Help Me! (Anchorage, Fairbanks: rent, home, income)

[Titan330]

Hello Alaskans!

I just got out of the military and moved to Fairbanks. It's myself, my wife and two kids. We both are working our butts off, but it is freaking impossible for us to get ahead. We live with her parents and are looking to find a place of our own. But with our bills, (which we are behind on) and the daunting cost of living, we can't afford anything. It doesn't help any that I only make 16 dollars an hour and my wife makes 15. I am about to use my GI Bill to help with some money but it is going to cut into my work time. I have no further education, and while I am trying to change that, it is going to pinch. Not to mention we are struggling to find child care. So, how do you guys make it work? Any ideas on a magic formula that we are missing?

[Dakster]

Are working in a career or just a dead end job? What are your skills and degrees in?

The magic formula is getting into a career or career path that pays better. Why did you get out of the military, if I may ask? What were you in the military as?

Fairbanks might just not be the place for you. We know AK was one of the places we wanted to move to and Fairbanks just didn't work out for us jobwise, so we ended up in Anchorage.

[1stimestar]

Look into child care assistance and live cheaper. Get your bills payed off while you can still live with parents then move out. Two working adults can live here but it just may not be at the level you are used to. Why did you move to Fairbanks? Why not go back to where you came from? I'm not being obnoxious, just wondering why you would chose a high cost of living area instead of a cheaper place to live in the lower 48.

[6.7traveler]

$31 combined an hour isn't horrible. I know people who live on much less. Learn to be super frugal and minimalistic a lot of what your spending $ on can probably be reduced or eliminated. At least your not paying rent right now there should be some room there. If you could get up towards the $20+ an hour range you may find it cheaper for your wife to stay home with the kids instead of working + childcare. Childcare is expensive and the "two income trap" did not work out good for our family. Between the cost of commuting plus childcare and upkeep on 2nd vehicle it worked out that I was making less than $4 an hour. I don't know about you but I can think if better ways to spend my time than for $4 an hour. Now we have jobs that allow at least one parent to always be home with the kids eliminating the expensive childcare bill, not to mention happier kids. We are moving to fairbanks in one week and after crunching the numbers, we should do much better there than down in homer, both job wise and $ wise. We rented a bigger 3 room dry cabin outside of town for $450 a month, and hope to save up plenty of money before summer and maybe get onto a piece of land. If you love alaska and really want to be there you will find a way to make it. Otherwise your options are 1. Hustle around and apply at lots of jobs until your up more in the $20+ range. 2. Live frugally below your means, cut out all non essentials. 3. Move to a different area. Good luck.

[AKStafford]

Go to the library and check out this book:
The Total Money Makeover - Hardcover
The key is to live on a written budget that just covers the essentials for now. You might already be doing this...
Bottom line: it's expensive to live in Fairbanks. You might have to consider other options.

[Telzey]

Originally Posted by Titan330

Hello Alaskans!

I just got out of the military and moved to Fairbanks. It's myself, my wife and two kids. We both are working our butts off, but it is freaking impossible for us to get ahead. We live with her parents and are looking to find a place of our own. But with our bills, (which we are behind on) and the daunting cost of living, we can't afford anything. It doesn't help any that I only make 16 dollars an hour and my wife makes 15. I am about to use my GI Bill to help with some money but it is going to cut into my work time. I have no further education, and while I am trying to change that, it is going to pinch. Not to mention we are struggling to find child care. So, how do you guys make it work? Any ideas on a magic formula that we are missing?

Fairbanks is a very small town in a very remote location, with a local economy that is barely diversified. So you've self-limited your opportunities in a mamor way by moving there. My main advice would be to move to the Anchorage area, if your heart is truly set on staying in Alaska. Many, many more opportunities for you there, and it's much warmer (relatively speaking). If you stay in Fairbanks, you might want to get training as a trucker, since they are in high demand. Or sign up for some vocational training in the trades. The medical sector always has jobs there, so you might want to get training as a medical technician of some kind, as an alternative.

Best of luck.

[stiffnecked]

Originally Posted by Telzey

Fairbanks is a very small town in a very remote location, with a local economy that is barely diversified. So you've self-limited your opportunities in a mamor way by moving there. My main advice would be to move to the Anchorage area, if your heart is truly set on staying in Alaska. Many, many more opportunities for you there, and it's much warmer (relatively speaking). If you stay in Fairbanks, you might want to get training as a trucker, since they are in high demand. Or sign up for some vocational training in the trades. The medical sector always has jobs there, so you might want to get training as a medical technician of some kind, as an alternative.

Best of luck.

Words of wisdom from a person that knows nothing about Alaska except what they've seen on Ice Road Truckers.

[Telzey]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

Words of wisdom from a person that knows nothing about Alaska except what they've seen on Ice Road Truckers.

I grew up in Fairbanks, and still have family there. But thanks for the great example of reverse peristalsis.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by Telzey

Fairbanks is a very small town in a very remote location, with a local economy that is barely diversified. So you've self-limited your opportunities in a mamor way by moving there. My main advice would be to move to the Anchorage area, if your heart is truly set on staying in Alaska. Many, many more opportunities for you there, and it's much warmer (relatively speaking). If you stay in Fairbanks, you might want to get training as a trucker, since they are in high demand. Or sign up for some vocational training in the trades. The medical sector always has jobs there, so you might want to get training as a medical technician of some kind, as an alternative.

Best of luck.

Without knowing the OP's MOS, this seems like fairly sound advice. I would only add heavy equipment operator to the suggestion of a truck driving and medical transcription to the medical tech suggestion. There is a lot of demand for operators in this area and I see jobs for transcription posted all the time.

The people above me have given some really good suggestions. This is a really tough place to make it on a lean budget and you all are lucky to have the help of her parents. You can get food boxes from the food bank. You used to be able to get one box each day but I read something in the News-Miner recently that they may be scaling that back... you'd have to call and ask, I'm not sure.

Food Boxes Program ~ Fairbanks Community Food Bank

How to get service ~ Fairbanks Community Food Bank

Good luck.

[fiddlestick]

Originally Posted by Telzey

I grew up in Fairbanks, and still have family there. But thanks for the great example of reverse peristalsis.

It's a little bigger than a very small town though.