[disneysteve]

Welcome, Anya!

It sounds like you are doing great for your age and just starting out. You've got no debt except modest student loans. You already have money in savings. You recognize the importance of beginning to save for retirement. And you have some basic financial goals sketched out. Good for you.

Here are some thoughts.

You say 10% of take-home would be $200/month. That means your gross annual pay is somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000, right? Correct me if I figured that wrong.

1. If possible (and it sounds like it is), I'd aim for 10% of GROSS pay to retirement, not 10% of take-home.
2. If there is no 401k, I agree with opening a Roth IRA for that money.
3. If your take-home is about $2,000/month and you have about $400 left over, that means your monthly expenses total about $1,600. A 3-month emergency fund would be $4,800. 6-months would be $9,600. Your plan includes $1,000 cushion in checking and $1,800 for emergencies, or $2,800. That isn't enough, so I'd suggest keeping a total of at least $4,800 on hand.
4. I think you could go either way with the student loans. The rates aren't terrible but given current market conditions, paying them off earns you a guaranteed 6.8% and 7.22% return on your money which looks pretty darned good right now. As you noted, paying off the 7.22% loan also lowers your monthly expenses by $65. So I think I'd vote for getting rid of that $5,400 debt.

So of that $11,800, $1,000 will stay in checking. $3,800 will go into a high yield money market account as the rest of your EF. $5,400 will go to repay the one loan. That leaves you $1,600. I'd probably use some of that to start the Roth and some in the "new" car account. By the way, I put new in quotes because I would not advise buying a brand new car. I (and many others here) much prefer buying good quality used cars. Personally, I'm a fan of something 2-3 years old, but others go even older. Depends on your budget and preferences.