Well, hubby and I refinanced our house, and took 28K out.
Some went into our emergency fund to hit 10K (it is currently 11.5K). The rest was put into a house fund, the purpose to improve/remodel our house so we (OK I) wouldn't be tempted to buy a bigger house with higher carrying costs. We had fun and redid bedroom and bathroom and a brick patio. So, we have 15K left in the fund. We will need to spend about 2K of that (at most) on additional foundational repairs. Our original plan was to fix up the attic into additional living space, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen... a) the person who quoted 30K with husband's help is now unavailable, and b) our savings are at a standstill, particularly since husband's current working situation income-wise is not great. I wanted to hit 20K in that fund before any work happened, but just don't see us saving the money.
Should I
a) hold tight for another year to see if this year brings changes for his work situation?
b) accept that the attic remodel is not feasible, and direct this money elsewhere? right now it is getting .85% interest which is then taxed. Most likely just pay back mortgage early.
c) save it for upcoming purchases like replacement car, furniture, etc.

I know this is not big money to most of you, but it is to me.

To me, choice A is kind of a given. If my wife was in that situation, I wouldn't spend a dime of that money until her job situation straightened out. I could live with choice B also except I wouldn't pay it toward the mortgage given the circumstances. Choice C is good too if you need a car, furniture, etc in the near future.

I like parts of all of them but I'd go with choice A as my first pick.

thanks Tightwad for your input. I guess I'm an impatient person, and am afraid of frittering money away if it is not directed soon. But a year is not long in the scheme of things.

I think you should sit tight for awhile because like you said you are impatient.

When you know you are a "spender" (you have my sympathy, both DH and I are, too!), sometimes the best thing to do is to 'trick' yourself.

I agree that (a) is the best solution because in today's economy, not having a sufficient emergency fund is VERY dangerous. So do this:

- Open a 6 month CD, off-site. This way, it's available in an emergency but will take a few days to receive. Even that small delay is useful in getting you into the "out of sight, out of mind (and removing the temptation to spend)".

You can go to bankaholic.com and see the rates for 6 mo. CDs (or any length you want), and they give the rating for the bank as well, since you'll want a good solid bank. FDIC insurance will cover your amount, of course, but a few banks are still weak and it can take some time to get your money out of a bank that has been taken over by the regulators.

http://cdrates.bankaholic.com/

HTH!

if going the CD route, I would suggest 5 yr CD's. You will get a higher rate and the penalty is only can be pretty low. With Ally, it's the last 2 month's interest. You can do the calculation based on current rates, but the ones I just checked, you'll break even @ about 3.5 months. So, if you keep the money in the bank longer than 3.5 months, you come out ahead, even with the penalty.

I would like to point out, you can also break into several accounts of smaller amounts. If you have $10k, you can do 5 $2k accounts. If you need $2k, you take the hit on just $2k, not the entire $10k. This is really simple to setup on Ally. This does not effect your FDIC coverage.

I don't work for Ally or get paid by them (but I should). I just believe in their product and am a satisfied customer.

Thanks for the feedback. I keep thinking all or nothing (pay back mortgage, set up roth ira versus spend it) but I suppose the CDs are a safe middle ground.