July Savings Tracker

Well, it's official.  I do a LOT better with a $500/month budget than a $400/month budget.  I know, I know.  There are people doing a much tighter budget than I am.  I applaud them.  I have a very difficult time with what I have planned.  I'm not proud of it, but it's the truth.  Right now working to get the townhome boxed up for our move to Phoenix soon is getting me whooped.  I'm just happy to continue saving!  Truthfully... don't know how much we'll be able to take with us or how much I'll be able to stockpile soon, so it's pretty much becoming "buy what you can eat and eat down your frozen/refrigerated stockpile" time.

So, here's the breakdown for my July:

July-at-a-Glance
Total Shelf Cost:		$    996.39		Monthly Budget:		$           500.00
Total Coupon Savings:		$    197.95		Variance:		$            (32.74)
Total Savings:		$    393.72		Tax Paid		$             18.67
Amount Paid (after rebates):		$    532.74		Rebates Owed:		$                    -
Savings Rate:		39.51%		Amount Paid (exc. Rebates)		$           532.74

Here's my year-to-date breakdown:

Month	Shelf	Coupons	Discounts	Savings $	My Price	Savings Rate	Goal	Variance	Tax Paid	Tax Rate	WIC
January	$1,199.97	$   207.94	$   253.54	$   461.48	$   738.49	38.46%	$   750.00	$     11.51	$23.67	3.21%	$  34.00
February	$   796.02	$   173.30	$   177.89	$   351.19	$   444.83	44.12%	$   400.00	$    (44.83)	$10.89	2.45%	$  34.00
March	$   872.67	$   106.90	$   212.75	$   319.65	$   517.36	36.63%	$   400.00	$  (117.36)	$16.26	3.14%	$  34.76
April	$   808.54	$   131.75	$   106.60	$   238.35	$   521.64	29.48%	$   400.00	$  (121.64)	$12.32	2.36%	$  35.55
May	$   861.76	$   130.66	$   177.27	$   307.93	$   519.71	35.73%	$   400.00	$  (119.71)	$20.64	3.97%	$  34.12
June	$   897.56	$   131.76	$   183.11	$   314.87	$   546.67	35.08%	$   400.00	$  (146.67)	$10.10	1.85%	$  36.02
July	$   996.39	$   197.95	$   195.77	$   393.72	$   532.74	39.51%	$   500.00	$    (32.74)	$18.67	3.50%	$  36.36
TOTALS	$ 6,432.91	$ 1,080.26	$ 1,306.93	$ 2,387.19	$ 3,821.44	37.11%	$ 3,250.00	$   (571.44)	$ 112.55	2.95%	$ 244.81

Holy Crud I'm behind!!!!

Yeah, well that's what happens when you don't have net... you get behind on your blog.  I just looked back and noticed that I didn't put up any savings tracker info since February and it's about to be July!  Wow.  I can't believe that!

Well, since I'm back for now, I'm gonna correct that situation.  I say for now because I have wonderful news!  My family and I are going to be shaking the dust off our Texas heels and head out west in the next two months!  I'm so excited!  We'll be moving to Arizona!  I use lots of exclamation points because you really can't see the huge smile on my face!

I'm reviewing my months and there's one common element - I have a difficult time sticking to a food budget.  Don't get me wrong, some months are better than others, but none of them have been right on target. Once Mr. Newbie officially starts his new job, which will be about a month before me and PreK Newbie gets to move out there too, I'm going to have to raise our spending budget a bit (and we'll have the means to do so and not hurt the rest of the family or our Debt Snowball) so that I'm no longer in arrears.  Of course, we'll be living in a hotel for a long while and I don't know if it'll be an "extended stay" type place with a kitchenette *and* I'll have to be getting rid of a lot of our stockpile because we really won't be able to take most of our possessions, but despite these factors it's definitely a move up for our family as a whole.

