Tag: goals Page 1 of 7

Q4 2021 Plan Update

On January 5, 2022

Well, we wrapped up 2021. Woof. The kids are now all fully vaccinated with the oldest getting a booster this week. That is a big thing we’re grateful for. We’re also grateful Omicron was not quite here yet during the holidays, so we got to have our two usual families over for Christmas dinner and it felt somewhat normal. Omicron is def here now, so we’re back to hunkering down as much as possible and wearing our N95s everywhere (if you haven’t found a good, comfortable one yet, I recommend this one. I love it. Not even an affiliate link, just want you to have a good mask!).

My migraines ramped up to being 2-3 days a week, which is awful, so 2022’s main goal is to just get rid of migraines.

Other things that have gotten me through:

Online Board Games with lots of amazing PF bloggers. A new way to learn new games and get a dopamine hit when it’s my turn!
Weekly Goodwill trips: seriously love this new thing I do. I’m definitely not a minimalist. I have found so much great stuff including lots of the Christmas presents we gave. My daughter even found me an amazing Where’s Waldo shirt she gave me for Christmas. Good times had by all. I have considered just turning this blog into: things I find at Goodwill, but will save you all. But I will share the dollhouse I got for $3.50 and turned into a haunted house for Halloween:

Happy Halloween from our finished haunted house. Complete with ancestor ghosts in the windows. pic.twitter.com/Ne7jgIT758
— Maggie Banks (@northernexpense) November 1, 2021

We’re still up to our necks in house projects with the addition (we’re starting the wiring this week) and Mr. T building us some new chairs (aren’t they incredible?!):

Another picture, just in case you didn’t get a good look at the one at the top!

The Numbers:

Well, our investments are now at $744,600, which is INSANE. That’s over $300k from where we were a year ago. INSANE. A reminder that when we sold our condo last year, we brought out current mortgage under $300k and then refinanced at the end of 2021 into a 2.125% 15-year mortgage, so we’re trying not to pay that off early. Right now the mortgage is at $285,300.

As for 2021 spending (I didn’t keep track in 2020 with the world exploding right after we bought a new house), we spent a whopping $265,000 but that includes more than half of the addition and the extra mortgage payments to bring the current mortgage under $300k. In fact, when I take out all housing costs (mortgage, extra payments to mortgage), home updates (all the addition plus the furniture builds), and taxes, we only spent $46,500. We’re front-loading a lot of home costs (instead of buying a house with the right amount of bedrooms, we decided to buy one we liked and add a bedroom and cashflow that cost). But this also means I have NO IDEA how much “normal” spend is for us anymore. And likely won’t until at least 2023 (still much spending for the addition).

2021 Goals

We made these goals before we knew we were selling the condo. That certainly helped fund most of what we have listed here. But the addition is still the big unknown. We’ll hold off on making any new goals or doing anything big with money until that is paid for.

Have the Addition Exterior Finished – So we have a roof and it’s all framed… so kind of a win?! The windows and garage doors have been paid for, but thanks to supply chain problems, the windows aren’t expected until February and the garage doors should be arriving in May…
Max Out My 401k ($19,500/$19,500) – Done. My plan doesn’t let me go over, which is super nice, so I have it set up to max out on my last paycheck.
Max Out Mr. T’s 401k ($19,384/$19,500) – So close. Mr. T’s retirement has had a slider that only allows him to contribute in certain increments (ie: $798 or $819, but nothing in the middle). The GREAT news is that they have added a little box to the slider for 2022 that let’s you ENTER an amount!!! So we should be able to max him out in 2022!
Max Out my Roth IRA for 2021 ($6000/$6000) – Done. Probably the earliest I’ve ever done so!
Max Out Mr. T’s Roth IRA for 2021 ($6000/$6000) – Done. Seriously nailing these goals (thanks to the unexpected condo sale!)
Max out a SEP-IRA – This will happen at tax time when our accountant tells us what we can contribute. But will hopefully happen then.

2022 is shaping up to be much less specific in goals.

Toying with having a year where I set no financial goals and say instead say yes to all the things I want to do.
— Maggie Banks (@northernexpense) November 14, 2021

I assumed I would get a lot of pushback on that idea, but all the comments were overwhelmingly supportive. Basically, 2022 is going to be me saying yes to all the things that feel comfortable and exciting and if I have to slow down my 401k contributions for that, I feel great about it. The first thing I’m saying “yes” to in the New Year is solar. Because for our addition, we have some serious electrical needs (service upgrade, panel upgrade, and sub-panel install). Mr. T is doing the main wiring, but doesn’t feel comfortable doing those thing. BUT, if we do them all with the solar stuff, we can deduct 26% of the costs with our solar. And if we’re going to do solar at all, we should do it soon to start the ROI clock. So I think that’s going to happen. I’m just really into spending money right now it seems. 😉

We also have to figure out the plan in the next few years because if we plan to pull the plug on working in May of 2025, we need to focus more on the brokerage account (which currently only has $60k in it). So maybe we’ll start those discussions in 2022 when we stop spending so much on this addition!

