$20K Savings Challenge.....DECEMBER Update & YEAR END TOTAL

Here is my DECEMBER 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 was $20,000. 
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 December report.....

I have posted my DECEMBER 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 December in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of December with?.......$2,555.70

Income
We had $2,378.54 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in 2 year-end dividend checks from investments and a small refund on our car insurance.  When combined, these totaled $177.16.   This brought our gain to $2,555.70 for December.

Outgo

As for the expenses this December, most of them were on the bad side, rather than the good side....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

* The cash withdrawals were $200 lower.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill went up $3+.

*  The medical/dr. bills were $47 higher than last month. 

*  The credit card bill went up $778.

*  The electric bill went up by $83.

*  The car needed new tires to the tune of $439.29.

*  There was extra money spent in Dec. due to Christmas.

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

We managed to almost stay within our $400 food budget in December.

The 2012 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 12 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 ended with  $28,907.08 in the fund!

We were able to hit our $20,000 goal plus almost another $9,000.

I am happy with how much we saved in 2012.
Some months it was easy and some months we had a hard time scraping together $1000 to put aside and not spend.
Heck, we were even NEGATIVE money in September!

So how was your December financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!

Sluggy

DECEMBER 2012 Budget Results....Food & Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for DECEMBER 2012.

I have posted December'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 December.  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(4-5 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 16.
******************

BREAD OUTLET
OOP   $21.89

Value   $77.70

Savings  71.83%

CARVEL STORE

OOP   $17.95

Sale/Ads/Qs  $2.00

Value   $19.95

Savings   10.03%

KMART

OOP   $.10

Sale/Ads/Qs   $9.00

Value   $9.10

Savings   98.90%

OLLIE'S

OOP   $54.90

Value   $101.93

Savings   46.14%

RITE-AID

OOP  $0.00

Qs/Ads/+Ups/Gift Card  $785.79

Value  $785.79

Savings   100%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $98.64

Qs/Ads  $85.94

Value  $184.58

Savings  46.56%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $245.63

Qs/Ads  $165.34

Value  $410.97

Savings  40.23%

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 December....Nothing

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....Nothing
TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$0.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

1 Giveaway win--Free Laundry Detergent Q

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Rite-Aid at 100%,  KMart at 98.90%, and the Bread Outlet at 71.83%.  l shopped at 7 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$439.11

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$1,150.81

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1,589.92

TOTAL Savings of...................................72.38%

TOTAL Out of Pocket after Rebates earned(but not received yet) this Month......$420.11

TOTAL Coupons & Store Savings....$1169.81

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$1589.92
TOTAL Savings Rate after Rebates of..........................73.57%

This closes out the December spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into December with $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  I went over budget by $39.11.  Once I receive my $19.00 in rebates I earned in Dec., my overage gets cut to $20.11.

My grocery/toiletries savings were at 73.57% for December after rebates.  If you take the Rite-Aid purchases out of the equation, my savings percentage falls to 45.40%.  Almost 50% savings for just food is quite good.  I'm usually around 33% savings for just the food stores.

I continued to shop the loss leaders and sales and stocked up when things were at rock bottom price in the sales cycles. 

Speaking about ONLY the food stores, I redeemed 22 manufacturer's Coupons on 187 items bought in December.  I went through my receipts and counted exactly how many Qs were used in December to prove that just shopping the loss leaders and rock bottom price in the sales cycles at the food stores CAN give you a good savings rate WITHOUT using coupons!  Yes, I used a few Qs but you don't have to be like those crazy people on that TLC show to save money on what you feed your family!

 I also earned 4 Catalina Qs worth a combined amount of $21 that were redeemed in December for food items at my 2 main grocery stores and in the food aisle at KMart.

 

And here is the run down of my Food & Toiletries Spending for 2012--

2012 Total Saved $8,279.46

2012 Yearly Total Value of Items $12,475.82

2012 Yearly Total Spent $4,196.36

2012 Yearly Savings Total of 66.36%

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


JANUARY

Out of Pocket $198.68
Value of Items $819.07
Amount Saved $615.72
Savings Percentage of 75.74% 

FEBRUARY

Out of Pocket $194.03
Value of Items $823.28
Amount Saved $629.25
Savings Percentage of 76.43%

MARCH

Out of Pocket $494.28
Value of Items $1127.03
Amount Saved $632.75
Savings Percentage of 54.64%

APRIL

Out of Pocket $225.03
Value of Items $451.13
Amount Saved $226.10
Savings Percentage of 50.12%

MAY

Out of Pocket $336.48
Value of Items $585.35
Amount Saved $228.10
Savings Percentage of 42.52%

JUNE

Out of Pocket $358.85
Value of Items $1,121.05
Amount Saved $762.20
Savings Percentage of 68%

JULY

Out of Pocket $236.43
Value of Items $823.59
Amount Saved $540.90
Savings Percentage of 71.30%