Here's how the numbers look so far:

Month	Shelf	Coupons	Discounts	Savings $	My Price	Savings Rate	Goal	Variance	Tax Paid	Tax Rate	WIC
January	$1,199.97	$207.94	$   253.54	$   461.48	$   738.49	38.46%	$   750.00	$   11.51	$23.67	3.21%	$  34.00
February	$   796.02	$173.30	$   177.89	$   351.19	$   444.83	44.12%	$   400.00	$  (44.83)	$10.89	2.45%	$  34.00
March	$   872.67	$106.90	$   212.75	$   319.65	$   517.36	36.63%	$   400.00	$(117.36)	$16.26	3.14%	$  34.76
April	$   808.54	$131.75	$   106.60	$   238.35	$   521.64	29.48%	$   400.00	$(121.64)	$12.32	2.36%	$  35.55
May	$   861.76	$130.66	$   177.27	$   307.93	$   519.71	35.73%	$   400.00	$(119.71)	$20.64	3.97%	$  34.12
June	$   897.56	$131.76	$   183.11	$   314.87	$   546.67	35.08%	$   400.00	$(146.67)	$10.10	1.85%	$  36.02
TOTALS	$ 5,436.52	$ 882.31	$ 1,111.16	$ 1,993.47	$ 3,288.70	36.67%	$ 2,750.00	$ (538.70)	$ 93.88	2.85%	$ 208.45

February Savings

I finally got all my receipts together for February. Here's how I did:

February-at-a-Glance
Total Shelf Cost:	$ 796.02	Monthly Budget:		$ 400.00
Total Coupon Savings:	$ 173.30	Variance:		$ (44.83)
Total Savings:	$ 351.19	Tax Paid		$ 10.89
Amount Paid (after rebates):	$ 444.83
Savings Rate:	44.12%	Amount Paid (exc. Rebates)		$ 444.83

Wow! I only went $44.83 over what I had wanted to spend. That was awesome - especially considering that last month's budget was twice as large as this month. I figured out my secret - I need to take out the money for my spending as soon as possible and NOT use my debit card. The reason I went over was because I did use my debit card. The reason it was only $44.83 over was because I took the money out and used my debit card in extreme cases.

Otherwise, here's how I'm doing so far this year:

Month	Shelf	Coupons	Discounts	Savings $	My Price	Savings Rate	Goal	Variance
January	$ 1,199.97	$ 207.94	$ 253.54	$ 461.48	$ 738.49	38.46%	$ 800.00	$ 61.51
February	$ 796.02	$ 173.30	$ 177.89	$ 351.19	$ 444.83	44.12%	$ 400.00	$ (44.83)
TOTALS	$ 1,995.99	$ 381.24	$ 431.43	$ 812.67	$ 1,183.32	40.72%	$ 5,200.00	$ 4,016.68

January Savings

Like a lot of people, I downloaded the Savings Tracker from The Coupon Project last December. I wasn't sure if I was going to use it or not, but I figured at least I'd have it if I chose to try it. Well, I did choose to try it. For some odd reason I decided to keep all of my January receipts. This is so not like me. I normally shred them about as quickly as I get them, but I was glad I didn't a few times last month. For example, most of the Walgreen's in my area have decided to alter their Catalina coupon generator so that you don't get your dollars off your next order register rewards if you use coupons to lower your out of pocket costs. I called the Catalina corporation to find out I should've gotten the rewards and by giving them the receipt numbers, I got them in the mail. It was totally worth it! Now I have a small binder that only has receipts, gift cards, and my cash. This way I can keep them all in one place.

So, this is how I did for January:

January-at-a-Glance
Total Shelf Cost:			$ 1,199.97
Total Coupon Savings:			$ 207.94			Variance:		$ (738.49)
Total Savings:			$ 461.48			Tax Paid		$23.67
Amount Paid (after rebates):			$ 738.49			Rebates Owed:		$ -
Savings Rate:			38.46%			Amount Paid (exc. Rebates)		$ 738.49

Wow, what a difference coupons and strategic shopping can make! I saved over $400 for the month alone! These amounts were including the times I gassed up the car, purchasing newspapers, and dining out. Really, it's not so bad at all! I'm pleased with these results and hope the numbers get bigger, which I think they will.