Dimples' Divine Domain
My journey to financial empowerment.

I have already started evaluating different costs that will be associated with the purchase of this home, specifically moving costs and furnishing my home. In leu of future moving costs, I have started up a moving fund. The fund will be used to cover moving supplies, movers, truck, and delivery of my new appliances at the least. Hopefully it will also cover some of the things needed to get the house ready for move-in (ex: paint, minor repairs, cleaning). Here is my preliminary budget: Moving Supplies -> $50 Movers -> $75 Truck -> $50 Cleaning of apartment after move-out -> $25 Cleaning of new home prior to move-in -> $20 Delivery fee for new appliances -> $65 Paint and tools -> $50 Current Total = $335 I will be selling off my furniture and some other miscellaneous items and the money from the sales will go towards my moving fund. The same with any extra income from my blog or side hustles. I started selling off some of my furniture this weekend through craigsl...

Finally. Its times like these that I LUV free shipping. Majority of my purchases were made just this way. Here is how my budget turned out: Person Gift Budget Actual Mom Cell Phone $30 $30 Sweet Pea Bike $25 $35 Sister L $25 Target Gift Card $25 $10 Sister E Cookware Set (stainless) $25 $25 Niece Clothes $20 $15 Brother Jordan Hydro IV Slides $25 $25 Godson J Crayola drawing set & mini football $10 $7 BF K Book $0 $2 BF's son N Personalized duffel bag & football $10 $14 BF's son J-R Clothes $5 $7 Adopt-A-Chi...

* Walmart's clearance section : I am sponsoring 8 kids through an Adopt-A-Child program at a local orphanage that the company I work for is also taking part in. Majority of the kids I selected listed clothes and shoes on their wish lists. I was searching around and happened upon Walmart's clearance section. Talk about great deals. I spent $34 on clothes for 6 out of the 8 kids. I even bought two of these cute Bratz Backpacks with coordinating stationary kits for $3. Each kid winded up with at least two tops and one bottom. I chose Site-to-Store as my delivery option. Aside from being FREE , my purchases arrived at my local Walmart within 3 days of placing the orders (much faster than paid shipping). Here is a look at a few of the 3000+ items in clearance: High School Musical Tee = $2 Lil Bratz Backpack = $3 NBA Jam Xbox Game = $5.82 Toddler Cheerleading Dress = $10 SlickDeals.net This site list the latest deals and steals. I check it a few times a day to find some sup...

I woke up the following headlines this morning: * DHL to cut 9500 jobs and close US service centers * Government provides record aid package to AIG ($150 billion to date and aren't these the same folks who spent $23K of that money at a spa???) * Circuit City files bankruptcy * Fannie Mae posts $29 billion loss in 3rd quarter * Wall Street falls, unable to shake economic woes Let’s keep it real. Things aren't looking too kosher in regards to the state of our economy at the moment. More and more of our tax dollars are being shelled into companies. Companies who seem unable to get their shit together long enough to get themselves out of the hole they dug themselves into. Well, I'm tired of worrying. I haven't really felt the sting from this economic crisis. Yet anyways. I have lost a few thousand dollars in my 401K account and I have had a couple of credit card companies try my patience by skyrocketing my AP...

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 ...

Yesterday was my first day at the new job. First three hours were spent at HR going through a benefits presentations and creating my employee file. Benefits Summary: Great medical, dental, and vision plan. Only $120 a month for me and my daughter. Even though I have been used to paying zilch on the medical coverage front, the $120/month is a lot better than I thought. Hit the nail on the head here or way off? The company is only offering 2% towards my 401K and there is no additional match. I think I am going to elect to have 0% of my salary applied to my 401K. There is 2.5 months left on the contract which equates to about 5 paychecks. The company's retirement plan only allows roll overs if the account is more than $1000. Any account below that will be required to cash out. Even if I do the same percentage of contribution I did with my old employer (4%) and plus the 2% from the current employer, $840 max would be contributed to my 401K by the time the contract ends. So I...

Well not 100% financially free but close to it. Read my last post, The Job Offer ??? If you haven't then do so now if you want to understand the following madness that is about to ensue. Here we go: I officially received a job offer on Thursday which I have accepted. My start date is the 21st (I wanted to give my current employer the standard two weeks). Here is the catch: The company whom I will be working for is the same company who's contract ends on Doom's Day. Crazy huh?! Yeah I know but I have my reasons for taking such a risk. My position with my current employer is foggy after Doom's Day . There is a big chance that I would be laid off due to lack of work, especially since I primarily worked the NASA contract. My position with the new company after Doom's Day is also foggy, but not as much. There is a high probability that the department will get picked up onto the new contract. Very high probability. And on top of that, I am making $25K more than I...

