We've been home for a few days now. After being so busy for the last month its been nice to take it easy at home and just get unpacked, catch up on sleep and re-acclimatise to different weather.
The holiday was great! It was so nice to just have time to sit around and talk to each other about our plans and how we're going to go about setting ourselves up for retirement.
I also re-read Down to Earth & The Simple Home by Rhonda Hetzel and it was a lovely reminder of what I'm aiming for - simple living and time to enjoy my home and family. I really am ready to just stop working. I feel like time away from work has let me get things back in perspective.
So we have decided our next step is to get our vegetable gardens done so we can get back to growing our own vegetables. We will have raised, square foot gardening beds - probably about six across the back of the yard. I'm also going to start a potted herb garden out the front where there is full sun.
Now that DH is working less he'll have time to do the work around the yard. The garden beds need to be cleaned out and replanted, paving, fences & paths need completing. Theres plenty of work to keep him busy.
We're also going to look into solar power - electricity prices here are just so high - and increasing the insulation in the house. Overall we're trying to make the house retirement ready and reduce our running costs.
We passed another milestone with our mortgage by reaching the end of Year 14 balance. Our current mortgage balance is now $136,990.
So today I am cooking. I have made chicken bone broth, vegetable soup and am about to make biscuits and muffins. I've got the freezer almost defrosted and I am trying to work out a better system for storing food in a chest freezer so that food can be rotated and not lost in the bottom - if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them.
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