We have savings baked into the budget. I’d rather not get into specific numbers, but in terms of percentages we’re currently at:
Savings: 46.10%
Reserves: 5.55%
Total: 51.65%
Savings is probably more accurately described by “investments”, and reserves is money that is put aside for a specific use in the future. For example, home maintenance or vacation, etc. Savings includes dividends that are reinvested.
Having said that, we’re still down in terms of net worth for the year.
Spoke with my dentist the other day about my concerns about the cost of the tooth implant skyrocketing. He gave me a quote in April. His front staff gave me a quote about $1000 higher in August. He confessed they always quote high on the front end. He did say he wouldn’t know until he does the scan, which will probably happen soon and only be a couple hundred dollars. That’ll be covered by our insurance…eventually.
So, all that is to say, that big expense will be in 2023, and not affect our savings for this year.
Still, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we aren’t going to make it. We have a low income and think I overestimated how much we could save. We had lots of unexpected expenses this year. Close to $10K of them. . Oh well, maybe next year.
Thank-you @anomalily I hope the tooth implant is cheaper too. The quotes were $3700 and $4900 CAD!
Some of those “unexpected expenses” were self inflicted. We chose to pay $2000 for two custom made raised beds and the dirt to fill them.
We chose to prune and cull trees on the property. Though they were hanging over rooftops, so it was really a safety thing for hurricane season. That was another $2400.
But we hadn’t planned on replacing the hot water heater ($1500), and other expenses.
So yeah, it’s been a bit discouraging. But I am preparing for next year now. Onward and upward!
Hello. It’s me. I am about as late to the 22 in 2022 party as it’s possible to be, but I think it would be good for me to be here. I won’t be saving 22% of my income unfortunately, but I am hoping to get my savings to £2200 before year’s end, which is going to require me to spend as little as possible for the next month. (Luckily I don’t do Christmas, so that will help).
At time of writing, I have £1832 squirreled away between Plum, and my savings account. And my next lot of income will be £345 on around the 5th of Dec, then some more (which covers all my expenses, with a bit left over), on the 17th. So, if I spend, I won’t make the £2200 goal, unless I also manage to sell some things on Ebay or whatever (which I also badly need to do).
Anyway. It’s squeaky bum time. Am hoping to be able to lock in this not spending and instead saving habit as firmly as possible. And also soon help the clearing, and the saving, by selling.
So I posted in Jan about tentatively joining but I never officially joined here. However I track in my journal (somewhat sporadically) and I did it! Probably in October, but possibly in November (I have not been paying super close attention to save my sanity the past few months). My Dec 1 check in on my own journal revealed this to date:
2022 savings to date is 33% of gross income; I guess it is safe to say I will meet the 22% challenge as well as the $20,022 challenge, because there is no possible way for me to be below 22% by Dec 31, even if I contributed 0% more towards savings and got a full 80 hours per pay period (2 weeks) of pay for my December paychecks.
Forced saving (in the form of mortgage principal, extra $ put towards mortgage principal, and HSA, which can’t be changed after open enrollment) and automatic saving (auto deposit to IRA and CapOne360, as well as 401(k) contributions (currently at 10% but can be changed at any time) just did the job.
Next year my savings rate will be lower.
(I did say that last year too though. Last year savings on Dec 31 were 27% of gross, though, so I guess I didn’t follow through on the reducing savings, haha. I didn’t do any extra principal towards my mortgage last year, which is the bulk of the difference at 5k. I will likely stop that for next year because at this point it is stupid to do so, no matter how delightful paying off the mortgage in 15 years sounds rather than 30, because my interest rate is below 3%. It makes more sense to put that $ in CDs at this point! And my hours will (hopefully) be lower next year and consequently so will my pay.)
I did it! Just added up everything squirreled away in various accounts, and by playing possum this month, I have managed to save over £2200! I am stunned. And happy!
Since this was a last-month effort, am not sure I deserve stickers for the whole year, but for my reward, will aim to carry this playing possum business forward, and keep saving what I can in 2023. Go me!
I have no way of figuring out how much we saved. $2100 CAD for sure. Our two accounts where we put money usually gets spent on the house or health/taxes/insurance. So while we may have saved money in those accounts throughout the year, we also spent money! The net result might be a savings of 22% of our income, but I doubt it.
**2022 total income: $78,694.96
2022 savings: $6216.94
2022 401k+vested match: $8146.72
2022 individual (Roth and SEP) retirement savings: $3500 2022 total savings $17,863.66 2022 total savings percent: 22% (I couldn’t get my haphazard savings to equal the goal again if I tried)
. Oh well, maybe next year.
