$20K Savings Challenge Report for May 2012

Ok, here is my May 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.

On to the May report.....

I have posted my MAY 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 May in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with?.......$2,832.03!

Income
We had $2728.26 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $2.00 in Rebates applied against the food expenses, $101.31 in blog ad revenue & $.46 in interest(HAHAHAHAHA!) and  you get a total of $2,832.03.

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

As for the expenses this May......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill was boringly the same.

*  The mild winter temps continued, which decreased our heating/electric bill by about $25.  The second consecutive month for a decrease....yay!

*   The credit card was $400 less than last month's bill.  It was still over $1K though. bleh!
*  No car maintenance/repairs bills this month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Credit card bill was fairly high at $1000+.

*  We bought a new dishwasher.

*  The new dishwasher meant hiring a plumber to install it(our house is weird)....that was $265!!!

*  Another vet bill for 1 of the dogs.  Not large but it's still unusual spending.

*  Cash spending(my food money and Hub's WAM money)was WAY HIGH!  I'm going to have a talk with him about reigning it in this weekend.

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

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 4 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $9,422.83.

We hit our monthly goal in May and then some, so now we are ahead of where we need to be

With 5 months done, we should be at $8,333.35 saved for the year, so $1,089.48 ahead for the year!

As for a look ahead at JUNE.....
* There will be another vet bill for surgery the beagle had this week.(It was put on the credit card.)
* The quarterly garbage bill will be due.
* Mini-vacation will cost money but most charges will be put on credit card so not due until July.(Good for June's figures but not for July's.)
* A 3rd paycheck in JUNE!!!  We will NOT use it toward our saving challenge goal however.  This check will go toward paying the home improvement projects that NEED to begin soon.

I figure I should be able to meet the monthly savings goal for this Challenge in June, barring any money fiascoes.

So how much did YOU save in May?  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 May financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
How much did you save in May?

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

Food spending May Week 4+ & Meal Planning June Week 1

It's the "Guess Who's Coming To Stay?" Meal Plan Week

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And here is the meal plan that actually happened last week.....

SUNDAY--Leftovers and/or Whoppers
MONDAY--Burgers/Dogs cookout, baked beans, potato salad
TUESDAY--Alfredo with veggies and steak slices, tossed salad-used up a leftover
WEDNESDAY--Leftovers (crazy schedules night)
THURSDAY--Tacos-used up a leftover
FRIDAY--Pizza
SATURDAY--Subway Subs(only 2 of us home)

 The weekly food spending was $22.35 this past week.  I sent Hubs to the store for mozzarella cheese on pizza night and he bought reg. priced cheese instead of the $3 1lb. bags on sale....sigh.....thus my high spending on just a few items last week.

Personally, I didn't set foot in a grocery store last week.  I just sent peeps in for a thing here or there while they were out and about....eggs.....milk.....cheese.....
I didn't see any deals I needed/wanted so I just stayed away.

Tues. I used the half a London Broil that was leftover from last week.  Slapped some A-I and spices on it, seared it in the cast iron skillet to heat it up, sliced it up and paired it with fettucine with alfredo sauce. nom nom nom
On Thurs. I took the leftover Sloppy Joes, heated that up with Mexican spices(garlic, cumin, cilantro, cayenne pepper)and turned it into taco meat.
Made pizza dough on Fri. for homemade pizza.

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This week's menu.....
SUNDAY--Chinese Take-Out
MONDAY--BLTs
TUESDAY--?
WEDNESDAY--?
THURSDAY--?
FRIDAY--?
SATURDAY--?

Sunday I was in the garage cleaning most of the day so we got take-out.  Seems if I don't cook, I can't get anybody else around here to make dinner and we always end up eating take-out.  I so hate this!  It puts a lot of pressure on me.  It's not like I don't have things here to make-for most any skill level-it just never occurs to anyone to offer to make a meal.
Monday the beagle had surgery.  She had a cancerous toe removed.  Between that, trying to clean the house before company descends, having to hem Daughter's work pants and the usual craziness all I could manage was to slap together some sandwiches for dinner.  They should feel lucky to get THAT!lol

As for the rest of the week?
I.
Am.
Clueless.

