You can not make all people like you

but you can rob them of a reason to dislike you.

That was my Napoleon Hill Thought of the day. Mr. Hill goes on to write that because everyone is so different, with different interests and such, it is impossible for an individual to be loved by all who know him or her.

Read this:
You can cement your relationships with others by making sure that you are a person of character, one who is predictably honest, straightforward, and ethical. When you follow such a code of conduct, you may not be sought out by others who do not share your value, but you will be respected by all who know you. And in the end, self-respect will mean far more to you than mere popularity.

I want to make sure that I am person of character and that my life follows that quote and this scripture:

"... Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself" Luke 10:27

I know if I follow the above....... then every little thing is gonna be alright!

until next time, think prosperous thoughts


YBP

Saving Saving Saving

Hey Y'all

Nothing really exciting is going on at this end just trying to save a lot of money. My husband and I are trying to have a large lump sum saved and in a money market account by the end of the month. I'm trying not spend money when I don't need to so that we can meet our savings goals. Even though I quit my part time job at the hotel I still have extra money coming in that replaces the income that was lost. I started working for an educational non profit and the work is fun yet challenging. I also have been doing some networking and there may be possible full time job opportunity at the company starting first or second quarter 2011.

I am reading Return to Love by Marianne Williamson and am loving this book, I also am reading A Course in Miracles which is a really difficult book to read but I am enjoying it and learning mucho about love and forgiveness. I may write a few posts about it. My interests have changed and I'm not in to writing so much about finance anymore. I keep saying it but there is truly more to life than money!

Have you learned any life or money lessons lately?

Super Super Thankful

I am just filled with with thankfulness... and not just because my American Express credit card is paid off.

Today I started working out again, with a coworker... and just the half an hour we did on the treadmill walking and ab/leg exercises had the endorphins flowing. I have a busy day tomorrow as my husband's niece ( i guess she's my niece too now) is turning two. So, its going to be a day of running around getting a present and stuff for the party coupled with teaching Saturday School in the morning. Only God gives me the energy!

My husband is working a second job as well... I am so proud of him and he is making lots of money (in sales). Right now a lot of it is going to debt but pretty soon we are going to be saving, saving, saving.

I am thankful for all things I am learning during this period in my life. I am taking nothing for granted!

There's more to life than money

As a PF blogger and someone who grew up very poor... i tend to live, breathe, and constantly think about money. This morning's devotional made me realize that I need to take some moments and breathe, because simply there is more to life than thinking about savings, debt, credit, and retirement all the time.

Anyone ever read this verse?

Matthew 6:25-27, "That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life--whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?" (NLT)

It reminds me that everything will be taken care of, and when I look back I my life I know God has always taken care of me. Today I'm smiling because of that, and because of have faith that "all things work together for the good".

I got paid today, but I'm not focused on the money. I'm glad I have a good husband, a job, friends, and family and an outlet where I can write my thoughts... because there is really more to life than money.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

A lump

This is one of those days in which I have a lot of things going on and I need to write down what I am going through. I don't blog for money or any other satisfaction. I blog because I love to write, I want to empower others, and even be held accountable for my actions. I am always truthful in everything I write and will continue to be. My life is changing and there is more to my life than finances. Thus, my future posts will be about more than finances. I actually think I will make the move to a self hosted site that I can personalize and share with you more about me and the things I love, people and things that inspire me and more. Life is too short. I'm going to live my best life now and never look back. I can't be concerned with what happened in my past, or the people who say negative things about with me who don't even know anything about me.

I found a lump in my breast. Today is Boobee and myself's 3 year anniversary, I am getting married in 61 days...............I found a lump in my breast, but God is a healer!

Malignant or Benign, its funny how one lump can change everything!

YBP

Sometimes you just need another pair of eyes

Another pair of eyes brings a different perspective on certain situations. That's why I love the power of blogging and the community that comes with it. Sometimes the second pair of eyes comes from someone close to you, and in my case it was when Boobee gave me so advice.

I had been putting a lot of wedding expenses on credit cards with hope of paying them all of, however, more expenses came due and it seemed I was just working to pay off credit cards. I was frustrated, confused and pretty much on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Boobee was able to calm me down and show that I could pretty much pay off all the cards with my next paycheck.

