Finding Enough

Another tardy monthly update. I am running late this month because we decided to take advantage of the sunny start to September with a spontaneous trip to the Isle of Arran in the campervan. I did take the laptop, but was far too busy enjoying the amazing weather and scenery to actually turn it on. Anyway, more about Arran next month, back to August:

We started August with a trip down to Norfolk to help my parents prepare their house for sale. This was a pretty full on few days of sorting, de-cluttering, cleaning and arranging several rooms as well as a loft and a garage which had essentially been accumulating ‘stuff’ for the 8 years they have lived there. The sorting process was quite intense, as mum in particular found it difficult to let go of things which were either expensive to buy (part of a bathroom light from 20 years ago anyone??), or ‘might be useful’. Most of these things were completely forgotten about in the garage or the loft, sometimes never actually unpacked from the last time they moved. I had to strike a careful balance between patience and understanding and getting everything done that they wanted to tackle before inviting the estate agents’ photographer in.

This clear-out, for them, must mean accepting they are no longer physically able to do it themselves and that next move will likely me the last they have control over. Effectively they are having to face the fact this marks the start of the last phase of their lives. On the other hand, we only had a few days and a huge amount to do. I knew that they would regret not making the most of having us there to help.

While I was negotiating the reduction of ‘stuff’, evicting spiders and scrubbing corners which had not seen daylight for years, Mr Wombat was a star and fixed a particularly stubborn and inaccessible leaky tap and transformed their greenhouse, which was very green indeed after years of disuse.

We got home physically and mentally drained, but they were very pleased with the result. Their house looks great, and we created a big pile for a house clearance company to take away after we left. The agent has actually done a great job with the photos, so we’ll see how they get on in what is now a much slower market than when we sold last year.

Thankfully, we had a few days to recharge and prepare before my in-laws came to visit in the middle of the month. It was definitely cosy in our little rented house, with one bathroom, but we had some nice weather and spent a lot of time getting out and about with them, showing them the area and some of the tourist attractions.

Hosting was the perfect motivation to make a couple of puddings with fruit from the garden. We have half a plum tree (technically it is in the neighbours garden, but a lot of it hangs into ours) and it was dripping with fruit this year. We also had the first few ripe cooking apples from a small tree that is in our garden.

I still have a few slices of German plum cake in the freezer, but the eve’s pudding proved so popular, there were definitely no left overs. I had never made either before, but I will definitely be making eve’s pudding again. It is very simple and easy if you have apples in the garden that you don’t know what to do with.

We realised this month that we haven’t been out open water swimming since we arrived in the area. We have done plenty of walking, but being nearer to wild swimming locations was one of the attractions of moving up here, so it was about time to get on with it! We are very fortunate to have several sea and freshwater options within 25 mins, we just needed to get into the habit. We have now been out 5 times in some lovely spots (a couple of beach locations are included in this month’s photos).

While we were enjoying August at a mostly sedate pace, what was our money doing?

• Freedom Fund Value: £1,188,610 (down nearly £13k on last month)
• Monthly expenses: £2,870* or a withdrawal rate or 2.9% if we were to maintain this rate of spending
• Earned Income: £610
• Miles walked: 142 vs. a target of 146**
• Books read: 14 vs a target of 16 (2 per month)

The freedom fund is down again this month after good gains last month. In fact it is at almost exactly the same level as this time last year. This year so far has been pretty flat overall, bobbing up and down each month. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues for the last few months of the year.

Expenses in August were up slightly over July, and I think this is mainly down to more meals out and a few entry tickets while we were hosting Mr W’s parents. We were within what I would consider ‘normal’ for our current living arrangements. I am expecting September and October to be very busy, and busy tends to mean higher expenses (even without factoring in a new house!). We are just waiting on one legal document from the seller to enable us to complete on the purchase of our new property. Providing that arrives when expected, we should have the keys before my next update. We have decided not to rush to hand back the rental house, to enable us to get a few things done at the new place before we move in, and to enable us to transfer our belongings across ourselves over time. Paying rent, as well as utilities for 2 properties for a couple of months will inevitably hike spending for a while.

On the income side of things, I was paid for July’s coaching invoice on time (very unusual), but due to completing one coaching relationship and holiday season for others, I did no freelance work in August. All the members of the HR team at my previous employer that I know personally, have now moved on from the business. I suspect this small income stream will start to dry up, as the new HR team have been less than communicative, and I imagine budgets are tightening. I remain open to interesting opportunities through contacts, but I won’t be actively selling my services in the short term.

My non-financial targets are both a bit behind. Once again, miles walked are a little shy of target, but 10 miles up on last month. This isn’t bad considering we spent a week showing the in-laws around the area and they don’t walk fast or too far.

I read 2 books this month, but have not caught up on the miss from May, and suspect I won’t next month either, but we’ll see. One of August’s titles was centred around the experiences of a gardener and a bee-keeper who committed to teach the other some of their skills. The gardener wanted the bees to support boost pollination in their garden and allotment, and the beekeeper wanted to grow plants to keep their bees fed for as long a season as possible. Beekeeping is something I like the idea of. Like most things, I expect there will be much more to it than I realise. This was step one.

As we head into autumn, once again everything in our diary seems to be crashing together. After a couple of relaxed months, the house move is sliding close to a couple of housesits which we agreed to many months ago. Both are repeat sits; the first is at the end of September in the Scottish Borders for 2 dogs in a lovely farmhouse (if you’ve been reading the blog for a while, do you remember the house that came with staff? – its that one!). The second is in mid-October for friends back close to where we used to live. It will be nice to catch up with them again, even if their springer spaniel is a bit of a nutter. The latter will also be a good opportunity to meet up with other friends in the area. This is the other reason we decided to keep the rented house on for a while. 2 months sounds like a long time, but with the travel factored in, I am sure it is going to go by in a flash.

Here are a few snapshots of our August…..I hope you enjoyed some sunshine too.