Dimples' Divine Domain
My journey to financial empowerment.

This question is for the folks that have a budget. If you wind up coming under your budget for each category you have set, what do you do with the remaining money? Does it roll over into next month for bills? Do you use it at your discretion? As I worked on my budget last night, I told myself that even though I have a specific amount budgeted out for each category, I would work on always coming under my budget. But then I had to ask myself, "What will I do with the left over money?". After some careful thought, I have come up with 2 scenarios. I can either transfer the remaining money to my savings account (the one I had for my home purchase) and then apply it to my cc debt every time the balance reaches $100. Or I can transfer the remainder to my savings account and use it for a vacation (my sister suggested this). All this depends on how well I do keeping under my budget each month. So none of the scenarios is guaranteed. Has anyone run into this situation? If so...

Here is my to-do-list for August. I'll do one for each month from now on. This should help me keep focused and on track. August To Do's: Find more avenues for bringing in extra money "Pay To" sites Google (Hustler did a post on how to make extra money with google) E-bay Notary Signing Agent Create blog geared towards single moms in the Orlando area Use coupons when purchasing groceries Always shop with a list Detailed tracking of spending Start and stick to exercise routine Create and stick to schedule for myself and daughter (school/work week) Read my personal finance books Prepare food in advance on Sundays to help out with time during the school/work week That's all I have down for now.

I just got done with my end of the month report. I have put the whole home purchase business of hold for now. My report for August only contains information related to my new PF goals. I have changed some of my due dates. As you can see my credit card debt increased by a lot. I have no excuses and I won't even elaborate on how it increased so much. All I know is that it ain't getting any higher than this and I am taking action. I am happy that I am so close to my initial emergency fund goal. Once I hit the $3000 mark this September, I will move my goal out to $10K. @ that rate of $200 a month I should reach that goal in 35 months from September. But I have bonuses, extra income, my tax refunds, and raises to take into consideration during that time so I know I will reach the goal way before 35 month. I also redid my budget. I think this is the first time I have done a real budget. I am pretty proud of myself. I went ahead and budgeted in groceries and gas, something...

I have some extra money coming my way in the next few days. My laptop rebate from Office Depot was mailed on the 27th and should be here by Friday. That is $150. I get my last cash out from Cash Duck this Friday and that is for $82. That is $232 bucks. I will most likely put the money in my spending account and use it for groceries and gas for the next month or so. If I continue to do the $30/week for groceries and miscellaneous stuff and if I do $30 a week for gas (this is the most extreme....I drive 130 miles to and from work) the money will last me a month. During this time I will look for other avenues to make extra money and continue to use it like I am now. That way I can use all my remaining balance of my paycheck, after bills are paid, to apply towards my credit card debt. I still have American Express coming but I gotta wait until the credit my points to my account. Since I am not going to do the house right now I am not sure what reward I will cash out. Well we wil...

My sister's wedding was beautiful. I cried when I saw her all dressed up. She was beautiful. *sigh* My baby sis is all grown up. She's married now. I spent a lot of money but I am cool with it. Seeing her so happy made it all worth it. Me and moms and my other sis are cool now. My mom tried her best to ignore me the first day I was down there but it didn't last too long. I love my family and realize that I wouldn't trade their love for anything in the world. We had a talk about the drama that went down and she understands my situation and I understand hers. I had so much fun seeing my relatives and friends. I used to dream of being a wedding coordinator when I was little. After this past weekend, I am glad I gave up that mess. OMG!! Now I see how bridezillas emerge. People were pissing me off and I wasn't even the bride. Wow. I can just imagine how it's gonna be when I get married. LOL.

As you all know, one of my main goals is to become a homeowner by April of 2008. After touching base with my real estate agent, evaluating my situation, and praying for guidance, I have decided to put off my homeownership dreams for another year or so. Why? Well there are a few reasons why. I have tried numerous online mortgage calculators and all of them have calculated that the amount of home I can afford is around $80,000. This calculation is based on my income, debt payments, and amount of down payment available. The only homes I have seen for under $100K have been the "handyman specials" and that aint me. I called my real estate agent to speak to him about this and he transfered me to the company's mortgage broker. She did some calculations and said that I was looking at a house payment of $2000 a month for a $200K home. I wouldn't be able to afford that at all on my current take home salary. Paying $2K a month in home related expenses (mortgage, PMI, insurance, ...

Guest Post Applying for any form of credit usually involves the lender performing an initial check of your credit rating; this is especially true when it comes to mortgages . Checking your report enables them to see how reliable you have been in the past with financial products. With this information they will decide whether or not they are going to approve you for a mortgage, and if so, what interest rate and terms and conditions you will be bound too. There a number of things that can negatively and positively affect your credit rating, such as; maxing out credit cards; declaring bankruptcy; collections; opening several accounts within a few months; and at the other end of the spectrum – repaying credit cards / loans promptly; living at the same address and being in the same job for some years etc. So, if it turns out that your credit rating is quite low, getting a mortgage is going to be a bit trickier than if you had a higher rating. However, all is not lost! There ar...

