Finding Enough

May was a VERY expensive month!! We do now have somewhere to call home, if only temporarily. We had already signed up to a couple of house sits before we knew that would happen, so 10 days of May were spent the other side of Scotland. This coupled with several trips down south in a short space of time, meant we only actually slept in our new home for 9 nights last month, and one of those was with no furniture!

Events conspired to make it a rather complicated month logistically, with not 1 but 3 trips almost the full length of the country. I worked out that of 48 English counties, we visited 28 in May – and 2 in Scotland. I won’t bore you with all the details, but the repair and return of the campervan was not straight forwards. We did not get it back before we had to move into our rental cottage, but my lovely mother in law came to rescue and lent us her car for nearly 2 weeks.

We had to make 2 trips from Hertfordshire to Scotland in a week, firstly to collect the keys and sign off meter readings and a comprehensive condition report (“they mention one mark on the bathroom floor, but not another, should we report it??”). As we didn’t have any of our furniture, nor a camper van, we elected to bring an airbed and sleeping bag and camp in the empty house. Unfortunately, the airbed slowly deflated overnight……

The second trip was with our belongings. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that when we moved out of our home in Cambridgeshire last July, we employed the assistance of a local ‘man with a van’ to help us move and pack all our worldly goods into a shipping container on a self-storage site just down the road. Despite Ray hurting his back in the first hour, Ray’s removals did an excellent job for a very reasonable price. When it came time to move everything north of the border to our rental house, we asked Ray for a quote. Last year he seemed keen for a bit of a road trip and he quickly provided a quote for 2 luton type vans, 3 guys and an overnight stay. Although a large sum, when broken down, it was very reasonable and based on past experience, we were confident they would do a good job.

At 7am on Friday 5th May, we met up with Ray and 2 others at the storage site to start the job; the plan being to load up, reach the destination and unload the same day. The container was empty before 10am, and we were ready to go………..so far so good. Unfortunately, Ray’s van didn’t make it past Peterborough before breaking down at the side of the A1. We really haven’t had much luck with vans the last few weeks.

While Ray waited on the hard shoulder for the AA, the remaining van with 2 guys on board and half our belongings made pretty good time. Luckily, our mattress and some sheets were in the van that made it, so we were able to upgrade from a leaky airbed, but we had to wait until the next day to get all of our bed frame.

The removal guys were absolute troopers. Despite us giving them the option to complete the job later in the week, they opted to get it done a quickly as possible. Rather than stop over on Friday night as planned, they headed straight back down the country, sharing the driving between them, before meeting Ray at the garage his van had been towed to. They then proceeded to unload the broken van into the other at about 1am before getting a few hours sleep, swapping drivers, and setting off again around 6am. As the following day was coronation day, the traffic was light and they were back with us by 11.30am. We had coffee and bacon butties waiting. We also had a mini removals expert in the form of the son of one of our new neighbours. Angus must be about 6 or 7 and was very keen to help with anything that wasn’t too heavy. We all pooled our limited cash to pay him £5 wages at the end of the morning (after checking that was OK with his mum). He seemed chuffed, and was last seen heading off to count his fist full of coins.

With everything in the house (or shed, or slightly tumbledown garage), we had 5 days to get a bit organised, before having to head off down the country again.

At the end of last month, I was informed of the sudden death of a school friend, aged 45. She has always suffered with health issues, but nothing life threatening, so this came as a bit of a shock to everyone, not least her husband and 3 children. She was my oldest friend, having first met at primary school. Although we had not seen each other in person for many years, we were in fairly regular contact online and kept up with the ups and downs of each others lives. The funeral was on 12th May in London, so this was the 3rd trip. I attended the funeral and Mr W returned my mother in law’s car and finally collected the van.

We got back one day before heading off to a house sit near Kelso. This turned out to be the perfect antidote to a manic and emotionally draining start to the month. We certainly fell on our feet at a large former farmhouse, with huge formal gardens and countryside walks and abundant wildlife on the doorstep. We spent most of our time in the stunning garden room. We were looking after 2 dogs; a black Labrador called Bella and a Norfolk Terrier called Slipper. Both were very friendly from the outset and were very well behaved and generally a joy to look after.

What we hadn’t factored in was that the house turned out to have staff, so there was very little for us to do other than care for the dogs. The family are very well connected, and own a number of farms and other land in the Borders. There was a housekeeper in the mornings, a gardener, a handyman, and not forgetting ‘Perkins’, the GPS controlled lawn mower. We did feel a little uncomfortable when the housekeeper was around. She is lovely, but very efficient, so we couldn’t put anything down without it being tidied up seconds later.

