The UK saw a lot of change in September with a new Prime Minister followed quickly by a new Monarch and then an interesting ‘mini-budget’ that was really anything but mini. While the world was changing around us, we remained in limbo regarding the property we want to purchase in Scotland, so carried on with our mid-life house-sitting vanlife adventure.
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Having sold and moved out of our house, August was a truly nomadic month for us. We stayed in 6 different locations, helped friends and family lay the tiled floor in a new garden room and put a the mist coat on new plaster in a new home office. We also house sat for 2 different dogs (and 2 chickens) for complete strangers! The beautiful weather continued which made a few nights in the camper van between stops, a breeze.
Continue readingFor us, the bed was a key element that would determine whether or not the campervan conversion was a success. If we didn’t like sleeping in the van, then we wouldn’t use it as much as we planned.
The factory fit campervan ‘rock’n’roll beds just look really small and uncomfortable, so we knew this wasn’t the way we wanted to go, and was one of the main reasons we didn’t consider buying a ready built camper (that and the cost!). As we don’t have to worry about transporting children safely, we had no need of proper seats in the back, so had a lot of freedom in what we could do. After much debate, internet searching and consideration of where mattress joins would be (“that would mean a join just where by bum would be, I don’t like the sound of that”), we opted for a configuration which has 2/3rds fixed and 1/3rd removable. The smaller piece would then double as the back of the sofa (and the join would be under the backs of our legs ;-))
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July was a milestone month for us. We moved out of our home of 11 years, I left a company I had worked for in different roles for 15 years, and we set off in a campervan having packed 99% of our possessions into a storage container. “Darling, there are a couple of vagrants at the door” was how we were cheerfully welcomed by friends shortly after.
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I am rather late with the monthly update this month, as it coincided with part one of our big move: selling up and moving out. After a hectic couple of weeks packing up and moving our remaining belongings into a storage container, we took a week off to recover. After a relaxing week on a lovely campsite in the Norfolk Broads in our campervan (I can highly recommend Clippesby Hall if you fancy a trip out that way), we are feeling recovered and ready to enjoy a nomadic summer.
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On 1st May 2021 I embarked on a fairly un-orthodox 50% working pattern (Semi-retirement at 43). As I write this, I have only 3 working days left before I leave the corporate world, so I think it is a good time to reflect on the past year and how part time employment has worked out for me on my FIRE journey.
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Every month I look back through the photos on my phone and pick one to add to the post that reflects either the season or somewhere we’ve been / something we’ve done in the past month. This month, I couldn’t resist introducing you to a new friend I met out on a walk. I hope it made you smile 🙂
I am pretty much back to the normal schedule this month, as we put travels on hold for a while to focus on preparing for our house move. The last couple of weeks have mostly been about decluttering and selling anything we are not attached to. We’ve been wandering round the house asking ourselves two questions of each item:
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I am writing this somewhat later than normal this month, quite simply because I have been spending far too much time travelling and enjoying myself! As we always gravitate towards rural locations with more animals than humans, connectivity can be an issue. In fact, for us disconnecting is part of the point. We even spent a week in a favourite corner of the Isle of Skye, where we had no WiFi, no TV signal and not even a phone signal without hiking up a large hill.
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Spring flowers and……snow, obviously! I wasn’t sure which image to share this month, it has been such a contrast depending on which day you pick. I went for spring sunshine. A lot has changed in the last month, and not just 20 deg sunshine turning into 2 degrees and snow in the space of 2 days.
Continue readingFinally, after what seemed like forever, enough of the functional build was done to start making the project look more like a camper than a builder’s van. We decided on painted wooden cladding for the majority of the internal cosmetic finish, with grey 3 way stretch carpet for awkward areas (including doors). We started with the carpeting on the doors and around door openings, so the cladding would overlap it when finished.
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Finding Enough 