The realisation hit me that we literally have 10 months to go until we leave our home and move onto the boat. Oh, all the things to get sorted, sold, organised and completed by then…
I started pricing items and am hoping to start listing them for sale over the next week. Hopefully things will sell and we will slowly empty our house of all possessions so the transition happens easily. Both our boys are busy sorting through their own personal things deciding what to keep, what to sell and what to throw away or donate. We decided all their earning from sales will go directly into their savings, all our earnings will go into our cruising kitty. Here’s to that kitty growing into a giant cat (hehe)
Last night I sat down to do yet another calculation as to the total cost of the trip. The amount of money we expect to earn and the amount we need to pay out over the 36 month period we are planning on being away for. I can’t believe how much it all adds up to. We are working on an annualised budget for 3 years. This will include all our expected costs and expenses including our land based child/children as well as our children on board. (Kids on board cost way less than those that stay behind on land)
We took a trip to Randburg this morning to visit a marine store Texwise. We decided to take the trip as they had sailing shoes on special. We spent a bit of time in the store having a look at the sailing shoes, heavy weather jackets (oilies), sunglasses and some other bits and pieces relating to yachts.
Barry liked 1 pair of shoes so we took that, I really liked the heavy weather jackets but they were pricey, even on special so we thought we should overnight it. We tried on a few pairs of sunglasses as our last pairs “Bondiblue” have had better days and we need new one’s before our trip to Langebaan. We found the perfect pair "blueye loaded" and headed for the tills. Once the items were rung up we got the surprise of our life as it came to way more than anticipated (maybe those heavy weather jackets weren’t so pricey after all). The sunglasses were so expensive we actually had to hold our breath not scream, they better be good, no great. We paid, left the store and the whole way home I just sat in silence considering the cost of the sunglasses. I got caught this time, my own stupidity, I really should have asked how much they were but hey, they are sunglasses and the last pair cost R 350.00 or so.
Well there you have it, I over spent today and wish I had not gone out for the “special” on the shoes as it landed up costing a whole lot more than I wanted to pay!
Everyday I read a blog about another couple leaving at the end of the year with their 2 small daughters on board, they are always discussing money and how to save and take care of it. I am usually very good at this but today I feel like I failed miserably!
Oh well, school fees paid, moving on, I won’t pay those again!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Leaving date moved up
We have made the bold decision to leave early next year!
Did you hear me? Early next year, that is just around the corner and ...calm down Lola, don’t panic this is not a snap decision…
We have been contemplating this for many months choosing whether to leave as planned and “retire” or go for a shorter time and either return or set up a “new life” in another part of the world. We have decided to go for a shortened time and thus the earlier leaving date. Our trip will last between 3 and 5 years and we will either return to South Africa after that time or resettle in a country we fall in love with.
We are currently doing major research on the purchase of our yacht. We have a couple of catamarans we are interested in both a little larger than our original plan at 39 and 40 foot respectively. We will be looking at them over the next 2 months, one on the trip to the Cape in March and one next weekend when we plan to take a trip to Richards Bay to have a look. We should officially purchase the boat that we prefer at the beginning of April just after we return from the coastal.
It will be full steam ahead from then. We have to stay in Johannesburg until the end of December to allow the kids to complete the school year without an upset, but we will spend a large amount of time, being all holidays and long weekends, on the boat changing, completing and adding the items we are looking for on an extended cruising yacht.
I finally found a suitable home-schooling syllabus, which I believe will fit both our lifestyle and the kid’s university entrance requirements. I am still doing the final checks and balances but with any luck we will be enrolling the kids in August, ready to start the new school year as a home-schooling family.
This morning we headed off to our Mega hardware store to buy some goodies, since our “move aboard” date has been moved up, we need to do the finishing touches on our house so we can rent it out as soon as we move aboard in December this year.
We bought a light fitting for the passage and for each of the kid’s rooms. Funny how the energy saving light bulbs cost almost the same amount as the light fitting itself. How they expect people to get the mindset change and save energy when they hit us so hard in the pocket for the privilege of being a good citizen is beyond me.
