The year is moving right along and so is our savings account. October proved to be more of a treat and less tricks with regards to our savings rate. I'm still trying to figure out ways to help cover the extras in life and let the earnings cover our needs, college, and keeping the house in good service and appealing. But until then, I'll just try being careful with all our spending. We were targeting $30,000 of spending to go towards
wards the following priorities.
College $21,000
Show Choir Trips $ 1,970
Graduation Party $ 900
Move In Weekend $ 175
Parents Weekend $ 175
Choir Concert Trips $ 350
Home Improvements $ 5,430
Total $30,000
DH had a good bonus month and both of us hit our 401K max which means less will come out of our checks through the rest of the year. We have hit our three major retirement savings goals-max out each of our 401K's (2) and fully fund the Roth (3). Here's where we targeted our savings and priority spending.
($0) Borrowed from Savings
$ 11,500 Deposit
$ 2,910 Show Choir Trip #1,#2, #3 + Nashville (we are over in this category by $940)
$ 100 College Deposit
$ 175 Parents weekend (though probably overspent on this in eating out and entertainment_
$ 8,600 Home Improvement (Over in this category by $3,170)
$23,285 Net Result
We have Christmas to budget for, and next year I swear I am doing an envelop system and tuck away the monthly, what should be the budget, amount. I am looking for those extra savings wherever I can, so hopefully, December won't crash out goals. It will really depend on DH's commissions as to how close we get to $30,000. We'll have to tuck $3,357.50 each month away as it stands now to hit a pure $30,000 savings/priority goal. If I had set actual money aside for Christmas this should have been less a stretch, but I am motivated to cut out stupid spending the rest of the year.
I was not without spend hearty movement in October. We really blasted the eating out budget by the time we celebrated our anniversary and had the college kid home. We made a small investment in future entertainment by buying the dual pass, which will get us free Omni Theater tickets for the duration of the year and discounted parking, making an afternoon or evening outing just $8. that should hopefully bust up the long winter particularly after DH's football season is over. What about you? Was October a fright or did you keep the spending goblins at bay?
Definitely a fright. We have a tax issue (not our fault, but an error in Turbo Tax due to tax regulation changing after we filed) which will be both very expensive and time consuming. Plus, a bunch of yearly bills due all at once, Sam's new bike & bike rack, etc.
ReplyDeleteI don't think November will be any better, as I'm pre-booking some travel for 2020. I did add $3500 to our mortgage (extra) + college for the kids this week, so we are making progress. Just not quite as quickly as I'd like.
Ouch-yes, that is a lot of extra things to spend on in a single month.
DeleteI thought you were Xmas shopping throughout the year tucking gifts away for then? That should help your saving rate as you shouldn't need to spend a lot more for Xmas heading into Nov./Dec.
ReplyDeleteWell, not gifts for everyone. I have a few things tucked away for the girls, but my stash of gifts was pretty depleted with birthdays over the year. There will be a significant chunk still to spend-we do spend too much for the holidays. Envelope next year!
DeleteI will tell you that I had a really hard time saving anything until I had all the kids offs the payroll. Just that fact that you are saving in your 401k and other accounts means you are doing great!
ReplyDeleteWe are fortunate to both have good jobs and income, and since about 20 years ago, have been able to put the max in my 401 K account so never saw the money anyway. that's not to say some months there is a heck of a lot of rice and pasta being served, but thank goodness we both like rice and pasta.
DeleteYou are still doing really well! I do highly recommend saving for Christmas in the first 8 months of the year - it is saving our butts right now since Christmas was fully funded by June and we took reduction in paychecks since August. We have more contracts but haven't increased our pay yet as want to build up our company bank account a bit more (I like to have 6 months of pay in there just in case, self employment is not for ninnies!)
ReplyDeleteWe budget for Christmas, but because we don't actually take the money out of the check book and set aside, we have several large expenditures at one time. I know it amounts to the same, just doesn't feel the same. I like your strategy of saving for it in six months.
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