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Expense Reports, Intentional Living, Money Tracking

Every Penny of $20,000 I Spent in 2020

January 1, 2021 24 Comments

I’m positive that 2020 will be a bookmark year, one that we can flip to easily in our minds and remember exactly what we were doing when the whole world shut down. For me personally, 2020 brought on lots of change and forced flexibility. I moved from New York to California, worked from home the […]

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Expense Reports, Intentional Living, Money Tracking

The Most I’ve Spent In A Month So Far: July 2020

August 4, 2020 20 Comments

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 […]

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Frugal, Intentional Living, Money Tracking

How Much Does It Cost To Adopt A Cat? A Comparison of Three Families

April 27, 2020 9 Comments

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. […]

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Expense Reports, Money Tracking, Spending, Travel

How Much I Spent in a Month Of Solitude – February 2020 Expenses

March 3, 2020 7 Comments

I’m so curious to see what a month of (mostly) solitude did to my spending in the month of February. 

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Expense Reports, Frugal, Money Tracking

Ringing In The New Year By Spending $777 – January 2020 Expenses

February 12, 2020 2 Comments
table covered in glasses and confetti

Wow, I just realized that I completely forgot to write up my expense report for January. I had to wrack my brain a bit to remember what we did! Mr. Mechanic had a rotation in surgery which meant that I didn’t see him much. I didn’t see much at all, really, as it started getting […]

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Expense Reports, Money Tracking, Spending

How I Spent Just $15,000 Last Year

January 6, 2020 23 Comments

It’s the time of the year for reflection, and looking back on my expenses for the year reminds me of all of the adventures I’ve had. This year I said goodbye to friends and family in Portland, Oregon and moved with Mr. Mechanic to upstate New York.  Note: some links in this article are affiliate […]

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Expense Reports, Money Tracking

Airbnbs Hosted By Clowns and Other December 2019 Expenses

December 31, 2019 3 Comments

This month was perhaps one of my favorites of the year. We Adopted a Cat In October, we started fostering a kitten. I wrote about the experience in November, and December 16th was the date we had to decide whether to keep him or let him go up for adoption. We ended up adopting MechaniCat […]

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Expense Reports, Food, Money Tracking

8 Recipes to Keep You Cozy in Winter and Other November 2019 Expenses

December 1, 2019 4 Comments

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 […]

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Expense Reports, Money Tracking, Spending

Craft Brew Carousing and Other October 2019 Expenses

November 4, 2019 10 Comments

I mentioned in last month’s expense report that I am determined to enjoy this season—and let me tell you, I enjoyed the hell out of it this month. We kicked off the month by taking a road trip to Burlington, Vermont. Trading driving shifts, we arrived on Thursday, very ready for a three-day weekend. The […]

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Expense Reports, Money, Money Tracking

An Enormous Trader Joe’s Haul and Other September 2019 Expenses

October 2, 2019 8 Comments

The leaves are beginning to turn—little bright flags waggling in the wind. Most people love the fall; it’s a time of just enough chill to don a jacket and sweater and get a little cozy. Not me. Winter Is Coming (But Enjoy Autumn Anyway) I have always disliked the fall because it meant winter was […]

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The Mechanic

I'm a mechanical engineer turned programmer with a pretty big DIY project: save enough money to become financially independent. I write about frugality, career climbing, and investing.

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Recent Posts

  • The Sunday Sharies: Volume 28
  • Every Penny of $20,000 I Spent in 2020
  • A New Foster Cat And Other December 2020 Expenses
  • Self-care and other November 2020 Expenses
  • How Financial Independence Changed Our Lives – Flipping the Script on Success, Feminism and FIRE
  • The Sunday Sharies: Volume 27
  • Turkish Coffee and other October 2020 Expenses

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