A Personal Finance and Money Saving Blog in Alaska

What's Stopping You From Cutting That Budget Line Item?

I am a big fan of making sure I get value from my money. Each month as I look over the month’s spending, I look at where I can improve and where I can optimize and where I’m happy with my spend. Each budget line item should have a purpose. So often, we get stuck with ones that don’t, so why do we avoid cutting them?

Things Change, So Should Your Spending

We used to cloth diaper, but with health problems after Lui’s birth, we stopped. Paying for diapers was worth the expense.

This week, we returned from a 2-week vacation to visit the kids’ cousins in Nebraska and Texas and I realized diapers are no longer worth the line item on our budget. Lui’s 3 now and is ready.

Daily Spending and Saving in 2016

By MaggieBanks

On March 22, 2017

In Plan Updates

Several people have suggested putting a certain amount of money in savings every single day, aim to spend less than a certain amount of money on any given day, etc. On a day to day basis, I don’t do well with that. I save in monthly spurts. But I liked the idea of tracking how much I spent and saved on a daily basis. Here are our 2016 expenses broken down into daily spending amounts in each category:

Your Breakfast is Robbing You

By MaggieBanks

On March 20, 2017

In Food!

If you haven’t yet calculated it, your breakfast is probably costing your family much more money than you think it is. Stop eating expensive breakfasts and switch to some cheap breakfast ideas. I’ll share the numbers of how much cereal could cost us and how much we actually spent last year on our inexpensive breakfast alternative (and how oatmeal can actually be yummy).

Cereal is Expensive

About once a month, we eat cereal for breakfast as a family. That’s right. Once a month. The last time we did this, I realized our family of five goes through the equivalent of one Costco box of cereal each time we eat cereal.

Northern Expressions: Inspiration is like Mario

By MaggieBanks

On March 17, 2017

In Northern Expressions

Remember how I told you Lin-Manuel Miranda is better than you? Well, he is. And today we have just another proof. Way back in November, he tweeted a series of amazing tweets about inspiration that I haven’t gotten out of my head. Mr.T worked his graphic design magic on the tweets, and now look how amazing it is!:

“Inspiration is exactly like getting a star in Super Mario Bros. Exciting, and super rare. You’re invincible for a short time. The rest of your time, you’re breaking bricks, navigating pitfalls, you’re living and dying. You’re doing the work.”

– Lin-Manuel Miranda

Isn’t that brilliant? Some days we’re struck with awesomeness and we feel invincible. But I love the imagery of Mario breaking all those bricks. He just keeps breaking the bricks. Every day, we get out there and we break more bricks. If you don’t jump up to break those bricks, you’ll never get the stars.

Let’s go break some bricks, my friends! And when you happen upon a star, plow through the obstacles as fast as you can! It won’t last long.

Love, Maggie

Comparison is the Thief of Joy and Productivity

By MaggieBanks

On March 15, 2017

In Personal Finance

Teddy Roosevelt is famous for saying: “Comparison is the Thief of Joy.” I took the liberty of adding “… and productivity.” When we compare ourselves to others, we lose sight of what we’re busy accomplishing.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is Better Than You

Last week, a Facebook friend of mine posted:

Lin-Manuel Miranda and my alumni magazine make me feel like I’ve done nothing with my life.

I totally agreed. A few days later, I happened across this article (headline is NOT changed): Lin-Manuel Miranda even sings karaoke better than you do.* Of course he does!

An Honest Look At Your Awesomeness

By MaggieBanks

On March 13, 2017

In The Ride, Uncategorized

An Exercise in Self-Reflection

Grab a Piece of Paper and a Pencil
Write down 5 things you are AWESOME at.
Write down 5 weaknesses you have.
Write down 1 thing you want to actively get better at.

Are you Too Hard on Yourself?

Am I Happy? Stop Looking Outside Yourself.

By MaggieBanks

On March 8, 2017

In Goodness

We introduced our children to Wii Fit recently and they’ve been loving it. Florin, my 6-year-old, will finish every single game and then say: “Am I happy?” and wait to see if her character is excited (happens when played well) or sad (happens when played poorly). She can roll down the entire hill crashing into things in Wii Fit Skiing and STILL be surprised when her character is crying. On the flip side, she can do an amazing Wii Fit ski jump, but she won’t be happy or excited about it until her character starts jumping up and down with excitement.

Rockstar Finance #GivingCard: A Loved One

By MaggieBanks

On March 6, 2017

In Goodness

Each month, the Rockstar Finance Giving Fund gives out 25 VISA cards loaded with $20 for people to go help make the world a better place. In February, I signed up for one of them. February’s assignment was to help a “loved one.”

Northern Expressions: The Wilderness Will Tear You Down

By MaggieBanks

On March 3, 2017

In Northern Expressions

Happy Friday! Tomorrow is the ceremonial start of The Last Great Race on Earth, AKA, The Iditarod! So, today’s Northern Expression comes from 4-time Iditarod Champion (including last year), Dallas Seavey:

“Every time I see people having to build themselves up to face the wilderness, the wilderness will tear them down. It’s bigger than anybody out there. It has to just be your home.” – Dallas Seavey

He said this in an interview with Survival Life. I really enjoyed the thought that if you have to build yourself up for something, you’re probably not ready for it. You have to learn to be at peace in even the harshest climates (literal or figurative).

If you have to build yourself up for financial set-backs and financial emergencies, your finances aren’t ready for them. The goal is to be so prepared that they just become an obstacle to overcome on the course rather than a complete roadblock.

So… let’s get prepared, friends! And get out there and enjoy the weekend! Run, dogs, run!

Love, Maggie

February 2017 Plan Update

By MaggieBanks

On March 1, 2017

In Plan Updates

February was a beautiful, snowy month here in Anchorage. On the home front, it was a crazy month, but good. I got some health answers and am working on finding a good management program (testing which foods impact me and which don’t).

It was also a good, but busy month at work. After quitting my job, things have improved greatly and at least I’m back to loving the work.

My totally awesome survey is up to 367 responses… not close to the 1000+ I’d like to see in order for this to turn in to an actual study… If you have any ideas on how to get more visibility/more responses, I’d love to hear them. (Non-spammy places to share it? A database of thousands of people waiting to take surveys perhaps?) Help a sister out!

We also had the awesome privilege of getting one of this month’s Rockstar Finance Giving Cards. Full story coming Monday!

The Numbers:

Want to know how easy it is for us to write these every month? I literally just log into my Personal Capital and revel in all the numbers being in one place. Do you like checking numbers? Do you like graphics? Do you like playing with calculators like retirement calculators and how much your fees are costing you? Then, you should obviously use my affiliate link to Sign up here to help yours truly speed toward financial independence! (I assumed bloggers pushed this because of the affiliate income until I started using it myself… worth the FREE pricetag! And Seriously Amazing.)

Northern Expenditure

What’s Stopping You From Cutting That Budget Line Item?

Things Change, So Should Your Spending

Daily Spending and Saving in 2016

Your Breakfast is Robbing You

Cereal is Expensive

Northern Expressions: Inspiration is like Mario

Comparison is the Thief of Joy and Productivity

Lin-Manuel Miranda is Better Than You

An Honest Look At Your Awesomeness

An Exercise in Self-Reflection

Are you Too Hard on Yourself?

Am I Happy? Stop Looking Outside Yourself.

Rockstar Finance #GivingCard: A Loved One

Northern Expressions: The Wilderness Will Tear You Down

February 2017 Plan Update

The Numbers: