I’m a tad disappointed by my September but I’m not entirely sure why!

Is it because of the climat, the war in Ukraine, the death of the Queen, the inflation, the constant war on women? Or maybe because of the slow progress on the apartment? The setbacks on my transformation journey? Is it because I worry for my dad? A little of everything?!

Not quite sure really!

Welcome to another instalment in my monthly series of only mildly interesting writing! Just journalling my my ups and downs, my small achievements while sometimes exploring the dark corner of my soul.

And in September, it got dark as I realised it was soon going to be the 5th year anniversary of my mom’s passing. It doesn’t hurt that much anymore, so instead I got mad at myself for actually pondering about my life since then. I felt like shit for even thinking some of the thinks that came to mind. So I bit myself up… It got ugly.

And then I got back on my feet. And this book helped because even if it is a sort of financial book, it got the pep talk I needed, as a woman.

Small follow ups

I don’t always keep up with things! Including this section but mostly with other things!

Investments

I never got to move ahead with the online investment I had planned. I now have made other plans, including 1- reaching a certain amount with the online investment I have and 2- making significant reimbursements on our mortgage.

Some will consider that making reimbursement on our mortgage isn’t the best financial option. Yes, I could invest such money in more lucrative ways and the income would cover the mortgage’s costs easily.

But I will do it anyway!

There are 2 reasons. First, my partner had initially invested significantly more than me, in the apartment. These reimbursements will enable us to be 50/50 which is important for my security.

The other reason is that these reimbursements will significantly lower our monthly payments. To a point where, if one of us had financial struggles in the coming years, the other could easily continue to pay the mortgage and all the expenses without any distress.

Hopefully we won’t be in any dire situation and after my reimbursements, paying the rest of the mortgage will just be easy.

This should take me less than a year hopefully, but we shall see.

After that, I will finally get to consider other types of investments. Fingers crossed!

Budget

Regular expenses are back to normal and capex are slowing down. The kitchen partition and the dressing will put a dent in such trend but after that all shall be good. “After that” means next year basically!

It seems crazy to me that buying an apartment and moving to a new place has had such long term impact on my budget. I thought we would be done in a much shorter time frame. Some will think it was stupid or at least unrealistic! But then again, I spoke to some of our neighbours and on their side, they are done furnishing and decorating and they are quite surprised when I say we still don’t have all our lights!

Health

Well, this has been a roller coaster! I’m not really quite sure how to handle. Just going to take it slow for a while. Be patient, eat well and be mindful of my stress level.

Time unfolding

I started the month like I ended the previous one: on vacation at my dad’s place, sleeping in my tent at night and riding Minty during the day. Not what I dreamed of years ago, but exactly what I dream of nowadays! Life is unpredictable!

1st week

Getting back and picking up things where I had left off was hard. Obviously!

A couple important work related tasks, which I had put off for way too long, were handled and that felt good. We worked on the kitchen shelves and preparatory work was done for the bathroom light.

2nd week

The highlights here was that indeed the bathroom light above the sink was finally sorted in the small bathroom. Even the mirror was installed!

I had not found the courage to drill through tiles but I did find someone to do it! The light installation required to drill through the whole wall and connect the light on the other side. Not something I would have dared.

And the kitchen shelves were finalised and we are happy about that corner! For now. As we still have to have the partition installed.

The alarm was fixed, the glass door of the other bathroom was straighten… Small things but nice things! No more squeaking when opening the door!

3rd week

The next project started is linked to the cupboard in the hallway. However my partner decided to go full carpenter on this and it isn’t exactly going as fast I had hoped!

Oh well, it was time to go see my dad anyway and to ride Minty again! And it was good!

Fourth week

It was already time to prep my quarterly invoicing and although it still is a lot of work, it is getting easier and easier thanks to the improvements I made to my various files.

I had to rush because I was then going to my dad’s place again.

In short

September was a lot about the apartment. I would really like to have all the big things done before Christmas. I would like to have more free time next year!

October will be a lot about my dad as he has to have eye surgery and I have to be there to support him and make sure he follows the post-surgery protocol.