Dimples' Divine Domain
My journey to financial empowerment.

My agent thought it would be funny to include this house in a list of houses he sent me. Uhhhh yeah. Hee Hee Hell!

5 bedrooms + bonus room 3 bathrooms 2800 square feet

I just E-filed my federal tax return. I'll explain why I went ahead and did my tax return instead of waiting until March or April like I stated in my previous post in a second. First let me share a very important piece of advice to take heed of when filling out your tax return: Never rely on information from documents such as your last pay stub or last bank statement of the year to complete your tax return. Wait for your employers, past and present, to send your W-2s and for the banks to mail out your interest statement. I used the last pay stubs of my two past employers and present employer and also used my last bank statement from each savings account to estimate my 2008 tax refund. And because I e-file, I really didn't need to wait to receive my hardcopy W-2s through the mail. Everything is done electronically. But being me, I waited to receive ALL my OFFICIAL documents and do yall want to guess how far off my original $1335 tax refund estimate was?? $872 off!! Now I ...

Its that time of the year again. Tax time! I think this year I will do my own taxes again. One problem that I run into each year is remembering all the documents and information that I need to gather. So this time around I made myself a checklist: - W-2 from Employer #1 - W-2 from Employer #2 - W-2 from Employer #3 - EIN and total amount paid from Daycare #1 - EIN and total amount paid from Daycare #2 - List of itemized deductions and receipts if applicable - Student loan interest amount - 1099-R for 401K distribution from Employer #2 - Information needed to claim 1st Time Home Buyer Tax Credit (gotta buy a home 1st) So far I have everything except for the following: - Information needed to claim 1st Time Home Buyer Tax Credit (gotta buy a home 1st) I probably won't be filing taxes until late March or early April (before 4/15 of course). I also want to wait and see if there will be any new tax incentives from the new administration. Are you ready for tax season? Do you hav...

HOME PURCHASE PLAN The home I want: Price: $0 -> $190,000 Ideal Monthly Mortgage (including taxes, PMI, HOA, & hazard) : $1200 (max $1300) Location: Surrounding Orlando Area Bedrooms: 3+ Bathrooms: 2+ Square footage: 1700 s.f. + Year Built: 2000+ HOA: $100/month max NEEDS: * A-rated school district * Quick access to major highways * Good daycare * Nice neighborhood * Shower stall * Backyard * Large kitchen with pantry and lots of cabinet space * Large master bathroom * Walk-in closet in master bedroom WANTS: * Garden tub * Family room and living room * New stainless steel black appliances (a girl can dream can't she!) Based on my research, an FHA would be the best loan for me to get. I chose to go this route because of the lower interest rate (currently 4.6%) and the lower required down payment (3.5%). The following is...

I know this is late but better late than never. As you can see there has been a change in plans. I will be focusing on saving for the next few months or so. I have big and exciting things in the works. Aside from the savings, there wasn't any significant change from this past year. January is a 3 paycheck month for me. YAY ME!!

Oh yeah! Oh yeah!!! Guess who's credit score broke the 700 barrier?? MINE!!!!!!!!!!!! CREDIT SCORE = 707 YAY!!!!! *ahem* Now back to your regularly scheduled program.......

My daughter and I opted to stay home rather than go out. This being our first weekend together (by ourselves) since I left her with grandma after Xmas, we decided to have some quality time. We just made this awesome drink and I wanted to share it with you guys, especially my fellow mommies. Wondering what to do with the 30 plus candy canes left over from your Christmas tree? Well I was. I definitely wasn't about to have Sweet Pea munch on them for the next couple of weeks. So my mommy brain got to working and I browsed my fridge and pantry for some recipe ideas. Bingo! Candy Cane Chocolate Milk!!! Ingredients: - 3 regular candy canes (I am sure you can do this with any of the other funky flavors) - 4 cups of Almond Milk (We don't do milk but you can use it if ya want) - About 3 tbsp of Sugar-Free Chocolate Syrup (you can use whatever type of chocolate you want) - Ice Instructions: Add all the candy canes and 1 cup of milk to your food processor. Process on high until you...

This weekend is going to be a very productive. Especially if the remainder is anything like my Saturday morning (mind you its only 9:30 am). I have estimated my tax refund for this year ($1335,) completed my monthly report for December 08, and calculated my January 09 budget. Oh yeah, and like a typically mom, I am did all that while cleaning, cooking breakfast, and doing laundry. :-D Remainder of my To Do List: - 2009 Goals - 2009 Career Plan - Home Purchase Plan - Pay bills - Leave apt by 1 pm and have fun for the rest of the day Hope you all are having a productive morning also!

I had a GREAT Bday weekend! I spent time with my family, had some quality time to myself, did some shopping, and ate some wonderful Caribbean food. I loved every minute of it. Alright! Lets get to the nitty gritty. Over the next few posts I will review my 2008 Goals and do a short summary of all major events (good and bad) in 2008. Once we get that out the way, we'll see what Dimples has planned for 2009. It will definitely be a year for GREAT things! CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR 2008 GOALS REVIEW I am not going to list every single goal I had on this plan. Once I made the choice to basically "upgrade" to the next level of my career, about 3/4 of my plan could not be applied to my new position. So here is a list of what I did accomplish: *Went on my first business trip to Shreveport, LA *Became Lead Engineer on 5 separate projects *Took a huge leap of faith and landed great job with client (and then successor) *Same leap of faith increased my...

myFICO is offering a free FICO credit score to first 20,000 who request it. With all these new changes to the way the score is calculated, you guys might as well jump on this and see if your score has been affected in any way.

DO YOU IN 2009!