We also got some copper piping, bends, t-pieces, flexi-hose, tap ends etc to complete the plumbing pipes for our bathroom. We spent some time picking out the exact tap/mixer for our shower.
We even managed to get a R125.00 discount before we paid. That goes straight to the boat kitty. Not often you get a bargain like that in life anymore, especially since the recession started.
Tomorrow morning I have decided to use up my “Post-it” pad and write down a sale price for all the items in our house. I will stick the “post-it” note on each item with the price written in permanent marker and start listing items on for sale on Gumtree, the South African version of E-bay and see if we can start selling off all our furniture and “non boat-going” items that we have accumulated over the last 14 years that we have been together.
We only have 9 months left to sell it all, seems like a lot but if we start by selling the items we do not use very often and slowly progress to the items most used the job will go smoothly and easily.
We have been discussing all the items and some things will take longer to sell than others, we will put our yacht at the Vaal up for sail as soon as we get back from Langebaan as we will have made an offer on the yacht at that stage. All items not used in the last 6 months will go up for sale over the next 3 months. The used items will be put up in an order so that we will be able to manage until we leave. For example we will sell our lounge suite before our dining room suite. Our dining room suite is more useful than our lounge suite, we can use it for working (once my desk has gone) homework (once the kid’s desks are gone), eating (as we always do) watching T.V. (once the lounge suite is gone), reading (once the T.V is gone) as so on and so forth. The last thing we will sell up here in Johannesburg will be our fridge and the absolute last thing we will sell, down in Richard’s bay will be our car.
I can’t believe that I started writing about all of this 1 year ago. I was going through the history and realised my first post was on the 18th February 2009. Things have really moved, changed and turned quite a bit since then. I have a whole selection of blogs and web pages now, all relating to different topics.
I have been working hard on my different websites and blogs and am starting to see more traffic to my sites. This is very exciting as I always fancied writing as a career path and this is really helping me achieve that.
I also believe that the closer we get to leaving the more interest will be generated and once on our way, the travel and tourist aspect with all the different destinations will draw the attention of many. We also have a great video blog idea that will start to develop early next year, so watch this space!
Did you hear me? Early next year, that is just around the corner and ...calm down Lola, don’t panic this is not a snap decision…
We have been contemplating this for many months choosing whether to leave as planned and “retire” or go for a shorter time and either return or set up a “new life” in another part of the world. We have decided to go for a shortened time and thus the earlier leaving date. Our trip will last between 3 and 5 years and we will either return to South Africa after that time or resettle in a country we fall in love with.
We are currently doing major research on the purchase of our yacht. We have a couple of catamarans we are interested in both a little larger than our original plan at 39 and 40 foot respectively. We will be looking at them over the next 2 months, one on the trip to the Cape in March and one next weekend when we plan to take a trip to Richards Bay to have a look. We should officially purchase the boat that we prefer at the beginning of April just after we return from the coastal.
It will be full steam ahead from then. We have to stay in Johannesburg until the end of December to allow the kids to complete the school year without an upset, but we will spend a large amount of time, being all holidays and long weekends, on the boat changing, completing and adding the items we are looking for on an extended cruising yacht.
I finally found a suitable home-schooling syllabus, which I believe will fit both our lifestyle and the kid’s university entrance requirements. I am still doing the final checks and balances but with any luck we will be enrolling the kids in August, ready to start the new school year as a home-schooling family.
This morning we headed off to our Mega hardware store to buy some goodies, since our “move aboard” date has been moved up, we need to do the finishing touches on our house so we can rent it out as soon as we move aboard in December this year.
We bought a light fitting for the passage and for each of the kid’s rooms. Funny how the energy saving light bulbs cost almost the same amount as the light fitting itself. How they expect people to get the mindset change and save energy when they hit us so hard in the pocket for the privilege of being a good citizen is beyond me.
We also got some copper piping, bends, t-pieces, flexi-hose, tap ends etc to complete the plumbing pipes for our bathroom. We spent some time picking out the exact tap/mixer for our shower.
We even managed to get a R125.00 discount before we paid. That goes straight to the boat kitty. Not often you get a bargain like that in life anymore, especially since the recession started.
