Thank you for all of the input!
Right now I'm freelance in the film industry, and when this job ends next year around this time, I want to be ready. I guess I'm still just afraid of making purchases because I have a large safety net, and though I know it's there for liquidity purposes, it's just kind of making me nervous that it won't really be doing anything for me in the sense that it won't be gaining interest.
For instance, when I pay my loans I know it's beneficial because it's preventing interest from accumulating and I get to see my debt go down, which is rewarding for me. I know that the interest rate is marginal in comparison to other types of loans, but I've still paid over $1,500 in interest throughout the past four years, which it still a lot for me--and that was me paying off accruing interest during school.
What happens to the debt when you go back to school? Are they student loans that will go into forbearance? Or will you run into cash flow problems then, to keep up with the payments? Especially if, as you say, it's possible that you would be unemployed while in college. If so, then using your current cash flow and discipline now to get at least some of the loans paid off might be a good idea.
Only two of my loans are subsidized, so the others will al be accruing interest no matter what. When I go back to school I'll have about a year of no interest on the other two loans, then it will come back.
It's extremely likely that I'll be employed while in college, but it will be part time and from my records I earned about $800/mo working three part time jobs, but I'm not sure what it will look like when I go back. Fortunately my parents will allow me to live at home rent free while at school, but I still feel that it will shake out with me not having a lot of wiggle room. My car lease payment is $249/mo, minimum loan payment is $120/mo, and then pet expenses and an unpredictable paycheck will probably end up with me not having a lot of wiggle room if I do have a job/jobs.
On the issue of liquidity, I like the idea of an account at a different financial institution. You could also, in a journal or verbally with a friend or whatever way would help you solidify your thoughts, define for yourself what exactly that emergency fund is for.
I like this plan! I really do have a lot I need to be prepared for, and I kinda feel like an idiot for waiting this long to get my butt in gear. I'm only at my current job because I had a hefty safety net that I almost totally depleted due to a move 600 miles from home.
Looking at
Bracken_Joy's questions, I feel like I should probably have a Safety net of around $4,000 (in case of unemployment etc), Pet Emergency Fund of $1,000 (lizards typically don't have much beyond a $150 vet visit - knock on wood!!) and then college tuition savings ($3,000) and the rest of my car lease ($4,000), and $1500 in case I need to break my lease in an emergency.
So in total: $13,500ish total (which is pretty much the amount I have left on my loans!)
That seems like too big of a net, but makes sense when I look at the ways it's split up. With that big of a safety net, should I look at investing at least part of it? For example, anything I save for a used car wouldn't be used until 2019, college tuition wouldn't be until August of 2018.
For my savings account, I was looking at Discover, with a .95% yield (my current bank has I believe .03% LOL). Any thoughts on what bank to use? Or would a Credit Union be a better choice in this case?