I hope you all have a lovely 2022 – well, as lovely as possible with Omicron raging and under 5s not able to get vaccinated…

Q3 2021 Plan Update

By MaggieBanks

On October 5, 2021

In Plan Updates

This has been an eventful quarter. We went on our first trip since the beginning of the pandemic. We traveled to see our parents in the Pacific Northwest before school started. It was lovely to see them and siblings and cousins, but by the time we went, Delta was starting to take over and things were not very relaxing and traveling was stressful. So, when we returned home, it was time to send the unvaccinated kids back to school and scream into the void. We’ve so far only had one known exposure at school and no one has managed to get it yet (knock on wood) despite cases in Anchorage being astronomical and hospitals being on rationed care. I hate this. Can it please be over yet?!

Alaska is now the worst place in the world for per capita COVID cases for the entire pandemic! I’m sick of all this winning!

Work continues to lay people off at least monthly and everything is still so up in the air. I’m still on COVID research full time, but luckily that isn’t as time consuming as it was in 2020. I accidentally started freelance editing on the side because it’s enjoyable and not COVID related. (Turns out my standards for work are pretty low right now. Not about COVID? I’m in!)

I’m trying to handle the general pandemic stress by reading more. I recently read:

The Five Years Before You Retire (affiliate link). The book is about traditional retirement, but is a great resource for navigating that transition.
Working Twice as Hard (affiliate link) is written primarily for Black entrepreneurs, but I recommend it to white people too as it is helpful to be aware of racism in the workplace, help call out microaggressions, and be sure you’re not leaning too heavily on your Black colleagues to do your anti-racism work for you.
Laziness Does Not Exist (affiliate link) is revolutionary in that it’s thesis makes it really easy to call out unfairness. We’ve used “Laziness” to actually mean people who are disadvantaged in some way and are actually working way harder than the rest of us (ie: homeless, depressed, poor, etc.). It talks about how our culture has made us all so afraid that deep down we’re lazy, so we stop listening to our bodies and push through. I’ve been trying to slow down, nap when I feel tired, and really listen to my body. We’ve all been through a lot of stress and trauma this year and this book was a helpful excuse to give myself grace to rest.
Die With Zero (affiliate link). My main thoughts on this book were about how you can insure against money fears (and when an annuity makes sense). But this book also justified my desire to spend a bunch of money when this pandemic ends. I’ve got ten years with kids at home and I’ve got a lot to pack in! (Only 5 years left with Penny!)

I’m not sure what I’ll pick up next!

In other exciting news, the work on the home addition has begun. We have a foundation now! It’s been touch and go because there’s a contractor shortage (everyone wants to work on their houses after being stuck in them for so long). We’re still hoping they can finish the exterior so we can get roofing and gutters done before snow sticks around, but we really have no idea at this point.

The Numbers

This is the last quarter we’ll be paying such a high (3%) interest rate on our mortgage. I realize that sentence is crazy, but we were able to lock in a 2.125% and the bank paid us $500 toward property taxes to do it (this was in part because we bought the house so recently, they didn’t require an appraisal). The world is upside down right now. We just closed on it last week. I’m thinking with a sub-$300k mortgage at 2.125% for fifteen years, I may actually be able to have the self-restraint to not pay it off early. TBD, but if I can’t do it under those conditions, we know I’m not capable. The mortgage is currently at $288,000. With the fifteen year clock starting over and the lower interest rate, our monthly payment is also going down nearly $400! In the usual vibe of “my life is wonderful but it sucks right now for so many people,” my broker was talking about how the people who lost jobs in the pandemic, etc don’t have access to these low rates because they don’t have the income to qualify for a refinance, so they’re stuck with high interest rates on mortgages they can no longer afford because the bank says they can’t afford lower payments. Make it make sense.

Seeing our investments double in a year is also a bonkers situation. It feels unsustainable. I literally have no idea what happens next. But the pandemic has taught me that nothing can be predicted, so we just live our lives and do the best we can. With that being said, despite the market dips of September, our investments are now at $659,000.

2021 Goals

Have the Addition Exterior Finished – So far, we have a foundation, which is good progress. Fingers crossed the framing happens this month. I’m hoping to report this is finished by the end of the year and Mr. T and I can start our work on the interior (we plan to do most of that ourselves).
Max Out My 401k ($15,138/$19,500) – My plan doesn’t let me go over, which is super nice, so I have it set up to max out on my last paycheck.
Max Out Mr. T’s 401k ($14,300/$19,500) – Mr. T’s retirement contribution “slider” may be the death of me. I can slide it to “$732,” “$798” or “$819″ per paycheck, but not $750.” We were under by $600 in 2020 because of the dumb slider. I’m hoping to get closer to maxing out this year, but I’m doubting we’ll actually be able to get the exact $19,500. My company doesn’t let you overcontribute, but I’m not sure about Mr. T’s. I’m afraid to try.
Max Out my Roth IRA for 2021 ($6000/$6000) – Done. Probably the earliest I’ve ever done so!
Max Out Mr. T’s Roth IRA for 2021 ($6000/$6000) – Done. Seriously nailing these goals (thanks to the unexpected condo sale!)
Max out a SEP-IRA – My current plan is to save all our self-employment income in our business account without using any of it. This will mean we can max out our SEP-IRA and then put the other funds into the new brokerage account, but we’ll wait until the addition is done… we may need to use the funds we get from our t-shirts/coloring books business for the addition.

