Dimples' Divine Domain
My journey to financial empowerment.

Finally. CC Debt Zero Day is sooo close I can smell, feel, and taste it!! I'll get straight to the point. I have saved a total of $6734 to date since I started my new job in late July. I plan on using $6K of that to pay off some debt. I sat down today and did some analysis on my current credit card debt situation and looked for the best way to go about paying them off. I looked at each card's balance, limit, APR, minimum monthly payment, and last month's finance charge. I ran different pay off scenarios focusing on different key points. For example, in one scenario I focused on paying off my credit cards by balances starting with the highest balance first while in another I looked at paying off the cards by APR. Here is what my credit card debt situation looks like: CARD BALANCE LIMIT APR MINIMUMS 1 $7165 $8500 19.99% $200 2 $3976 $6500 16.99% $93 3 $865 $1100 9.99% $25 4 $735 $1500 14.99% $20 5 $172 $1200 9.99% $10 6 $95 $1150 24.99% $20 Based on the my an...

Here is some interesting articles that I found this weekend. Check them out. Remember, knowledge is key. - All that money you've lost — where did it go? - Decoding the Lingo of the Financial Crisis - Don't panic!, and other words of wisdom from market vets Excerpt: "Finally, I'll leave you with this gem from Nick Perry. "Take everyone, including me, with a grain of salt," he asserts. "This is just simple common sense. The advice given out in the media may come from a great source and be perfectly valid. However, you need to make sure it fits with your goals and risk tolerances. " - So the guy in charge of spending the $700 billion used to be a rocket scientist?! Great.... - A rare silver lining amid the chaos? Who would have ever thought that this was the way to lower gas prices..... - CDs seem to be the way to go at the moment. Check out the top 100 high yield rates for 1 year cds - Bailout goodies beyond Wall Street by Kay Bell Good news, t...

Craziness. Ri-damn-diculousness. Straight bull....... Those are my thoughts on the current state of the economy. I could go further but I don't want to. I am economic crisis'd. I have been on the net searching here and there trying to understand what exactly is going on and how all this may affect me. I have been searching and there doesn't seem to be a positive out look on what's going on and it doesn't look like it is going to get better any time soon. It may actually get worse. My 401K has decreased by $3000+ in the last 2 months. One day last week, I lost $1000 overnight. That was too much for me. So after doing some research and talking to a financial advisor I decided to move what was left in my account into a money market fund. Prior to that I had 40% in aggressive and 60% in growth. Since rebalancing my account on Monday it has actually gained $50. Now I know some folks aren't going to agree with my decision but I felt it was the best thing fo...

I received my offer this afternoon . :-D I tentatively accepted the position because I wanted to fully understand what exactly was on the table. I was able to get off work an hour early and headed to the HR office. I only had to renegotiate a couple of items. Once I was satisfied with everything I accepted the position. My new position is higher than what I applied for and I also received a 3% pay increase. I signed my offer letter, took my benefits package, and left that office one happy lady. My new salary, which will be a little over $75,000 per year, opens new doors and opportunites and offers a shorter and better paved route to those goals I have set for myself. Here is a list of some of those new/revised goals: - I will be going for my MBA come this spring. - I will be credit card debt free before the year is over. - I will be a home-owner within the next year. - I will have my personal loan paid off before the end of 2009. My detailed plans on achieving each and every goal is to...

SWEET PEA Thanks to all who left a comment on my last post regarding school lunch versus bag lunch. This is the 3rd week of school and after trying out both bag lunches AND school lunches I have came to a decision: I will make lunch for Sweet Pea 4 days out the week and allow her to get school lunch on Fridays. Reason: During a 3 day period I allowed Sweet Pea to get school lunch. Guess what she had? PIZZA each and every day. Even the 3rd day I told her to eat something else. Needless to say bagging it is the best way for me to ensure that my daughter gets a nutritious meal. And she actually prefers it. WORK I had my interview with the company that will be taking over the main contract come this October 1st last Monday. Wanna hear something interesting? I was interviewed by my current supervisor and her boss. LOL! They had there interviews about 2 weeks before and were offered the equivalent to the positions they hold now and of course accepted. Needless to say the interview...

To all my fellow mommies out there: Is it better to pack your kid's lunch or let them get lunch at school? I am on the fence with this one. My daughter starts school this coming Monday and I am not sure which one I want to go with. On Monday I was set on letting her get her lunch from the school cafeteria, especially since I was told that I would need to set up a lunch account through the school. I called the company that handles the lunch accounts and based on what they said, I am not sure on the idea of it now. I would not have any control on what my daughter eats. Giving a 5 year old free reign on what exactly she gets to it is not a good idea. On top of that there is no way to control how much is charged to the account. If Sweet Pea wanted to buy 3 lunches and 10 snacks she could. The lunch account is charged via a card (like a debit card) and supposedly the teacher is given control of the cards. Not to sure I like this idea. I have no idea where the cards will be kept ...

uhhhhh..........Hey.............yall remember me? lol!!! I know. I am so bad. It has been busy and hectic in Dimples' world. I haven't done a post in about 3 weeks. Did yall even miss me? *sniffles* Anyways. How is everyone doing? I hope you all are doing great financially, physically, spiritually, and mentally. Let me catch you guys up on what has been going down in my world. WORK Work has been going great. With almost three weeks under my belt I have completed 3 major projects and I am set to submit two more this coming Monday. My coworkers are definitely interesting, lol. I am definitely enjoying the new challenges. My supervisor has expressed the fact that she is extremely impressed with my work and my progress so far. We had a one on one today and she let me know that once the new contract began she had a lot of big plans for me. We talked about potential conferences and seminars that she would like me to attend and some certificates and training she would...