the money tools you need to be set free
I couldn’t quite pin-point when it happened. Old clothes not quite getting over hips, new clothes in sizes a few numbers up. When I started traveling? How could that be, I was climbing mountains and walking everywhere! The trousers that used to need a belt to stay up are suddenly a tad too tight. I […]
After moving abroad to Amsterdam, I had the opportunity to travel a lot around Europe. With each trip, I perfected my packing game. European budget airlines have started to charge for carry-ons, so I worked to fit everything into a personal item. Little by little, I’ve managed to trim down what I carry to a […]
Have you ever needed a change in your life… but you just have too much stuff? Want to move to another country… but what are you going to do about, you know, everything you own?
Don’t let stuff hold you back from making big moves in your life. Sell it all instead. This guide will show you how.
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 […]
“How much is it? Actually, wait, you know what, just put it in the cart.” After the words came out of my mouth, my sister looked at me like I had grown another head. We both come from a family of famed frugality, so she wondered what had gotten into me. May was my anti-frugal, […]
My family was always thrifty. My winter coats came off the rack of the local Goodwill, my shoes never cost more than $10, and any time I wanted new clothing as a teenager my mother took me to the thrift store (to my horror). As a teenager, I hated it. I wanted the hottest fashions, […]
We did it! We moved from the East Coast to the West Coast, from New York to Santa Barbara, from sea to shining sea. This included selling all of our furniture, shipping our car, packing our stuff, and — last-but-not-least — trundling our cat along for the ride. Are you curious how much it cost […]
Yes, we are moving cross-country during a global pandemic. It turns out that hospitals are considered “essential,” in times like these, so Mr. Mechanic’s residency will start in Santa Barbara on July 1st as originally scheduled. Last year we packed the car to the brim with our favorite things and drove it from Portland, OR […]
I counted the bills as the man loaded my bike into his car. “Twenty…eighty…one-twenty, one-forty…” I made it to $350 and nodded, mentally saying goodbye to my metal steed. In two months we will be moving across the country. When we moved here, we shoved everything into the car and drove it three thousand miles […]
It’s been 6 months since Mr. Mechanic and I adopted MechaniCat, so it seems like a good time to do an assessment of how much money we’ve spent on our first pet. As with everything, we went the frugal route, so it will be interesting to see if we spent more or less than expected. […]