I’m watching Pfizer closely hoping we get an approved vaccine for the kiddos by the end of the month and spending some of my free time researching Japanese toilets for my master bathroom. I would not have predicted I would be doing either of these things in Fall of 2021, but life is crazy sometimes. As we enter the holiday season, I hope you have time to slow down, rest, recover, and safely spend time with loved ones.

How To Set New Year’s Resolutions during Hard Times

By MaggieBanks

On December 30, 2020

In The Ride

So 2020 was something, wasn’t it? Now, I’m usually all for starting over and setting goals and resolutions at the start of the year, but I feel like 2021 New Year’s Resolutions need to look totally different than previous years and I think this is true for any really hard season in your life. Over the past several weeks, I’ve thought of several ways to approach goals during Hard Times and I think I’ve settled on what I think it should look life for me. Everyone is different, so don’t assume this is how you should be doing it. (If you need to just treat the New Year like any other day and keep on surviving, by all means, DO THAT.)

If you can adapt any of the following to yourself this New Year’s resolution season, go for it:

Reflect

In “normal” times, this looks like reflecting on what you did well this year and what you would like to improve upon. But in the middle of Hard Times, this turns into self-shaming and that’s not going to get anyone anywhere. So, here’s how I plan to approach “end of year reflections” this year: Stream of consciousness write your thoughts and feelings of 2020. Seriously. Just write everything. Does that mean you just write down a bunch of angry words? Do it. But this moment is historic (in 2020, this is true both globally and in your own life, but tough times are personal historic moments). Document it. Add details that you’ve found notable this year. Here are just a few of mine:

We moved this year and the elderly new neighbors came over and tried to shake my hand at the front door and I had to decline but still try to seem friendly and happy to be in the neighborhood. It was a weird, notable moment for me.
The absolute horror I feel when I find someone wondering the grocery store completely maskless. It’s a cross between indecent exposure and fearing for my life.
One of my big regrets of 2020 was not watching Tiger King. Not that I feel like I’m missing out on the actual show, but at the beginning of all this, it was the first way the US came together in a collective experience binging that crazy show. And I was too busy with work because I’d just been thrown in the deep end of being the office COVID research expert. I feel like I missed out on a notable, collective experience in this lonely year.

What is this supposed to accomplish? Well, catharsis if nothing else. It’s not ever and we’re still in Hard Times. But reflecting helped me work through some emotions about this year and also find some humor in the insanity that is this Hard Time.

Set Just ONE Goal: Feel Better next year at this time.

See? That wasn’t so bad. I even set your goal for you. And it breaks all the goal setting rules. Other than being timely (one year), it is not specific or measurable. But it’s the only goal you need this year. I promise. Let me explain.

During Hard Times, all the fringe stuff falls away and you’re just surviving. It’s super easy to be like: I have eaten terribly this year, I’ve hardly exercised. My meditation time is down to zero. I haven’t hustled. etc etc etc. DON’T DO THAT. You’re in the middle of Hard Times. It’s okay to not be improving in all areas of your life. And you’re probably feeling yucky about lots of things. Pick just the yuckiest and set a simple goal to feel better about it next year than you do now.

This could mean many things. Maybe in order to feel better about that thing, you need to process it or approach it differently in order to feel better about it. Maybe you need to take some sort of action. Do that.

Example: My sedentary 2020 lifestyle has led to hip pain (yes, I’m a 35-year-old really old lady). My entire goal is to have my hip feel better at the end of next year. That will involve me moving it sometimes.

No Guilt Allowed

The goal is to mainly empower you to do SOMETHING helpful to yourself during Hard Times. It is NOT to give you something else to feel guilty about. What if all through January, I exercise the same amount I did 2020 and my hip still hurts? I can get up and move that hip once and feel great about doing that one thing. Was my goal exercise X amount each week? Nope. Was my goal to have zero hip pain at the end of the year? Also nope. It was just to FEEL BETTER. That’s it. I can’t have guilt about that at all because a) it’s not the end of the year yet and b) these are Hard Times and I’m just going to try to feel better.

Now, Happy New Year’s friends. May 2021 be way less terrible than 2020. And may we all feel better next year than we do this year in some way.

Merch Challenge Q3 Update

By MaggieBanks

On October 16, 2018

In Plan Updates

As a reminder, we’re trying to pay off our mortgage and take our family on a 27-day Europe trip with just t-shirt sales in what we call the Great Banks Merch Challenge.

