2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....May 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 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 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $40,000 this year, $10K more than my goal for last year.

I have reconsidered and changed my Goal from $40K to $38K for 2016.  With some things coming down the pike this year I thought it prudent to back up my Goal a couple of thousand.  8-)

On to the May report.....

I have posted my May End of Month $38K $AVING$ 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 $3,166.66.

I have to report that we finished up May with a less than stellar amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of May with?.......$1,831.49

Income

We had $1666.14 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in May totaled $165.35.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts.

This brought us to our gain of $1831.49
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this May, 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.
*  The May electric bill was actually down $82.67 from April's bill.  Less heat means less electricity used and the a/c isn't being used much yet.
*  Water use was down $21.35 from last month.  Hubs didn't spend time flushing the hot water heater in May so that may account for the decrease in that bill.
* The gas card spending was down $65.78 from April.  More gas charges were charged on the Master Card account instead.
*  The direct medical spending was up $16.17 due to my DME company not sending a monthly bill on time.  I am sure they'll figure this out and send it.  Can I say their billing dept. is a disaster? ;-)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The cash withdrawals/spending was up $70 from last month.  I don't quite understand that is wasn't HIGHER since we spent $500 of our cash on our road trip.  I figured it would be more?
*  The credit card bill was up $103.09 from last month.  If you figure extra gas spending was put on this c/c rather than the gas card, the spending here is about what it was in April.  All but 1 hotel stretch(which I prepaid on last month's c/c bill)will be coming in June on THAT bill. bleh.
*  Hubs put the humidifier filter purchase on his Discover card so we had charges on that in May.
*  I am paying the Garbage bill quarterly this year so $84 was due this month.
*  $100 school deposit for the 2016-2017 terms for College Boy was due.
*  We had to pay $300 OOP for our HVAC compressor replacement(labor only).  Hoping to get that reimbursed from the manufacturer as they sent us a bad unit and spending to replace it is their fault.
*  Between a year of house insurance and the title transfer for the LA house we are out $1672.27.

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

With 5 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $17,436.84.

Final thoughts on May---

May turned out to be a very expensive month for us.
No irregular bills due this month but over $2K in irregular/unexpected bills happened in May.
I am glad given our expenses this month we were still able to sock away something into savings.

But compared to May 2015 we put $557.29 less into savings this May. 8-(
It could have been worse I suppose.
.
We have $17,436.84 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $20,563.16 left to save over the next 7 months at this point to reach our goal of $38K saved.  That averages out to $2,937.60 a month for the rest of the year.
In 2015 we put $22,572.01 into savings in those 7 months so it's possible.  With our increased costs looming ahead for the rest of the year, it just might happen.
Stay tuned to find out which way it goes!

THOUGHTS going forward into June----
I don't even want to think about how much June is going to cost!  Trip spending on the c/c due in June is over $2,500 alone.  Then my food budget will probably go bust as we add 2 adults to the household.  Add in that electric and water costs will rise as well due to them.
On the good side of things, there are no irregular bills due in June.  August and September however will see large irregular bill amounts due(house and car insurance and property taxes).

Good things September is our other 3rd paycheck month, huh? 8-)

Darn you "life" for making me spend so much money and not save it all! lolz

So how was your May financially?
  

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

As we go forward into 2016 why not make this new year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
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

Lincoln's Maternal Mystery Solved

I mentioned that on our Spring road trip last year we stopped by a museum in Bardstown, Kentucky on our way to Louisiana.

This little museum, being in Kentucky, had lots of Lincoln memorabilia(the wooden door off the cabin in which he was born or lived in, etc.), as well as some genealogical info.....

Once you get beyond Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, it's all conjecture and theory as to his maternal grandparents.
There are/were 3 different theories on whom Lincoln's mother's parents were........

1. Abraham and Sarah Hanks of Campbell County VA
2. James Hanks and Lucy Shipley
3. Lucy Hanks and Unknown(born Illegitimate)

That museum in KY went with the James Hanks and Lucy Shipley theory.

I could expound upon each of these theories and bore and mystify you with the tangled genealogies of each but I won't.  It's too early in the morning to make your brains ache. ;-)

I tended to go with theory #3 as it made the most sense, knowing the familial associations of the Hanks family.

It is well known that Lucy Hanks' sister, also named Nancy(like Lucy's daughter), had an illegitimate son, Dennis Friend Hanks.  So there is precedent that the Hanks clan was "comfortable" with out of wedlock births.
Not so the society, as Lucy Hanks was brought up on fornication charges in 1789(5 years after she gave birth to Nancy)in Mercer County, KY.  Having sex outside of marriage at that time was a criminal offense.  This shows a pattern that Lucy Hanks was sexually active outside of marriage.

