Kay Tee
Return to Oz
Posted December 10th, 2012
We've had a bit of a stellar year and I feel very lucky! Tom and I got married in London, had two honeymoons, one very short in Italy and one longer in the USA and we've moved back to Australia.
I've been travelling on and off for the last 10 years. My last trip home was supposed to be for good, but then I met Tom (who lived in London) at a wedding in New Zealand and being on opposite sides of the world, just talking with him on skype and email for a year just didn't work, so I moved back to the UK and we built our life together, always planning to come back and live in Australia. The red tape to get a visa for my husband (that still sounds weird) was all sorted in 2011, so it seemed like a quick hop, step and a jump to a wonderful life back in Oz.
Moving back has been a bit of an eye-opener for me. I was expecting some culture shock for Tom, but the bigger shock has been for me. Somehow, I get the feeling that I have been putting my life off, and now I have to be a grown-up and make commitments. That feels like a stupid thing to write, I've always been working while I've been living overseas, I've rented flats and paid my bills. Now part of me wants something a bit more permanent, and part of me wants to still be able to travel the world and NOT settle down! My dream would be a small house with a large back-yard where I could have a couple of chooks and a veggie garden.
I am in the process of trying to withdraw $70,000 savings from a fund set up by a financial advisory firm recommended to me by a friend. Its been two weeks since I first asked for the withdrawal and I've been chasing up since. It might be small potatoes to him (he's made that very clear!) but its our savings and I'd rather have it somewhere where there won't be fees and he
Plans for 2013:
Move into our new flat - Rent is $350 a week
Furnish our flat as cheaply as possible - budget of $1000 - mainly for a fridge, a bed, half a computer (we brought most of the bits of our desktop over with us and some cookware. We bought a lot of items from the previous tenants, but I really can't stomach a 2nd hand mattress!
Other costs -
$60 Month - Broadband internet
$80 Month - Mobile usage
$?? Electricity & Gas
Find jobs - I've figured out that we can probably both live fairly comfortably (I might be VERY wrong about this) on a single salary of $60,000, which means that we should be able to save at least one salary.
I'm going to be using the Simple Savings calendar (I've never actually printed it before) so that we can track our spending and set ourselves a budget that we stick to as we need to have at least $4000 saved so that Tom can fly back to the UK in an emergency if he needs to, and we also need to budget for flights back to the UK every 2 or 3 years to visit Tom's family.
Things I am researching this month:
Where can I get cheap-ish but sturdy furniture that will last? I need a bed-frame & mattress, a chest of drawers and a desk. Any ideas would be welcome (we're in SE Melbourne)
Ideas for simple and effective cleaning products (I'm going to scour the vault) that I can make myself
The best high-interest savings account to help us save for our house deposit.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Blog Posts by Kay Tee
- Return to Oz