Tomorrow morning I have decided to use up my “Post-it” pad and write down a sale price for all the items in our house. I will stick the “post-it” note on each item with the price written in permanent marker and start listing items on for sale on Gumtree, the South African version of E-bay and see if we can start selling off all our furniture and “non boat-going” items that we have accumulated over the last 14 years that we have been together.
We only have 9 months left to sell it all, seems like a lot but if we start by selling the items we do not use very often and slowly progress to the items most used the job will go smoothly and easily.
We have been discussing all the items and some things will take longer to sell than others, we will put our yacht at the Vaal up for sail as soon as we get back from Langebaan as we will have made an offer on the yacht at that stage. All items not used in the last 6 months will go up for sale over the next 3 months. The used items will be put up in an order so that we will be able to manage until we leave. For example we will sell our lounge suite before our dining room suite. Our dining room suite is more useful than our lounge suite, we can use it for working (once my desk has gone) homework (once the kid’s desks are gone), eating (as we always do) watching T.V. (once the lounge suite is gone), reading (once the T.V is gone) as so on and so forth. The last thing we will sell up here in Johannesburg will be our fridge and the absolute last thing we will sell, down in Richard’s bay will be our car.
I can’t believe that I started writing about all of this 1 year ago. I was going through the history and realised my first post was on the 18th February 2009. Things have really moved, changed and turned quite a bit since then. I have a whole selection of blogs and web pages now, all relating to different topics.
I have been working hard on my different websites and blogs and am starting to see more traffic to my sites. This is very exciting as I always fancied writing as a career path and this is really helping me achieve that.
I also believe that the closer we get to leaving the more interest will be generated and once on our way, the travel and tourist aspect with all the different destinations will draw the attention of many. We also have a great video blog idea that will start to develop early next year, so watch this space!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Coastal Skippers Booked...check
Boy, I really am struggling to write regularly this year. But hey, someone’s has to work to get the money together to go on this fantastical trip.
We booked for the practical side of our coastal skippers last week. This is not the entire course but it will make up a large quantity of the hours required to pass the coastal skippers.
We picked Due South Sailing School in Langebaan in the Western Cape. We made this choice based on the fact that we will be doing the offshore hours on a catamaran. Not just any catamaran….a Wildcat 35’.
We will be doing this course at the end of March into the beginning of April. We have also spotted a boat we are really interested in and will be viewing it at Gordon’s Bay at the same time. This particular boat seems to be a better fit for cruising than our original idea.
Firstly it is 40’ as opposed to 35’. Secondly it is a slightly older model which we believe is an advantage as we don’t want to look wealthy in the islands and thirdly it had a larger carrying capacity which is very important considering the gear, equipment and food we want to take along and store.
If this is the right boat for us we will most likely purchase it and possibly consider moving onto it full time around the end of the year. All these developments make for a very exciting time, we will keep you posted as they progress.
Rauen attended a funeral today for a little girl in his class who passed away from cancer at the tender age of 12. This really brought home the message that our time is limited and enjoying and making the most it is really important. Do what you wish today or you may never get to.
So hold thumbs we get the right boat, have a great course and set ourselves up for a great adventure starting sooner rather than later!
We booked for the practical side of our coastal skippers last week. This is not the entire course but it will make up a large quantity of the hours required to pass the coastal skippers.
We picked Due South Sailing School in Langebaan in the Western Cape. We made this choice based on the fact that we will be doing the offshore hours on a catamaran. Not just any catamaran….a Wildcat 35’.
We will be doing this course at the end of March into the beginning of April. We have also spotted a boat we are really interested in and will be viewing it at Gordon’s Bay at the same time. This particular boat seems to be a better fit for cruising than our original idea.
Firstly it is 40’ as opposed to 35’. Secondly it is a slightly older model which we believe is an advantage as we don’t want to look wealthy in the islands and thirdly it had a larger carrying capacity which is very important considering the gear, equipment and food we want to take along and store.
If this is the right boat for us we will most likely purchase it and possibly consider moving onto it full time around the end of the year. All these developments make for a very exciting time, we will keep you posted as they progress.
