June was the month of uprooting, as we packed and hefted and drove and ended our lease—and July followed quickly after, which I now dub the month of homelessness. The Apartment Situation If you recall from last month, I was sleeping on a pad in our empty apartment, living out of my suitcase. The reason: […]
How I Live On $1,614 a Month In Portland
A detailed breakdown of how I spend $1,600 a month in Portland, OR
Moving Across the Country and Other June 2019 Expenses
June was the month of uprooting. Mr. Mechanic is headed across the country for his first year of residency and I am going with him. We moved most of our stuff to storage, packing what we could into our little white Rav4. Mr. Mechanic drove cross-country, arriving in New York later that week. He has […]
Adventures Abroad, Birthdays, and Other May 2019 Expenses
The month of May heralded summer and anticipation for our next chapter. We jetted off to Colombia early in the month. For a week we had an adventure-packed trip, and then I flew home. I have to manage my vacation days given the upcoming move, but lucky Mr. Mechanic had more time off so he […]
Hiking Boots, Indian-style Pizza, and Other April Expenses
“Testing, testing,” I leaned up to the mic, holding the headphones to my ears. I was a bundle of nerves because it was one of my first podcast interviews with FIRE Drill podcast, hosted by Gwen and J. I had one interview previously with the Simple Minded Millennial Podcast, but this time I was taking […]
Ski Trips, Cider, and Other March 2019 Expenses
March didn’t mess around. We found out where we will be living for the next five years. We skied two weekends in a row, celebrated Match Day and got full use of our ski passes for the year. The cross-country move is a lot to anticipate—we will be driving approximately 3,000 miles to a town […]
Seattle Roadtrip and Other February 2019 Expenses
Snow teased us in February. Reports warned of a record-breaking snowstorm headed our way. I saw the headlines for another “Snowmageddon” on Friday and started to get antsy– we were running low on food and last time it snowed the roads were treacherous. Preparing for the Storm Two years ago, I was trapped downtown for […]
Harry Potter Trivia and Other January 2019 Expenses
I kicked off the New Year falling asleep to Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (it was good, I was just tired!) Then I headed back to work for business as usual. Between lots of work, we took advantage of every weekend at home. Note: there may be affiliate links in this post, which means I receive a […]
December 2018 Expense Report
December Reflections I was home alone for most of December while Mr. Mechanic flew to various residency interviews. This meant a lot of time watching movies he would never want to watch (what do you mean no British Bake Off or The Good Place for a week?!), scarfing down Trader Joe’s Lasagna (family size? Let’s […]
November 2018 Expense Report
November was the month of travel and family. I kicked off the first week with a business trip to California, where I spent most of the time working outside to soak up as much sun as possible. Traveling for work racked up a grand total of $1,500. That is usually how much I spend in […]