Dh announced today that he would like to start a fund for a new or newer ATV. I can tell we have come a long way. A year ago his thought would have been to take out a loan for one. Now we are going to save for that purchase. I need to find out the price range before I set a goal for this year.

I do not want to drop the other goal amounts down. We have agreed to save conservatively for the ATV until the EF is at $5000. I think we need a better financial safety net.

I used the calculator on CNN's article about the stimulus payments to find out what we would be getting. The majority of that money will go into the "life happens" fund to cover medical bills, car repairs, and the like. With those amounts maxed out, we will have more money freed up for other things. I hate to disappoint the government, but we will not be spending it on frivilous stuff.

I found out today that the teaching job will last twice as long this quarter as last. At first thought I was not exactly happy. Then I did the math and that helped ease the pain a bit. I will definitely be raising the savings goal amounts. I just need to sit down and figure out what a new reachable goal will be. I think that is a good problem to have.

First of all, thank you again to everyone who replied with good wishes regarding my debt free post. I am grateful for the encouragement. Being surrounded by people who complain that they have to be in debt and cannot afford to save gets old quick. I prefer the financial company here instead.

Now my thoughts have turned to how to quickly beef up the savings amounts. We will be putting a set amount each month into the three goal areas. Since we paid off the debt by seeking out other money, I want to do the same to up our savings amounts.

The first extra amount going in will be the state tax refund which arrived today. Initially we thought it would be needed to pay off the debt, but we can now happily put it toward savings.

Second going in will be money from some stock dh sold earlier this week. He had watched it drop over time from the purchase price. This week it reached the highest price in over a year so he decided to sell. I guess his decision came at good time since the price dropped today. This was our only attempt at the stock market. I really need to be more informed before jumping back into individual stock purchases. I also read a financial analysis that recommended selling stocks now. I do not know how much "stock" to put in that. I think we got out at a good time for us. That money will also go into the savings accounts.

My other financial goal is to blog more. I know that helped keep me focused while we were getting out of debt. I certainly want to keep that same intensity.