I’ll be providing quarterly updates. This one is 2018 Q3 update:

The Current Merch Challenge Numbers

Final Trip Costs: Reminder that this was a 4-week, 27-night trip through NYC (2 nights), England and Wales (16 nights), Norway (5 nights) and Iceland (4 nights) for 5 humans! It was absolutely spectacular and the best use of money ever.

For a complete break-down of each of these categories, check out our Merch Challenge Q2 Update.

Flights: $2,035.48
Lodging: $2,859.50
Transportation: $1,712.29
Stuff: $1,487.17 (The Gear + Souvenirs)
Experiences: $1,468.95
Food: $849.47

TOTAL SPENT: $10,412.86

Verdict: DONE! Paid for with our first 8 months of t-shirt sales. How amazing is that?!

Mortgage Costs:

For Merch to cover the rest of our mortgage, we’re including any payments we make above our minimum monthly payments. So, these costs are the extra payments we made starting with the November mortgage payment:

$2,100 (November)
$1,700 (December)
$1,500 (January)
$0 (February)
$100 (March)
$0 (April)
$0 (May)
$0 (June)
$0 (July) – Man, the trip really stunted our mortgage payments! No regrets, but we better hit it hard in the fall!
$900 (August)
$400 (September)
$0 (October – we actually put $8000 extra toward it, but that was PFD money, so we’re not counting it as part of the challenge)

TOTAL EXTRA PUT TOWARD MORTGAGE: $6,700

Current Merch Earnings (earnings are 2 months behind as that’s when we get and report the money):

June: $7.07
July: $218.24
August: $810.78
September: $1,065.67
October: $3,352.58
November: $1,837.50
December: $2,627.96
January: $1,076.85
February: $695.83
March: $783.40
April: $852.67
May: $854.17
June: $474.21
July: $531.01
August: $440.94
September: $512.85
TOTAL: $16,141.73

minus our trip costs of $10,412.86: $5,729.73

then we subtract our extra mortgage payments of $6,700 to get our

Merch Challenge Total: -$970.27

Verdict so far: Still possible, but looking unlikely.

I’m thrilled that the entire trip has been covered with just t-shirt sales! How exciting is that?!

Although Q4 will be a bigger hitter with income, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to match last year’s Q4 sales numbers despite having nearly 10x the listings on Amazon that we did last year. There are several reasons for this. Since the beginning of the year, the competition has increased exponentially. The t-shirt selling business isn’t quite the gravy train it once was (though there’s still money to be had). Amazon has also decreased royalty payments per shirt and sellers are now on the hook for returns which get deducted from our totals.

Our mortgage is currently at $9,480, but with regular mortgage payments, we just need $6,300 extra to pay it off by the end of the year. That means, with our current challenge numbers of $-970.20, we need to earn a total of $7,270.27 by the end of the year to complete our challenge.

Again, it’s possible we hit some amazing trend by the end of the year and knock it out of the park, but based on current trends, it isn’t looking likely. BUT, I haven’t given up hope. And I’m already impressed on how much progress we’ve made on this crazy challenge!

Your Thoughts: Do you think we can do it?

August 2018 Plan Update

By MaggieBanks

On September 7, 2018

In Plan Updates

So I’m a few days behind, but I’ve gotten really good at living life these days, which is something I’m proud of. I’m currently balancing my part-time job and building our t-shirt business. Over the next few months, we’ll see how all that plays out. It will be an interesting ride when the buyers start coming!

August was an amazing month in the Banks house. It began with my sister’s family visiting from Texas and we were able to show them Alaska, which is one of my favorite things to do. We did all the usual Alaska things we enjoy: saw humpback whales from a boat, hiked on a glacier, went on a bike ride, and ate lots of yummy food (including several forms of salmon). And the month ended with the kids back in school and all of us figuring out schedules again, which is another form of joy. It’s been a fabulous summer, but it’s also always nice to get back into a routine.

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! (Also feel free to read my more in-depth review of Personal Capital.)

Our mortgage is now at $18,400. Not much to add here this month. Just LOVE watching it drop. Can’t wait to celebrate getting it below $10,000!

Investments are now at $224,870. It’s been an amazing market run. It’s actually making me a bit nervous how high things have gotten. But I’m also loving how close we are to a quarter of a million dollars (and halfway to our original goal of $500k by 2022!)

2018 Financial Goals Update:

KILL THE MORTGAGE – $18,400! Oh my goodness. So excited about it dropping and dropping! The PFD is coming at the beginning of October, so by November, this should be almost half of what it is now!
Merch Challenge Update (paying for our 27-night Europe trip and our extra mortgage payments with t-shirt sales) – -$1,924.92 – Earned: $15,187.94, Spent: $17,112.86 (with “earned” meaning the money we’ve made from selling shirts on Amazon and “spent” meaning all of the costs for the trip as well as any extra payments toward our mortgage) – Remember how I said June was our most depressing month of sales? Ha! July and August are worse. But, fingers crossed for September to be better. And a Merch Challenge Q3 Update is coming in a month! So get excited for detailed numbers!
Max out Mr. T’s 401k – Automatic – however, limits rose to $18,500/year which makes it messy if you get 24 paychecks a year. We’ll probably make a contribution toward the end of the year to top it off.
Stretch Goal: Put $5500 into My Roth IRA – Not yet.
Market-Based Goal: $250,000 in investments by the end of 2018 – Not yet.