Rauen attended a funeral today for a little girl in his class who passed away from cancer at the tender age of 12. This really brought home the message that our time is limited and enjoying and making the most it is really important. Do what you wish today or you may never get to.
So hold thumbs we get the right boat, have a great course and set ourselves up for a great adventure starting sooner rather than later!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Financing a trip around the world
Time seems to have flown past the last few weeks, nothing like hitting the ground running at the beginning of the year.
I recently purchased a book Voyaging on a small Income by Annie Hill. Somehow this book enlightened me into taking a different viewpoint of our trip. It dawned on me that this is more of a lifestyle choice than a financial choice. All this time we have been trying to see our way through the financial choice and the future of our financial life, but missing the point, that people live on land on less than we do.
On land our choices are made by the income we earn:
Do we buy or rent?
Do we stay in a small flat or a large house?
What kind of car do we drive?
Do our children get a private or public school education?
Do you wear designer clothes or no name brand?
Even the food we eat, how often we eat in restaurants and the entertainment we enjoy are all determined by the income we earn.
If we live on land do we say: “ I can’t afford to live on land because I don’t have enough income?” No, I have never heard anyone say they should not be on land due to their income, but I have seen people tailor their lifestyle to suit their income.
Similarly, living on the water is a lifestyle choice not determined by the income we earn. Our choices dependant on income would be, the type of yacht we purchase, the type of clothing we wear, the kind of food we eat, how often we eat out, how often we spend the night in a marina and the types of entertainment we will enjoy.
Looking at our trip from this new perspective has given me a greater understanding of our decision and a lot of hope for an earlier departure date.
Yes, we would love our dream yacht, but do we really need it? Can an older or less expensive one do? Can the simple choice of yacht (still keeping with a catamaran) move the departure date closer by a full year? Would we rather wait another year just for a yacht that will look pretty the day we purchase her, but once all our “cruising extras” are added look no better than the cheaper one? Would the new yacht choice perhaps be even better? Current investigations are underway to determine this. The fact is….if we want to leave, what is stopping us? Certainly not money!
I recently purchased a book Voyaging on a small Income by Annie Hill. Somehow this book enlightened me into taking a different viewpoint of our trip. It dawned on me that this is more of a lifestyle choice than a financial choice. All this time we have been trying to see our way through the financial choice and the future of our financial life, but missing the point, that people live on land on less than we do.
On land our choices are made by the income we earn:
Do we buy or rent?
Do we stay in a small flat or a large house?
What kind of car do we drive?
Do our children get a private or public school education?
Do you wear designer clothes or no name brand?
Even the food we eat, how often we eat in restaurants and the entertainment we enjoy are all determined by the income we earn.
If we live on land do we say: “ I can’t afford to live on land because I don’t have enough income?” No, I have never heard anyone say they should not be on land due to their income, but I have seen people tailor their lifestyle to suit their income.
Similarly, living on the water is a lifestyle choice not determined by the income we earn. Our choices dependant on income would be, the type of yacht we purchase, the type of clothing we wear, the kind of food we eat, how often we eat out, how often we spend the night in a marina and the types of entertainment we will enjoy.
Looking at our trip from this new perspective has given me a greater understanding of our decision and a lot of hope for an earlier departure date.
Yes, we would love our dream yacht, but do we really need it? Can an older or less expensive one do? Can the simple choice of yacht (still keeping with a catamaran) move the departure date closer by a full year? Would we rather wait another year just for a yacht that will look pretty the day we purchase her, but once all our “cruising extras” are added look no better than the cheaper one? Would the new yacht choice perhaps be even better? Current investigations are underway to determine this. The fact is….if we want to leave, what is stopping us? Certainly not money!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Trips galore
New year already…the last few weeks have just flown by, must be because we have been so busy.
We took a trip down to Durban and spent a few days visiting my sister. While down at the coast we just had to see the marina, visit a few sailing stores and find out a little information. We asked about the monthly fee for a mooring in Durban and thought it was a little pricey for a regular mooring at R 4500.00 per month (R5500.00 at the international dock). We had a look at the facilities and costs at PYC (Point Yacht Club) and visited the famous Tony Herrick from Cruising Connections to buy a few books – one of my favourite activities.
