Evolving Personal Finance » Entries tagged with "Seattle"
April 2016 Budget Report
April in Seattle was even more beautiful than March – way more warm, sunny days than rainy/overcast days, and quite sunny weekends. Each Saturday in April we went for a long walk in a new-to-us local park to exercise and see more of our city. We’re considering this lovely weather as “borrowed time” and do expect the rain and chill to return before summer really starts, so we’re capitalizing on it in the meantime. We also … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Natural Frugality in Seattle
I’ve made no secret of the fact that Seattle is not a great home for us in terms of its financial value – it’s a high cost-of-living city, but what it offers doesn’t match up well what we’re looking for in a city. (I have to say that we are really warming up to Seattle with the wonderful spring we’ve been having!) But despite Seattle’s high cost of living, I’ve observed that we have easily fallen … Read entire article »
Filed under: frugality
March 2016 Budget Report
Life in Seattle is really starting to improve for us! There were many days in March that had no rain and/or were quite sunny. Near the end of the month, it got above 60 degrees F on a couple days! The start of daylight savings time has also been amazing – sometimes Kyle comes home when it’s still light out! We are also slowly strengthening our social ties. Near the beginning of the month, we went … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Lifestyle Inflation Analysis
One of the big purposes of me creating this blog, right from the beginning, was to keep Kyle and I from succumbing to lifestyle inflation as we transitioned out of grad school and into our careers. I knew that many people, upon experiencing a jump in salary, would mindlessly let their spending increase across various areas of their budget. I draw a strong distinction between lifestyle inflation and lifestyle increase. I see lifestyle increases as … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, transitions
October 2015 Budget Report
October was our third full month living in Seattle, so our expenses are becoming more regular/predictable, which is great. I traveled three times in October for my business, all three times to California. The weather in Seattle quickly transitioned in October from summer-ish to winter-ish (at least, that’s how it feels to us!), so my jaunts to warm, sunny California reminded me of the importance of our goal to move there sooner rather than later. Other than … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Living in Someone Else’s Awesome
Last year I posted an explanation of why high cost-of-living cities are so expensive: a lot of people think they are awesome and want to live there. At that time, Kyle and I were living in a medium cost-of-living city that we thought was great but not ideal. Now, we have moved to not only a high cost-of-living city but a city that is rapidly expanding both in population and cost (Seattle). And for us, … Read entire article »
Filed under: housing
Seattle Staycation with Another Couple
Last week we had our first houseguests in our Seattle apartment! My sister and her boyfriend came to see us for a long weekend – they were here from Thursday morning to Monday morning. My sister said she wanted to spend “100%” of the whole long weekend with me, so I took Thursday and Friday off from work (and the weekend, too – I usually work quite a bit on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays). … Read entire article »
Filed under: travel
Apartment Search in Seattle
As soon as Kyle began interviewing for his current job, we started looking for a place to live in Seattle. From talking with friends who had recently moved there, we repeatedly heard the Seattle housing market be referred to as “hot” and “tight.” We knew to expect much less space and higher rents than we had experienced in Durham, but we did not anticipate that it would operate on a totally different schedule and set … Read entire article »
Filed under: housing
Hello from Seattle!
Sorry for the loooooong absence, friends! Managing EPF now falls under my ‘work’ time, and I had to cut way back on my work during July so that we could move from Durham to Seattle in time for Kyle to start work today. SO MUCH has happened in the past few weeks for us and I have many interesting PF topics to discuss in upcoming posts that relate to our move. For today, I’ll just give … Read entire article »
Filed under: transitions
Recent Comments
- Adam on Home Equity Is Funny Money
"Hi Emily - I just stumbled upon your blog. Great post! Up in Canada this is a…" - Emily on Home Equity Is Funny Money
"I agree that an appraisal is the best number to work with. I can't think of why …" - JL on Home Equity Is Funny Money
"I only note it as round numbers, in $50k or $100k estimates. I also usually upda…" - We Maxed Out All Our Retirement Accounts for the First Time! - Evolving Personal Finance | Evolving Personal Finance on Avoiding an Expensive 401(k) Plan through Self-Employment
"[…] was the first year that we contributed to Kyle’s expensive 401(k…" - Business Goal Tracking for Week 8 of 2022 - Evolving Personal Finance | Evolving Personal Finance on Business Goal Tracking for Week 6 of 2022
"[…] Done as of two weeks ago! […]…"