Notable Expenses This Month: The Story Our Money Tells:

These are expenses that tell an interesting story. A peek into our lives through our pocketbook:

$120 – Breakfast for all of 10 of us with my sister’s family here.
$70 – The cost to hike the glacier with my family.
$10.08 – Frozen Yogurt to celebrate the first day of school.
$499 – The ticket for me to go to a t-shirt-selling conference in September! I’m very excited (but sad I’ll be missing FinCon this year).
$29.85 – 3 National Park Passports for my kids. Getting ready for the fall road trip!
$85 – My family admission to the the wildlife conservation center. We got to see the cute little baby bear climb a tree! (And got to see some idiot try to pet the bear through the fence. This is when I tell my kids: “Adults can be idiots too. Don’t be an idiot.”)

Financial Phrases:

These are things said by actual people that were either talking to me or near me enough that I could hear them:

“All of my money from my new job is going toward our mortgage!”
“Employees who are just trying to pay their mortgage put their heads down and don’t cause waves.”

July 2018 Plan Update

By MaggieBanks

On August 9, 2018

In Plan Updates

July in Alaska is so wonderful and we enjoyed our time at parks, on bike rides, and going fishing! We’ve been running around like crazy people this whole summer and it doesn’t look like that will end for a few more weeks when school starts again.

The Numbers:

Our mortgage is now at $19,980. EVERYONE DANCE! WE’RE BELOW $20,000! I threw enough extra toward this to get it below $20,000 and now I’m working like crazy to make up for doing so. 🙂

Investments are now at $217,000. This includes my $385 401k I just got from work. My newly-acquired company is terrible. I hate work so much. It’s so terrible. The company has moved from a small start-up full of entrepreneurs to giant conglomerate big business almost overnight and it’s completely depressing. However, I’m committed to keeping my job until the mortgage is paid off. So, I’ve trained Mr. T, whenever I say: “ugh, I want to quit my job” to respond with: “Just remember your 401k!” – it’s somewhat motivating. Hopefully work will improve but at this rate, I’m not all that hopeful.

2018 Financial Goals Update:

KILL THE MORTGAGE – $19,980! I am SO EXCITED we got this below $20,000! This means with $7,000 of our PFD this year and our regular mortgage payments, we only have to find an extra $8500 to kill this thing by the end of the year!
Merch Challenge Update (paying for our 27-night Europe trip and our extra mortgage payments with t-shirt sales) – -$2,055.93 – Earned: $14,656.93, Spent: $16,712.86 (with “earned” meaning the money we’ve made from selling shirts on Amazon and “spent” meaning all of the costs for the trip as well as any extra payments toward our mortgage) – June was our most depressing month of t-shirt sales for a long time. We made less than $500. We haven’t really had time this summer to hit it hard again, but we’re hoping next month we can really get going because we need our sales to dramatically improve!
Max out Mr. T’s 401k – Automatic – however, limits rose to $18,500/year which makes it messy if you get 24 paychecks a year. We’ll probably make a contribution toward the end of the year to top it off.
Stretch Goal: Put $5500 into My Roth IRA – Not yet.
Market-Based Goal: $250,000 in investments by the end of 2018 – Not yet.

Notable Expenses This Month: The Story Our Money Tells:

These are expenses that tell an interesting story. A peek into our lives through our pocketbook:

$44.99 – That heart-shaped Waffle iron I warned you about
$439.63 – Dipnetting Costs
$33.27 – Batting and backing material for a denim quilt Florin and I have been working on for her.
$66.98 – School clothes for the girls.
$77.60 – Eye exam for one of the kids.
$12.99 – Haircut for Mr.T
$30 – My haircut. I didn’t make Mr. T do it this time. He’s grateful.

Financial Phrases:

These are things said by actual people that were either talking to me or near me enough that I could hear them:

“I pay some debt off every month. I don’t have enough to pay all of the bills, but I rotate so that no bill goes longer than a few months without being paid.”
“I feel like we’ve saved a lot at this point, but while I’m hesitant to start spending it I also don’t want to put fun vacations off til we’re older either. It’s a struggle.”

4 Week Europe Trip Costs + Merch Challenge Q2 2018 Update

By MaggieBanks

On July 6, 2018

In Plan Updates

As a reminder, we’re trying to pay off our mortgage and take our family on a 27-day Europe trip with just t-shirt sales in what we call the Great Banks Merch Challenge.

