What's the Plan?

Dan, Lizzy, Jax and I are on an adventure! We took off in a bit of a rush last June, to say the least. At the time we had only one thing in our minds - get to Airlie Beach.  The reasoning behind this was that Dan used to live and work in Airlie Beach, many moons ago. With his connections we knew he'd be able to get a job back on the boats, on the water, in a place that holds some great memories for him.

Fast-forward to nearly three months after we left (ohmygosh, that long already?) and we are both fortunate enough to have jobs that are here as long as the tourists are. Whilst work is definitely going to be a major factor in what happens from here, we do have a rough plan of what we'd like to happen.

Little FJ and The Retro Van

There's whispers of a hoard of travelling gypsies descending on Cape York sometime in the midst of next year, and that sounds like something we want to be a part of. With that in mind, we are keen to hold out in the stunning Whitsundays until said trip happens, likely around the end of June. This gives us time to get stuck into work during the tourist season, stuck into savings to upgrade Little FJ and The Retro Van (something we were planning when life abruptly changed a few months ago), and stuck into the life of the Tropics. Dan has a friend here who sums it up perfectly - steady, steady, four knots. It also means that we plan to be around the area for a certain Mrs' milestone birthday early next June. Just sayin'.

For now we're renting a lovely little two bedroom unit underneath a Queenslander style house on a large yard, with some chickens and an upstairs neighbour who affectionately calls it his swamp and is away more than he is home. The dogs are happy, Dan and I are happy, we are getting ready for the next part of our trip, enjoying the local area when we can, and eagerly awaiting visits from friends and family! :)

Home, Sweet Swamp

My Favourite Pastime AKA Food Budgeting

I love to budget. I love mathematical equations. I love Microsoft Excel. So of course I have eleventeen different spreadsheets saved for every aspect of our finances. I have an Airlie Beach budget, an October 2015 budget, an Upgrades budget (for Little FJ and The Retro Van), Fuel/Accommodation budgets for whilst we're travelling, and the start of a Cape York Trip budget. Just because.

For the last few months both Dan and I have both been working and saving. We've been quite liberal with our spending and although I know we have purchased some big ticket items that we will use on our trip, I feel that it's time to reign the finances in for the time being. Most of our bills are fixed, i.e. rent, car payments, phones, health insurance, however there is one weekly expense that can fluctuate hugely. It happens to be one of my other passions - food. Mmmm.

If I love to budget, then I am obsessed with food. Combine the both and I am in own little world of glee. I could (ahem, already do) happily scour the internet for hours, looking for tips to save on grocery budgets, how to eat frugally, ways to stretch meals, healthy meal plans...I could go on. I truly do enjoy the process of putting together a collection of ideas for the week, creating a basic shopping list then therapeutically hitting the shops to search for specials then collect everything we need. Truly.

As of our next grocery shop, I aim to spend no more than $100/week for both of us. I still want to make fresh, healthy food with plenty of variety and I feel confident that we can achieve that on this amount. I'd love to cover the rest of our household needs within this amount, such as cleaners and toiletries, as well as fresh food for the dogs. I have been making a batch of dog food once a week, and it averages out to $10/week for their dinners. We also feed them a small amount of kibble in the morning, to ensure they get plenty of nutrients. This is a purchase from the local pet store so won't count towards our grocery budget.

I don't know when my first weekly shop will be, as I'm trying to use up a lot of the food I have hoarded away already before restocking. It will definitely be sometime this week though, and I'm looking forward to sticking within my $100 budget! I'll share it with you guys after I'm all finished.

Don't be silly, Chicken's don't budget. 

Little Australie Moves!

Over the last few days I've been trying to access the Little Australie blog, with much frustration. For some reason, the blog host's website has been very uncooperative and it has resulted in a lot of choice words that I won't be sharing with you guys today. So I've made the decision to try a new host, and hope that I can make it a better experience for all of us :)
In the coming days I'll try to get some content up, and figure out the layout and all that fun stuff. For now it'll be a bit of bare bones, so I appreciate your patience!