Dimples' Divine Domain
My journey to financial empowerment.

I am off to Atlanta for the weekend. I have budgeted $225 for the trip and I plan on sticking to that. I'll hit you guys up when I get back and let you know if my budget was a success or not. Until then, have a great weekend and happy blogging!!!!!

My post, My $100 grocery budget and tips for saving on your grocery bill , is included in this week's Festival of Frugality #114 hosted by No Credit Needed . This is the first time I submitted one of my post for a festival so I am excited that I got listed. There are many great articles, I encourage you all to check them out. If you came to my blog via the Festival and are new to DDD (Dimples' Divine Domain): Welcome!! Come on in and make yourself at home. Don't be afraid to look around and check me out. A quick glance at the column to your right will give you a quick summary of where I am currently in my financial journey. Hope you come back again!! Did you enjoy reading my blog? Want to be instantly notified each time there is a wonderfully divine post here at DDD? Then you should definitely subscribe to my blog via RSS feeds or by email. This way you will be able to stay on top of ongoings in Dimples Divine's life and my journey to eliminate debt and financia...

My tax refund was deposited into my checking account on Friday. It was like Christmas all over again. For like half a second.....then my mind started going in overdrive on what I was going to do with the money. My refund totaled $2629. Here is what I have done with the money so far: - $500 to my Emergency Fund (bringing the total to $3555.81) - $699 to pay off one of my credit cards - $40 to my FCU savings - $100 on me and sweet pea - $20 on books - $40 on movies - $40 at Burlington Coat Factory That leaves me with $1290. I was going to pay off my Discover card with that but I am holding off on that until I figure out what I am going to do about my car. Single Ma gave me some good advice on a post I did last week on my car situation. I currently drive a 2006 Honda CRV and my monthly car note is $532. I know right!! I would like to trade in my car for something reliable yet less expensive. I am looking into two different options at the moment: 1. Sell my car pr...

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...

I haven't done one of these in a long time. So here we go: I got tagged by CT Mom for this meme. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!) It’s real easy! Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially! I tagged 5 of you guys so check the end of this post. tee hee The benefits of Viral Linking: One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode Attract large volume of new traffic to your site Build your community Make new friends The Strategist Notebook ~ Link Addiction ~ Ardour of the Heart ~ When Life Becomes a Book ~ The Malaysian Life ~ Yogatta.com ~ What goes under the sun ~ Roshidan’s Cyber Station ~ Sasha says ~ Arts of Physics ~ And the legend lives ~ My View, My Life ~ A Simple Life ~ Juliana RW ~ Mom Knows Everything ~ Beth & Cory's Mom ~ A Mind Forever Voyaging ~ enjoying the ride ~ Jennifer's though...

I finished up the project for my church today. I delivered the database this afternoon and the client was very happy with the results. She asked for a couple extra things as we did a run-through of the database and I added them for her right there on the spot. She was able to see me in action and was quite impressed. I am real excited that I completed my first project. Even though it was pro-bono work, I learned a lot from the experience: - I still have much more to learn about databases, especially when dealing with non-engineering related areas. - I need to really manage my time better. Working full-time, raising a child, Treasurer of a rapidly a growing group focused on empowering and inspiring our community, managing two blogs, actively involved in my church, AND working a side business can turn ones life into chaos if not managed correctly. Because I did not adjust my schedule accordingly, this project took me a week and a half to finish when I know I could have had...

I was posed a very good question by Millionaire Mommy on my new budget post : "I have to ask, have you considered reducing your car payments by driving a less expensive make/model? Or is your life energy (time price tag) a good fit for you in this category?" I never considered getting another car. I thought the only way I could reduce my car note was by refinancing my loan to get a lower interest rate and hence a lower car payment. I seriously never even thought about getting another car. I really would like to look into this. Especially if it means of having my $532 car note cut in half or more. I know so much more than I did when I purchased my car in December 2005. Back then I had just graduated from college and landed a good job and my only concern was to get a nice, reliable car. I see roadblocks though: 1. I may wind up upside down on my new loan. The Kelly Blue Book trade-in-value of my 2006 Honda CR-V is $15,500 yet I owe $19,157. I could sell my car privately...