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Divineness of this weekend

My weekend has been oh so divine. :-D


Payday

Just got PAID!! I was blazing Johnny Kemp the whole time I paid bills on Friday. Feels good! Feels good!

N-E-WAYS.....I paid off the second half of monthly bills. Budget is questionable at the moment on if I am over or under. I came under in some categories and over in some others. I still have many open ones so we shall see whats what when I do my monthly report at the end of this month.

Emergency Fund

My automatic transfer into E-fund account should take place on Monday. I updated the sidebars. I REACHED MY $3K E-FUND GOAL YALL!!!! Yessir. My E-fund's current balance is $3008.38. Last month I said that I would extend my E-fund goal to $10K once I hit my $3K goal. But I was reading a post @ Mya Moola where, in anticipation of her new salary, she discusses how she will establish her E-fund and then redirect all her money towards her debt. Well this got me thinking. My main goal is to eliminate my credit card debt. I have already established a pretty okay emergency fund that is equal to a little over a month's living expenses. So I have decided to stop the automatic transfer I set up originally and redirect the $200 to my credit card debt.

Credit Card Debt Snowball

Now that I am redirecting the money I originally had alloted for my E-fund towards my debt, I will have $722 available a month instead of $522. As I said in my previous post, I did an analysis on my cc debt and set up a snowball plan. I didn't quite like the the snowball debt calculator I found so I decided to see if I could create something similar on excel but more in line with my situation. I winded up not having to do that because this snowball worksheet worked out perfectly. I inputted my credit card debt info and monthly amount available to apply towards the debt. Then I inputted info on extra payments I would make during specific months. For example, every December during the company Holiday party my employer gives us a $500 cash bonus. I plan on applying that bonus to my debt. So that is $500 on top of the regular $722 that I would apply that month. I did the same thing for February (tax refund) and some other months. Based off that information, I will eliminate my credit card debt by November of 2008. Totally different from February 2010 that the snowball calculator gave me. My goal is still set for October 2008. Other factors, such as raises and other bonuses still exist.


American Express Business Card and Rewards

Back in July I applied and got approved for the AmEx Business credit card for the sole purpose of cashing in on the introductory bonus of 25,000 points. I was contemplating on how I should redeem my points once they applied to my account. Well low and behold, I checked today and my points had hit my account. Yes.......its been just like Christmas this whole weekend! *cheesing*

Yeah so I had 25,000 points to play with. After about an hour of careful consideration to my current situation and upcoming events I decided and redeemed my points for the following:

  • 2 AmEx Travelers Cheques @ $50 each (10,000 points each)
  • 1 AmEx Gift Card - Especially for kids @ $25 each (5,000 points)
The gift card is for my daughter and will be part of her birthday surprise. Her birthday is in October and her god-mother and I are taking her to Disney World (her first time). She can use the gift card for anything she wants while we are there. I will also use one of the $50 Travelers Cheques for that day instead of putting aside money as I initially stated. I'll keep a hold of the second $50 Travelers Cheque for another event/holiday. The cheques don't expire so no worries. There is Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up so I will make good use of it then.


Alright yall. That is it for now. Till next time.....


Dimps out



Comments

SingleGuyMoney said…
Good job reaching your E-fund goal. Now time to knock out those nasty credit cards. Good Luck Dimps! I'm rooting for you.
Anonymous said…
congrats on that e-fund goal!
SavingDiva said…
Great job being responsible with your credit card rewards! Your daughter will be thrilled with the Amex gift card...Kids love them!
Anonymous said…
oooh, I absolutely love that Johnny Kemp song, my dad used to play it before his Friday night summertime parties lol. Big congrats on the E-fund! I think that 3k will be a great cushion while you focus on your debt.

Speaking of the Amex biz card, do you have it through your company or are you self-employed? Just wondering because I got an Amex through the company but never bothered to check on any possible rewards.
Anonymous said…
oh! and looks like you and I will be polishing off that debt right around the same time next year, so let's keep each other going!
Dimples said…
@ Mya

I put myself down as my 'company's' name. So basically like your self-employed. When did you get your card? I know you had to put a code in to get the promo. Is your current card under your name? If not, apply for the card and use your name as the company's name. You should be able to get the bonus points that way. Or call AmEx and see what they say.
Gone witcha bad self!!! Not only did you meet your goal, you surpassed it!! Go Divine!!!
Rad said…
Damn girl, you sure have grown since I was last here :)

Good plan, I'm supposed to haed down to Florida in October with the wife, I am using as many rewards cards as possible to try and offset the price of the trip. We'll see how that goes :)

Congrats on your successes, you know you worked hard for them

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