The middle of May was the start of a glorious run of weather up north, which hasn’t yet run out (🤞), so we took the dogs on a couple of adventures. They were very well behaved in the van, and Slipper seemed to love the elevated view. When we told the housekeeper we were planning a trip to the seaside, she told us that she didn’t think the dogs had ever been. They certainly seemed to enjoy it, although Slipper wasn’t too sure about water that comes after you.

We had a lovely relaxing 10 days, and have agreed to sit for the owner again in October. We don’t need any more house sits, and are no longer actively looking for opportunities, but it seems silly to say no to what is effectively a free holiday, when we know we will enjoy it. We can just be very selective now. Our rental house is not large, so a bit more space every now and then will probably be a good thing.

The day after we got back late from the sit, we hosted friends at our new rental house. We spent some of February and most of March at the house of these friends in Northumberland while they were away for an extended period. They would not let us contribute to bills for the 4 weeks we were there, so we took them out for a nice meal instead. Another large cost to add to the total for May, but definitely worth it. The meal was fantastic and the company even better. We even managed to have a spare room ready with a fully assembled and made up bed!

I knew our expenses this month were going to be eye-watering, but I still wasn’t fully prepared for the final figure 😱, especially as it coincided with a big drop in freedom fund value (thanks US debt ceiling).

• Freedom Fund Value: £1,164,026 (down £19k on last month)
• Monthly expenses: £7,788* or a withdrawal rate or 8% if we were to maintain this rate of spending
• Earned Income: £2,390
• Miles walked: 134 vs. a target of 146**
• Books read: 8 vs a target of 10 (2 per month)

I can’t remember a month with higher expenses since I started tracking, unless it coincided with a vehicle purchase. We have a system of sinking funds (savings accounts) for ‘house / travel’ and ‘vehicles’, which softened the blow, allowing us to use already allocated cash to pay for removal costs and van repairs without making too much of a dent in the freedom fund. I know it is all part of our net worth, but psychologically, this system helps to even out large expenses.

The value of our investments was almost universally down this month, so we didn’t sell anything, but drew the rest from the cash reserves which are included in the freedom fund total. This months expenses represented a withdrawal rate of a decidedly unsafe 8%, but year to date the average is 3.7%, which isn’t quite so horrifying (although far from ideal). Our cash buffer was bolstered by all my outstanding coaching invoices being paid this month. This represented work done January – April.

Probably not surprisingly with all the sitting in vehicles for hours, May was not on target for walking. All things considered, I am not too upset with 12 miles off target for the month.

I only managed to read a few pages of my current book in the whole of May, so I have some serious catching up to do. There is actually a library in the town we now find ourselves in, so I plan to join this month and that should provide some inspiration.

I am not yet sure exactly what our new ‘normal’ monthly expenses will be, but if you take out the one off removals and van repairs costs, we were at £3,328 for the month. I think this is still high. We shouldn’t spend £400 a month on fuel going forwards for example. June should be pretty average, so it’ll be interesting to see what the numbers look like this time next month.

As well as a lot of travel round the country, May definitely brought some moments of reflection. A reminder of the fragility of life and confirmation that, although it has not gone quite as we planned yet, we did the right thing changing up our lifestyle when we have. Not everyone gets to act on long held ambitions. Financial freedom has enabled us to do, rather than dream.

One silver lining to the untimely death of a friend is that a group of us from school met up not just for the funeral, but for a right old knees up to remember her. We had been intending to organise the next reunion for a while, so we did it in her honour. Clearly, it would have been much better to do this when she could have come too, so if you are thinking of catching up with an old friend – pick up the phone today. You never know what the future holds.

We actually finished the month back down south yet again, but I will write more about that next month, I think three 600+ mile trips is enough for one post! May is my favourite month in the garden, so as well as some photos from our move and house sit, I have included a few flowers that popped up in our new rental garden while we were away.

*Includes £500 per month personal allowances (£250 each), which may not be spent in the month, but which is not tracked. Some of it may show up in the freedom fund in the future, if savings build up and are invested.

** I completed my challenge to walk the equivalent of Lands End to John O’Groats and back in 2022. This is the longest overland distance between 2 points on the UK mainland or 1748 miles. In 2023 I want to maintain the 146 miles a month this required