Yah see, the Sis-IL is arriving Tuesday.
And every time she comes to stay she has dietary restrictions.
And her diagnoses seem to come and go and change every time, so what she could eat last time won't be what she can eat this time.
And she is hyper picky about what she will eat anyway.
And then the Brother-IL is arriving on Wednesday or Thursday.
And he has dietary problems that he won't talk about.
So I don't know what he can or cannot eat.

Maybe I'll just fix a big pot of tasteless swill and put a condiment bar next to it so everyone can kick it up to whatever notch they can handle.
Yah, that's the ticket.....

By the time they have all left on Saturday morning I'll probably be so tense that my last nerve won't feel like cooking so I'll send Hubs & #2 Son out to Taco Bell or something for dinner.
And I'll just sit home and nurse a bottle of Southern Comfort.
For medicinal purposes of course!

If I find the time I'll be back later this week with some sort of menu plan.
Maybe I'll just go to the deli and buy 20 lbs. of sliced meats and cheeses, a couple loaves of good bread at Panera and make a plate of veggie and condiment fixings and make them all eat off of that for the week.

I'm certainly not taking them all out for every meal because they NEVER pay.

What would y'all cook/fix/buy if you were in my position?


Sluggy

Lions and Tigers and Picassos, Oh My!

As I've said recently, Hubs and I are off to Ohio later this month for some vacation time.
We'll be spending some time in the Columbus area this trip.

While I am no longer a shopaholic/spendaholic, I did use to hit the second hand stores on occasion in my past.
My jaw about hit the floor when I read this article about what one man found in a thrift store recently.
And the thrift store was in Columbus Ohio.


Price paid?
$14.14

Well played Zach Bodish, well played.....

I heard he sold it for $7K.  He's unemployed and used the money to keep afloat.

Now I'm thinking we need to squeeze in some thrift store shopping on this trip!lol

While I haven't found a valuable work of art at the thrift store I did find a "hidden gem" once.
Back in the early 2000's, I found this at a Salvation Army.....

This is not mine but mine is identical to this one.
It's a Steiff tiger puppet.
Though mine has it's metal ear button which dates it from the 1950's.
The one I found was perfect in every way except it was missing the paper tag on it's chest(it still has the threads that held the tag there though).

Tiger was lying in a bin with a pile of dirty old smelly no longer loved stuffed animals.
Somebody knew it was worth more than the .50¢ price all the other critters were marked, so they marked it $7.00.
The lady at the register was aghast that this toy was marked at 7 freaking Dollars!  She apologized and said that that manager was not there so she couldn't ask her to lower the price for me(not that I asked for a reduction).  She had to charge me $7 and was none to happy about it. lol

This was back when this puppet was going for $150 on eBay.
$7 didn't phase me......

Too bad I didn't sell it.
He's packed away with some other dolls from my childhood.
I AM an idiot!!

And if I found a Picasso, I'd probably keep that too. 8-)

What about you?  Have you ever found some unrecognized valuable at a thrift store?

Sluggy

May 2012 Budget Results.......Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2012.

I have posted May's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2012 and updated the Yearly Totals.
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 Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(3-6 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 16.
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BAKERY OUTLET
OOP   $5.89

Value   $27.74

Savings  78.77%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $151.77

Qs/Ads  $90.87

Value  $242.64

Savings  37.45%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $180.82

Qs/Ads  $134.15

Value  $314.97

Savings  42.60%

I don't track Rite-Aid's +Ups here, nor CVS's ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons".   I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.  Rebate money/gift cards will be considered 'income' & will go into the Food/Toiletries budget, offsetting the Out of Pocket. Cash will go immediately into the Budget kitty, while Gift Cards will be calculated in when spent.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN May

Rite-Aid SCR....$2.00
Subtotal........$2.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
Nothing

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$2.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES
Nothing

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bakery Outlet at 78.77%, Weis at 42.60% and Shursave Grocer at 37.45%.  Ok, so I only shopped at THREE STORES again this MONTH!lol

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$338.48

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$246.87

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$585.35

TOTAL Savings of...................................42.17%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$2.00
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$336.48
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$228.10
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$585.35
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................42.52%

This closes out the May spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into May with $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  I was able to stay well below my budgeted amount, even with more kids home and more mouths to feed.
Of course, by not actively couponing and doing the drugstore deals, my savings percentage didn't come anywhere near to the 70 or 80% I can pull out of my ass when I try hard.

