<prompt> Human: At the beginning of the year I decided that I wanted to do 3 things for 2013.1. Get my emergency fund up to 10,000.1. Max out my Roth IRA at 5500 for the year.1. Pay more towards my car. Payment is 240 a month, I started putting 400 towards it every monthThe reasons were many; Me and my wife are trying to save up for a house, I feel more comfortable at the 10K level for the emergency fund, I want to get the car paid off ASAP so we can start saving to replace my wifes car.But these first two months of 2013 have been a struggle. Ive seen my normal savings and checking accounts steadily going down in balance, while my credit card continues to go up. Its nothing catastrophic, but Ive come to the realization that I probably need to cut back on one of the above goals in order to maintain some sanity. Im going back to normal car payments for a while By trying to be perfect I nearly got to the point of stopping everything to get back on the right side.My advice to anyone out there trying to get your finances straightened out: Do your best, but dont overdo it to the point where its not sustainable.EDIT - To clarify, I dont have a balance on my credit card. Its paid off fully every month.Assistant: while my credit card continues to go upWhy is this even happening? Carrying a balance is pissing money down a drain. If you have an emergency fund, spend money out of there before you carry a balance on a credit card. If you dont have an emergency fund, why are you buying stuff that you cant pay off?Human: Im not carrying a balance, Im paying it off every month. But the amount Im having to pay off continues to inch up.  <response>: Your goals are just dreams without a plan aka: budget 