$20K Savings Challenge.....December Update & GRAND TOTAL for 2013

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 December report.....

I have posted my December 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.
But seeing as I hit the $20K goal in October, we'll just see how much more I can sock away in December.

I have to report that we finished up December with a little pile of cash to tuck away.
The extra cash amount we ended the month of December with?.......$1,281.68.

Income
We had $1,157.18 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in December totaled $124.50.  This brought us to our gain of $1281.68 for December.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Cable, Phone, Water were all approx. the same amounts as in November.

*  I spent under $300 for food/toiletries in December.  (This almost makes up for overshooting that budget by $180 last month).
*  I didn't buy any living room furniture yet so no spending there. 

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  $310 more was spent in cash over November's total of cash spending.  I blame Hubs paying cash for Christmas stuff.

*  The electric bill was $100 MORE than November's bill.  I blame the cold weather/turning the heat up.

*  We had unexpected pet related spending of $104 due to the dog having ear infections.
*  The credit card bill was almost $500 MORE than November's bill. I blame Christmas again.

 

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

The 2013 GRAND TOTAL.....
With all 12 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 is $24,033.60. 
 

We surpassed our goal by $4,033.60!  8-)))
 

Looking ahead for January and all of 2014......

*  I will continue to do this Savings Challenge and report in each month on how it is going.
 

*  I need to sit down with Hubs and have our Yearly Financial Meeting to go over how and what we spent on in 2013 and see where we need to cut back, change or expand the spending for 2014.  We'll break down the monthly spending and analyze how we did financially in each category.  Then we'll look ahead into 2014 and try to anticipate where we'll need to put our money toward and how much we can hope to save.

*  Figure out how much of the money saved in the year before's 2012 Savings Challenge didn't get spent in 2013, so it can now be tucked away permanently into a savings/investment instrument.  Going forward into 2014, any funds saved in 2013's Savings Challenge now become our mini-emergency fund for 2014.  Any emergencies that can't be paid for using extra income each month after the bills are all paid will be paid for out of this $24,033.60 Savings Fund.(Then when 2015 rolls around whatever was saved in 2013 and not spent on emergencies/extras in 2014 gets tucked away permanently into savings.)

*  January credit card bill will once again be large like December's(due to Christmas and travel expenses)but will be paid off this month.  No interest paid evah! ;-)

*  The quarterly garbage bill is due this month.

*  Semi-annual car insurance will be due in February so I need to keep an eye on credit card spending in January so we don't have to dip into the Savings Challenge funds to pay the insurance.  It's just a matter of watching WHEN we spent not so much NOT spending on something.

 

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?
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

MY January Spending Challenge

Lots of my online friends and bloggers I read are doing what is termed a "Fiscal Fast" or having a "No or Low Spend January".

Since January comes after the biggest spending Holiday in the year(Christmas and/or Hanukkah)AND since January is also the beginning of the year and everyone talks about turning over a new leaf/changing their bad habits, it makes sense to want to tighten up on the old purse strings for a bit.

What doesn't make sense is to do one of these challenges and then go back to wonton shopping once it's over or to stock up crazy amounts of items right before the Fast/Challenge before you have to stop spending so you can make it to the end of the time frame you have chosen.

I guess doing one of these challenges gets you into a better mental state in regards to money but does it really affect your bottom line for the year?

If you spend more before a challenge in order to make it through one, aren't you just spending the money you would have spent during the time when you aren't spending?
If you go without during a challenge and then go out and buy the things you denied yourself for that time period when it's over, how is that reducing your spending over the long haul?
In my mind, it's just moving when you spend/what you spend around in time.

What you need to do more than one of these challenges is to examine your habits and change the ones that are making you spend too much $.  

Changing what you expect in life in regards to "things, consumables and experiences" and then where and how much you spend your money on them is the REAL challenge.

That or finding a way to make more money if you don't bring in enough to satisfy your needs and wants.