I’ll be providing quarterly updates. This one is 2018 Q2 update:

The Current Merch Challenge Numbers

Flights: $2,035.48 – This amount includes :
- Flight from Anchorage to NYC for a day before flying to England (we used Alaska miles for this leg + $28 in fees)
- Flight from NYC to London (we used AA miles for this leg + $28 in fees)
- Flight from England to Norway (paid Cash, SAS airlines – $355.63 for all 5 tickets)
- Flight from Norway to Iceland (free layover for 4 days) to Alaska (paid cash – $2,123.85 for all 5 tickets)
- – $500 – from our sign-up bonus on the Barclay Arrival+ card. Yay for a $500 discount!

Lodging: $2,859.50 – All lodging:
- 3 nights in London, England – $677.01
- 1 night just outside Reykjavik, Iceland – $250.49
- 3 nights on the Golden Circle in Iceland – $681.03
- $1000 worth of discounted AirBNB gift cards we’ve used to purchase lodging in England and Norway – $910
- 2 nights in Bergen, Norway – $340.97
Transportation: $1,712.29
- Norway Car Rental: $294.26
- UK Car Rental: $364.71
- Iceland Car Rental: $307.35
- Airport Shuttle from Newark – $48
- Airport Shuttle to Bergen – $26.35
- Bergen Funicular – $36.39
- Public Transportation Costs – $229.18
- All petrol – $359.72
- All parking – $46.33
Stuff: $1,487.17 – The gear (which we won’t have to purchase again for the next big trip!) plus the souvenirs:
- Passport fees for the 3 kids – $315
- Global Entry for all of us – Free (thanks Amex Platinum card!)
- Travelable booster seats for all 3 kids (their normal ones are way too bulky to travel with but we wanted to be safe/legal) – $103.97
- Travel Backpacks for the girls (Lui will use his small school backpack) – $204.30
- GPS with all Europe maps (which we will use for all future Europe trips) – $149.90
- Souvenirs (including an Icelandic sweater for me, a sweater for Mr. T and a jacket for me from the Dale of Norway factory store, a few Christmas gifts, a retro Iceland winter hat for Mr. T, a few new outfits for me and the kids from England, and the kids’ souvenirs) – $714
Experiences: $1,468.95
- Empire State Building – $70
- Tickets to see Matilda the musical in London – $348.15
- Tickets to the Harry Potter Film Studio outside London – $183.73
- Westminster Abbey Tickets – $62.63
- UK Family National Trust 14-day Touring Pass – $104.79
- London Eye – $160.72
- Tower of London – $99.95
- Wales Castle Explorer Family Pass – $60.07
- York Minster – $29.64
- Borgund Stave Church, Norway – $34.99
- Oslo Passes – $260.18
- Kerið Crater Entrance – $7.30
- Geothermal Rye Bread Experience – $41.28
- Public Toilets in Iceland – $5.52
Food: $849.47 – We bought mostly groceries, but did eat out occasionally. We were also spoiled by my parents for a week when we stayed with them (thanks mum and dad!).
- New York: $171.25
- UK: $390.98
- Norway: $96.58
- Iceland: $152.65
- IcelandAir Airplane food: $38.01

TOTAL SPENT: $10,412.86

Thoughts: We went to 3 of the most expensive countries in Europe and stayed there a month! We weren’t attempting to be super frugal about this trip, but we cut costs where we could and really enjoyed it. I felt like I was living my best life traveling and teaching my kids during this past month. It was absolutely amazing.

Mortgage Costs:

$2,100 (November)
$1,700 (December)
$1,500 (January)
$0 (February)
$100 (March) – hopefully sales will pick up again soon so we can start shoveling money toward the mortgage!
$0 (April)
$0 (May)
$0 (June)

TOTAL EXTRA PUT TOWARD MORTGAGE: $5,400

Current Merch Earnings (earnings are 2 months behind as that’s when we get and report the money):

June: $7.07
July: $218.24
August: $810.78
September: $1,065.67
October: $3,352.58
November: $1,837.50
December: $2,627.96
January: $1,076.85
February: $695.83
March: $783.40
April: $852.67
May: $854.17
TOTAL: $14,182.72

minus our total mortgage payments and total trip costs of $15,812.86

Merch Challenge Totals: -$1,630.14

Verdict so far: Still Positive

I’m actually pretty thrilled that the entire trip has been covered with just t-shirt sales! How exciting is that?!

Now, we’ve got 6 months left of t-shirt sales to cover about $23,600 of the mortgage (about $22,000 left on it plus another $1,630.14 that we’ve already paid toward the mortgage listed above). We may or may not be able to earn $23,600 in 6 months with t-shirts alone (last year, we earned about $9,900 in the same 6 months).

However, we are getting a little help from the state of Alaska. Our PFD amount has been decided for 2019 and we’ll each be getting $1,600 (a total of $8,000). Now, we tithe our PFDs as we do with all our income, so after tithing, we’ll conservatively say we can put $7,000 of the PFD toward our mortgage. $23,600-$7,000=$16,600.

