More Than Bills and Maintenance | Week 9 Post-layoff

A thought has been circling in our minds this week as we navigate this transition: life wasn't designed to be an endless cycle of earning money just to cover bills and maintenance. This idea struck us with particular clarity this week as we stood in our laundry room, dealing with an overflowing drain pipe—another reminder of home ownership's perpetual demands. As philosopher Henry David Thoreau put it, "The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it." And lately, we've been questioning just how much of our life energy we're trading for these maintenance tasks.

As Bryan snaked the laundry room drain (an annual ritual we've come to expect with two rescue dogs and a rescue cat in the house), we found ourselves questioning the rhythm we've fallen into. How much of our lives has been structured around maintaining things rather than experiencing life? How many weekends have disappeared into home maintenance tasks instead of adventures? Spring is arriving, bringing with it not just flowers but a formidable to-do list: weeding, planting, mowing, staining the deck, pool cleaning, refreshing the mulch... the seasonal cycle continues. Don't get me wrong, we have enjoyed these projects throughout our homeownership years. We're just ready to swap them for adventures.

This Week's Reality Check:

• Week 9 since the layoff
• 1 new client signed for the bookkeeping business
• 2 proposals in development for potential clients
• 1 unexpected plumbing issue handled ourselves (saving at least $150)
• 1 routine car maintenance completed (saved $40 with a coupon)
• 10-12 weeks - current wait time for tiny house builds
• 2024 was one of the most challenging housing markets in 15 years, with high mortgage rates and low inventory.
• 2025 housing market remains a major unknown - timing our sale during continued rate uncertainty feels like a gamble

What We're Actually Doing

The tiny house vision continues to crystallize, but the path there remains a complex equation of timing and risk. We're caught in the classic chicken-and-egg scenario of home transitions: do we sell first and risk homelessness, or buy first and risk carrying two properties?

The idealist in us dreams of perfect synchronicity—ordering the tiny house just as we list our current home, using those 10-12 weeks of build time to declutter, sorting possessions directly into "keep for tiny living" or "goodbye via estate sale." But reality demands more caution.

Instead, we're moving forward with a more measured approach. Spring projects will happen as the weather allows, as they typically have in the past. A garage sale is on the horizon to clear out the "definitely not keeping" pile that's been accumulating. As late spring approaches, we'll shift to indoor projects, preparing the house for eventual listing while watching the market.

Storage units may become part of our reality—not ideal, but necessary bridges between our current life and the streamlined existence we're designing. The greatest risk feels like timing: waiting too long to order the tiny house could mean longer build times or missing out on ideal land. Not to mention the housing market's unpredictability after a challenging 2024.

We find ourselves asking difficult questions: Is it better to wait for a "top-of-market" price for our current house, or would we come out ahead by accepting less now but beginning the tiny house savings sooner? How do we balance due diligence with progress with the chance of tariffs increasing the build costs?

This week brought its share of reminders about home ownership's hidden costs. Beyond the planned maintenance, there's always something unexpected—like the clogged drain pipe that leaked water into our laundry room. Thankfully, we've developed the skills to handle some issues ourselves, from annual drain clearing to replacing kitchen faucets. Each DIY project reinforces our commitment to financial independence.

Car logistics have been another focus. The Honda received its routine maintenance, while we contemplated how to protect it during hail storm season without covered parking. Meanwhile, the Maverick we ordered four months ago finally arrived at the dealership, although it was four weeks after we decided to change course due to expected tariffs on products from Mexico. (When we ordered the truck 4 months ago, we didn't know they were made in Mexico.) Instead, we opted to buy a 2024 Subaru Forester off the lot - affectionately named "Suby-Doo." It's fun to drive and is enjoying a break-in period before learning to tow the camper. In the circle of automotive life, Bryan spotted his old Jeep on a used car website, freshly detailed and awaiting its next adventure with a new owner.

On the business front, we're experiencing what might be an unusual concentration of new clients. This sudden influx makes it difficult to gauge whether we've hit our "right-sized" practice or if we're temporarily overbooked due to onboarding demands. Days continue to be filled with more work than life but we're thinking that part of the business will be seasonally busy during this time between the end of the year and tax day, then maybe quiet down during the rest of the year? We're still figuring that part out. Still, we're maintaining our core principle: we started this business for freedom, not to recreate the same life constraints we left behind.

We're not looking to retire—not exactly. But "semi-retirement" doesn't quite capture it either. We're in that undefined space of midlife reinvention, where we're still productive and earning, but on our own terms. Maybe there isn't a word for where we are yet. Maybe that's why we're calling it Midlifehood. (the red squiggly line under it when I type it tells me maybe we've already invented the new word.)

Let's Talk:

What home maintenance cycles are you trapped in? Have you ever calculated the true cost of ownership for your possessions—not just in dollars, but in time and mental energy?

Looking Forward:

Next week, we'll be digging into that outdoor to-do list, concentrating on deck and/or fence staining, as the weather looks to be perfect for that task. The week might also still lean more to the side of work than life, depending on how the two new client proposals go.

A Resource That Resonated: This week, I found myself revisiting the ideas in "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg McKeown. The book challenges the assumption that we need to do everything and instead advocates for identifying the "vital few" activities that truly matter. McKeown's concept of "protecting the asset" (yourself) by eliminating the nonessential resonates deeply as we think about obligations we've just accepted as "part of life."

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