Great news this morning: NT got confirmation that his current temp assignment is giving him a permanent job! He doesn't know the details of pay, but they know the minimum that he would take and have said it will be more than that for sure. He hasn't found out many other particulars either. One thing he stipulated is that he'd want a somewhat flexible schedule so he could go back to volunteering (tutoring disadvantaged youth), and they said that would be fine. He's going to continue temping as their receptionist until they get the new position all straightened out, so we know we'll have steady income from now on.
Now that I know we'll easily be able to stick with my accelerated payoff challenge, I'm thinking more about how some people on this site set money aside, and wanted to know how they do it. Those of you who build up funds for home improvement, travel, entertainment and emergencies, do you keep them as cash in envelopes, or separate offshoots of your checking accounts, or do you keep the money in your regular account but just pretend you can't use it?
I'm really hoping this job pays enough for my dream goal: paying for NT's school upfront. Well, by upfront I mean taking out student loans, but then paying off an equivalent extra amount on my consumer debt, so that we continue to pay down principal at the same rate and end up with less "bad" debt. Fingers crossed, though that's a bit more money than I expect him to be offered! :-)
CJ
NT's new job! + EFs and other funds
July 23rd, 2007 at 09:24 pm
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:27 pm 1185229671
Now we have an online MM that pays 5.3% and I also have a CD that pays 5.7%. I am not big on CDs as a whole right now but this promo rate came up right when I took a balance transfer to earn interest.
These days my efund is in a GMAC Money Market and I will be adding most of our more short-term savings into it. I just track in excel what is for each allocation. I have short-term savings for things due within a year, mid-term for our next cars and house repairs, and the efund (pretty much no plans to use it - ever). But as a whole I consider the account untouchable, with the exception of "x" and "y" earmarked for short-term and mid-term things. I find it far easier just to lump everything in one account with the best interest rate. But it is a lot more work to track it, admittedly.
I have often read you should keep your efund/savings somewhere where it is harder to access. I haven't followed that advice myself, but it is probably a good idea.
Congrats on the new job/income!