Term Care premiums.

*  We paid $440 to kennel the dogs while we were on vacation.

*  We put a $500 deposit down on the wedding rehearsal dinner.

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on December---I can't complain about the December bills as all the variable ones came in the same or lower than the previous month(except for electric).  I didn't account for having to put a deposit down for the rehearsal dinner(yet)so that changed things up a bit and if you know the situation you know I am not a happy camper about how that is playing out beyond our control.

I am glad that my rebating/couponing savings got added into our totals in December or we would have had a deficit of just over $1K for the month after bills paid, meaning having to take money out of the Slush fund(instead of adding to it).

We started the year with the Slush at $34,645.48 and ended the year with it standing at $37,456.18. Over $2,800 more in there.
 

THOUGHTS going forward into January 2022---No holidays(except my Birthday this month), some Bonus Cash to spend down and no big grocery haul plans.  The only irregular bill due this month is the garbage bill which we pay annually for a small discount.  We'll have an even higher electric bill(it's Winter, duh!)and the c/c bills will total around $2,500 from December.  Our high deductible insurance premiums went up(of course!)for 2022.  But otherwise it should be a quiet money month.

We'll have a financial meeting later this month to talk over the money stuff going forward into the year.

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?
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!

Sluggy 

2019 Food Spending Report.....the November Edition

Onward to November's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for NOVEMBER 2019.

I have posted November's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in November.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(3 at home this month). No "kids" under 23.
*****************

ALDI'S
OOP  $27.18
Value  $42.84
Savings  56.55%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $11.17
Value  $55.29
Savings  79.80%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $22.47
Value  $40.54
Savings  44.57%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $10.87
Value  $20.10
Savings   45.92%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP  $49.27
Value  $7908
Savings   37.70%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $1,231.36
Value  $1,231.36
Savings  100%

TARGET

OOP  $47.47
Qs/Ads $17.22

Value  $64.69

Savings 26.62%

WALMART
OOP  $12.64
Value  $13.64
Savings  7.33%

WEIS
OOP  $206.27
Qs/Ads  $267.44
Value  $473.71
Savings  56.46%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet 79.80% and Aldi's at 56.55%.   My worst savings rate was at Walmart with 7.33%.
I shopped at 9 different stores in November.

TOTAL Spent.........................................$387.07

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$402.82

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$789.89

TOTAL Savings of ................................51.00%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for October w/R-A........$387.07
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$1673.89
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$2060.96
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................81.22%

This closes out the November food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent just under my $400 budgeted amount for food/toiletries in November.
Rah team.
I used some of my free and discounted gift cards, as well as store script this month to lower the out of pocket a bit.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 19.25% in November 2019 to 80.85% compared to the October's 61.60% savings average.
That was mostly due to all the free things I got at Rite-Aid on the Black Friday Weekend sales.
Without R-A the savings rate was a presentable 51.00% so it's all good.


With 11 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $4,295.63 on food/toiletries in 2019.


2019 Yearly Total Spent To Date....................$4,295.63

2019 Yearly Total Value of Items To Date....$ 15,675.79

2019 Total Saved To Date...............................$ 11,380.16

2019 Yearly Savings Total To Date of............72.60%

The average per month amount spent so far is $390.51 in 2019 which went down .34¢ per month from October's average.  That's a very slight decrease but I'll take it! lolz

LOOKING AHEAD To December.............
Ah Christmas time again!
The larder is packed full so I want to eat down pantry and freezers.  Other than family home for Xmas I don't plan any extravagant meals for December.  Daughter isn't here for her birthday so there will be no Birthday meal out then.  We've got no parties to attend and bring food to either.  I've already got a hunk of roast in the freezer for Xmas(plus 2 turkey breasts since I cooked the whole bird for T'giving)and a ham too.  We aren't a big baked goods/sweets eating family at the Holidays except for a couple of pies or cakes on Xmas and I stopped making Xmas cookies years ago as nobody ate them and I ended up throwing more than a few away. 8-(

I'll be cashing out all of my little pots of monies collected throughout 2019 so far during this month to put toward the December food budget.  I'll transfer it all to the bank account and when I buy food items with my cc I'll transfer the funds.  I hope I can cover all the food expenses in this way and not have to pull from income for it this month.

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in November?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?

*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?

*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

Food & Toiletries Spending .....May 2018

Onward to May's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2018.

I have posted May's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in May.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 3-5(4 at home this month). No "kids" under 22.

