My Journey to Eliminate Debt

Just a quick note before my post – Chantel from The Boxcar Kids is trying to raise $15,000 for a mobile home. She has the land, has the permissions and certainly has the stamina and determination to make it happen. Her blog is one I read on and off and she’s one amazing lady!  If you’d like to donate check out the link in the sidebar.

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Well the bags are packed, the paperwork has been checked a thousand times and I’m so excited I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve! Not long now till we get on the bus and then the train to take us to Circular Quay In Sydney. Our tickets for bus & train cost only $8 each which is amazingly cheap for four hours travel.

We got a phone call on Friday afternoon to let us know our cabin had been upgraded – we have gone from an interior cabin to one with an ocean view and a lounge. The interior cabin just had two beds on each side of the room. I also checked the price for our cruise and it cost $1305 ( not $1800 as I had originally posted). I will do a full costing when we get back, I don’t think we’ll be spending very much on board though.

Yesterday I finally started packing and preparing. We’re allowed to take a suitcase and a carry on bag each. We like to travel light so we have one suitcase between us and a carry on bag each. A lot of comments in forums mentioned that it can be cold on deck and hot on shore so I’m taking clothes I can layer. Our cruise is for 11 nights and for those fellow list lovers out there – here’s what I’m are taking:

Clothes

• 3 dresses
• 10 sleeveless tops
• 3 long sleeved tops
• 6 cardigans
• 1 jumper (sweater)
• 2 scarves
• 1 mid weight wrap/ shawl
• 2 pr dress leggings
• 1 yoga pants
• 1 pr beach pants
• undies and bras
• 6 pr socks
• 1 pr PJ’s
• 1 nightie
• 1 pr swimmers

Shoes

• 1 pr toms shoes
• 1 pr sandals
• 1 joggers
• 1 black flat courts
• 1 pr flat ankle boots

Toiletries

• shampoo
• conditioner
• gel for frizzy hair ( it will go nuts in that salt air!)
• soap
• toothpaste
• toothbrush
• comb
• lip gloss
• lipstick
• mascara
• foundation
• hair bands

Electronics

• laptop
• iPhone (has all my audible books on it)
• ipad (has all my kindle books on it)
• earphones
• batteries
• chargers

It probably looks like a lot of tops and cardigans but these will cover dressing casually for the boat and the beach, or dressing up for going to a show or dinner and also cover hot or cold weather.

OK, time for me to have breakfast and then head off on our first ever cruise and a very long awaited holiday. Did I mention I was excited lol!     DH and I are both looking forward to switching the phones off and getting away from emails. But I will be blogging (thats different!)  so  next post and pics from onboard!

Only 2 more days left to work!  It’s pouring rain here, and freezing cold and I have a long day ahead of me in the car. But this time next week I’ll be waking up at Mystery Island    … thinking about that will get me through the day!

Unfortunately earlier this week one of our team lost their job. Yes, they have backflipped on the original announcements and when I return my job will have changed to cover what used to be done by 2.5 staff members. Needless to say I’m SO ready for this holiday! I just need time to unwind and refocus. If anything, this week at work has only reinforced my desire to downsize and hopefully not have to return to work after my year off in 2017.

Today I have to ring about picking up the tickets, book the train to Sydney and pick up my scripts from the drs. On the packing front – I ordered two dresses from EziBuy that were marked down, Both are just very plain dresses that can be dressed up and down, one pink, one black. They were originally $60 & $70 and I got them for $19 & $24 so a really good bargain.

(thanks for the comments on my last post, I appreciated the tips and ideas, just ran out of time to answer them all.)

Yesterday I completed the online check-in for our cruise. I am seriously SO excited! It has finally sunk in that we have only 13 days left till we sail away into the sunset and I have a lot to get done.   I really need to get cracking on my To Do List:

• trip to visit to Dad and notify nursing home of our holiday
• trip to pick up DS who has a medical appointment here while we are gone & is staying on  to keep DD company
• PACK!!  oh, seriously – where to begin…. thats a whole post to come..
• get scripts and medications
• organise transport to and from Circular Quay – ? the train
• get paperwork up to date at work
• organise charge card/cash card for online purchases
• lose weight LOL!

and most exciting of all..

• decide on what day trips to do

There are so many to choose from – snorkeling, swimming with turtles, fishing, glass bottomed boat trips, bus tours, cultural tours…  I am having a great time reading up on them all and they ALL sound good. We are visiting Port Vila, Mystery Island, Isle of Pines, and Vanuatu. I can book the off shore tours online 3 days before we go so I’ll do some serious research this weekend. In the meantime I’m just daydreaming about getting away from it all…