Update for End of May

Since my last post things seem to be leveling off a bit. Large increase since my last post but since the end of April there has been a 5% increase up to $213,976. According to my spreadsheet I am still roughly $44K behind where I should be if I was averaging an 8% annual return and contributing $3K a month. The increase is nice even with some recent expenditures which include about $6K for some much needed landscaping work. We completely renovated the front of our home which in my opinion was well worth the price. The front was roughly half of the total cost. The rest of the money went towards tree removal, deck removal, new sod, and new flower beds. All of this work has gotten me motivated to tend to the yard and I am enjoying it a lot.
We are still plugging away at trying to save and are both somewhat relieved that now that some of the landscaping is done our major home improvement project are out of the way for some time. I believe our plan now is to bring the cash accounts back to $45-$50K. They are down to $42K now and then we will start putting more money towards retirement and or paying down the mortgage.