This mom is kicking budget booty left and right. The private school that my daughter attends is coordinating a summer camp for the grade school kids. The were offering summer camp for grades K thru 12 for $88/week. Definitely better than the $110 I was looking at paying to just keep her in plain old daycare. So if my daughter is starting kindergarten in August she should qualify for the camp right? Wrong. Well that is what the one of the pre-K teachers told me anyways. So being who I am I decided to speak to someone who actually had authority to say yes or no, the summer camp director. After some chit-chatting that lasted 15 minutes I was able to get my daughter enrolled into their summer camp program for the summer. I had to pay a $140 registration fee that covered all the summer field trips and activities and others things like gas, lunch, and snacks. I will then pay $88 a week for summer camp. I don't have to pay for weeks that she will not be there (which is perfect sin...

Remember in my " My Money is acting Funny! " post I talked about how some of my budget categories would be increasing in June? And how I was going to work on finding a way to combat some of those? Well I was able to get my monthly internet bill lowered back to the original $19.99 I have been paying for the last year. I called Brighthouse earlier this week and requested that I be put on another promotion with a lower rate than I currently had ($29.99) or I would cancel my service and go with someone else. Within 5 minutes I was put on a current promotion that was running for new customers, $19.99/month for Roadrunner Lite. I was also able to keep my current internet plan and speed (which is a bit faster than Roadrunner Lite). Now to work on the other stuff.......

I have been really contemplating putting majority of my refund ($2000) into my emergency fund. That would bring my balance a little over $5K. I would then use about $500 to pay down my credit card debt and then use the remaining $129 for myself. It is just a thought I am entertaining at the moment. I know I should probably use all the refund to bring down my debt. I have two weeks to make a decision. Question for my readers: Debt first or savings? Don't limit your answer to my current situation. For anyone dealing with debt, how do you prioritize between becoming debt free and building a sound safety net (i.e. Emergency Fund)? Especially when you have children?

I finally called my car insurance company today to inquire about increasing my deductible. I was given two scenarios: 1. Increasing the deductible on collision from $500 to $1000. or 2. Increasing the deductibles on both collision and comprehensive from $500 to $1000. Here are the results: Option 1 : Total savings of $60 over 6 month premium. Comes out to $10 a month. Option 2 : Total savings of $70 o ver 6 month premium . Comes out to $11.67 a month. Ugh! I am just not feeling those numbers. Increasing the deductible wouldn't pay itself off for 4+ years (when the savings equals the extra $500 in deductible I will be liable to pay out if I ever get into a fender bender). What do you guys think? Would you go for it?

I use Fairwinds Credit Union as my main bank for paying all my bills. I have been with them for 2 years. I signed on today to check my checking account and I saw this: I clicked on the banner and saw that the bank is offering members the opportunity to skip their December loan payments. Here is the breakdown: Count on FAIRWINDS to help you save more with our exclusive Skip-A-Payment offer for the month of December*. You can skip your payment on any of the FAIRWINDS products listed below: New and used vehicle loans Personal loans RV loans and boat loans You may qualify to skip your December payment on any of these products if: You have made at least six consecutive monetary payments on your loan. Your FAIRWINDS accounts are in good standing. Your FAIRWINDS loans are current and up-to-date. I have my personal loan with them so you know I was definitely interested. I called in to get more details. The bank is basically allowing you to defer your loan for one month. ...

Not bad huh? Well there is a method to my madness. Hair: $17 for extensions. $35 for the style. I go to a local college student who has been doing my braids and sew-ins for the last year or so. I would have paid $100 at the hair salon. Nails: $17 + $3 tip = $20 for a full set. The regular cost is $22 but college students receive $5 off on Sundays. Yes I used my college ID card. And yes I graduated in 2005. Oh well they don't know that........LOL. Facial: Free. Did it myself at home. Unless I can find a spa that can give a facial formulated for my type of skin, I will always do it myself. Last time I attempted a facial at a spa I broke out even before I left the seat. Ugh! New Fit: $25 total. I went to one of my favorites, Burlington Coat Factory. I luvs that store. Bought myself a cute top and some slacks. And where did I find the money to pay for all this? Cash Duck silly. LOL. I received my second payment via paypal on Thursday. $160 for my spendin...