On Monday, we shared our quick guide to conservative travel hacking. Since we’re all about sharing our numbers here on the blog, I want to break down how much we spent on airfare and lodging for our current trip to the UK and Paris.
FLIGHTS:
Total Cost: $1007.36
Late tonight, Mr. T and I fly to the UK to celebrate our tenth anniversary! We’ll spend 2.5 weeks driving around the UK, fly to Paris for the last three days, and then fly back to pick up our children. We have awesome posts lined up while we are away, so don’t be a stranger. If we’re slow on reading/responding to comments, I promise we will catch up upon our return. The comments are one of our favorite parts of blogging, so please share your thoughts even though the response may be quite delayed! And be sure to follow us on Twitter if you want to know what we’re up to!
While we’re off and away, I think it’s time we shared how we travel hack conservatively. I’ve been interested in travel hacking for years, but I only found sources churning 4-12 credit cards every three months and doing something called manufactured spend. Then I found the ultimate travel hacker resource for every level of travel hacker: Brad and Alexi and their FREE Travel Miles 101 Course (not an affiliate link, but I highly recommend signing up if you are interested at all in travel hacking). Alexi is a heavy credit card churner while Brad churns only a few cards a year and they teach you everything (earning money on the credit card sign-ups through their affiliate links).
Amanda over at Dream Beyond Debt took the Roth IRA Challenge. I followed Amanda and her amazing writing and story as she successfully worked her way out of debt and she is still doing amazing things. Her new goal is to save her first $100,000. She’s also the host of #PFBookChat which you should definitely check out! Take it away Amanda…
When I finally made the decision to attack my $48,000 balance of long-standing student loan debt, I was already living pretty close to the bone. The year before I committed to my loan payoff journey, I was an underemployed underearner who had just declared bankruptcy. I was living on a tiny salary that I cobbled together through various teaching positions, temporary gigs, and freelance work. I lived with a roommate, kept my 14-year-old car once it was paid off, and shopped for groceries at the local discount store. I didn’t feel deprived, but I also didn’t feel like I was moving forward in any way. That’s when I decided to pay off those loans as quickly as I could. I reasoned that my small salary could stretch a lot further if I didn’t have those loans looming over my head.
May was filled with end-of school projects, trip preparations, and playing outside! May is the month we move into full summer here in Anchorage and it’s glorious! I’ve spent my Saturdays in the hospital infusion center getting pumped full of iron to help the anemia before we leave (those bills haven’t yet arrived!) reading Harry Potter and wrapped in a warm blanket. Things have improved, which is fabulous! We also had an adorable moose family move into our yard for the holiday weekend. They were very fun to watch (from a distance). We had a few close calls with the mom, but no one got charged and we got some great pictures of the twin babies.
Way back in February, I was chatting with my blogger friend Claudia (from Two Cup House). I was talking about how I wanted to start a new guest series called the Roth IRA Challenge and how she should be the first one to take the challenge. She agreed and said she and Garrett (her husband) were working on a new, online course and asked if I would take it and give feedback.
In February, I knew that SEO stood for Search Engine Optimization and had something to do with getting people to be able to Google your website better. Yeah. I would say I started at level 0 (maybe 0.1 if you give me credit for knowing what SEO stood for!). I had tried Googling things like “how to SEO your WordPress site” and I installed Yoast (an SEO plugin) here at Northern Expenditure, but didn’t do anything with it (secretly, I hoped it was magic and it worked entirely on its own).
The course is called SEO Audit Guide and is an amazing resource. Claudia and Garrett are real SEO specialists. They work in SEO full time, hustle in SEO after hours, and have decided to expound their knowledge to level zeros like me!
Today’s Northern Expression comes from the witty Woody Allen. I like it because it’s pithy but rings with truth. Congrats! You made it through the week and Memorial Day weekend is ahead of you (for you U.S.-based readers). Happy weekend, dear friends.
Love, Maggie
The first dream of Mr. T and I is to be self-employed in projects of our choosing. By definition, this means we want to be entrepreneurs. As a research geek, I spend my free time reading studies (you do, too, right?!). Recently, I’ve focused my efforts on studies about entrepreneurs. If I can learn about them, maybe I’ll be successful in becoming one. Here are four things I’ve learned:
In physics, the basic definition of relativity is that physical phenomena are highly dependent upon the position (motion, etc) of the observer.
I was in Minneapolis recently for work. It was a super windy day with 40-50 mph gusts. It was the worst airplane landing I had ever experienced with the plane violently rocking back and forth and up and down right up until touchdown. The wind made the trunk lid slam into my head as I was putting my luggage in the trunk. I headed to Trader Joe’s to buy my imports. As I was checking out, the lady said: “Isn’t it a lovely day? Every day is a lovely day when you don’t live in Duluth!” Hilarious, right? Except I sort of didn’t get it because I’ve never been to Duluth. I’m assuming this is similar to us (in Anchorage) saying in the middle of winter: “At least it’s not Fairbanks!” (which is probably lost on YOU, dear reader!).
Today’s Roth IRA Challenge is from Taylor over at The Freedom From Money. Taylor started her awesome blog to track kicking her debt. She successfully did it in just seven months! She now talks about how to be overall awesome like she is. Her writing is wonderful, her insights are fabulous, and her exuberance is contagious. She’s here today to talk a bit about her debt journey. After you read it (and love it, obviously), go read her blog!
Seven months ago, I had $14,000 in debt. Today, the number is zero. When I graduated from college one year ago, I knew that I wanted my debt gone as soon as possible. I never wanted to feel trapped in a particular job, location or relationship. Instead, I wanted complete freedom and I knew that loan repayment was the first step.
Everyone uses the phrase: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” as inspiration for anything that’s hard. I’ve also heard it used for the path to financial independence a number of times. Look! Here’s the first listed google image of the phrase:
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