Perhaps changing your spending(or rather delaying your spending)for a week or month CAN lead you to develop new money habits, which is what you really want.......better habits about money.

But I find that, unless you put Christmas spending on a credit card and are wary of the impending delivery in January of a c/c bill, January may Not be the best time to avoid spending money.

You can find some good deals after the Holidays so it might be a real good time to spend some extra money to stock up on things you need now rather than later.

Who hasn't gone to Target or some other store after Christmas to buy some clearance Holiday items?  Along with all the décor and gift wrapping stuff on deep discount, there are food and paper products(either with Holiday colors or themes or specialty foods only carried for the Winter holidays)and you can get them now to put away for use later or use now.  Personally, if I can get Christmas toilet paper for 1/2 of what I pay for plain old white toilet paper in January, I'll use it in February to October or whenever it runs out. ;-)

An if you have kids, there are clothing and toy deals to be had too!
Why, I spent a few minutes on New Year's Day buying some Christmas presents for 2014.
So do you think I am crazy for doing this?

Crazy like a fox is more like it.
The store in question only has a storewide clearance sale this week plus I had a $X off $XX coupon I could use, so I'd be crazy not to buy it now for half or more off what they will charge me come next November.  I don't go nuts buying Xmas presents ahead but do buy if I know I can use it and I have the space to store it until next Winter....and most importantly, I have the money to afford it now.

So I'm spending $30 in January instead of spending $65 in November.  If I were to save that $30 in an investment instrument for 10 months instead, would it grow to $65 by November?  No way.
Financially it makes more sense for me to spend it now.

So the best of luck to all of you during your no-spending challenge!
I hope it goes well and gets you to really re-examine how you handle your money because that's the only lasting goal if you really think about it.

But me?.....I'll be scooping up the deals I can use, if and when I find them in January.  8-))

Sluggy


 

Happy Rite-Aid New Year!

Had to spend or lose $16 in +Up Rewards Jan. 1st......

1 x R-A brand Pepto-Bismol w/20% discount=$3.19
1 x Light bulb on sale=$3.99
2 x Pantene Shampoo on sale=$7.00
1 x Northern TP RAIN CHECK=$5.37
1 x Reese's holiday candy 50% off=$2.14
SubTotal.....$21.69

Coupons Used
1 x $3/2 Pantene(Sunday P&G insert)=$3.00
2 x $1/1 Peelie Qs on Pantene bottles=$2.00
Coupon Total.....$5.00

$21.69-$5.00=$16.69
I used my expiring $16 in +Up Rewards and paid .69¢ OOP.
Then I received back $5 in new +Up Rewards($3 lightbulb, $2 shampoo).

The peelie Qs were a happy surprise but left me $2 short on spending all my expiring +Ups, so I grabbed that candy.  I should have made a new plan before I hit the check-out and bought something $2 worth that was a bit more useful.....sigh.  But it isn't like the chocolate won't get eaten....lolz

We are now good on tp and shampoo again after the last month's deals, though I do have 1 more rain check for tp.  I should find something else to spend +Up Rewards on going forward.

I'll probably curtail R-A shopping for a few months once all my +Ups are spent....which should be in the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully a sale comes up on Peroxide soon so I can just load up on that.

Sluggy




 

Jumping into the Spending for 2014

I've been asked how I spend so little on groceries/toiletries in a year in relation to how many people I am feeding/providing products for.

Well, playing "the drugstore" game at Rite-Aid helps mostly with the toiletries/hba/cleaning and paper products.

I also utilize other stores like grocery outlets, restaurant supplies, bakery outlets, discount outlets, gardening and farm stands, etc.  Basically anywhere I can get items for a lower price.  And yes, I am known to buy groceries while on vacation. 8-)

I cook from scratch a goodly amount.

I keep a price book so I know when to buy food(at the lowest price in the sales cycle)and I stockpile moderately and only what we will eat.

I ALWAYS grocery shop with a list and a calculator.  Nothing goes into my cart unless I have figured out what it's costing me.

