the money tools you need to be set free
An Early Retirement Success Story A year ago, I asked A Purple Life to write a post for this blog. We brainstormed some ideas, and I asked her to write all about a subject I was dying to read more about: how exactly did she plan on retiring on $500,000? She wrote a magnificently detailed […]
We were walking down the path by the river to go meet our friends. As it was the last day before our cross-country move and we still hadn’t finished packing or cleaning, this was a bit of an interesting choice. I didn’t think it was a good idea to pause our cleaning frenzy to go […]
I blinked and July disappeared. At least, that’s what it felt like. The news cycle blares bad news and rising COVID-19 cases every day, and I sometimes feel like a straight-faced duck– calm and serene above the water but paddling like crazy underneath. As you know by now, we moved cross-country and spent a good […]
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 have a plan. I mapped it out a few years ago and I’ve been sticking to it— save $1,200,000 by the age of 32. It is a cautious plan that assumes I could double my expenses in retirement. It even has a buffer of $200,000 for just-in-case scenarios. Yet recently I’ve been wondering if this […]
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 […]