The "Cash Stash"

I just posted my 2009 goals on my other blog, and thought I'd elaborate here on our financial goals. So here goes:

Submit to my husband.
Finances are one area that this can be tough for me. By nature, I am more frugal and a crazy budgeter. I think it's fun (thus, the blog). Hubs, on the other hand, is the spender. He is absolutely commited to living well within our means, but sometimes my extreme "let's save" nature doesn't align with his plans to live a little more comfortably in the present.

Pay cash for a new-to-us vehicle for hubs.
The ol' Jetta could die out on us any day. And hubs' did just finish school, so deserves a new toy. He's a car junkie, so I am resigned to the fact that cars will always be a high priority in our budgets. At the same time, we don't have a ton of extra cash lying around. We've agreed to a couple "acceptable" models and have priced out a vehichle year that should fit our target budget. If all goes well, we should be able to complete this by July.

Fund the "cash stash" to be used as needed.
We (okay, I) have a target dollar amount in mind to contribute to the "cash stash" this year. The "cash stash" was our compromise based on our natural tendencies, the uncertainty of the econonmy and reality that we don't know exactly where jobs are going to take us in the next year.

If it were my decision alone, I'd try to knock out the student loans as fast as possible. I hate debt of any kind. And, while they're a big number, with both of us working right now, we could probably do it in 12-18 months. But...

We also want to buy a house, and this could be used toward the start of a down payment. Our current residence is not large enough for us and kids, which we would like to have in the next few years. Or...

One or both of us could lose jobs this year and this would beef up our current three-month emergency fund.

Essentially, it's a holding zone (in an ING Direct savings account) for the year, until we see where it is needed most. There is just enough uncertainty in our lives right now that the loss of some interest (the loans are a couple percentage points higher than the interest on the ING Direct) is worth it to us to keep flexibility as the year unfolds.

Unless disaster strikes, at the end of the year we will make a large lump-sum payment - we just haven't determined exactly where yet.