All Posts

• If I Had A Million Dollars
• HelloPrenup Review 2025: Easy, Affordable, and Surprisingly Empowering
• First Time Fisherwoman in Alaska
• I Didn’t Lose Weight Before My Wedding
• Essential Must-Haves for New Cat Owners
• Confession: I Almost Didn’t Get a Prenup
• A Flavorful Fresh Start: Ottolenghi Recipes as My New Year’s Resolution
• One Reader’s Struggle To Feel Financially Ready For Retirement
• I’m 50 And Ready To Quit; A Case Study Update 3 Years Later
• What I Read This Year – 2024 Ranked
• 2 Years of Early Retirement (With Numbers)
• The Stock Pick That Tanked
• Quick Update! A Move And A New Kitty
• What My Grandma Paid to Build Her Home Will Shock You! (Really, it will!)
• The Ultimate [Updated] Packing List For Traveling Light
• Early Retirement Month 17: Sri Lanka Snippets
• Early Retirement Month Seven: A Bucket-List Trip to Australia and New Zealand (Part 2)
• A Rating of Every Book I Read In 2023
• Exiting A Toxic Career Of Software Engineering
• Early Retirement Month Seven: A Bucket-List Trip to Australia and New Zealand (Part 1)
• Stepping into Barefoot Shoes — My New Hobby
• Ms. Frugal Joins A Gym
• Cracking The Code To Early Retirement: 17 Revealing Insights To Your Burning Questions!
• 1 Year of Early Retirement (With Numbers)
• Early Retirement Month Six: Unveiling the Marvels of Japan
• From Skeptic to “Ah hah!”: A Review of The Show ‘How To Get Rich’ with Ramit Sethi
• Early Retirement Month Five: Taste of Taiwan — A 2-Week Itinerary for an Unforgettable Trip
• Osprey Fairview 40 Travel Backpack [New & Updated!] My Perfect Carry-On?
• A Personal Item For 6 Months Around The World
• Why I’m Leaving Vietnam Early
• Early Retirement Month Four: Thailand Whirlwind Adventure Tour
• Honest Review of the Cotopaxi Allpa 28 Travel Pack
• Every Book I Read Since June (2022)
• Early Retirement Month Three: Bali and Your Burning Questions
• Do I Have Enough Money To Travel The World?
• Early Retirement Month Two: Goodbye Amsterdam, Hello Bali!
• How To Sell All Of Your Stuff Online
• Early Retirement Month One: Copenhagen, Cat-sitting, and Creativity
• I Am Not A Wife Or A Mother, Should I Feel Guilty
• It’s Happening! I’m Retiring At Age 29 With $650,000
• Money Diaries: The Long-Awaited First Week of Retirement
• I don’t want to work anymore, so I quit.
• The Dutch Doctor Will See You Now: One Expat’s Healthcare Experience
• How I Spend $120 A Month On Groceries in Amsterdam
• 5 Years of Financial Mechanic – An Anniversary Post
• All The Books I’ve Read So Far In 2022
• I’m Turning Down A Job That Will Pay $30k More
• I’m 50 And Ready To Quit – A Reader Case Study
• Every Dollar I Spent in 2021 As An Expat In Amsterdam
• 6 Mistakes I Made As A Digital Nomad
• Every Book I Read Last Year (2021)
• How Much I Spent Living in Amsterdam This Autumn
• The Results of My Anti-Frugality Experiment of 2021
• Self Care Gift Ideas for Someone Who’s Had a Rough Year
• Is Everyone High And Other Questions About Living in The Netherlands (Part 2)
• 5 Most Asked Questions About Living Abroad in The Netherlands (Part 1)
• What It’s Like Working in the Netherlands As An Expat
• Should I Take A Mini-Retirement or Stick It Out? (WITH AN UPDATE!)
• How Much I Spent Living in Amsterdam This Summer
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 30
• How Financial Independence Let Me Leave An Abusive Relationship
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 29
• Dating and other June 2021 Expenses
• I Didn’t Save Any Money Last Month
• First Month Living Abroad In Amsterdam – An April Recap
• For Sale: Your Attention At A Discount
• Budgeting for a Massive Life Change – I’m Moving to Amsterdam!
• Big Sur and Other February Expenses
• Shredding Pow and Other January 2021 Expenses
• 4 Ways Financial Independence Changed Our Lives (Work, Health, Time, Mentality)
• How I Saved $580,000 By The Age of 27
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 28
• Every Penny of $20,000 I Spent in 2020
• A New Foster Cat And Other December 2020 Expenses
• Self-care and other November 2020 Expenses
• How Financial Independence Changed Our Lives – Flipping the Script on Success, Feminism and FIRE
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 27
• Turkish Coffee and other October 2020 Expenses
• How Financial Independence Changed Our Lives [AOC Pandemic Edition]
• Abolish the Early Retirement Police
• Surfing and other September 2020 Expenses
• Early Retirement Success Story: ‘A Purple Life’ Quit Her Job At Age 30 With Only $500,000!
• 5 Money Conversations To Have Before Getting Married
