Two years ago, I planned to return to work after a nine-year stint as a stay-at-home mom. With my youngest heading to kindergarten, I no longer needed to be home all day.  My husband urged me to find a job. He’s been waiting over a decade to build a waterfront house and wanted another hefty ... Read more The post The Perks of Part-Time Work appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

For years, the thoughts of money consumed me. How much did I earn? How much did I save? How much did I spend? I thought about money every day of my life. I ran calculations to project my future salary and worked as hard as possible to achieve the highest promotions and raises.  In my ... Read more The post Money Presents Opportunities You Aren’t Expecting appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

One of the greatest gifts of financial independence is the gift of choice. It provides the opportunity to follow your heart instead of the money.  I can decide where to go and what to do. After working twelve years as a software engineer and spending the last ten with my children, I stand on the ... Read more The post Following My Heart Instead of the Money appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

In late January, I opened an Etsy store. Two weeks later, I sold over one hundred Etsy printables. Does that seem impossible or unbelievable? Before I opened my store, I would’ve thought so too.  Is it a fluke? Maybe. Lucky timing? Probably. Could it ever happen again? I have no idea, but I’m determined to ... Read more The post I Sold 100 Etsy Printables in Two Weeks appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

Have you ever heard the phrase the grass is greener on the other side? Is it really greener elsewhere, or could it be greener where you water it? My dad always considered himself lucky, and he kept an upbeat attitude even after he was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. Whenever the doctor asked how he was feeling, ... Read more The post The Grass is Greener Where You Water It appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

Every day I jot down random notes. Today, for no particular reason, I decided to publish the list. So here it goes. 1. New Blog I’ve been cheating on this blog. After a decade and a half of writing about personal finance, I got the itch to write about something new. So I bought a ... Read more The post Notes to Myself appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

Are you a stay-at-home mom who wants or needs to return to work? I am too! After a decade of being home with my kids, I’m excited to explore the next chapter of my life. Ten years ago, I left my high-paying career to become a stay-at-home mom.  “I’ll stay home for six months,” I ... Read more The post How Do I Find a Job After Being a Stay-at-Home Mom? appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

For about eight years, my husband and I subscribed to a high-deductible health plan. Every year I renewed our insurance and hoped we would stay healthy. In the best-case scenario, we would pay lower premiums, sock money away in our HSA, and never visit the doctor’s office. In the worst-case scenario, we would pay $6,000 ... Read more The post HSA versus PPO: Feeling Guilty About Doctor Visits appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

I’ve always had a strange fascination with the future. As a kid, I was mesmerized by the notion of fortune tellers and palm readers. I wanted to see my future laid out before me like a map indicating where I would travel and where I would land. But deep down, I feared that same future. ... Read more The post Predicting the Future: Are You Ready for What Comes Next? appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more

The year is coming to a close, which means it’s time for my annual blogging recap! I started summarizing my blog content in 2019 after Angela, Revanche, and FinCon 2019 rebooted my excitement for writing. In 2020, I decided to make it a tradition. In 2022, I published thirty-six posts on the topics of minimalism, financial independence, and exploring money mindsets and presented “How ... Read more The post Blogging Recap 2022 appeared first on One Frugal Girl ..read more