We picked up Reeds Maritime meteorology (a serious weather study book), A Manual of Heavy Weather Cruising (a little disappointing as it was all the same old, same old), South African Nautical Almanac (the pilot guide for South African waters) and got a freebie to boot “A Sailors Guide” 2010 and Beyond. This gave us plenty of reading and studying to do in the evenings before bed. We are still busy with the weather book though – what a lot to learn!
It was really great to see Kim and family again and all too soon we were heading up the coast to Richard’s Bay. We are considering the option of moving to the coast, onto the boat, and starting a small company down there. We decided to have a look in Richard’s Bay to compare the moorings, costing and child friendliness to Durban, while still considering the population and business possibilities to continue earning a living.
Richard’s Bay was awesome. We loved the beach, the moorings we more cost effective for live aboard, Tuzi Gazi was fantastic and even the weather improved compared to Durban. We looked around, got some property information, looked for possible “competition” companies, spoke about different business ideas, possible jobs etc. Even Kyle enjoyed swimming in the ocean! This idea seems fantastic, not to mention that we can earn more money from rental income sooner, but of course we would only be able to set it into motion at the end of 2010 after Rauen has completed his year as prefect.
We returned home 2 days before Christmas, in time to do last minute shopping, get all the washing done, go into work for a day and begin the repacking to leave for the boat on Christmas day! On Christmas morning Santa had left each of the boys a new bicycle but sadly Barry was feeling rather ill and we opted to stay home so he could sleep most of the day and we could leave the following morning. Which worked perfectly.
On the afternoon of the 26th we headed to the yacht for a few days before returning to work. We had a few wonderful sails. We anchored out and Kyle even swam in the dam (with his new life jacket). One evening we went out with Kira and Brendon for a night sail but the wind died so ended up motoring and then to throw egg in our face we ran aground. Brendon hopped off the boat and we all stood on the bow while he pushed it off.
This was the first time we have run aground and we were very surprised as we have a twin keeler boat with a draft of only 1metre. Shallow waters indeed!
I skippered the boat for 1 trip and managed to push the speed to 3.8 knots while Barry sat on the bow with Kyle. Barry really enjoyed this as he is normally at the tiller and I am the lucky one sitting up front enjoying the wind, water and gentle motion. Rauen also tried his hand at the tiller, motoring into the marina while Barry and I dropped the sails.
All round we had a great few days sailing, lounging on the “beach” with Axel and Peta, swimming and generally enjoying the sunshine. The more time we spend sailing and anchoring the more desperate we become to leave.
We returned on the 31st for a New Years get together at a friend and collected yet another book from the post office which I had ordered prior to our Durban trip Catamarans – The complete guide for cruising sailors. Barry raced through the book in only 2 days, lapping up the information as it had to do with catamarans rather than the normal monohull books we have read. We now a have a few new catamarans to research and price and Barry has returned his attention to the weather book for more studying.
I decided to go grocery shopping for a whole month (I usually do a weekly shop) and am starting a spreadsheet logging what and how much we actually eat as well as the cost of our groceries. I am also starting to monitor what we throw away, if anything, how much fridge and freezer space we need and how we can use our leftovers to create new meals to reduce wastage.
We are planning on taking approximately 3 months worth of groceries on board and will replenish as and when needed, this will ensure that we can avoid high prices in some places and only buy the most cost effective items in each place we stop knowing we have sufficient food on board.
I spent time in the grocery store comparing prices of products and prices for different quantities of the same product. The thing I found was that generally (8 out of 10 times) it was cheaper to purchase 2 x 500g packages than 1 x 1kg package. This is crazy – so much more packaging material – yet cheaper? I am certain the stores do this because most people do not compare prices and go with the accepted “Bulk is cheaper” theory.
So next time you shop – don’t be scammed – watch the prices and boost those saving!