I meal plan but I am also flexible about it.

Let's talk about that last point a bit, shall we?
Hubs and I went to the grocery store this afternoon.  We've been out of town so we needed to make a menu plan for the rest of this week and pick up some edible provisions as I haven't shopped in over a week.

I had a menu(sort of)planned out.....
I had cooked a pork roast marinated in whiskey and black pepper flavors before we left which #2 Son didn't eat, so that went on the dinner list as pork sandwiches with coleslaw(buy a bag of pre-shredded and make a slaw sauce to add).
I was going to do portabella mushroom caps w/a parmesan treatment and use some spaghetti pasta leftover as a side for a meal.
I had some kielbasa in the freezer I could make a meal of.
That was about all I'd come up with before we left....3 meals.

I didn't plan on buying lots of meat today but that is what was the best deal in the store. 8-)))

Once we got to the store I saw that bagged slaw was not on sale but whole cabbages were, so I bought a small head for $1.10 vs. a bag of slaw for $3.49.(I have carrots shreds I can add at home and I have a knife.lol)
I have rolls in the fridge I got on the discount bakery rack a couple of weeks ago I can use with these sammie's after steaming them to soften them up.
1 meal, Friday's, is done!

Over in the fish dept. there was a 1.91 lbs. container of Cod marked down to 50% off($6.99 lb. reg.).
This is enough for 2 meals for our family of 3 once I take it home and cut it up and portion it out into bags-1 to cook tomorrow, 1 for the freezer.  US caught wild cod for $3.50 per meal.
I had no intention of buying and cooking cod this week but because of this deal, cod is now on the menu.

Over in the meat dept. I found boneless/skinless chicken thighs marked down to .84¢ lb.  There were cheaper non boneless/skinless thighs also for about .70¢ lb. but those packages were large quantities and I don't have room in my tiny freezers so I "settled" for the .84¢ lb. ones.
Now instead of mushroom parmesan, chicken parmesan is on the menu for tonight.

Boneless Pork Loin was on special(today is the last day)for $1.78 lb. so I picked a small one up(7 lbs.)  Saturday, I'll cook some "chops" for dinner and slice the rest up to portion out, bag up and put into the freezer for later.

They also had reduced lamb chops(50% off)so I picked up 4 chops and will serve them on Sunday, so 1 of 7 meals for next week are bought as well.

And now my menu for the rest of the week plus Sunday is finished and the food bought.
Plus I have an extra fish meal, leftovers on the chicken meal for #2 Son to munch on, probably some pork sammies and fixings leftover and boneless pork chops enough for 2-3 more meals(depending on how many Hubs and #2 Son want at a sitting).
I also bought lunchmeat for sandwich lunches, green leaf lettuce, a loaf of bakery made rye bread-they made too much so it was $1.19 a loaf, and a large container of pumpkin spice creamer(that was a marked down whim for #2 Son and it rang up wrong so I got it free!).
The bread was a happy find.  Bread was on the list but not rye...until I found it for $1.19 a loaf. ;-)

I spent $41.01 and got 7-8 dinner main courses bought, plus a few other things.

If there are no good specials on meat next week, I'll just pull out the extra cod and 1 meal of pork chops I got and froze today,  then add in a few meatless dishes and the leftover chunk of meat lasagna I froze last month and another meat in the freezer to complete next week's menu.

Sluggy


 

Money Thoughts for 2014

Take control of your LIFE.....Don't let money control you, YOU make a plan and control the money.

Pay yourself first in 2014. (Take 10% off the top of your net income and put it away for when you won't have an income, because whether you like it or not, some day you won't.  It may hurt now, but you will be so glad later that you did this.)

Live intentionally and spend intentionally.

Enjoy your money, spend it on the priorities in your life, use it for good, spend it wisely, have a little fun, but put a little aside for emergencies.

Money is a tool.  Take care of your tools.

When 2015 rolls around, make sure you can say that you lived below your means in 2014.

Sluggy