After learning more about the history behind my Grandparents' idyllic home, I have taken away some valuable lessons about adapting financial strategies to fit the times we live in. The post What My Grandma Paid to Build Her Home Will Shock You! first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post What My Grandma Paid to Build Her Home Will Shock You! appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

After a wonderful bop around the Southern half of New Zealand, we booked flights to head up to Auckland in the North. After renting a car in a super sketchy, dark parking lot, we made it to the attic-turned-Airbnb where we crashed for the night. We were raring to go on hikes, so we only […] The post Early Retirement Month Seven: A Bucket-List Trip to Australia and New Zealand (Part 2) first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post Early Retirement Month Seven: A Bucket-List Trip to Australia and New Zealand (Part 2) appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

Thanks to Goodreads, I have a record of everything I read in 2023. I love going back over what books I finished and the notes and highlights that stick out to me. The post A Rating of Every Book I Read In 2023 first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post A Rating of Every Book I Read In 2023 appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

Thirty plus years ago, a woman in England left her hometown to travel the world. On the bus going to the Milford Track, in New Zealand, a young man sat next to her. Originally from Long Island, his job laid him off and gave him a pretty decent severance package, so he was also going […] The post Early Retirement Month Seven: A Bucket-List Trip to Australia and New Zealand (Part 1) first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post Early Retirement Month Seven: A Bucket-List Trip to Australia and New Zealand (Part 1) appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

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 […] The post Ms. Frugal Joins A Gym first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post Ms. Frugal Joins A Gym appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

I hoped that maybe in early retirement I'd have time to read, a wistful goal. So without work, have I been able to read as much as I used to dream? The post Every Book I Read Since June (2022) first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post Every Book I Read Since June (2022) appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

By the second month of early retirement, things started to get real! It was time to say doei to Holland, and prepare to go on an adventure through Southeast Asia. All of this kicked off with quitting my job and now I have some serious life-change inertia. Each step since then feels like a domino […] The post Early Retirement Month Two: Goodbye Amsterdam, Hello Bali! first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post Early Retirement Month Two: Goodbye Amsterdam, Hello Bali! appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

One thing I didn’t expect after quitting my job was for time to keep rolling along as usual. Shouldn’t taking back eight hours of my day that used to belong to some company make my days feel longer? Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work that way. I realized today it has been TWO MONTHS since […] The post Early Retirement Month One: Copenhagen, Cat-sitting, and Creativity first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post Early Retirement Month One: Copenhagen, Cat-sitting, and Creativity appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

It's 4pm and I realize I haven't done anything productive today. Well, that's not exactly true. I followed up with HR because my previous company seems to have... forgotten? to pay me for the last month of work. I tracked down the status of my tax return. I organized pick-up for one of my larger plants that must be sold before I move. But I haven't done anything productive for anyone else The post I Am Not A Wife Or A Mother, Should I Feel Guilty first appeared on Financial Mechanic. The post I Am Not A Wife Or A Mother, Should I Feel Guilty appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more

After a wonderful bop around the Southern half of New Zealand, we booked flights to head up to Auckland in the North. After renting a car in a super sketchy, dark parking lot, we made it to the attic-turned-Airbnb where we crashed for the night. We were raring to go on hikes, so we only […] The post Early Retirement Month Seven: A Bucket-List Trip to Australia and New Zealand (Part 2) appeared first on Financial Mechanic ..read more