Well, that was random! I somehow got locked out of my dh's credit karma account, many months ago. I couldn't remember enough about it to call in (Don't remember which e-mail I used, etc.?)

So, I check another e-mail I rarely check, and he has an invitation to try out their new credit scores (3 different scores versus the one). On a whim, I tried to log in and got in the first time. Kind of disturbing since they told me the account was locked and he'd have to call, last time. Not so sure about that security, but glad I could get in.

YAY! It's been a great way to monitor our credit reports, for free. Not in detail, but to keep an eye out for anything unusual.

Meanwhile, I didn't get such an offer. Boo!

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Cash status for the year:

I have been trying tirelessly to get our cash to $30k, but the more I save, the more expenses we seem to have. Bah!

I do not like counting our eggs before they hatch, but if we get the usual gifts/bonuses for Christmas, I can cash flow the last $3k into our ROTH Efund (was our goal for the year - to add $3k more. Though I was going to wait for my tax refund to do that).

I can cash flow it, so might as well get that taken care of.

Which puts us right at $25k cash for the year, which was my secondary goal. Phew!!! As long as we have no cash emergencies between now and 12/31! (A lot to ask, huh? Though most anything we can card and pay next year, so I don't mind counting those eggs too much).

Put us at:

$5k Cash EFund
$10k ROTH Efund
$3k for Medical deductible 2011
$7000 Mid-term (house/car fund)
$0 short-term savings (breakeven for the year, as should be)
= $25k

Of course, I do have $1500 from tax refunds, expected.

For reference, I ended last year with almost $11k in the mid-term fund, but ended up using it all for medical expenses and budget shortfalls in 2009. Ugh!

SO, it feels real nice to start 2011 with almost $8k-$9k in that fund. Part of the problem was I over-funded medical (thought our expenses would be higher) so medical is funded already for 2011.

Dh paid just under $8k for his last car, and so I think it's a pretty good car replacement amount. (We've had the car for 9 years, and it is very low maintenance). The home maintenance on the horizon is pretty minor, so I am hoping we can make forward progress on this cash fund, this year.

I was going to hit the ROTHs hard this year, but I get paid 12/31 (instead of 1st like usual) and am cash flowing the ROTH cash contribution, first. From there, I am putting 100% of my savings in cash (2/1 and forward) until this whole surgery thing shakes out. Once I recover, I will resume ROTH contributions and focus on retirement.

Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.

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On the emergency fund, it feels good to get it to $15k. That is about 3-4 months of expenses for us. 3.5? Probably 4 months in an emergency (would cut some expenses in that case!)

$30k puts our entire cash savings at about 7 months' expenses, so that is my overall goal. If we had a catastrophe, we could significantly lower our car expectations and stuff like that. Basically, I would consider all of our cash in an emergency.