On the move? Probably not

Thanks to both people who read this for wondering what we've been doing of late. We are still here despite the lack of posting, but we've been bean counting in light of the extended gardening leave which seems to have resulted in so much spare time some gardening is about to happen.

Mostly, we're wondering if and how we can live a more frugal lifestyle. Actually, how we can life a frugal lifestyle full stop. Lots of reasons - we're skint, not much work about, not much appetite for work and a desire to not curtail the time spent with ver children while they're so little and, for the most part, lovely.

First and most drastic stop is do we need to live in our rather nice hall entrance terrace with 230 foot garden? The answer is rapidly becoming yes, but we looked at a fantastic cottage the other day which appealed to both of us. It's about three miles from where we are now in a place called Spooner Row and it's about 10 feet from the Norwich to Cambridge railway line.

It'd mean being a two car family again (not all that frugal, then) and perhaps a change of school for Olivia which wouldn't go down well in five-year-old world, but when you've a primary school at the bottom of the garden it'd be churlish not to use it. The school run would become more of a wave. There were so many pluses, but equally there are as many minuses.

The maths for downsizing by around £40,000 is a real headbanger - stamp duty, agent fees, legal fees, redemption fees, blah blah blah. Is saving £150 a month on the mortgage and paying off a hunk of debt by buying a cheaper house worth the upheaval? And the cost? Rock bottom price for moving is about £6,000 which is some handy cash.

... and the first train past is 5.45am.