Moneystepper’s 2015 Savings Challenge Update #2
I’ve signed up for MoneyStepper’s 2015 Savings Challenge as a way to build up our net worth and savings. The two main goals of the challenge are:
- Grow Your Net Worth
- Save % of Your Net Income
For 2015 our family will do our best to increase our net worth by 25% and have a 15% savings rate. With March here, it’s time to reflect and look at how we did last month.
February Net Worth and Savings Results
While February was a quiet month work wise for me, we had plenty to do when it came to finances. We had two big bills that had some numbers that didn’t add up.
Hospital Bill Confusion
Since having our baby girl, we have been receiving plenty of paperwork from both the hospital and our insurance company. As I mentioned last month, we had a very general list of charges from the hospital for about $9,500.
We’ve now received what was paid from our insurance company and some of it doesn’t match what the hospital sent in. Specifically an approximately $4,000 charge from a doctor neither of us remember and who wasn’t listed earlier. According to the insurance we’re responsible for a nice chunk of that money.
I called the billing department the other week to get more information, but the snow storm delayed things. I called again and requested an itemized bill. We have no problem paying our portion, but I want to be sure it’s correct.
Up and Down Mortgage Payments
Every year we get a statement from our mortgage provider about the payments for the upcoming year. When our statement came in, I looked over it and discovered a problem – they included mortgage insurance with escrow calculations. We had received notice from FHA that we no longer had to pay it anymore so I called them up to get that fixed. Our monthly mortgage payments will now be about $50 less.
Once that was cleared up, my husband and I chatted about what to do with that extra money. We decided we’ll send in the same amount as this past year, but that small amount will be directed toward paying down the principle. I know it’s not much, but we feel better directing it toward finishing our mortgage just a tad sooner.
Saving Bit By Bit with Digit
Just as they promised, Digit has automatically saved me a little bit of cash as I went about my routine, sort of. Ironically knowing that Digit will shift some money away, I’ve been spending less. That’s a good thing for sure, but since Digit is based on your spending habits, the transfers have be in small amounts.
The Numbers Please…..
So with all of that out of the way here are our numbers for February:
- YTD Net Worth Improvement: 4.99%
- YTD Savings Rate: 10%
We’re chugging long right now, but I hope things will pick up starting next month with work so we can really amp up.
Thoughts on Our MoneyStepper Progress
I’d like to hear about you and your family about your goals and progress so far. Have things been going well? Have you had to deal with any set backs?