There is one more card that I have to pay off that accumulates interest, and that will be paid off in the month of July.

If it wasn't for Boobee I would probably be in bed crying or something ( I truly am dramatic like that).

Sometimes another pair of eyes looking into a situation is all you need.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

I'm going through changes

Have y'all heard that song by Ledisi? She is one of my favorite singers. Her voice is filled with so much emotion, and passion..

If you haven't please check her out.

The reason why I am bringing her up is because I am going to through major changes in my mind, body, spirit, intellectually, spiritually, financial and even politically.

I will talk more about it later but I wanted let the world know that I am so grateful for everything God has given me, even with a the changes, and challenges.

When I look at what is going in around me I can be nothing but grateful.

My tenant died in the apartment below me on saturday.
A friend from college just found out she has a rare form of cancer in her heart and lungs.
Numerous people very close to me are having an extremely HARD time paying their bills and looking for jobs.
Several people I know are in horrible relationships which are affecting me by association
My fiance lost both his father and his grandmother in the past three months.

I have been feeling a lot of pressure lately and have been wallowing with a spirit of selfishness, and complaining to God about all the things that I want that I don't have but then God told me to reflect on the things that I do have

A relationship with him
A fiance that truly loves me
Excellent health ( including a weight loss of 23 pounds, thank you!)
A home
Two really good jobs
A brand new to me car
Good friends
3 college degrees

... and the list can go on and on.

What are you grateful for???


YBP

I am my sister and brother's keeper!

My family dynamics are quite strange. I was adopted when I was 15 along with my younger brother and sister. I know and am close with several members of my biological family except my mother simply because I don't know where she is at the moment.

I also have several siblings, including adopted brothers and sisters, a foster sister, and my biological brother and sister.

I am the oldest child in terms of my biological family. Thus I feel an obligation to take care of my brother and sister. It doesn't help that I remember my mother's last words to me before giving us up for adoption were "Do Better than Me"

My brother is 10 years younger than me which means he turns 17 this year and hopefully graduates from high school next year. One of the reasons I want to eliminate as much debt as possible is because I want to pay for his college education. He wants to be a police officer and plans to attend a Junior College for two years.

After researching the various community colleges in their area where my parents live it seems the cost of tuition will be around $4000 a year, or $2000 a semester. I hope to pay for this so he does not have to take out any loans and will be speaking with my parents about him getting a job and paying for his books and living expenses.

I bring him up because right now he is not working and last week he hit me up for money for his prom, in march he asked me for money to buy his girlfriend a gift for her birthday, and in Feb, he needed help to buy her a Valentine's Day gift. His birthday is also in two weeks ( he will probably want money as a gift), and I have to pay for him and my sister to attend my wedding in Jamaica.

My sister, also hit me up for money last week. She was in a really rough living situation ( she is 24) and wanted to move to her own apartment. She has no job but she is in online program for a degree in Human Services. She needed help paying to move to her own place as well as help with the deposit so I gave her $500. I consider it a gift, because I know I won't get it back.

Both siblings hit me up for money in the same week. Sigh!!! Sometimes I wish our family situation was different because I know that some of our faults are because of the circumstances of our childhood. Perhaps that why I feel I have to help them out as much as I possibly can.

Thus, for now and until the day I die, I will be my brother's (and sister's) keeper.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Nervous!!

I have an interview today.

I haven't interviewed for a job in over 5 years!

I am soooo nervous!!

This job could mean no weekend overnight work for me!

I straightened my hair for this interview and it is rainy and humid outside which means by the time my 4pm interview is here my hair will be a ball of frizz.

But I'm still smiling!!

Whats going on in YBP's world?

There are a lot of things going on but nothing I feel like separate posts about so here goes...


Wedding Photography update

We decided to go with the $3000 package instead of the $5000 package. It just is more feasible. Within the next couple of weeks we both are going to give $750 to the company, then we will probably pay of the rest in July or August.

When we get our disk of images we are just going to make our own albums for our parents instead of buying them already made from the photographer.

Emergency Fund

Last night at dinner we decided that our goal would be to have a $20000 emergency fund by the end of the year. This trumps the $10000 that I wanted and will be a fully funded emergency fund for us. Once this is complete I will mos definitely be sleeping a little lighter.

