Finding Enough

Happy New Year! I will cover a look back on 2023 in a separate post to follow, as I’m still crunching the numbers. For now, I’ll focus on an overview of our December, which was a month of two halves. Two weeks at home in Scotland, followed by two weeks dog sitting in an apartment in Palma, was certainly a contrast!

We started the month with some beautiful frosty mornings, but as it got a little warmer and wetter (and the in-laws went home), we got some jobs done inside. One of the most important of these was starting the investigation work into the damp at one end of the old part of the house. The whole house is dry lined with plasterboard, so it is impossible to know what is going on behind. We cut a hole in the back of a fitted wardrobe in one of the rooms most affected by damp. This is a gable end wall with a huge chimney visible outside, but no visible fireplaces inside. We expected a small air gap behind the plywood panel, and then the inside of the solid stone wall. We wore respirator masks and goggles, as we feared the exposed wall would be covered with a mess of black mould and possibly even fungus. In fact, we found plasterboard with holes cut in it, filled with what looks like some kind of expanding foam. Once we’d cut a hole in the plasterboard, it was clear this was backed with a polythene sheet and this was where the moisture is trapped and mould is growing (between the plasterboard and polythene on the room side). There was then a bigger gap of around 70mm between the polythene and the stone wall, which appeared to be in reasonably good order. This leads us to believe that the main issue is with condensation rather than water ingress.

A couple of days after we did this first exploratory work, and completely out of the blue, we received an email from our solicitor. They advised us that they had been sent a number of documents from the solicitor ‘of a previous owner’ – we assume not the one we bought from. Although completely unexpected, this proved very helpful, as the pack included complete plans for the renovation work done in 1980 to the old part of the house which seems to reflect the current layout and internal framing construction. It also included details of the planning permission for the living room and conservatory which were added at this time, and which the previous owners told us they did not have.

Armed with these plans, we could see that the section we had opened up in the built in cupboard is inside an old fireplace. Whilst it is good to know the chimney isn’t leaking behind the dry lining (or at least not obviously), we will need to open up another section to look at the state of the wall not inside the chimney. We have been referred to a solicitor who deals with disputes with home report surveyors, but the Christmas holidays has meant we haven’t yet spoken to him. We don’t want to dismantle too much of the evidence until we’ve had that call, but as soon as we get the go ahead, we’ll be booking a skip and ripping all the drylining and polythene out in the 2 small downstairs bedrooms, which will hopefully eventually be a study each for me and Mr W. 

On the 19th Dec, we set off at 4am in the dark and wet to drive to the airport. Although it was a long day, the mild weather and sunshine that awaited us was a welcome change. Back in February, we house sat for a cockapoo called Tilly in Ayrshire. Her family had since moved to Majorca for the husband’s work. In October, they asked us if we would be interested in sitting for them again over Christmas while they visited family in Australia. We thought this would probably we a welcome break from a Scottish winter, and jumped at the chance. Remarkably, we managed to find flights which allowed them to drive to the airport and meet us to hand over apartment and car keys before they headed off themselves, and then for us to do the reverse when they got back. I was a little concerned that EasyJet might ruin our best laid plans on the day, but miraculously it worked out exactly as planned.

Because this time we had the use of the family’s car as well as their home, we were able to get out and explore the island without the cost of a hire car (not that they are expensive out of season). We were very glad they have a small car, as on street parking in Palma is competitive to say the least. I think we got up to 22 degrees one day, but mostly the weather was a steady 17-18 degrees and sunny. Perfect walking weather. I can confirm the sea in Majorca is much warmer than a Scottish loch in winter! Most of the locals were kitted out in padded coats and gloves, while we wandered about in shirt sleeves and light jumpers. 

Before we left home, I was a little worried about what damage might be done to our house by the winter weather, with us not at home to react to it. The old saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ completely reflected my feelings as soon as we arrived. It suddenly didn’t seem to matter, once there was nothing we could do about it anyway. The day before Christmas Eve we had a call from a farmer neighbour telling us that storm Pia had brought down a tree across our track, taking the phone line with it. He promised to deal with the tree before we got back, but was glad he had over a week to do it. Storm Gerrit was also a direct hit after Christmas, so it was with a little trepidation that we drove home from the airport late on 2nd Jan. Thankfully, the tree we knew about was the only damage, and that had been dealt with as promised. I think it rained pretty much solidly while we were away. All the wooden outside doors on sheds and outbuildings are horribly swollen and difficult to open / close. We are now forecast some drier weather, so it seems we timed our trip perfectly.