I was tagged by Krystal and Saving Diva to continue Moolanomy's My One Money Advice (MOMA) Meme . Moolanomy is trying to promote financial responsibility and awareness in our hyper consumption society. The question : If you can give one advice, tip, or story related to money, what would you share? Since I was tagged twice I will share two. I think both are extremely important. Always have a plan I can't stress this enough. I know from personal experience that you can not achieve your goals with out a plan. This applies to every aspect of your life, especially your finances. I can't tell you how many people I have known that have had the most amazing dreams that didn't come true because they didn't have a plan. A plan is a set of actions that you will need to take in order to reach yours goals. Preparing your plan opens your eyes to many different resources, organizations, and individuals that may be able to help you reach your goals. There are so many res...

I just got back from a weekend at the parents. Today ended on a really bad note. As I said in a previous post, I had promised my mom that I would pay their electricity bill. Well after looking at my finances and realizing that I would be shelling out around a whole lotta moola this week for my sister's wedding, I came to the conclusion that I wasn't gonna be able to afford to pay their $332 electric bill. So as I was packing up to leave my mom asked me if I paid the bill. I told her that I had not. I explained that I had a lot of things to pay this week and that since the electric bill wasn't due until the 24th, that I would see how my finances looked then and let her know if I could pay it. She responds, "If you ain't gonna pay it now then forget about it". And then starts going off on me. Are you serious?!! Because I won't pay the bill NOW you catching a tude with me? I am furious at this point. After all I have done, she got the nerve to act...

I took my car in to Tire Kingdom to get serviced this morning. I had a 7:30 am appointment because I had a lot of errands to run before leaving town at 12 pm. All I wanted was an oil change and for them to check my engine and see why it was making this weird noise. I mean the car is a year and a half old. What problem could it have? Maybe a minor one........but I wasn't expecting this. After waiting 30 minutes they came back and told me that it's my belt tensioner assembly and it would cost $260 to fix. Damn!! What the heck is that, how serious of a problem is it, and why is this happening to a car that is less than 2 years old? Needless to say, with me driving 300+ miles later that day, it was essential I get the car fixed. Alright fine......fix the damn car! (I was pissed). So they fix the car.....or so they thought they did. The car is still making the same dang on noise. The mechanic decides to dig a little deeper. DIG A LIL DEEPER?!!!? Ummm isn't that wha...

Today was pay day which is a happy time in Dimples world. I transfered money to my savings accounts and paid off some bills. I am almost at the halfway point of my E-fund goal. After reading different posts on how much your emergency fund should equal, I realized that my initial goal of $3000 is way off mark. Basically your emergency fund should equal three to six months worth of basic living expenses. My definition of basic living expenses is: bills + groceries + gas. So my emergency fund should be between $8625 and $17250. I think an E-fund of $10K will be more than adequate for me and my daughter. Once I reach my initial goal of $3000 I will extend it to $10,000. Not doing so good in the debt area. My sister's wedding is next week and I gotta dish out some money for things like a dress for the wedding, weddings gifts, bachelorette party. I am not charging this to any credit cards but I am going to need to use some of the money I would have applied to my cc debt. And I ...

Single Ma did a post on life insurance last week. It wasn't until I read it that I realized that I was short changing my daughter with my current life insurance policy. It's kind of scary actually. To think that if something happened to me (God forbid), my daughter would most likely get NOTHING even though I have life insurance. I currently have a 5-year term life insurance policy for $50K. I got the policy a couple of months after my daughter was born. I didn't plan on getting it. I was in the midst of getting car insurance for a used car I just bought and the insurance agent said I would save a lot of money on my car insurance if I had multiple lines. So I took out some renter's insurance and an insurance policy. Only thing I was worried about was getting a policy with a low payment and high payout. And for some reason $50K was huge to me. Needless to say my whole approach on life insurance was sadly misguided. Looking at the debt I had, that policy wouldn...

Ok this may sound like a dumb question but I just wanted to make sure I am not messing up in doing this. I have opened up 4 savings accounts this year. ING Direct, Capital One, Citibank and WAMU (daughter's account). I am contemplating closing my checking account with WAMU, which serves as my spending account, and opening up a high yield checking account with someone else. I am just worried that all this activity might be recorded on some system or something. I know that banks have their own banking system but I only thought that was for folks who owe money or who are passing bad checks. Of course this is definitely the last account I open up for a long time. I don't have any need for another one. I would just prefer to earn some interest on the money I have in that account. Anyways, if anyone has any insight on this I would appreciate. I am just looking around at the moment. I definitely want to make sure I am not hurting myself by doing this.

It's a sad sad day indeed. I woke up to find the following email from Kira, Cash Duck creator and owner: (partial email) " Unfortunately, I have a sad announcement to make. As of the end of this month, CashDuck will be closing. This is a decision that I did not want to make, and even two weeks ago said that I didn't want to close. But the way things have been going, I feel like if CashDuck continues to run that things are unlikely to improve. Since the implementation of the new payout rules, traffic has really dwindled. So far this month all of the users of CashDuck combined have not earned what they did in an average DAY of April or May. I really wanted to give the shopping section some time, but I am losing money and new obstacles are thrown up every day. I have had such a wonderful experience running CashDuck and it has changed me as a person. I've learned a LOT, and in fact partially due to my experience with CashDuck I will be applying for an MBA program. I a...