Moving

After the wedding we are going to be fixing up our house ( the small things that need to be done) and putting it up for rent. We are then planning on moving into an apartment for a year until we are prepared to buy our next house or rental property. The cash flow we would get from renting out our house is very good, so by the end of 2011 we will have a fully funded rental property account and significant savings to buy or next place.

Health and Fitness

I have been on the Atkins diet since April first. Thus today is equals 21 days on this new way of life and 11 pounds lost. My body and gluten products which are most carbs do not go well together. Because i have not eaten them in 3 weeks I feel like I just have more energy and am able to focus more.

Spiritual Life

I am getting closer to God. I have been waking up every morning to do my devotional and worship. Boobee and I have been going to bible study at his church for the past two weeks. I have been praying without ceasing and trusting in God. Even the disappointments that we have had in the past couple of weeks are just opportunities for God to show his glory.


Work

I have been applying for jobs in my school district. I don't want to teach any longer but instead move up into some type of administrative work. A position has become open in my actual school building. Today I am going to talk to my principal to what I can do to apply for it. Right now I am only teaching 90 minutes a day so I will essentially have the rest of the day to work with the person that is leaving so that I will be prepared for next year. I will let you know how it goes.

Wedding

Today is April 21, 2010. We have four months until we get married. I am so excited. I know our wedding is going to be a blast. We were thinking we were going to have about 40 people in Jamaica but now its looking at 25-30. 25 of our closest friends and family in Jamaica being pampered and just enjoying life.... I can not wait!

Christmas

Its never to early to be thinking about Christmas, and we decided that we are going to spend this Christmas somewhere warm, inexpensive, and outside of the US. I would love to go to some country in Africa, but Boobee wants to go to either Barbados ( the country my fam is from), the Dominican Republic ( where my biological father's family is from) or Brazil.

Oh where should we go?

until next time, think prosperous thoughts


YBP

Wisdom teeth removed

Got my wisdom teeth removed on tuesday evening, and got in a fender bender on the way to it. Still in pain ( got all 4 wisdom teeth removed and my tongue clipped) and can barely open my mouth to talk, but the best part is I didn't have to pay a copay.

I have been out of work since Tuesday and won't go to my weekend job this weekend either. Next time I go to work it will be on Monday. Right now I am laying on my couch and my boobee put on on Slumdog Millionaire, just resting!


Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Thankfully I have an Emergency Fund!!

My car died today. I don't know how, but I do know I spent 2 hours after work waiting for a tow truck to come take it away. I think it has something to do with the key not working. I have a VW with an electronic key and when I went to the parking lot to get in my car and the key did not work, I unlocked the car with the key instead of push button and the alarm went off. I then put the car in the ignition and the alarm went off again and the car didn't start.

I should have been upset but I wasn't. I have enough to fix whatever is wrong with the car. We paid for the tow truck and then rode with the tow truck driver to the VW dealership. Right now I have a loaner car at the cost of $30.00 a day, and will find out what is wrong and the cost to fix it tommorrow.

I am glad I have an emergency fund. This repair did not stress me out simply because I have the money to pay for it and will have the car paid off by the end of next month. My new goal is to have around $20,000 in an emergency fund by the time I am married which is in August. If I can automatically transfer over $1500 a month to my capital one car loan then I can mos def save $20000 for emergencies in about 1o months.

There are only 3 more months left in 2009, have you started thinking about your 2010 goals?

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

That Damn Job!!!

I work a part time job every weekend overnight, love the company and the people I meet but this month I was so fed up I almost quit Thank God I didn't quit because everything worked out in the end. Here is the story.

I took of much of the month of August because I did some traveling to Jamrock and I needed to recoup from the summer in grad school. I wasn't worried because I had almost a week of vacation time that I planned on using and planned for it to be on the paychecks following the days I took off. When it wasn't I didn't have a fit, I just wrote my manager a email and she said it would be on the next check. Well... it wasn't on the next check either ( so basically I went a month with out getting paid), then I had to become the Angry Black Woman on them. Don't you know I got my money in cash this week. I was highly pissed because three automatic payments came out my account with no money in it and I had overdraft fees ( Thankfully BOA paid the bills but it left me with a negative balance).

