Doing a lot with a little in a foreign land

Over the last 4+ years I have called myself a stay at home dad but until we arrived in Australia and Kellie started working I wasn’t a true stay at home dad as I always had my job (even though it rarely felt like one).  

We have moved halfway around the world to live in the 2nd most expensive city in the world (behind Hong Kong) and somehow we are supposed to live off of 1 income (a Canadian teachers income at that which to me is very decent but in reality pretty average and roughly 20k less per year then a local teacher).  We are to explore this new amazing country while keeping the kids grounded and in some activities to make it feel like home.  All of this while trying to save enough to live off of and travel with essentially no income for the following 6-8 months.

Rereading this it sounds quite daunting.  I won’t even get into what it’s like to try to keep up with (and let go of) running and still owning a small business back home.   

We’ve traded in 2 cars back home for 1 here plus some bus passes (cars are not expensive but insurance and gas etc are).  We’ve traded 2 cell phones for 1 (one of the few things that are cheaper here).  I mostly get around on foot and I shop around lots for grocery deals (there are lots of options being in a big city).

Somehow it is all kind of working and this new adventure has been good for the soul and reinvigorated my passion for cooking (a big cost saver) and helped me to explore other new avenues (I recently gave sewing a go).  

I think every parent would benefit from being a homemaker on a budget.  A budget doesn’t need to look the same for everyone and I think it’s more fun and rewarding when you do it because you want to as opposed to have to.  For us we are doing it so that we can have as many different opportunities here and in our travels home as possible for our family; so the better we do the more fun we get to have :)