AUGUST

Out of Pocket $485.94
Value of Items $1503.43
Amount Saved $1017.49
Savings Percentage of 67.67%

SEPTEMBER

Out of Pocket $418.60
Value of Items $1233.55
Amount Saved $814.95
Savings Percentage of 65.58%

OCTOBER

Out of Pocket $459.36
Value of Items $1130.59
Amount Saved $658.23
Savings Percentage of 59.37%

NOVEMBER

Out of Pocket $368.57
Value of Items $1267.83
Amount Saved $899.26
Savings Percentage of 70.92%

DECEMBER

Out of Pocket  $420.11
Value of Items  $1589.92
Amount Saved  $1169.81
Savings Percentage of 73.57%

Sluggy

Sluggy Gets Reflective on Debt Freedom as 2012 Leaves the Building

First off, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who comes to this little blog and reads my humble(usually ranting)remarks and the ever-so-dry financial calculations and scratchings I make.

And an extra dose of gratefulness to those who read and comment!

Though I may be quite lax in replying at times(most times!), I do read every single word of comments left on the posts and they are most welcomed.
They leave me with a sense of "I'm not just shouting into a big black void" and the comments either validate me/what I do OR they let me know when I am in serious need of getting my head out of my own ass and returning to something resembling reality.
Hopefully, it's the previous and not the latter situation that prompts your comments left. ;-)


I see my blog, firstly as a LIFE BLOG.  I talk about almost anything I have a mind to, from finances, to my family, to genealogy and my other interests in life.
A big part of my blog is frugality.....it's not the only thing that goes on here, but it's a big one.

Most frugal blogs also encompass debt and debt repayment.
If you haven't realized it yet, you won't find that component here at DON'T READ THIS; IT'S BORING.
Hubs and I escaped the whole Debt thing for good in March of 2007, when we paid off the mortgage.
We only put as much in purchases on the credit card that we can pay off each month and we don't finance cars.  We are onto cash flowing college for the kids and building up our retirement savings.  We just don't do debt anymore.

You won't be able to come here to cheer us on when we kill a debt.  I know.....I just take all the fun out of life sometimes, don't I?
I do, however, love to leave comments for others who are still struggling with debt, when they vanquish a foe.  It makes me smile when all of you I visit take another big step toward living the dream of Debt Freedom.

What you WILL be able to come here to see is how much better life can be once you get to be debt-free.
You can see that once you aren't dissipating your income to this debt or that one AND giving the bulk of your income to a mortgage company, how quickly that money you use to give to debts can pile up and stay in YOUR bank account instead and then fund other goals, like college for the kids, house remodels, vacations, house repairs and retirement.

You'll also see how we struggle to avoid lifestyle inflation, what I feel is the greatest threat to living below your means.
It's so easy when you get a raise in income or a windfall of some unexpected money to use it to upgrade your life.  Instead of keeping what was before, a perfectly reasonable lifestyle, suddenly that extra cash needs to buy you more things or higher quality/quantity of food/drink/car/home, or more nights out being entertained.  So the extra cash gets spent on frivolity(wants) instead of being held for emergencies both big and small that will come around.
Shit happens.  You may not want to face that fact, but it does.  So don't spend all your money.  Keep some.  Invest some.  You never know when you'll need some extra for.....Needs!

People often ask me how we did it....how we got to this place.
It's complicated and what worked for us might not work for anyone else.

We saw 2 paths to debt freedom.
There is the "intense/short" path or the "little pain felt/long" path.

We could get very serious about being in debt.  Debt could become the focus of our lives and every penny spent, every decision made would be ruled by the debt.  We could make debt so vile in our minds that the most important thing in our lives would be to extract from it's talons, even if some decisions made our lives uncomfortable for the short term.

OR

We could be more casual about rooting out the debt.  Debt would be paid off slowly, without it disrupting our lifestyle much.  We wouldn't feel the pain of making do without this or that, and the debt would be hanging around longer.

Since we didn't have piles of debt(credit cards, medical, car, etc.)other than a mortgage, it was easy to pick the short, intense path to freedom.  We could knuckle down for a couple of years and delay gratification in so many other things to get the debt gone.

I know some may feel that getting intense for 2 years is extreme.  Heck I know people who can't delay wants for 2 MONTHS.
We thought 2 years of full frontal deprivation was pushing it, but the benefits of getting the debt over with outweighed the sacrifices we had to make.

But you know......where you are with your finances now is because of a long long line of choices you have made with your money through the years.
No single decision brought you to where your money stands today.
There have been literally thousands of decisions you have made over the course of your life and each one put you either on a better path or a worse path, and every subsequent decision you made, either made that path better again or even worse.
All those choices, either good or bad, you have made through your life is why you are where you are today.

