This link says it all. Impossible! That isn't a budget, it is a ticket to insanity, working yourself to the bone, and misplaced priorities.
Among the most glaring:
*Why are you spending $0 on heating when you have $100 allocated to cable and a phone?!
*Why do you have a $150/mo car payment and only pay $20 for health insurance? Putting aside that $20 sum, do you not have co-pays or prescriptions?
So $27/day has to pay for gas, food, and everything else that matters. I'd LOVE to see if the people who came up with this budget could live like this for even one month.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Up, up and Away!
Hope you all are doing well. I'm leaving for Asia next week so will be out of touch til mid-August. Then I go to the US for 6 weeks!
July has been spendy, but I'll still be able to save $600 to my long-term funds, so all is well. Hopefully I can make some connections while overseas, so that I can have a full time job in the US, making USD, soon!
Can't wait for the trip! Just have to pack and practice my work stuff.
July has been spendy, but I'll still be able to save $600 to my long-term funds, so all is well. Hopefully I can make some connections while overseas, so that I can have a full time job in the US, making USD, soon!
Can't wait for the trip! Just have to pack and practice my work stuff.
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
A (Nearly) Free Trip Home
I'm doing pretty well not paying for trips to the US and back. The round trip flights to/from the East Coast are usually in the $2500 to $3K range. I always save up $3K the year before to make sure I have enough to go home the next year. It is worth paying that (and more) to see my family, but I try not to pay that much whenever possible.
In 2011, when I had the bright idea to try to accrue enough to pay for my flights to the US each year, I started exploring airmile credit card bonuses. I paid about $1K NZD that year using a combination of points and cash for my US trip. Last year, I think I paid about $60 USD in taxes and fees to fly to the States after meeting credit card bonus requirements. So I haven't paid full price for a trip home since 2010.
It is getting tougher and tougher to get those miles, though. The cc's with major bonuses (above 50K points) are the only ones I worth bother applying for, because of all the time and effort and tracking that goes along with those kinds of cards. For one thing, they have annual fees (usually waived the first year). For another, they have spending requirements: $2K in 3 months, $1K in 6 months, etc. And you have to track it and make sure that the cc actually rewards those points.
Normally I go home once per year. I can easily gather and sustain enough points for that round trip (80,000), especially now that I have so much time off from work (flexibility is key with rewards points). This year, however, I am going home twice--once in the summer as I usually do, and once for my cousin's wedding in December, and stay for Christmas.
I have been saving up airpoints, as well as money, ever since I found out that I'd have to make two trips this year. Then my boss mentioned something about me possibly going to a fantastic conference in my field, held on the west coast each year in December. My cousin's wedding just happens to fall the Saturday after that conference ends. I realized that the timing would work out quite well!
I told her that I was going home anyway, and that I had enough points to get there on my own. I looked into flights, and unfortunately, because her wedding is so close to Christmas, and because it is high tourist season here, being summer and all, there were no options at the normal rate of 80K points. They all required a lot more points in December, and my flight dates were not as flexible as they usually are, given the wedding and conference requirements. I could cover half of my trip, but I couldn't get back to NZ using points.
So I told my boss, and she offered to pay for my flights to and from the conference, instead of me having to use my points! So I have flights to and from the west coast covered. They are the most expensive bits, anyway. Now, to get from the west coast to the east coast of the US and back only takes a small number of points comparatively (12.5K vs 40K each way), and the schedule has a lot more options. With another card giving me 50K more later this year, I'll still have plenty for next year's trip (hopefully my last one!). My itinerary this year will only cost $10 US in fees! Hurrah for work, conferences, credit card airmiles, and a wonderful boss. My salary "decrease" has actually completely been made up for when I factor in all the international conferences, flights, hotels, and food that she's paying for this year instead.
In 2011, when I had the bright idea to try to accrue enough to pay for my flights to the US each year, I started exploring airmile credit card bonuses. I paid about $1K NZD that year using a combination of points and cash for my US trip. Last year, I think I paid about $60 USD in taxes and fees to fly to the States after meeting credit card bonus requirements. So I haven't paid full price for a trip home since 2010.
It is getting tougher and tougher to get those miles, though. The cc's with major bonuses (above 50K points) are the only ones I worth bother applying for, because of all the time and effort and tracking that goes along with those kinds of cards. For one thing, they have annual fees (usually waived the first year). For another, they have spending requirements: $2K in 3 months, $1K in 6 months, etc. And you have to track it and make sure that the cc actually rewards those points.
Normally I go home once per year. I can easily gather and sustain enough points for that round trip (80,000), especially now that I have so much time off from work (flexibility is key with rewards points). This year, however, I am going home twice--once in the summer as I usually do, and once for my cousin's wedding in December, and stay for Christmas.
I have been saving up airpoints, as well as money, ever since I found out that I'd have to make two trips this year. Then my boss mentioned something about me possibly going to a fantastic conference in my field, held on the west coast each year in December. My cousin's wedding just happens to fall the Saturday after that conference ends. I realized that the timing would work out quite well!
I told her that I was going home anyway, and that I had enough points to get there on my own. I looked into flights, and unfortunately, because her wedding is so close to Christmas, and because it is high tourist season here, being summer and all, there were no options at the normal rate of 80K points. They all required a lot more points in December, and my flight dates were not as flexible as they usually are, given the wedding and conference requirements. I could cover half of my trip, but I couldn't get back to NZ using points.
So I told my boss, and she offered to pay for my flights to and from the conference, instead of me having to use my points! So I have flights to and from the west coast covered. They are the most expensive bits, anyway. Now, to get from the west coast to the east coast of the US and back only takes a small number of points comparatively (12.5K vs 40K each way), and the schedule has a lot more options. With another card giving me 50K more later this year, I'll still have plenty for next year's trip (hopefully my last one!). My itinerary this year will only cost $10 US in fees! Hurrah for work, conferences, credit card airmiles, and a wonderful boss. My salary "decrease" has actually completely been made up for when I factor in all the international conferences, flights, hotels, and food that she's paying for this year instead.
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