Today I came to the job to pick up cash to cover the overdraft fees, that they paid for. Everything was taken care of just the way I wanted it.

I wonder if this would have happened if I didn't get all ABW on them. Could it be true that nice people finish last in the workplace?


Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Pay Increase in Effect September 1

I recently got my Masters in Education over the summer while I began working on my second masters in NY. Today I got my final transcript which stated that I graduated ( I won't get my diploma until sometime in September) and promptly took it to my school district headquarters along with the pay scale increase application. The woman at the office said it would be in effect on September 1. I also get a step increase on September 1, and I made tenure this year ( Go Me!!!). So this brings my salary to the mid 50's. This year I am also continuing my part time job at the Hotel, and working on a project at school which I get paid for plus teaching an after school class twice a week. All my extra money will be going to make sure my car loan is paid off, and to my Roth IRA which I will fully fund this year! Anything else will go towards wedding expenses, i'm paying cash for that baby, and to savings. I will buy another property by December 2010 since it is definitely not going to happen this year.

Didn't stick to my Budget

I have not stuck to my budget this month nor have I tracked my spending, this month has been crazy. First a pipe burst, then my tenants decided they wanted to break their lease, then my car was making some kind of crazy noise. Its been one unexpected expense after another. Thank God for the emergency fund, and my rather low debt to income ratio.

It is also PSSA week ( standardized tests per No Child Left Behind) at my school so that is loads of stress, and I have a major research project due today for my research design class. I am so tired and worn out.

However, it is always darkest before the dawn and in two weeks I will be in beautiful Panama.


Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Stressed!!!

Im so stressed out, which is the reason why I haven't been posting a lot. The economy is going crazy, PSSA testing is next week at my school, grad school work is piling kup,  I'm having anxiety about my interview on thursday, and my tenants are acting like fools.  Oh, and my guy and I are planning on moving into an apartment to rent out our house.  Why?  We want the extra cashflow to save, pay for our wedding next august, and we also plan on buying another property next year. 

 I loved the idea of buying a duplex, but now im tired of living above my tenants.  I just want to be away from everything.  Which is exactly why I am leaving for Panama at the end of the month for my spring break, and my guy and I are going to Costa Rica for Memorial Day.  

Plane Tickets are already paid for, hotel rooms already booked and I can't wait.  I just need to get away. 

Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

I bought Suze Orman's new book...but you can get it for free!!

During one of the last few days of 2008 I went to Borders and ended up buying Suze Orman's new book, Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan. I love Suze Orman and have many of her books!!! Well... today I was watching Oprahs show and Suze Orman was on it. She gave lots of good advice and she is allowing people to download the book for free on the Oprah website! I guess I bought the book too soon! You have up until Thursday January 15 to download the book ( I believe it is a PDF file).

It really does give some great advice!!!


until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

MSN rates Philadelphia one of the seven great cities to live in!!

MSN rates Philadelphia as one of the seven great U.S cities to live in!!!

I love Philadelphia, yes, really I do. It is one of the few places on the East coast where someone my age could afford to buy a house. It is also close to New York City and D.C. The city is full of culture, green space, great universities and sports teams. I have read numerous articles that say Philadelphia is America's next great city. After living here for seven years I totally understand why!

Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

4 Lessons From the Financial Crisis

Althoughmy finances have been on autopilot for most of the month that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about Personal Finance at all. I am still reading other finance bloggers, planning for the future, and of course reading articles. One that I think is very important for the time period is this great CNN Money article 4 Lessons Learned from the Financial Crisis. It basically talks about 4 things that every investor should have learned from these tumultuous times.

They are:
Financial Success isn't just about investing
Simplicity is better than complexity
Allow for the possibility that you may be wrong
Don't get to euphoric during upswings or depressed during downswings

I definitely learned the last lesson! In fact I have really stopped looking at my account balances.

My question to you is- What lessons have you learned from the Financial Crisis?

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Already overspent

so last night I had to stay in a hotel.. why? The electricity was off in my house!... don't even ask... it should be back on today. Lucky for me I get discounts at hotels so my bill was only $42.00.

Don't forget to vote today!

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP