October $20K Savings Challenge Update

In our family we save money. It is important to us to put money aside for "rainy days".  You know.....those unexpected days when things happen in your life that you can't plan on, but that DO happen and they cost you money you didn't know you'd need to pay out.

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.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments 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, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.

On to the October report.....

I have posted my October End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog 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 with a really big number!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of October with?.......$4,623.32.

Income
We had $4,417.91 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in October totaled $205.41.  This brought us to our gain of $4,623.32 for October.

 

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Evidently I overpaid(again!)the long distance phone last month so our bill was only .65¢ in Oct.

*  The electric bill was about $1 LESS than September's bill.  October's bill has ALWAYS been at least $50 more than September's bill before this year(due to the heat getting turned on).
*  The credit card bill was about half of what it was in September.

* And the BEST Good Thing.....October was a third paycheck month!, so we socked that away into the Savings Challenge.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  I overspent on the food budget by $19.

*  Spending on prescriptions increased due to the blood clot issue.

*  We had pet related spending of $237(kennel and vet bills)because of trips.
*  Cash withdrawals were about double September's amount but some of this was due to trips taken.

 

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

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 10 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $20,926.27. 
 

We surpassed our goal by almost $1000 AND we still have 2 months left in the year to save some more money!
 

Looking ahead for November......
 

*  No special Holiday spending this month.  We aren't traveling for Thanksgiving and the meal will be modest because it's just Hubs and I this year.  And if I can scare up a Turkey Day invite from someone, then we won't need to buy/cook anything special that day. lolz

*  No big annual or semi-annual bills come due in November(the next one is in February)but I do plan on buying some furniture this month as the living room is bare except for a rug.

 

*  We put the bulk of the Ocean City trip from October on the credit card so that will have to be paid off in full from November's paychecks.

Between paying for the October trip and purchasing furniture for the living room I don't think we'll have much leftover during November to throw into the Savings Challenge.  I'll keep the Challenge up until the end of 2013 just in case we have some spare funds the next 2 months.

 

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?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle?

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

Obamascare or the Affordable Candy Act

You have to go HERE and see this.
I don't care your political views, this is F'ing FUNNY!!!

Sluggy

Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway....Week Three!

What time is it?!

            The very rare pumpkinpillar.

 

Well it's time for another BORING BLOG BOX GIVEAWAY!!

Here's how it works if you are new here.......

 

I put things in the box(mostly what I have gotten for free or almost free)each week and when the box is filled we draw a winner from all the entries received.

Here is what went into the Box today......

 

A selection of items I bought back from western Virginia to share.

1. A small box of Apple Candy bought in Wythe County, Va.

2. A Can of Boiled Peanuts bought in AltaVista, Va.

3. A Postcard from Big Walker Lookout in Wythe County, Va.

4. A bag of Horehound Drops bought in Alta Vista, Va.

 

This week's prizes have a value of about $10.
 

If this is your first time, please go read all the rules for these Giveaways HERE.  *As always, if you are located outside the US, you CAN enter and win but weight restrictions/shipping costs may mean your prize box will contain less items.*

***Time to enter.....You can enter on this Giveaway post until I close this post to entries.

1 entry per person per day on THIS POST.
Leave your name/email address and a COMMENT on this post.  

This week I want to hear about your Christmas spending.  Do you budget how much you spend at Christmas or do you just "wing it" and not worry about the money?  What sort of things do you spend on at Christmas?  How much do you plan on spending this year?  Are you spending more, less or about the same this Christmas as in years past?
 

You can come directly to this blog post or find it through the link on the right side bar to leave 1 comment per day.  The current Giveaway Post will be linked right at the top of the side bar.

Please NOTE--You MUST be a follower to enter the Giveaway.  If you aren't one, just click on the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog to become a follower.

Any questions?  Just email me.

Happy Entering!! 

Sluggy

Happy Halloween!

Are ready for it?

 

I'll be hiding in the house this year.  I didn't buy any candy(the first time since 1989!)and this is the second year I have no kids to dress up and send out foraging for treats.
I'll be trying to list some things on eBay tonight and let me just say, that THAT will be scary enough for me!lol

Have a happy one!

Sluggy

October 2013 Budget Results.....Food & Toiletries Spending

It's not the end of October yet but I am posting my month end totals since I am finished grocery shopping for this month.

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for OCTOBER 2013.

I have posted October's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2013 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in October.  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 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 17.
******************

FOOD LION
OOP  $40.17
Qs/Ads  $13.26
Value  $53.43
Savings  24.82%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $203.89

Qs/Ads  $106.04

Value  $309.93

Savings  34.21%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP  $25.04
Qs/Ads  $25.09
Value  $50.13
Savings  50%

RITE-AID
OOP  $7.97
Qs/Ads/+Ups  $49.61
Value  $57.58
Savings  86.16%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $142.57

Qs/Ads  $80.04

Value  $222.61

Savings  36%

I am no longer adding my rebates received into my food budget directly. I will use them on food on occasion and will note that when used.  I will keep track of rebates/gift cards/certs received here as before however.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN October.....$8.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....$0

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$8.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Zero

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 86.16%, Price Chopper at 50% and Weis at 36 %.  I shopped at 5 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$419.64

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$274.04

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$693.68

TOTAL Savings of...................................39.50%

This closes out the October food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into October with my usual $400 budgeted for food/toiletries purchases.
I went over by $19.64. 
Not too bad really and I'm not upset over it.  If I hadn't hurt my foot(and didn't have to send family to the store who don't worry about getting the best deal), who knows if I would have been able to stay under $400.
I did restart the Rite-Aid shopping this month and that spending is included in my totals.  I'll probably spend a bit more at Rite-Aid as we get closer to Christmas.
 

Looking ahead to November---Other than Thanksgiving, there are no special occasions coming up that require extra food spending this month for us.  Not sure about Thanksgiving at this point as #2 Son will be working that day(a restaurant), so it will just be me and Hubs at home.  Our Thanksgiving meal might be a tad unusual and it will definitely be a lot smaller than the norm for us.
As I buckle down and follow the pre-surgery eating plan this month, we may have less food spending.  But I'll keep the food budget for November at $400.

 

And here is the run down of my Food & Toiletries Spending for 2013 so far this year--
 

2013 Total Saved $2,523.40

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $6,216.33

2013 Yearly Total Spent $3,692.93

2013 Yearly Savings Total of  40.60%

 

In October, total savings percentage for the year has gone DOWN .13% over September's year-to-date total of 40.73%, to 40.60%. 
But we are holding steady in the 40%s.
I'd love to get to the end of the year with a 40% savings percentage for all of 2013.
We shall see if it happens. ;-)
The average monthly food/toiletries spending so far this year stands at $369.30.

 

How much did you spend on food in October?
 

Sluggy