As I told you guys in a previous post , I suffer from emotional shopper syndrome (ESS). I have been taking a number of steps to curing myself of that. Remove all credit cards from my wallet Remove all debit cards except for my spending account The two steps above have worked to a certain degree. But I had a couple of rough bumps this week and I was still compelled to spend money on things I don't need, the only difference now is that I could resort to using my debit card instead of my credit cards. This isn't what I was aiming for. Initially I wanted to stop increasing my credit card debt. But now I want to stop my overspending totally. This will lead to more money in my spending account that can be directed to small bills or that I can use to towards my smaller credit card accounts. I also noticed that the way I grocery shop may be causing me to waste money. Since my daughter has been gone I have time to take care of things more frequently. This means I don't wai...

Just wanted to share some neat sites I use. Some I found this weekend. Enjoy! FinWeb: Provides valuable information and resources on pertinent financial topics through informative financial articles. Mortgage Professor : Tons of info on mortgage loans, buying a home, refinancing, etc. It also has a section on common mistakes to avoid. Great site in my opinion. Down Payment Solutions : Has info on first time home buyer programs, over 1000 down payment assistance programs, etc. Beauty Eats : Fun new blog about how specific foods-from green tea to vitamin C-can help fight everything from aging and acne to serious skin disorders, and make hair and nails super-healthy too. Cool House Plans : Internet house plans provider. Pretty neat. Soul Food Calculator : Tee hee. How much damage did the family reunion barbecue really do? Auntie's famous collard greens (with turkey): Only 34 calories for 1/2 a cup. Not bad......now if I could only find one for Caribbean food. Black Women's...

*deep breath* I have ESS...........emotional shopper syndrome. I go on a shopping/spending binge anytime I am in a funk. The spending beast comes out, I spend money like it grew on trees, and afterwards I feel better. I get a sense of comfort when I do this. I used to do the same thing with food. Then I realized I needed another avenue to get that comfort. I don't know what compelled me to think shopping was the best choice. LOL. Well I am tired of the spending beast. That heffa needs to get beat down and eliminated. Poor thing doesn't know that D-day is near. So how am I going to cure my ESS? I have started to use exercise and/or reading a book in place of the shopping. I have also made a reminder of what saving my money and decreasing my debt will get me. I took an index card and glued a picture I took of a beautiful house I pass by everyday on the drive to and from work. I also wrote little sayings around the house about being debt free, and purchasing...

Back in February, I was referred to a real estate agent from a close friend. The guy I had been working with prior to then, was fairly new to the game and wasn't giving me the info I needed. I contacted the new agent and spoke to him about his company and his years and quality of experience. I was confident in him and what he could do for me and decided to take him on as my realtor. I was very upfront with what I was looking for. Here is the list I gave him: Single family home preferably (I am open to a townhouse or condo if a single family home meeting my requirements couldn't be found) Purchase price: $200K or less (Based on how much home I can afford) No down payment Little to no HOA fee (No higher than $50 a month or equivalent) Good condition. No "handyman specials". (I am a single mom. I don't have the time nor the patience to fix up folk's mess. I prefer a home that isn't missing the kitchen cabinets or a backyard that needs complete renovati...

July Monthly Report: Well as you can tell, I didn't do to well in the cc debt area. There was a net increase of $479 bucks. I am moving steadily to my savings goals. Once I reach my initial E-Fund goal I will extend the goal to $7500, which is about 3 months of my expenses. Everything else is on track. Net Worth: I have been tracking my net worth since I started blogging back in February. I never posted anything about it because I was a little embarrassed of how much I was in the negative. But I gotta face the music. So here it is: I also have it on the side bar to the right. So hopefully we can start watching that joker increase. Credit Score: Well low and behold my credit score increased this month by 12 points!! YEAHH!!!!!!!! June Credit Score: 640 July Credit Score: 652 I hope I can reach 700 way before December. I'd like to refinance my car loan and get my $532 car note lowered as much as possible. That way I can take the amount I am saving and redirect to my...

I am in the middle of updating my net worth and getting things ready for my end of the month financial report for July. I was in the midst of listing the balance of my student loans when I realized that there was no change. Did I forget a payment? I logged on to my account and saw that I made a payment for this month. So why hadn't my principal balance changed?? I looked at my past statements and it turns out that my principal balance has remained the same since February. I was furious! Something was wrong and needed to get fixed pronto. I called the student loan folks and spoke to a rep. After about 30 minutes on the phone I found out that because of the payment I chose, my payments were only being applied to the interest on my loan and would be for the first two years of repayment. After the two years, my payment would increase by $20, which would start applying to the principal balance. WHAT?? Of course this wasn't explained to me during the consolidation process....