Holy Hell, It's May

I've been yearning for summer since, well, last summer, but perhaps even a bit more than usual because for the first time in my life, I'll have real paid vacation time!  I've had paid vacation time in the past, but I was always a part-time employee, so could only recoup 20 hours worth per week.  This time, I'm going to take a long vacation (more details later), and work is going to pay me to do it!  I love work, they are the best.

Here's an un-subtle hint where I'm going

With May, we also have another blogathon!  I've been a bit lax in posting lately, but now I have the challenge of writing something for every day in May.  Hopefully these will be quality posts, but you may also see me slowly lose my mind and descend to the dark place with I just make lists of things that I like or don't like.

Or I'll just start adding a whole lot of pictures

My goal for the month of May is to save.  I'm pretty sure that was my goal for April too, but I don't know if I actually wrote it down, or if it was just in my head.  My savings goals are threefold:

1. I need to save up some more for that vacation I mentioned
2. I need to contribute to my Roth IRA for the year since I really haven't added anything and it's already May!
3. I need to replenish my savings account and save up enough for car insurance in June

I recently reconfigured my savings account structure as well.  It's still a work in progress, so we'll see how it works, but I basically separated my regular savings account from my emergency fund.  Previously, they had just been one account, which meant that I dipped into it for more than what may strictly count as an emergency.  Now, after I did a bit of thinking, I decided it would be better if those two accounts were separated.  I created a new account with the same bank (ING), and called it Emergency Fund.  I put $10,000 in it, and that money is on lockdown for a true emergency.  My regular savings is where I'll stash cash to pay for things like car insurance and other whatnot that I need to save up for, but the Emergency Fund might as well be buried in a glass jar ten paces from a north-facing tree for all the access I'm going to allow myself (except, unlike that glass jar buried in the woods, I'm earning compound interest).

This is no place for a savings account.

I would also like to grow my emergency fund, so I'm going to slooooooooowly siphon money into it, but only once my other savings accounts are looking healthy. It's a balancing act, y'all.

In the month of May, I'm also working extra hours at job #3 (forgot there was a third one?  Me too), which should give my savings plan the shot in the arm it needs (hopefully), and I don't have any other major expenses coming up.  It's all coming together--at least, that's the hope.