I did it!

I paid the last monster preschool bill. Woohoo.

& that temporary expense is long gone. Phew.

Anyway, it worked out rather well. Ms. Preschool called me yesterday and asked if I could bring the kids T/Th in June.

I looked at the calendar and that would be one less day to pay than M/W.

Woohoo.

So I wrote a check for $560 this month. Not so bad.

I peeked what this meant for July. With the switch back to M/W there will be an extra day to pay for July. & it is a long month. BUT one week is free (owners on vacation) and BM is only attending for half the month.

So July will be $420.

Average month is $600.

I upped my short-term savings to $1k in July, and going forward (diverted $100 of the savings).

I also considered adding $100 to our IRAs in July. I was just setting up everything in Quicken.

I decided to hold off. June is going to be another expensive month with our camping trip, Father's Day, our big date night, etc. July will be a little pricey with Birthdays (maybe). I figure I would earmark the $100-$200 saved for birthdays and camping. Seemed fair.

But August is it. I still haven't decided if I will fund IRAs or bulk up mid-term savings a bit. Or both.

Decisions, Decisions.

I am inclined to bulk up the savings instead. We've got about 12% going to retirement and majorly lack in the "big purchase" savings department. We have for years, but not sure how much longer our luck will hold out.

Then again I had been toying with the idea of doubling our IRA contributions now and doubling them in January (if possible).

We could also commit the entire $200 monthly to cash savings and then know we will have $300/month for IRAs, come 2010 when LM graduates preschool.

I think that is probably our best best since our retirement seems well enough on track. I just have a large urge to save more aggressively for retirement. But I don't want to do that at the cost of our shorter-term financial health.

It's probably the one area we have floundered with, since living on one-income. We haven't saved much cash. Last year I was able to build a decent emergency fund, but things have slowed. We don't have near enough cash outside that when you consider our appliances are aging, our cars aren't getting any younger, our house will need painting soon, the fence needs to be replaced (builders put in crap), etc., etc., etc.

Of course the major reason things have slowed is because we have had 2 in preschool, for a good 9 months or so. So I am optimistic to get back to a much faster savings clip.

July it will be nice to have a little more cash, but August will just be divine with that extra $300. Woohoo!