The Money Pit

Hitting the Fan

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:32:08 PST

Let me ask you a question.

Letâ��s say you have two jobs, job A and job B.

At job A, worker A comes into work at 7:30am, looks over the plans left on the desk, executes plans, walks children to bus, and leaves.

For this, worker A brings home the tidy sum of $90.

At...

Digging Our Way Out

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:25:01 PST

I'm feeling a little more optimistic today!

The check for Brandus' teaching license finally cleared (which messed up our budget for daycare costs, but oh well), which means the district finally sent in his application. When he called the licensing place, they said he should have...

Talk the Talk

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:52:03 PST

My husband has been very resistant to even talking about money lately.

I know he's stressed. He's currently being underpaid about $600 each paycheck due to a licensing snafu that was the school district's fault. I'm working as a substitute, so Im making a lot less than I would...

Forever and a Day

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:23:25 PST

It's been quite a while since Ive blogged over here..since well before we moved.

We've settled from Alaska to North Carolina, found a decent apartment and jobs.

Brandus is not liking his teaching job this year. Im not liking the fact that this comes out in yelling fits at me...

Traditions and Taxes

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:26:54 PST

*sigh* Looks like we'll be paying big time, tax wise. I have to go back through TaxCut again, to make sure Im not missing something, but right now, we owe over $1000!

We make good money up here, yes, but Im pretty sure I never even changed my withholding amount after Voldemort...

It All Adds Up

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:53:12 PST

So, out of curiosity, I took a look at how much I owed last year on the credit cards vs how much we still owe.

And I got depressed when I saw the numbers.

Last year: We owed 15,000
This year: We owe 10,000

And I thought, that's it? 5000 is all we've managed to pay off?...

Minty Fresh

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:27:02 PST

Has anyone had any experience with mint.com?

I love the idea - tracking all of your bank accounts online.

But, you have to give sign in information for each account. And frankly, that makes me very nervous. Someone is one hack job away from having all of my logins for my...

Quite a Chunk of Change

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:11:52 PST

Last year, with me being pregnant, we were heading in to Anchorage about once a month.

Our flight there cost $1300 for the both of us, then hotel, food, fun...it added up.

And I knew that. I knew it cost alot.

But it really didnt hit me until last month, when we both got...

Moving On Up

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:46:33 PST

We've gotten a little further with the big move plans coming up.

Right now, we're looking at the Triangle in North Carolina - Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill - specifically at Carrboro, NC, which is sort of a small town within Chapel Hill.

If anyone is familiar with this area,...

How I Plan to Make Holiday Gifts Cheap and Green

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:51:50 PST

Ive been thinking about holiday gifts for everyone on my list, and Ive come up with some neat possibilities that are both frugal and green.

First of all, I plan to make some reusable fabric gift bags - I think I have enough scrap fabric to do it, and I have a machine available at...

Cutting Down to Necessities

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:06:09 PST

I would love for us to be able to cut down on our spending. What I cant figure out is how the heck to do it!

We live in a fishing village in Alaska.

Let me repeat that.

We live in a FISHING VILLAGE. in ALASKA.

We already buy in bulk whenever we go to Anchorage. We plan...

How We Save Money with a Baby in the House

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:52:43 PST

Voldemort is 6 months old now, and looking over our finances, we've started spending more.

Hey, you add another person to your family, and expenses add to it, too!

Here's some of the ways we save money:

1. Cloth diapers - even with the added expense of more laundry, its still...

Debt Roundup

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:14:39 PST

Quick credit card roundup, just for tracking purposes

We HAD the Discover paid off in full and were just using the USAA card. However, the USAA card is an American Express card, and so not everywhere takes it. Which doesnt work when we've just discovered that our insurance doesn't...

Mathmatically Insane

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:04:16 PST

So, Im trying to work out the difference between paying down the debt, and saving for the emergency fund.

At this specific point, we have about $11,000 credit card debt. Which sucks, and we're working hard on it.

We also have about $400 in our EF right now - we had closer to...

Piecing on the Sides

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:52:05 PST

I was making the rounds of my financial statements today and out of sheer curiosity, requested a credit increase on my USAA card.

Well.

They raised the limit from $1500 to $20,000.

WOW.

When I realized that was more than I owed on all of my other cards put together, I called...

Quick Credit Card Roundup

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:43:05 PST

Hopefully, ill be able to post more soon, but with Voldemort being almost 5 months and already trying to crawl, my time is a little limited.

So!

Here's what's left that we owe, credit card wise. Im leaving out the car and student loans.

Dis: $6,361.32 (sigh)
REI: $4,338.79
USAA:...

Long Time No See - Update

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:49:43 PST

Whoa, its been quite a while since I logged in and posted! I've been reading on and off, but I've been pretty much insanely busy.

Little Lord Voldemort was born April 23 in Anchorage, AK (and I had plenty of money put away for the whole time we were there).

He's a cutie, that's...

In Money Wii Trust

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:30:00 PST

I know there are others here who feel like they and their families are on completely different pages moneywise, but sometimes I just dont know how to handle things as they come up.

Every spare cent - my allowance, my half.com money - for the past 2 months has been going straight...

Having Babies on the Cheap

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:04:47 PST

Well..not really, but attempting to save as much money as possible while having kids!

Im due in May, and really, we dont have that much more that we NEED for the baby.

We're cloth diapering, so that's some money at the outset. So far, though, through ebay, I think Ive gotten...

A Home With a View

alianora@gmail.com (alianora) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 09:59:43 PST

We finally found a place to live in Anchorage!

We're only leasing it for 2 months, because all we need is a place for mom and I to stay before I have the baby, and then a place for mom and I and the baby to stay until we get the all clear for both of us to travel.

And this place...