Australia is on Sale!

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Her and tagged travel

When we were considering honeymoon destinations several years ago, Australia was a top contender...until we saw the price tag. Package deals for a 2-week vacation were around $20,000 (yes, twenty thousand!). Spending that much on a honeymoon was out of the question. We put the idea aside and chose a $6,000 Greece package instead. Last year, we went on our Greek honeymoon and had SUCH a great time! The trip really inspired Him to love travel as much as I do. So this year we started talking about a one-year anniversary trip. We were having trouble deciding where to go.

A few months ago, I started getting promotions for travel to Australia. The prices had dropped - a LOT. Airfare is about half the price due to the economy, and the Australian currency exchange rate is favorable right now too. So we made a decision to travel to Australia this fall! We'll spend about $8,000 on two weeks, including airfare and some fun tours and nice hotels. It means we will have to delay the purchase of a home for a few more months, but we feel that it's worth it. These prices might not happen again for a long time, and we've been talking about visiting Australia for three years already. We're finally going, and we're really excited.

Have you ever chosen a travel destination based on an airfare sale?

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In Which We Put Our Car in a Pothole

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Her and tagged automobile

We hit a pothole, and the pothole hit our wallets. This morning we were cruising down Lakeshore Drive when we struck a nefarious pothole. It wasn't that wide, maybe only a foot or so, but it was also about a foot deep. We hit it while going about 40 mph. That instant I saw our hubcap go careening off in the distance. When we stopped to check the damage, we saw that there were two deep gouges in the rubber tire plus a huge dent in the rim. After I stopped stomping around the parking lot cursing, we changed the tire. Tonight Him dropped the car off at our mechanic to have it repaired. We're guessing the bill we be around $500. Damn you, Chicago pot holes!!! (okay, so maybe I spent the whole day stomping around cursing).

I did find this nice blog post by The Expired Meter that explains how we can go about trying to get the city of Chicago to pay for half the repair bill (in 4-6 months, blarg!).

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Grocery Store Jewel No Longer Accepting Expired Coupons

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Her and tagged coupons

Tonight I stopped by our local Jewel grocery store and was surprised to see a posted notice that "Effective May, 2009, Jewel will no longer accept expired coupons." Coupons have long been a major part of our strategy to reduce household expenses, and we have always used expired coupons (with the permission of the customer service personnel). I completely understand that the stores need to be able to redeem the coupons they receive, and this new policy will allow them to be reimbursed for all the coupons that accept. Still, I can't help but feel a little sad.

It is common for coupons and sales to run in cycles, so that the current coupons are not valid during big sales. We have always strategized and saved the coupons until the items went on sale, then combined the discounts. It's a shame that families will no longer be able to use this strategy to cut costs, just when many households have lost their income or savings.

Is your local grocery store still accepting expired coupons?

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Net Worth, Q1 2009: Once You Go Black, You Can Never Go Back

Posted on April 01, 2009 by Him and tagged net_worth

I've checked the math. Twice. And a third time.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are officially in the black.

We've been pushing forward with 2 of our goals for the year: Saving for a house and paying down the 0% balance transfer from student loans credit cards. We have yet to make a contribution to our Roth IRAs for 2009, but we are going to begin doing that this month. Haven't you heard? Stocks are on sale!

Not much has been written to this blog lately because we've been really busy with other things in our lives: I'm volunteering, taking classes, and working my ass off at work. Her is neck-deep in studying for licensing exams mandatory for advancement in her profession. Despite our hectic schedules, we have still managed to keep on keepin' on when it comes to our finances. It does help that we have automated much of it, allowing us to concentrate on the more important things in our lives now. And as always, credit cards are paid off in full every month.

Of note in the liabilities column is the money owed to the IRS. I've blogged in the past on our strategy for dealing with it, but because of the economy I'm not so sure we're going to go ahead with that plan. We may just pay what we owe and not tie up our money in a retirement account, keeping the rest of the cash to remain flexible.

Even in this economy, we are continuing to thrive. We have much to be thankful for.

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I Don't Feel Like an Equal Anymore

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Her and tagged income

When Him and I started our careers, we earned equal salaries ($40,000 each). It felt great! We were working our way up our respective ladders together as equals. I had read about marriages where one partner earns far more than the other, and honestly I was glad that we would never be like that. Or so I thought.

Over the years, we both got annual raises. Except that Him's annual raise was always higher than mine. And then this year, my employer froze salaries and I didn't get a raise at all. So now my salary is $54,000 and Him's is $69,000. He's outpaced me by $15,000 in just four years! We're financially stable so we weren't depending on our incomes to rise, and financially we're fine. But emotionally I'm not OK. I feel like I'm no longer pulling my weight and contributing equally to our finances. Given that all our debt is my student loan debt, I feel like I should be pulling harder to get that debt paid off and not burden Him with it. Him doesn't feel like I'm burdening us, and I'm glad. But I don't know how to stop feeling this way inside.

Any suggestions?

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