the money tools you need to be set free
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. […]
We stepped into our grandparents’ new condo, dazzled by the decor. They had just settled into a retirement community and finished furnishing their place. I had never seen a place like it– not because of the space, or the view, or the decoration, but there was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Of […]
March is usually the harbinger of spring, but this year the world got a wakeup call as it ushered in a new disease instead. Yet if we rewind to the beginning of the month, we only had a faint inkling of what would come. First Week: Portland, OR and Santa Barbara, CA In fact, March […]
If you catch yourself thinking, “I am not crafty enough to do that,” think again! I simply followed tutorials at home with limited existing skillset and managed to make four pretty cool things, if I do say so myself!