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Writer's pictureDavid @iRetiredYoung

Early retirement costs & targets - October 2019


I've struggled to find time to write my October costs and targets post - it must be a sign that early retirement is going well when you struggle to fit everything in to the days.

Targets

Ten months through the year, I'm now trying to hold onto the targets that I've got green or mostly green, and wonder if there is any chance of improving the red, not so good performances.

Early Retirement Targets progress tracker

Not perfect, but not too bad, has been my running while travelling. Last year, when we travelled to Australia and Asia for four months, my running disappeared to almost zero, so this year's travels have been a huge improvement on that. I need to keep going over the next few months.

Heathy fruit, and delicious too

I'm also pleased with my healthy eating over the past months. It's not perfect, but still pretty good, and maybe this will turn full green next month. Simply cutting out the less healthy things has worked well: almost no chocolate; just the occasional cake with my coffee; and zero alcohol. It's amazing how good fruit tastes! I'm intrigued whether the scales will notice when I weigh myself at home after my travels are finished.

As well as keeping the greens green, I still want to make a GoPro video before the year is out. It's not a sure thing, but it would be nice to see this target turning a little more orange than red.

Looking at my target tracker each month is a reminder to focus on the things I want to achieve. Even if I don't manage perfect results, it at least encourages me to think about how I can move a little closer to my goals. I find the tracker really works for me.

Costs

If I thought our early retirement costs went a bit askew when we were travelling, they seem to go even more awry when I'm travelling and Sally has returned home. We end up with both travel costs and home costs - it probably shouldn't be more costly, but I suspect it is.

What Sally has been shopping for in the supermarket is a mystery - £438 (€490 or $574) in two weeks is far above normal. She had her nephew stay for a week and she did say that he ate a lot - he must have!😂

More understandable are the medical costs. Sally fell off her bike at the end of August on the first day of our Route des Grandes Alpes cycle tour and her wrist hasn't recovered properly. A previous x-ray was inconclusive, but another check up found that she's broken her scaphoid bone which means she has her wrist in a cast and a bunch of medical bills too.

We've also re-inherited the cats from our daughter, so the cost of pets reappears. Maybe their food is some of the extra grocery costs? Sally's bought cat trackers for them so that she can monitor them on her phone and have peace of mind when they go outside.

A cost still to come is is the property taxes for our apartment which we should have been billed for in September. Sally has been trying to chase it up, but is getting the runaround. She's been sent to four different places now and we still don't have the bill. Our understanding is that new build apartments have a two year exemption from the tax, but our town evidently ignores that. I could try to argue the point, but noting the big red mark on my early retirement target tracker, I don't think my French is up to that!

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