A Flavorful Fresh Start: Ottolenghi Recipes as My New Year’s Resolution
I started to write a post about my New Year’s resolution, but it quickly derailed into the ramblings of someone scrambling to dismantle internalized fatphobia. Because, as you might imagine, over New Years my feed became an ‘inspirational’ pile-on of before and afters that made me want to erase my screen like an Etch-a-Sketch and […]
Early Retirement Month Six: Unveiling the Marvels of Japan
Tokyo, Sapporo Ice Festival, Skiing in Hokkaido, Kyoto, and my friend’s farmhouse Stepping off the plane in Japan felt like stepping into another dimension. My previous experience with anything Japan-related now felt like a weird knock-off version of the real thing. I had a mangled impression, built on grocery-store sushi, a few video games, and […]
How I Spend $120 A Month On Groceries in Amsterdam
When you think of Dutch food, what comes to mind? Maybe the “caramel cookie wafers” some airlines hand out– known to Nederlanders as stroopwafel? Or perhaps you’re obsessed with Trader Joe’s cookie butter, based off of the Dutch treat speculoos. Aside from knowing about a couple of desserts, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect […]
Trader Joe’s Treats and Other August 2020 Expenses
I finally felt settled in August. The long days and daily sunshine helped improve my daily moods. We’ve established a comfortable routine, and we are checking off things to do in Santa Barbara, from exploring beaches to going on long hikes. Early in the month I picked up a couple dog-boarding gigs that went great. […]
8 Recipes to Keep You Cozy in Winter and Other November 2019 Expenses
Early winter is teasing us with short bursts of snow. I was pleasantly surprised when it melted away, as I had imagined that we would have to hunker down for the rest of the season. We spent most of November trying out a lot of recipes. I’ll share our November recipes and also my expenses […]
The Financial Flight – A Craft Beer Menu Of Personal Finance
Since my last article was a research-intensive deep dive, I thought for this week I would do something a little more refreshing. While in Vermont, Mr. Mechanic and I visited a few different breweries. One of my favorite things to do is read each beer description– they are so artfully written! So I thought it […]
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 […]
What Happened When I Had An Unlimited Food Budget
Last year I had the opportunity to travel to the UK for work. I made a couple of different trips, and for the first month my work put me up in a flat and paid for every meal. It was a great opportunity to learn what my habits would be like if money was less […]
The Mechanic’s Guide to Meal Planning
Four steps helped us set some goals, benchmark our spending, and make meal-planning happen.