Still Hanging In There -- $$ Version

I've updated this blog on my diet issue, now it's time to discuss $$.

I'm still saving, just not hitting my savings goals lately.  I do have a bunch of expenses in the upcoming months and I'm okay with that.  I filed my taxes last week and I was able to max out my IRA again this year.  Yay!!  I'll also be receiving a total refund of a little more than $1800.  Not too bad.  I'm going to buy myself something (not sure what yet) for about $100 and will spend another $100 on B.  The remaining refund will sit in my savings collecting basically no interest.

Currently, I have a little more than $13K in my liquid savings (just transferred $5K into my IRA).  My IRA/Money Market Accounts are currently sitting at around $30K.  I expected to have more in liquid savings by this time, but I'm okay with the balance that I do have. 

I really have to buckle down on my spending.  It's not too outlandish, but a little excessive for me.  The fact that B and I eat out only about twice a week will help.  Since I'm not really cooking much dinners anymore and our food basically consists of salads and fruits, our grocery budget should be decreasing  a bit.  That'll help. 

Also, I currently have a few IRA CD accounts, one Money Market Account, and one Brokerage IRA Account.  I have like $2K invested in my brokerage account, but have about $4K more just sitting there not invested in anything.  This year, I'd like to allocate that money to some stocks.  My Money Market account is literally earning pennies.  I'd like to roll that over to something else (Not sure what yet). I'd also like to do something with my IRA CD's.  They are just sitting there and not doing much.  I also have two separate IRA CD's at two separate banks and I'd like to merge those sometime this year.  The thing is I know absolutely nothing about investing and need to learn the basics so my money can work for me in the long run.