AND keep in mind that our regular mortgage payments alone will bring our mortgage balance down to about $18,000 by the end of the year. $18,000+$1,630-$7,000=$12,630! TOTALLY DOABLE (maybe. i start second guessing every time i declare something like that!) Do you think we can do it?

April 2018 Plan Update

By MaggieBanks

On May 9, 2018

In Plan Updates

It’s MAY, glorious MAY, wonderful MAY!

School gets out in two weeks and we jetset shortly thereafter (woo hoo!). The kids recently finished their historic timeline on our hallway walls, so we’re officially ready (minus all the actual stuff we need to do to get ready!).

The kids finished their historical timeline last night and now we're ready to travel! pic.twitter.com/exqbicElZX

— Maggie Banks (@northernexpense) April 26, 2018

I should also tell you that I did a thing! Erik from The Mastermind Within was kind enough to have me on his podcast, so if you want to hear my voice and hear more of the details about what we’re up to (instead of hanging out here as often as we once did), have a listen.

Other than that, we’re just hammering away at shirts so we can try to keep sales going while we’re on our big trip. BIG GOALS, remember?

Also, June’s plan update will probably be delayed. You know, out of the country and all…

The Numbers:

Our mortgage is now at $24,300. Paying no extra still. But chipping away. Q4 of t-shirt sales will determine whether we’re able to kill it before the end of the year as hoped!

Investments are now at $198,080. Almost back up to $200,000. I’m expected to hit it next month since I was in the UK when we hit $100,000. It’s only right that we hit the second $100,000 while back in the UK with the family!

2018 Financial Goals Update:

KILL THE MORTGAGE – $24,200 to go! Once we get this trip out of the way, we’ll be able to start chipping at this again.
27-Day Europe Trip – $467.22 – Earned: $12,495.88, Spent: $12,028.66 (with “earned” meaning the money we’ve made from selling shirts on Amazon and “spent” meaning all of the costs for the trip as well as any extra payments toward our mortgage) – Details on most of these numbers can be found in our Great Merch Challenge Q1 update – We’re in the black again, though I anticipate that to go back to negative next month as our spending will outpace our earnings next month most likely.
Max out Mr. T’s 401k – Automatic – however, limits rose to $18,500/year which makes it messy if you get 24 paychecks a year. We’ll probably make a contribution toward the end of the year to top it off.
Stretch Goal: Put $5500 into My Roth IRA – Not yet.
Market-Based Goal: $250,000 in investments by the end of 2018 – Not yet.

Notable Expenses This Month: The Story Our Money Tells:

These are expenses that tell an interesting story. A peek into our lives through our pocketbook:

$10 – To get a notary to fill out my I9 for my company changeover.
$22 – A yearbook for my daughter’s school
$601.20 – Flight for a big road trip in the fall to see Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore and everything in between (because one big vacation this year just isn’t enough!).
$174.62 – Enough grains for oatmeal for the rest of the year.
$19.19 – The charge to pay my taxes with a credit card – but it helped me earn 80,000 Ultimate Reward points, so it was worth it.
$1,026 – Taxes. Blech.

Financial Phrases:

These are things said by actual people that were either talking to me or near me enough that I could hear them:

“My company’s ____ (couldn’t hear) process is so complicated. I spent all last week just trying to get in to do the things they want me to do. I spent hours on the phone with I.T. – now multiply that by the entire company and think how much this inefficiency is costing!”
I was told Discovery Channel will pay you $30,000 per episode for your idea for a reality TV show.

Great Banks Merch Challenge Q1 2018 Update

By MaggieBanks

On April 16, 2018

In Plan Updates

As a reminder, we’re trying to pay off our mortgage and take our family on a 27-day Europe trip with just t-shirt sales in what we call the Great Banks Merch Challenge.

I’ll be providing quarterly updates. This one is 2018 Q1 update:

The Current Merch Challenge Numbers

Current Trip Costs:

Flights: $2,035.48 – This amount includes :
- Flight from Anchorage to NYC for a day before flying to England (we used Alaska miles for this leg + $28 in fees)
- Flight from NYC to London (we used AA miles for this leg + $28 in fees)
- Flight from England to Norway (paid Cash, SAS airlines – $355.63 for all 5 tickets)
- Flight from Norway to Iceland (free layover for 4 days) to Alaska (paid cash – $2,123.85 for all 5 tickets)
- – $500 – from our sign-up bonus on the Barclay Arrival+ card. Yay for a $500 discount!

