Skip to main content

Pay day, savings, and home purchase

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 am taking $300 to pay my folks electric bill.

I am a little worried that I won't be ready to by my home come February. I tried out several different calculators to see how much home I could afford and I got horrible results. Based on the calculators, the most home I can afford is $72K. Where am I going to find a house for $72K? Are these calculators reliable? Well, I set up a meeting with my realtor tomorrow. I plan on talking to him about where I am currently and where I plan to be by February and see if they can calculate how much home I can afford. I'll keep you guys updated on that.

Leaving to go out of town tomorrow afternoon. Going to pick up my baby from her 2 month vacay. I missed my sweet pea. School starts on Monday. Gotta get some school shopping in some time this week.

Comments

Unknown said…
Man that's alot. I need to figure out how much I need. I usually just aim for $1000. Then I wind up having to spend it all.

Popular posts from this blog

Home Purchase Plan - How I faired

Back in January I developed my Home Purchase Plan (HPP for short). I listed exactly what I was looking for in my new home including my needs and wants. I printed up my HPP and carried it will me everywhere. I especially took it with me when I went house hunting with my agent. I had a momentary relapse (I'll explain more on that on another post) but got back on track and stuck to my guns. I ended up with a beautiful house that fits all my needs and wants. HOME PURCHASE PLAN The home I want: Price: $0 -> $190,000 $180,000 Ideal Monthly Mortgage (including taxes, PMI, HOA, & hazard) : $1200 (max $1300) $1310 Location: Surrounding Orlando Area Check Bedrooms: 3+ 4 Bathrooms: 2+ 2 Square footage: 1700 s.f. + 1810 sf Year Built: 2000+ 1998 HOA: $100/month max $150/yr NEEDS: * A-rated school district Check * Quick access to major highways Check * Good daycare Check * Nice

My $100 grocery budget and tips for saving on your grocery bill

I did a post back in October on how I kept my grocery budget under $120. In that post, I had pictures of the grocery shopping I had done earlier in the day for a total of $29.76. I also listed a number of ways I keep my grocery budget so low. Today I did some grocery shopping for meat and some other misc items. Here is what I bought: - 2 packages of chicken breasts - 2 packages of drumsticks - 2 whole hens - 2 packages of chicken wings - 1 bag of roma tomatoes - 1 bag of onions - 1 bag of organic baby carrots - 2 gallons of water (not shown) - 1 bottle of bbq sauce Total = $24.90 One big way to save on groceries each month is to package the food you buy into servings sizes. Your serving size depends on how many people are in your family. I separate out my sizes based on how much food my daughter and I consume in one meal. Take for instance drumsticks: My daughter will eat one drumstick while I will eat two. So I package those in threes. I know some folks are visual so here is wh