There is also anecdotal evidence that Lincoln himself thought himself illegitimate and he made veiled comments to his law partner, William Henry Herndon, on this subject.

* Incidentally, I am also related to William Henry Herndon, as he is my 3rd cousin 5 x removed.  William's mother was Rebecca Day Herndon.  Rebecca's parents were Edward Day, Sr. and Ursula Sublett Day.  Ursula Sublett was the sister of my 5 x Great Grandmother, Martha Sublett.  But that's a story for another time.

There is another far flung "theory" that Nancy Hanks was born into the Tanner family and raised by Abraham Enlow of Rutherford, NC.

Seems everybody and their brother over the past 100 years has wanted to be related to Abraham Lincoln.
With the exception of me it seems. ;-)

Anyway, you can throw all these theories out the window now.

A mitochondrial DNA study has been performed in the past year to determine Lincoln's maternal line.

Since Nancy Hanks Lincoln has no living direct descendants(let alone any descendants on her direct maternal line, as that Hanks/Lincoln branch died out when the last living descendant of Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln, their 2 x Great Grandson, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died in 1985), matrilineal descendant tests had to be conducted.  This requires testing of other branches of the Hanks family who share the same female line and thus the same mtDNA.

Known and proved descendants of other female relatives descended from the Hanks family were tested, including Lucy Hank's other illegitimate daughter, Sarah Hanks(Nancy's sister)and Lucy's three daughters with Henry Sparrow.  Also tested were the two daughters of Ann Lee Hanks, Nancy Hanks and Mary Hanks.  If Lucy was also a daughter of Ann Lee Hanks, then these two supposed sisters would carry the same haplogroup, and they did.
All the descendants of these women belong to a fairly rare haplogroup called X1c.

These results were compared to matrilineal testing done on the mitochondrial results of the Shipley family(the theory that Nancy Hank's mother was born Lucy Shipley).  This line belongs to the H haplogroup, putting to bed forever the theory that Nancy Hanks was the daughter of James Hanks.
Lucy Hanks was born a Hanks and Nancy was born out of wedlock and her father will never be known.

You can read a synopsis of the Nancy Hanks Lincoln Study HERE.  It also shows a descent chart to help you keep everybody straight as the Hanks family tended to name many of their female children Nancy.
DNA has proved to be a powerful, unequivocal tool in solving, yet unsolvable genetic mysteries.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Clearing out and Reorganizing the house/my life" Edition......

We are still in full on cleaning/clearing Mode here.  I am into my second Salvation Army donation gathering and most of the furniture has been moved and/or repurposed and/or gotten rid of.  There is still a large amount of moving to do of things like clothing and a few tubs of toiletries.  I think another giveaway will help clear up space in that regard. lolz
I've started tackling the garage as well.  Not so much clearing it out and throwing things away but just organizing it better.

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Mixed Veg.
2. Monday--Fish, Garlic Mashed Taters, Cauliflower
3. Tuesday--Pecan Chicken, Corn Casserole, Collards
4. Wednesday--Shrimp Alfredo, Salad
5. Thursday--Tacos, Corn on cob
6. Friday--Salmon, Leftover Veg Dishes
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Mixed Veg.
2. Monday--Fish, Cole Slaw, Brussels Sprouts
3. Tuesday--Pecan Chicken, Corn Casserole, Carrots
4. Wednesday--Leftovers(I had Meatloaf slice and Veggies, Hubs had ?)
5. Thursday--Leftovers(Hubs had Spaghetti I had a Hamburger)
6. Friday--Stuffed Shells
7. Saturday--Tacos

7 meals cooked at home(really, we are so over eating out right now after this trip), 5 new dishes cooked and 2 nights of leftovers.  Most of what I planned got made but sometimes on different nights.
A ground beef purchase meant more beef meals and the seafood/fish will happen next week.

As for my grocery spending..... I spent a total of $93.84 on two trips to the store last week.  This put me a bit over for May with my food spending.  I am happy to be close if I can't be under.  ;-)

I have spent $304.32 for May as I noted to my end of month food spending post yesterday.  Onward to June I say!

Leftovers going into this week......

Here is this week's "food plan"--

1. Sunday--Beef Pie(using up leftover ground beef)
2. Monday--Hot dogs, Burgers, Corn, Beans
3. Tuesday--Tempura Zuchinni and Shrimp
4. Wednesday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Veg
5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Salmon, Squash Casserole
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked and 2 meal of leftovers or "Whatever You Can Find" and 0 meals of Eating Out.
I am sure I'll burn out of cooking so much soon and will succumb to Eating Out again.  Maybe next week when Daughter is slated to arrive.