We took a trip down to Durban and spent a few days visiting my sister. While down at the coast we just had to see the marina, visit a few sailing stores and find out a little information. We asked about the monthly fee for a mooring in Durban and thought it was a little pricey for a regular mooring at R 4500.00 per month (R5500.00 at the international dock). We had a look at the facilities and costs at PYC (Point Yacht Club) and visited the famous Tony Herrick from Cruising Connections to buy a few books – one of my favourite activities.
We picked up Reeds Maritime meteorology (a serious weather study book), A Manual of Heavy Weather Cruising (a little disappointing as it was all the same old, same old), South African Nautical Almanac (the pilot guide for South African waters) and got a freebie to boot “A Sailors Guide” 2010 and Beyond. This gave us plenty of reading and studying to do in the evenings before bed. We are still busy with the weather book though – what a lot to learn!
It was really great to see Kim and family again and all too soon we were heading up the coast to Richard’s Bay. We are considering the option of moving to the coast, onto the boat, and starting a small company down there. We decided to have a look in Richard’s Bay to compare the moorings, costing and child friendliness to Durban, while still considering the population and business possibilities to continue earning a living.
Richard’s Bay was awesome. We loved the beach, the moorings we more cost effective for live aboard, Tuzi Gazi was fantastic and even the weather improved compared to Durban. We looked around, got some property information, looked for possible “competition” companies, spoke about different business ideas, possible jobs etc. Even Kyle enjoyed swimming in the ocean! This idea seems fantastic, not to mention that we can earn more money from rental income sooner, but of course we would only be able to set it into motion at the end of 2010 after Rauen has completed his year as prefect.
We returned home 2 days before Christmas, in time to do last minute shopping, get all the washing done, go into work for a day and begin the repacking to leave for the boat on Christmas day! On Christmas morning Santa had left each of the boys a new bicycle but sadly Barry was feeling rather ill and we opted to stay home so he could sleep most of the day and we could leave the following morning. Which worked perfectly.
On the afternoon of the 26th we headed to the yacht for a few days before returning to work. We had a few wonderful sails. We anchored out and Kyle even swam in the dam (with his new life jacket). One evening we went out with Kira and Brendon for a night sail but the wind died so ended up motoring and then to throw egg in our face we ran aground. Brendon hopped off the boat and we all stood on the bow while he pushed it off.
This was the first time we have run aground and we were very surprised as we have a twin keeler boat with a draft of only 1metre. Shallow waters indeed!
I skippered the boat for 1 trip and managed to push the speed to 3.8 knots while Barry sat on the bow with Kyle. Barry really enjoyed this as he is normally at the tiller and I am the lucky one sitting up front enjoying the wind, water and gentle motion. Rauen also tried his hand at the tiller, motoring into the marina while Barry and I dropped the sails.
All round we had a great few days sailing, lounging on the “beach” with Axel and Peta, swimming and generally enjoying the sunshine. The more time we spend sailing and anchoring the more desperate we become to leave.
We returned on the 31st for a New Years get together at a friend and collected yet another book from the post office which I had ordered prior to our Durban trip Catamarans – The complete guide for cruising sailors. Barry raced through the book in only 2 days, lapping up the information as it had to do with catamarans rather than the normal monohull books we have read. We now a have a few new catamarans to research and price and Barry has returned his attention to the weather book for more studying.
I decided to go grocery shopping for a whole month (I usually do a weekly shop) and am starting a spreadsheet logging what and how much we actually eat as well as the cost of our groceries. I am also starting to monitor what we throw away, if anything, how much fridge and freezer space we need and how we can use our leftovers to create new meals to reduce wastage.
We are planning on taking approximately 3 months worth of groceries on board and will replenish as and when needed, this will ensure that we can avoid high prices in some places and only buy the most cost effective items in each place we stop knowing we have sufficient food on board.
I spent time in the grocery store comparing prices of products and prices for different quantities of the same product. The thing I found was that generally (8 out of 10 times) it was cheaper to purchase 2 x 500g packages than 1 x 1kg package. This is crazy – so much more packaging material – yet cheaper? I am certain the stores do this because most people do not compare prices and go with the accepted “Bulk is cheaper” theory.
So next time you shop – don’t be scammed – watch the prices and boost those saving!
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