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 26
• Trader Joe’s Treats and Other August 2020 Expenses
• The Magical Wealth-Building Power of White Privilege
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 25
• The Most I’ve Spent In A Month So Far: July 2020
• Decorating Our New Home With Thrift Store Finds
• How Much It Cost To Move Across the Country
• Gift Ideas For Mentors To Show Your Appreciation
• A Cross-Country Move During a Global Pandemic
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 24
• Black Lives Matter and other May expenses
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 23
• I Could Retire Next Year At The Age of 28— But I Won’t.
• I Just Sold My Bike on Craigslist
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 22
• Lockdown These Expenses – April 2020
• How Much Does It Cost To Adopt A Cat? A Comparison of Three Families
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 21
• Why You Don’t Want Nice Things
• The Cash Machine – A Book Review
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 20
• Ingredients for a Quarantine – March 2020 Expenses
• I Lost $70k in One Month – Should I Give Up On FIRE?
• 3 Easy DIY Gifts You Can Make At Home
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 19
• How To Stay Sane Working From Home — An Extrovert’s Guide
• Why I Decided To Share My Identity and Go Non-Anonymous
• How Much I Spent in a Month Of Solitude – February 2020 Expenses
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 18
• The Psychology of Money, Part 2: Nudges
• Ringing In The New Year By Spending $777 – January 2020 Expenses
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 17
• We Were Airbnb Hosts For 3 Years– Here’s What We Learned (and Earned!)
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 16
• I’m Glad My Parents Crushed My College Dreams
• When Disaster Strikes — The 100-Year Boulder Flood
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 15
• How I Spent Just $15,000 Last Year
• Airbnbs Hosted By Clowns and Other December 2019 Expenses
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 14
• 11 Gift Ideas For Someone Who Just Adopted A Cat
• Financial Independence Let Me Walk Away From Harassment at Work
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 13
• Could I Still Retire Early With A Lower Salary?
• 8 Recipes to Keep You Cozy in Winter and Other November 2019 Expenses
• 7 Pros and Cons From The First Month Of Fostering A Cat
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 12
• 9 Things I Wish I Could Tell My 40-Year-Old Self
• Want To Earn Extra Cash? Try Freelancing.
• The Psychology of Poverty — How Adversity Taught Me The Lessons I Needed To FIRE
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 11
• Craft Brew Carousing and Other October 2019 Expenses
• When Self-Care Gets In The Way
• The Financial Flight – A Craft Beer Menu Of Personal Finance
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 10
• Be a Green Investor with Socially Responsible Investing
• An Enormous Trader Joe’s Haul and Other September 2019 Expenses
• 4 Ways I Traveled The World For Free
• Sunday Sharies: Volume 9
• How To Be Preposterously Creative in 4 Simple Steps
• Shit Finance Nerds Say
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 8
• Should I Take A Mini-Retirement or Stick It Out?
• FinCon, Furniture, and other August 2019 Expenses
• I Am Not A Generous Person (and The Case Against A Donor Advised Fund)
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 7
• 5 Crazy Things I’ve Done To Save $300,000 by Age 26
• Independence with a Side of Meatballs
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 6
• Wait, I Only Spent $255 Last Month? – July 2019 Expense Report
• How I Live On $1,614 a Month In Portland
• 8 Books To Review – A Summer Reading List
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 5
• Money Diaries: A Week in Portland, OR
• The Benefits of Living Life on ‘Hard Mode’
• Moving Across the Country and Other June 2019 Expenses
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 4
• I Don’t Shave My Legs — The Hairy Topic of Beauty
• Yes, I’m Retiring With Just $500,000
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 3
• Adventures Abroad, Birthdays, and Other May 2019 Expenses
• 7 Reflections On My First Year Blogging // A Peek Behind The Curtain
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 2
• It’s Time To Skip The ‘Must-Sees’ And Do This Instead.
• What To Do When You Only Have 7 Days In Colombia (And How I Only Spent $300)
• The Sunday Sharies: Volume 1
• Ask FM: Should I Pivot Into a Career In Tech? If So, How?