I used very few coupons again in May. My 40%ish savings was mostly just buying what was on sale and/or buying meat with store discount stickers on them.  Ok, I have a few Catalinas I used too.  I spent almost NO TIME working up scenarios or ways to devise more savings on my shopping trips.  This debunks all those naysayers who think you have to spend lots of time fooling with(fooling=clipping, getting, organizing)coupons in order to save substantial money at the grocery store.  Just buying on sale and stocking up at lowest price in the sales cycle can reap you significant savings.  And buying on sale/lowest price only requires you to keep track of the week to week selling price of goods.  Not a big time hog in my book.  ;-)

LOOKING AHEAD TO JUNE.....

I will be keeping my food budget at $400 for June.  I just don't know what is going on yet this month.  This week we have family coming to stay.  2 weeks hence #2 Son leaves for camp and I'm not sure when he is returning.....could be the end of June, could be end of July.  I'm not planning on any stock ups but you never know with me. lol
I don't feel like I'll "need" all $400 but I've got it there just in case....but I don't plan to use it all.

How did you do in May with your Food Budget? 

Please leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear about your progress!  By sharing our struggles and efforts we can help each other stick to our budgets and learn to be better guardians of our resources.

Sluggy

How Did It Get to Be June Already?

Well goodbye May!
I read pretty near everyone in the blogosphere lambasting May for being a really sucky month this year.
Sucky as in sucking all the money out of their pockets!
Lot of unexpected and planned spending was had in May for many folks.
Everyone is glad to see May go.

Me?
I don't rightly remember much of May what with all the stuff going on here, I haven't had much time to notice how monetarily sucky the month was for us.  I do recall many hands being stuck into my face, palms up, waiting for dollars to be deposited onto said hands over the course of May but the exact dates and amounts escape me.

And I was bad too in May since I spent money on some clothes and shoes.  Granted I got everything for great sales prices but it's nothing I needed really.  Who needs purple clogs, right?!
And then I bought a new bathing suit for myself.  Maybe that WAS a need though since all my old suits all have dry rot from all the chlorine over the past 5 years.  So a new one was in order and I did get it on sale.  But even so.....fat ladies swimsuits on sale are STILL outrageously expensive!

I guess when I sit down later today to do my "Savings Challenge" accounting I'll see the bottom line on the spending won't I?
If you hear a sonic boom later today, that will be me reacting to the bare walls in our money vault.
And believe me, the money vault is pretty bare(for us)as we leave May.

This morning, I found a post in my Drafts that I never completed and posted in May.  It was a Quarterly Updated on how the Yearly Goals were going.
Did anyone notice a post on my blog about a Goals update in May?
Nope, didn't happen, did it?

The kids came home mid month in May and it's been a blur since then. ;-)
Let me go and take a peek at my blog so I can recall what went on.....brb.....

Man!  I was a whole lot of BORING in May, wasn't I?
Food shopping, Meal Plans, a Giveaway and a whole LOT of Video/Music Clips.
1 Savings Challenge Report for April and 1 Decluttering Session.

Makes me wonder why anyone even reads this!

Here's a run down of what's ahead for June at Chez Sluggy.

Moving and cleaning stuff.
Surgery for one of our dogs.
Hemming Daughter's work pants for her new job.
#2 Son finishing out the school year and the wailing and gnashed of teeth that goes with that!
Graduation for the Nephew.
Hub's siblings descending on us for the event noted above....oh, now THAT will be fun!
Packing and getting #2 Son ready for camp training.
Taking #2 Son to camp.
Taking a small vacation.
More Decluttering.
Working on my Genealogy.
Working on Scanning Photos.
And dare I mention it....finally maybe doing some sewing.

Yeah, I didn't think anybody would actually BELIEVE that last one.....

So, let's all take a deep breath before we launch into June. 
And let's hope it's a sunnier month for all!

So did your May suck all the cash outta your pockets?
Or did you survive high and dry, sitting on your pile of cash?

Sluggy