this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

I mentioned during my January wrap-up that our "extra" money will be going towards our mortgage in an effort to reach 20% equity and eliminate our monthly PMI (private mortgage insurance) payments. So that leaves us figuring out what money really is extra. For example, if we ship off this month's surplus to the mortgage company, come May (when we'll drive to a neighboring state to visit my family) we may be wishing we still had that money.

The Tall One and I looked over last year's spending and figured out how much we spent in non-regular categories (travel, gifts, auto expenses, memberships and subscriptions to name a few). And none of this, 'well we probably won't spend that much on concert tickets this year, so don't include that', because, well, we just might.  And that amount is how much we need to have on hand before we sign anything extra over to our mortgage company. This is completely separate from our emergency fund.  Fans of Mary Hunt call it a Freedom Account, I just call it another ING subaccount.

I've already started an account to save for Christmas gifts (I'll increase how much goes into it each month to account for other gift needs that will come up) and for auto expenses, so I'll open up a third one for everything else. Once that account hits a certain number, I'll feel comfortable throwing extra money at something.

Want to earn $25 for opening your own ING Savings Account?  Head over to I've Paid Twice For This Already, she's hosting some referral links for me. I earn $10 when you open an account using one of these links.