save 3 months salary

As soon as I get my tax refund, I’ll be just over halfway there to achieving this goal!

Seems like this process has been a whole two steps forward, one step back sort of deal, where I get some money put aside but then I dip into it for one thing or another. Most recently, I took a vacation. But it was my first vacation in five years, so I can’t really feel bad about it. (Actually I feel pretty good about it. It was great! :) But I’ll continue saving up for this and I hope to have at least like 6500 if not more by the end of this year.

Well, contrary to my previous entry here, I will not be at $6k by the end of the year through my ordinary monthly contributions—only about $4k. Long story short is I spent my tax refund, buying a new computer for my grandmother and also moving into a new apartment. Oh well. Both of those things seem worth it. :)

So, with my anticipated tax refund (which I did not really expect! I had no idea my W4 was that out of whack with my deductions) and the amount that I’m saving each month, plus what I already have in savings, I hope to be at the $6k mark by the end of the year (assuming I don’t wind up moving into a new apartment or have any unexpected expenses). So that will put me at nearly 2/3 of my goal by the end of the year.

Opened it yesterday! I now have an honest-to-god passbook account, complete with tiny little cardstock folder in a plastic holder to get stamped when I come in to make deposits. I can just transfer cash from checking with online banking, but the passbook is kind of fun. :)

Yesterday I worked some more on my 2008 budget. I know I forgot some periodic expenses, like when I’ll have to kennel my cat at the vet’s because I’m going out of town, but I put all the excess in the “to savings account” category. So I have a plan to work on this goal.

My first step to accomplishing this goal will be to open a savings account with my bank. I plan to take care of that this morning.

I also need to figure out what dollar amount I mean by “three months’ salary” in order to mark this done. I don’t literally mean “six exact paychecks.” I think I’m just going to say $10k. That would pay three months’ worth of rent and bills, plus extra left over for, like, groceries and cat food. I think it’ll take me well into 2009 to accomplish this goal, especially since I hope to take a vacation abroad later in 2008, which will eat up a chunk of savings.