*****************

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $18.50
Value  $59.66
Savings  69%

DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $40.12
Value  $67.87
Savings   40.89%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $16.00
Value  $31.66
Savings  49.46%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $46.47
Value  $74.66
Savings  37.76%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $28.62
Value  $68.88
Savings  58.45%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PP/BC  $815.68
Value  $815.68
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE
OOP  $28.06
Qs/Ads  $26.42
Value  $54.48
Savings  48.49%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $253.45

Qs/Ads  $168.33

Value  $421.78

Savings  39.91%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet  at 69% and Ollie's at 58.45%.  My worst savings rate was from Maine Source at 37.76%.

I shopped at 8 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for May..........$596.99

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales...$544.92

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$1,141.91

TOTAL Savings of ................................47.72%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for May.....$596.99
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$1957.59
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.........$1360.60
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items........69.50%

This closes out the May food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
May was a frugal challenge here.  Between good stock up deals, company coming and Daughter's "diet" my food budget got sunk.  I was $196.99 over what I like to spend per month.
On a whim I bought 11 lbs. of T-Bone steaks at half price to put into the freezer so that when we get a hankering for a good hunk of beef this Summer we have it to throw onto the grill.  The steak alone was $44.54 of that overage I spent. 8-(

But not to worry, we have the cash to pay for it all so I'll just dust myself off and begin anew in June to stay below $400 per month on food spending.
And after all, I am feeding 4 adults on that amount which even in a good month is a challenge. 8-)))

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 5.42% in May 2018 to 69.50% compared to April's 74.92% savings average.
The free stuff from Rite-Aid skewers my averages but without R-A I am at 47.72% savings.  So even without R-A we are doing well on the "savings" front.

With 5 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $2219.41 on food/toiletries in 2018 which is a 74.38% savings rate for the year so far and averages out to $443.88 spent per month in 2018.  We were almost at $400 per month average spending last month but my overshooting the food budget in May blew that goal up for now. lolz


LOOKING AHEAD To June.......
Keeping with that $400 food budget for June. If I can stay under $400, more's the better.

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in May?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?
*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

Income & Spending Report.....August Update

* As Hubs retired effective July 1, I am no longer doing my 2017 Savings Challenge.
We ended that on June 30th.  The goal was $17.5K saved for the half of 2017 that Hubs was working.
We actually saved $21,100.42 all totaled, so $3600.42 over goal!

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$(no 401K$ until October)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.

The issue now is to cover all the bills with just the annuity payment each month plus some liquid savings(checking account cash)until October.
October is when Hubs turns 59.5 and then we can access the 401K retirement savings.  Until then things will be tight here at Chez Sluggy, so all the leftover monthly cash will get tucked aside to pay irregular bills that will be popping up in August and September.

Got it?
OK, let's move on.

Though nothing will be put toward it the rest of 2017(probably), the 2017 $17.5K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals are still available
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

On to the August report--
I have 2 goals for August.....
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 apply toward irregular bills that are coming due in the next month.

I have to report that we finished up August in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of August with?.......$562.41

Income

The income in August was the monthly annuity payment and the July overage of $154.88.
We had $250.72 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in August totaled $311.69.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts and a blogging revenue check.

This brought us to our gain of $562.41
Since we have no debt, this will get put aside to apply to the irregular bill coming due in September--school taxes(these are a component of our property taxes).

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The water bill was $11.98 less than in July.
*  The gas card bill was $49.63 lower than last month.
*  The cash withdrawals were $200 lower than in July.
*  The electric bill was $33.52 lower than last month's bill.  I guess the kids actually turned off the a/c when they weren't using it. lolz
*  The credit card bill was $1003.58 lower in August compared to July. (This doesn't count trip charges on the c/c as those are paid out of monies put away for the trip.)

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The medical bills were $6.40 higher this month over last month's bills.
*  Home insurance was due in August.  Nuff' said. 8-(
*  We had to pay the August health insurance premium of $1577.67(this use to come out of Hubs' paycheck automatically).  We hadn't set up using the health insurance account through his employer yet to pay this bill so it came out of our monthly income.  UPDATE-Papers are filed so we are waiting to receive reimbursement.  Since we paid the last 3 months of healthcare premiums out of our regular income, once the reimbursement check is received these funds will be added back to our "Other Income" category and used toward bills, both regular and irregular.

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

So we end August in the black with $562.41 to apply to the school/property taxes bill in September.

The school taxes bill amounts to $2012.31, so I just have to eek out another $1449.90 from our September annuity income to cover that along with all the regular monthly bills.

As we'll only have $1763.55 of our annuity to live on after paying the school taxes I'll have to pull money from regular savings to cover the healthcare premium of $1771.94 for September.  That bill would have swallowed what was left of our annuity check after paying the school taxes and left us in the hole to the tune of $8.39 AND WE'D STILL HAVE TO PAY ALL OUR REGULAR BILLS FOR SEPTEMBER STILL!
Ugh!!!
Luckily I have regular savings(in our checking account)and I don't have to dip into the online accounts earning a pittance of interest.