I am definitely sold on the idea of a Mediterranean winter break. Never one to enjoy crowds, it was fantastic to wander around when all the resorts were shut up and the beaches almost deserted. Perhaps if I could only have one holiday a year, it wouldn’t be ideal, but FIRE has allowed us the freedom to grab these opportunities as they arise. We can be very flexible when we travel, so it is remarkable how cheaply it can be done. Not being limited by employers or school holidays, house sitting is a great way to travel on a budget. In fact, we find it is often better than a typical package as you benefit from local knowledge and being based slightly away from tourist hot spots. We spent £420 on flights, £94 on airport parking, £40 on travel insurance and probably £100 on fuel getting to Manchester airport and back. Flights would only have been £250 if we had travelled back 2 days later, but for the reasons of aligning travel with our hosts we had to fly back on 2nd Jan. Writing that now, it occurs to me we could probably have stayed a couple of extra nights in a hotel or Airbnb for ‘free’. Oh well, next time……..

While we were off enjoying ourselves, our money was busily working away for us, and I got a pleasant surprise when I updated the spreadsheet.

• Freedom Fund Value: £1,206,948 (up almost £36k from last month)
• Monthly expenses: £1,693* or a withdrawal rate of 1.7% if we were to maintain this rate of spending.
• Earned Income: £0
• Miles walked: 161 vs. a target of 146**
• Books read: 18 vs a target of 24 (2 per month)

The freedom fund ended the year with a £36k boost, but overall almost exactly the same level as the start of the year.

Monthly expenses in Dec were way down. Most of the cost of our trip was already paid for, and living expenses were only slightly higher than at home with slightly more lavish groceries spending than normal for Christmas treats and probably a little too much inexpensive wine. You can get a very drinkable bottle of Verdejo, Rioja or Cava for €2.50 in Majorcan supermarkets :-) Utility costs in our new house will always be lumpy, with periodic oil deliveries and annual private water maintenance costs. This month we had neither of those, although we did spend £285 on a Rayburn service. The Rayburn runs our heating and hot water as well and cooking, so we want to minimise the chance of it breaking down. I should probably mention that we got the deposit back from our rental at the start of the month, so there is a -£650 included in the total which perhaps makes our spending look lower than it was.

I will be interested to see what our monthly spending for 2023 averages out at. It has certainly been very variable as our circumstances have changed. 2024 should bring a new normal as far as spending is concerned, albeit a bit elevated at first and we kit ourselves out for our new lifestyle.

Adding up our expenses for December, I did reflect on whether our Christmas spending might be seen as a bit ‘bah humbug‘. We both have small families, but the last few years we have either agreed to buy presents for children only, or done a secret Santa for adults with a £30 spend limit. We have 3 sets of friends that we do small gifts for, normally food or drink based. I genuinely feel that many presents, just result in more ‘stuff’ to deal with rather than bringing joy. The only things I really need are either boring and practical, which no-one wants to buy as a gift, or too expensive to ask for. Mr Wombat and I tend to buy each other half of something that we need. Occasionally it is a trip away, but this year we are still deciding if it should be a new mattress or a tumble dryer!

On the income front, chasing the payment of my last coaching invoice (due for payment at the start of November) did not bear fruit. It has just appeared in my account though, so January’s numbers will get a small boost.

I smashed the walking target this month as the mild Majorcan climate, coupled with a dog to walk, made it easy. I don’t think I’ve quite made the target for the year, but I have definitely cemented the habit, so I will swap this goal for something new in 2024.

The reading target is a long way behind where I wanted to be, but I did add 2 more books to the total in December. I have re-established a bedtime reading habit which doesn’t include a screen, and that was my main goal.

We have certainly ended the year in a very different place than we started it – both figuratively and geographically. I am excited to see what 2024 will bring. I will leave you with my customary summary of the month in pictures. Whatever 2023 brought for you, I am sure it brought some learning. 2024 is a brand new year and a good time for us all to apply what we have learnt – Plan, Do, Check, Adjust 😉

*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