The end of the work!
After 2 years of both of us working night shift and day shift, across 4 jobs and 1 business, the work was finally over on the 3rd of March 2018!!!
At the start of 2017 we made the decision to sell my car and transition to sharing one car in order to save money. For me this was one of my greatest struggles. I found it hard to maintain the independence that came with owning a car. Being able to go where I wanted to when I wanted, to catch up with friends or even just to pop down to the shops to buy something. Its surprising how much you take it for granted and how long it took before I wasn't one foot out of the house before realising my trusty 4WD was no longer there! As the weeks wore on the benefits began to reveal themselves. Not only the obvious financial gains however, I found it made us better at communicating, planning and sharing, while also making me more comfortable with public transport.
Soon after we decided we would move out of our rental and try our luck at house sitting full time. So began the arduous task of sorting through our possessions, trying to decide what we wanted to keep in storage, and what we could do without. The deadline of us needing to live out of one small car looming ever present.
A lot was given away to friends, family and strangers with only a few things being sold. It's very strange not owning 'stuff'. And how quickly you become comfortable with hacking away and minimising your possessions. You start to realise it doesn't define you or make you happy. It only serves to make you comfortable which in turn anchors you to an excessive and perhaps superficial lifestyle. Furthermore it begins to shape your future aspirations, I am now determined to never fill up a future house with 'stuff'. I will endeavour to buy things with value, things that will stand up to the test of time and be cherished.
Before we knew it, it was time to give our notice to leave our beautiful unit (nest) and try our luck at full time house sitting.
Looking back on it, we always knew it was going to be a massive transitional phase.
It became a daily sacrifice and sometimes was a stress in our life. With constant enquiries, owner communication and the occasional cancellation, as well as moving and living in a new environment every couple of weeks, trying to sleep day and night.
However as is the theme with this post eventually the benefits shone through. As much as it was extremely difficult at times, It gave us the opportunity to strengthen the bond we have in each other. To exercise communication skills and build a greater reliance and trust in each other. Skills I'm sure will come in handy on our journey!
For the first time in my life, I found myself not owning a pet. House sitting was a way that we could save money, transition into a more nomadic lifestyle, reduce possessions and have animals in our lives. Each one of these animals had its own wants, needs, personalities & we fell in love with all of them!
Another important aspect of our final months in Brisbane was the overwhelming support we had in our friends. We are lucky enough to have a very special group of people who were there for us to put a roof over our heads when we had gaps between house sits. We cant thank them all enough for all the times they have helped us out. We count ourselves extremely lucky to have such good people in our lives.
Finally the time came to leave Brisbane behind, there were more than a few sad goodbyes with work friends and many last beers at the pub! We planned 10 days in our home town on the coast of Queensland to spend time with our families before flying to Melbourne and then out of Australia.
Let the adventure begin!
- Alli
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