Hopefully Caseyt will weigh in on this; I think I remember him being the financial go-to guy.

If you want to save, but still need access to the money, you can save in a higher-interest savings account like ING or something like that.

My personal resources for this stuff are:

Clarkhoward.com (he's a dork, but a pretty savvy economist)
Bankrate.com (this site has TONS of resources from Mortgage Calculators to who has the best interest rate for savings)
Suze Orman (her book(s) and Web site are super helpful)

Kim