• Hiking Boots, Indian-style Pizza, and Other April Expenses
• Guest Post: What My Other Half Thinks of FIRE
• 7 Reasons You Need to Stop Riding Your Bike To Work
• KonMari With A Twist– When Sparking Joy Doesn’t Work
• How I Spend $108 A Month on Groceries and Eat Like A King
• The Side Hustle That Cost Me $2,000
• Ski Trips, Cider, and Other March 2019 Expenses
• How My Stay-At-Home Dad Helped Me Dream Big
• Forget FIRE– Let’s Get HOT
• You Can’t Always Decide Your Fate, But You Can Decide To Be Flexible
• You Flipped the Script
• The Lockdown Diaries — 6 Steps to Increase Your Online Security
• Seattle Roadtrip and Other February 2019 Expenses
• My Work Optional Life
• How To Make Your Significant Other Hate FIRE
• How I Became a Software Engineer Without a CS Degree
• 4 Busted Myths About Women and Money
• On Love and Money—The Mechanics of Shared Finances
• Harry Potter Trivia and Other January 2019 Expenses
• Two Terrific Guest Posts For You // The Luxe Strategist // Fiery Millennials
• You Are The Chicken And The Egg–  6 Steps to Crack Success
• A Fiery Millennial’s Money Diary
• What Happened When I Had An Unlimited Food Budget
• The Surprising Cost of Medical Residency Interviews
• Confessions of a Frugal Fraud
• Every Dollar I Spent Last Year
• December 2018 Expense Report
• What’s in Your Financial Toolkit? 5 Savvy Savers Share Their Favorite Tools
• 4 Habits of Successful People, But Not Me
• November 2018 Expense Report
• The Psychology of Money, Part 1: 4 Ways Your Brain is Working Against You
• How a 25-Year-Old Saved $200,000
• Why We Plan To Downsize From 1,000 sq ft
• The Line Between Frugal and Cheap
• October 2018 Expense Report
• Money Diary: A Week in Portland, OR
• House of Five Financial Horrors
• 6 Things I Don’t Regret Buying
• Finding Fulfillment — What Will You Be When You Retire?
• Ostrich to Hawk: My Money Management Evolution
• Why I Sold My Dream Car
• My Money Map – A Complete Financial Breakdown
• Tackling the Money Taboo — How to Talk About Your Finances
• 5 Things We Are Waiting To Buy
• September 2018 Expense Report
• The Beginner’s Guide to Investing – How to choose 401k options
• The Powell Forest Canoe Route | A Complete Paddle Review
• Investing Needs a Rebrand: 3 Money Myths We Need to Forget
• Top 4 Most Regrettable Purchases
• 3 Steps to Decide Where to Live
• August 2018 Expense Report
• “I am not a math person,” and other lies we tell ourselves
• The Five Stages of FIRE – and how to keep it alight
• Cutting Hair (Out of Your Budget)
• The Mechanic’s Guide to Meal Planning
• Four Fantastically Frugal Foreign Feats
• Trading useless junk for freedom
• July 2018 Expense Report
• Is Inertia Your Financial Friend… or Foe?
• Review: Side-Hustling with Wag!
• How to Save For Joy: Drop Your Inner Money-Miser
• How Much You Need to Retire
• June 2018 Expense Report: My First One!
• 7 Hot Tips for Negotiating Pay- How I Doubled My Salary in Two Years
• Life Update – FM’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Weeks
• Credit Cards: Good or EVIL?
• Will Lifestyle Inflation Carry You Away?
• The Lie Of The Sale Is No Small Potatoes
• The Parallel Truths of Privilege and Hard Work
• Don’t Wait, Automate! Get Your Finances All Set Up
• First Time Car Buyer’s Wild Ride
• I Don’t Budget… Is That Going To Ruin Everything?
• The Beginner’s Guide to Investing – For When You Just Want To Be Told What To Do
• The Career Ladder Is Slow— Take The Career Elevator Instead
• What Does Financial Independence Mean To You
• The Ultimate Flowchart
• Frugal Roots
• The Makings of a Financial Mechanic

Financial Mechanic Elsewhere Around the Web

How To Effectively Ask For A Raise (From Someone Who’s Done It Twice) (Guest post on The Luxe Strategist)

Beware of the Compare (Guest post on Fiery Millennials)

Why “Follow Your Passion” Is Bad Advice (Guest post on Get Rich Slowly)
I saved $300,000 by 26—and doing these 5 unusual things helped me save like crazy (Contribution on CNBC)
How Ikigai Helped Mechanic Find Meaning in Her Life and Money (Guest post on Wallet Hacks)

Podcast Interviews for Financial Mechanic

How Negotiating Boosted My Income to a 6 Figure Salary – FIRE Drill Podcast

Intentionally Choosing the Path to Financial Independence – BiggerPockets Money Podcast

The New Face of FI – Is Your Next Financial Guru a Young Woman? With A Purple Life, Tori Dunlap, and Financial Mechanic – What’s Up Next Podcast

How to Negotiate Your Salary Without Burning Bridges | Financial Mechanic | Ep 211 – Choose FI

Salary Negotiation & Early Retirement | Financial Mechanic | Ep 454 – Choose FI