Lodging: $2,518.53 – All lodging (except 2 hotel nights in Norway we’re still travel hack):
- 3 nights in London, England – $677.01
- 1 night just outside Reykjavik, Iceland – $250.49
- 3 nights on the Golden Circle in Iceland – $681.03
- $1000 worth of discounted AirBNB gift cards we’ve used to purchase lodging in England and Norway – $910
Transportation: $658.97 – (we’ve reserved our rental car for Iceland, but won’t pay for that until the trip):
- Norway Car Rental: $294.26
- UK Car Rental: $364.71
Other Stuff: $1,217.78 – All of the other experiences, tickets, and stuff we’ve purchased for the trip:
- Passport fees for the 3 kids – $315
- Global Entry for all of us – Free (thanks Amex Platinum card!)
- Travelable booster seats for all 3 kids (to be legal in Europe) – $103.97
- Travel Backpacks for the girls (Lui will use his small school backpack) – $204.30
- Tickets to see Matilda the musical in London – $348.15
- Tickets to the Harry Potter Film Studio outside London – $183.73
- Westminster Abbey Tickets – $62.63

TOTAL SPENT SO FAR: $6,430.76

Mortgage Costs:

$2,100 (November)
$1,700 (December)
$1,500 (January)
$0 (February)
$100 (March) – hopefully sales will pick up again soon so we can start shoveling money toward the mortgage!

TOTAL EXTRA PUT TOWARD MORTGAGE: $5,400

Current Merch Earnings (earnings are 2 months behind as that’s when we get and report the money):

June: $7.07
July: $218.24
August: $810.78
September: $1,065.67
October: $3,352.58
November: $1837.50
December: $2627.96
January: $1076.85
February: $695.83
TOTAL: $11,692.48

minus our total mortgage payments and total trip costs of $11,830.76

Merch Challenge Totals: -$138.28

Verdict so far: We’re pretty darn close to breaking even on this thing, but that doesn’t mean much right now since we still have over $25,000 left on the mortgage and we still have tons to pay for on the trip (most of our experiences, castle passes, food, a few hotels, one rental car, etc.). Sales have also been pretty dismal. We now have 2000 listings on Amazon filled and we hope sales pick up for the summertime. We’re hoping to have 4000 filled at the start of Q4. Do you think we can do it?

February 2018 Plan Update

By MaggieBanks

On March 5, 2018

In Plan Updates

I keep feeling like I need to apologize for not filling this space as often as I used to. But then I remember you guys are my friends and the whole point of not filling this space as often is because I’m practicing what I’m preaching. I’m following the money while trying not to lose sight of what’s important (like my children, for example). So, here I am with another plan update.

February was crazy busy for all of us. We got the science fair project for Penny started (rock candy with every kind of sugar available currently growing on my counter). We spent many days reshaping our snow pile into sledding tracks, watching the Olympics, taking the kids to swimming, etc. Life is glorious, isn’t it?

The Numbers:

Our mortgage is now at $26,700. We weren’t able to put any extra towards the mortgage this month because we owe just over $1,000 for taxes. Blech.

Investments are now at $186,840. I told you we’d be back below $200,000 this month, but it was fun to hit another nice round number first!

2018 Financial Goals Update:

KILL THE MORTGAGE – $26,700 to go! If this was the only thing we were doing this year, I would feel super confident, but this big trip AND paying off the mortgage… it feels like a stretch! If we nail both of these goals this year, I will be ECSTATIC!
27-Day Europe Trip – -$487.75 – Earned: $10,996.65, Spent: $11,484.40 (with “earned” meaning the money we’ve made from selling shirts on Amazon and “spent” meaning all of the costs for the trip as well as any extra payments toward our mortgage) – We didn’t put any extra toward our mortgage and didn’t pay for any trip costs this month. Sales are low this time of year and next month is going to look worse than this one!
Max out Mr. T’s 401k – Automatic – however, limits rose to $18,500/year which makes it messy if you get 24 paychecks a year. We’ll probably make a contribution toward the end of the year to top it off.
Stretch Goal: Put $5500 into My Roth IRA – Not yet.
Market-Based Goal: $250,000 in investments by the end of 2018 – Not yet.

Notable Expenses This Month: The Story Our Money Tells:

These are expenses that tell an interesting story. A peek into our lives through our pocketbook:

$24.26 – Batting to finish a quilt I got in the mail from someone who made the top for my wedding 12 years ago and then never got around to finishing the quilt. Now I need to figure out how to finish it! LOL!
$9.99 – This is a monthly fee, but I’ll only include it once. Mr. T has photoshop on his computer, but I wanted to get more into photoshop myself, so I signed up!
$8.97 – Carl’s Jr. dinner for my children for Lui’s birthday.
$15 – The cost to pull the police report to file to insurance to replace our neighborhood mailbox that got plowed over by a car in December.
$15 – Taking a friend out to peanut butter pie for her birthday.
$77 – Mr. T and I went out to a semi-fancy restaurant with friends on a double date. It’s fun to do this on occasion.

Financial Phrases:

These are things said by actual people that were either talking to me or near me enough that I could hear them:

“$7,000 isn’t a lot a lot, but I could have stretched it pretty far.”
“When you have a mortgage, three car payments, student loan debt, and credit card debt, a $5,000 tax bill is enough to crush you.”
“I decided I’m going to use my birthday money to buy an ukulele.” – This is Penny. And don’t worry… you’ll probably see an Ukulele in our expenses for next month. (shhh. Don’t tell.)