Hubs has been taking his time to do the paperwork to get reimbursed for our healthcare premiums from our RMSA account which has been annoying me.  Now that he's FINALLY gotten around to filing, he just told me that it may take two MONTHS for them to reimburse those premium expenses!
This means I'll have to yank another $1700+ out of savings for two more months before we get that money back!
Ugh ugh ugh!
I am so thankful we have saved so much over the last ten years or so out of our regular paychecks so I can not have to worry at nights over this snapfu and know we have enough cash to cover it all.

Enough of my ranting, let's move on.

FINAL THOUGHTS on August---Surprisingly our regular bills in August came in at under $800(not counting the portion of c/c bills for the road of course). But add in the homeowners annual insurance payment, the healthcare premium and a $55 store c/c bill(for clothing for me) and the bills topped $3K. Ugh.

THOUGHTS going forward into September of 2017----
September will be more than tight this year.  There is no way the annuity payment, a bit of interest and the August overage $ will cover all the bills AND the school taxes.
Sigh.
We have always covered any irregular bills with our extra monthly income(as we mostly seemed to live well below our means and had cash to spare each month).

Now that funds are tighter(much tighter until Oct.!)we need a new game plan in regard to those irregular bills.

I'll be setting up a sinking fund to cover these irregular costs for 2018, meaning I'll set aside a specific amount each month in 2018 so that when these irregulars come due I have cash enough in that account to pay them without dipping into regular savings.

There is one more big irregular bill in 2017 coming in November--the semi-annual car insurance premium of approx. $900.  I should be able to cover that with regular income this year but I think I'll begin the Sinking Fund in October of this year anyway and get a jump on the 2018 irregular expenses so we can cash flow all the irregulars in 2018.

The one good thing about September bills will be that all the Road Trip expenses put on the credit card(most were due on August's bill and some due on September's bill)will be paid out of our savings and NOT our September income.  We planned and saved for this trip so it won't impact our regular bills/income.

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!

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid 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

2017 Savings Challenge......April 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 savings 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 2017 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.
I have decided to lower the goal amount to save for the year to $35K.
Then Hubs decided to retire the end of June 2017, so this changes my goal again.

* I'm going to half my goal now, since I've got 6 months to get to the Savings Challenge Goal this year since Hubs is retiring effective June 30th.
This means the new revised goal is $17.5K for 2017 which was half of $35K.

On to the April report.....

I have posted my April End of Month $35K $AVING$ 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 $2,9916.66.

I have to report that we finished up April with a goodly sum.
The extra amount we ended the month of April with?.......$4617.30

Income

We had $2637.41 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted which was almost my targeted amount to save per month.

Other monies received in April totaled $1979.89.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts and our federal tax refund.

This brought us to our gain of $4617.30
Since we have no debt, this all goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The electric bill was $131.31 lower than last month's bill due to less cold weather.
*  The cash withdrawals were $330.00 lower than in March.
*  The medical bills(paid directly by check)were $36.90 lower than last month.
*  I had a Kohl's payment due again in April but it was $175.90 lower than March's payment.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The credit card bill was $732.59 higher this month, mostly due to medical charges and drug refills.
*  The water bill was $9.80 higher than in March.  Not "bad" but still higher than last month.
*  The gas card bill was $98.21 higher mostly because we had no gas card bill last month.
*  The landline phone bill was $5.35 higher than March because Hubs made a long distance call when he was working from home.
*  We had to pay state taxes to PA and LA that totaled $222.00.  While not a huge payment they did put a dent into what we got back from the feds.

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

With 4 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2017 is $14,751.88.

FINAL THOUGHTS on April---
We had a fairly low expense month, not great but acceptable, and we were able to tuck away over the monthly goal of $29916.66.

Compared to April 2016 we saved $1573.23 LESS to put into savings this April.  This was mostly due to last April being a third paycheck month.  Had it not been, we would have put $1400+ MORE away this April.

THOUGHTS going forward into May of 2017----
The regular bills will be on autopilot with me traveling this month.  So far the credit card bill is low but travel expenses will be on the bill we get in June.  We do have the semi-annual car insurance due in May so there's about $900 of our income automatically gone for that.

Four months into the year and we have put $14,751.88 into savings.
There is $2748.12 left to hit our $17.5K Saving Challenge target for the year.  This averages out to $1,374.06 per month for the next 2 months.  I think that this one is in the bag unless a disaster befalls us.

So how was your April financially?
  

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

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid 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