What I need to buy for this menu.....mushrooms, zuchinni, burger rolls, squash and maybe hamburger(I've used up what I bought last week, but I may have some in the freezer.).
And we are in need of more milk and bread.  Shouldn't be too much food spending this week unless I hit on a special or two.  ;-)

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?

Sluggy

2016 Food & Toiletries Spending......May Update

* I've closed out the May books a couple of days early as I am done shopping.  Anything bought in the next 3 days will come out of June's funds. *

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2016.

I have posted May's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2016 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly 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(3 at home this month). No kids under 20.

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

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $7.00
Value  $24.94
Savings 71.93%


RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/gift card  $27.97
Value  $27.97
Savings 100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $42.78
Qs/Ads $24.22
Value  $67.00
Savings  36.15%

VACATION BUYS-Multiple stores but I am grouping all these purchases together.
OOP  $93.29
Value  $127.68
Savings  27%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $161.25

Qs/Ads  $149.89

Value  $311.14

Savings  48.17%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bakery Outlet at 71.93% and Weis at 48.17%.  My WORST savings rate was what I bought on our trip at 27%.  While I didn't use coupons or get deals necessarily on items bought on the trip I did buy things that were a good deal and/or I can't get here in PA.  Although the savings rate wasn't very high for these items I am ok with that.

I shopped at 8 different stores this past month(counting my trip buys at Target, HEB, Walmart and World Market).

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$304.32

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$254.41

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$558.73

TOTAL Savings of...................................45.53%
TOTAL Savings without Rite-Aid...........42.66%

Value of items excluding Rite-Aid bought ones was $530.76
Rite-Aid goods brought home totaled $27.97.

This closes out the May food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into May wanting to do a $300 food budget for the month.  I ended up going over by $4.32.
That's not bad.

I gave College Boy grocery money for while we were away but he ended up spending it on gas for his car to get to work and take-out food so I will tuck that spending under the trip expenses rather than the food budget.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went down by 14.97% in May to 45.53% compared to April's 60.50% savings average.   Still an acceptable savings rate to me as we still over 40%.

We did end the month by emptying out more freezer space and a few pantry goods as well even though we were gone for half of May.

With 5 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $1494.54 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $298.91 per month spent.  The average in April stood at $297.56 per month spent to that point in 2016 so we are up $1.35 spent per month from last month's year-to-date tally. Compared to this point in the year to 2015's totals we have spent $255.09 less on food and toiletries in 2016.

It would be so nice to continue this less spending trend back down below $4K for the year.  Now that my daughter is moving back home for a couple of years I know this low amount of spending on food will not continue and we most probably won't get under $4K spent on it all for 2016.
And I am ok with that.

LOOKING AHEAD To June 2016.........
College Boy s home and eating and drinking up what I bring home faster than I can buy it.
sigh.

I will continue with my usual shopping ways in June....buy loss leaders or great deals which we can use.  I will try to empty some more freezer space and eat down from the pantry as well this month.
As Daughter and BF arrive in early June, I can't even hazard a guess on what I'll end up spending on food this month.  I'll just stick a number here of $400 in food spending for June and see where we end up.  It will probably be North of that amount but I haven't a clue at this point just how far off the mark this number will be.
So be sure to come back at the end of June and see just how much of a disaster my Food Budget turns out to be.

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

May's Eating Out Total

I have posted out Eating Out/Take-Out Totals for May HERE.

Most of our spending on Eating Out was while we were on our 2 week trip to Louisiana, obviously.
I bought 2 Subway subs while Hubs was on a work conference at the beginning of May so I didn't have to cook while he was gone.
Go me.
That $12.72 for the subs was all the non-trip eating out or take-out we bought in May.

Of the 12 nights spend at hotels/motels we only paid for 1 breakfast(Waffle House).  All other hotels supplied Breakfast with the cost of the room.
We only ate Lunch 7 of the 12 days(plus I had a chicken biscuit on a day we didn't have Lunch to tied me over until Dinner that night).
12 Dinners were eaten, 3 of which were treated for us. 8-)  There was also a turkey sandwich consumed one evening when Hubs and shared a pizza and didn't realize until it was too late that the pizza was a single serve type. Oops! lol
We also treated the Daughter to 5 Dinners/Lunches so that boosted the out of pocket paying for an extra person.
There was also 2 trips to breweries where drinks were consumed which gets added to this budget.
And add in the cost of about 40 cups of coffee for Hubs(from various places)while on the road.
Seriously.
40 cups.

Now this doesn't begin to count all the liquid refreshment that was brought home to be consumed later.

All in all we did pretty well keeping this expense down.
Yes, we did splurge and have a few $50+ dinners but most meals came in at around $24.
And compared to our trip in 2015, we spent $168.52 less in 2016 on eating on vacation.

Sluggy