January 2016 Savings Report

Every month I detail out how much I was able to put aside towards savings.

This report has done amazing things for my motivation and my attitude as I am able to see how much progress I was able to make every single month. And then to look back over a period of several months to see how much all the little amounts have added up.

I started tracking my savings back in February 2015, when I was really discouraged and felt like I wasn’t making much progress financially.

I was in the middle of paying for my husband’s education with cash, but I only could see savings being built up over a couple of months, only to disappear with the next tuition payment.

Through tracking my savings every month, using this Savings Tracker (which you can get for Free), I started to realize just how powerful making your money progress visual, toward whatever goal you are working on, can be.

You can actually SEE the progress being made, even when you don’t FEEL like you are making any. You become more willing to work on your budget, just to see if there was any extra money to put towards your goal.

I found my motivation to hustle come back and with the blessing of picking up a second job, we were able to pay tuition in one chunk without demolishing all of the money saved for annual bills, like insurance or the emergency fund, for the first time in a couple of years. Talk about a little of breathing room.

Regardless of whether you are working towards paying off debt or building up savings, I would recommend finding a way to make your progress visual. It will be life-changing.

I start out by sharing the sources of extra income, above and beyond what I need for any regular bills. I have included money that is designated to go into savings for annual bills as well as money trimmed from regular expenses.

Notes:

• I received $41.50 from my blog this month, which was exciting as I have now made more in 2016 than I did in 2015!
• All the money I had saved up for my car, has been used up in car repairs, so I have decided to remove Car Replacement from one of my savings goals. Replacing my car is not the top of my priority list for this year and I have realized that it will take much more than a couple hundred dollars a month to ensure I have enough money to both repair my car and to save up to actually replace the car.
• The School running total amount dropped significantly this month, compared to last month, as another tuition payment was due. However, I am grateful for God’s provision and that there was enough money in the the School Savings to pay for the whole tuition payment in one chunk. We did not need to go on the payment plan or wipe out the rest of our savings, for the first time in a couple of years. Such a blessing!
• Finishing building the savings for the last part of my husband’s school is the main priority of my savings goals. However, I did leave the Emergency savings on my goal list because I expect to have the money for school within the next couple of months and will be jumping into building up my emergency fund at that point.
• I have cut back working on the weekends and the evenings, as part of my Year of Rest. I am working on a couple ideas to start bringing in more income via the blog to help compensate for the fewer hours at my day job.

I was surprised to see the Savings Total be so high this month, even with working less, but I am not complaining.

Again, head over here to get the Savings Tracker for yourself. You can customize it to meet your budget/needs and it will really help you as you are working towards your savings goal.

If you would like to read my other Savings Reports, you can go here.