But with that being said, it is NEVER too late to take control of your finances and your life.
If you've just been drifting along for 10 months or 10 years, don't worry about what's past.
Make today the day you take the reins of your money and live intentionally!
You can't change the past, but you can certainly change your future.

It is your life and your money.
No one has THE correct way to get out of debt and no one has THE correct way to save and spend your money.
This is something you have to figure out for yourself.

Yes, you can follow the path someone else took to freedom and it might or might not work for you as well.
But more importantly,  you need to take the lessons from how they approached their finances.
Learn why they did X, Y or Z.
Learn a new attitude about and toward your money.

Money is a great tool.  IT is not the end all and be all and the point of your life is NOT to end it with the biggest pile of cash.  It's a means to an end...... being able to live your life without stress from money worries, surrounded by the people you value and who value you.

Take the time and effort to learn how best to use the tool to craft the life you want to live.

Sluggy

Food Spending December Week 4/Meal Planning January Week 1

And this is what happens to you if you fall asleep while the family is opening presents on Christmas morning.  You become the most festive beagle on the block! lol
We reuse the bows from one year to the next, so we need a place to put them aside so they don't end up in the trash bag........

As for meals?
Here is what actually got served last week....

Sunday--Chicken Enchiladas

Monday--Christmas Eve dinner at Chinese Restaurant

Tuesday--Ravioli w/Marinara Sauce, Standing Rib Roast, Roasted Vegetables, Green Beans, Rolls, Pies

Wednesday--Leftovers

Thursday--Pork Chops, homemade Mac and Cheese, Broccoli

Friday--Pizza, a green veggie from the freezer

Saturday--Leftovers

The food spending last week(the 24th to the 30th)came in at $110.70 for 7 days.  This includes the rib roast that cost, as one astute reader noted, "as much as a coat".

As I have finished food shopping for December(no food buying today, the 31st)I spent $439.11 in total for the month.  Pretty good considering the stocking up and the Holiday food excess.

Going into this week, I have these leftovers--ravioli, rolls(not to mention fudge and pie).

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

Here is what is getting served this week.....

Sunday--Kielbasa on Rolls, Caramelized Onions,Potato Salad

Monday--Date Lunch Out w/Hubs, then leftovers and appetizers for New Years at home

Tuesday--Tacos, Corn

Wednesday--Baked Salmon, leftover P. Salad, Caesar Salad, leftover rolls

Thursday--Cheesesteaks, Green Beans

Friday--Fried Shrimp, French Fries, Beets, any leftover veggies

Saturday--Leftovers or Fend for Yourself or Breakfast for Dinner

I have everything here already to make these meals.....ground beef for tacos, salmon, roast beef for cheesesteaks, shrimp are all in the freezer.  I might treat Hubs to country ham rolls tomorrow morning since we still have a plethora of rolls.  I used that last $5 voucher to buy romaine lettuce and some ground beef on Sunday, so we have all foodstuffs to make this menu now.

There will only be 3 at home this coming week to cook for.


Sluggy

My Last Rite-Aid Update for 2012

Can you believe I had another $5 in +Up Rewards expiring Sunday?
Yep.


So up to Rite-Aid I went this afternoon.....

1 x Breathe Right strips w/Gold discount=$5.35
1 x Blistex on sale=$1.50
2 x Ziploc bags on sale $2=$4.00
SubTotal.......$10.85

Coupons Used
1 x $2/1 Breathe Right(coupons dotcom)=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Breathe Right VV/AdPerks IPQ=$2.00
1 x $1/2 Ziploc bags ManuQ(12/2 SS insert)=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$5.00

$10.85-$5.00=$5.85+.06¢ tax=$5.91

I used my $5 +Up Reward and put the .91¢ on my gift card(which is below $2 now).
I received back $2.50 in +Up Rewards($1 wyb2 Ziplocs, $1.50 Blistex).
I also can submit the Breathe Right purchase for SCRebate #10, which will net me $2 in cash.
So in the end, I "spent down" .50¢ of my +Ups after Qs, +Ups gained and the cash rebate.

And since this is my last purchase of 2012 at Rite-Aid, here is my update on Totals and the End of December Rite-Aid Total.....


This trip to Rite-Aid--
OOP....$0.00
Value of items.....$17.26
+Ups coming into this trip....$35.00
+Ups used....$5.00
+Ups earned......$2.50
+Ups at the end.....$32.50

 
**GRAND TOTALS FOR DECEMBER**

Out Of Pocket....$0.00  cash
Value of items bought.....$785.79
Savings Rate of  100%
Single Check Rebate due....$16.00
Other Rebates due......$3.00
After SCR applied, Out of Pocket.... $0.00
Savings Rate.....102.42 %

+Ups at beginning of month...$47.00+
+Ups used....$271.00+
+Ups received...$256.50+
+Ups currently...$32.50+   

 In the end, for December, I got $785.79 in goodies for FREE and I will get back $19.00 in cash for various rebates for buying all this stuff.


Sluggy