Part XXIX...Since spending my life savings in getting my wife to Australia and creating a new home for us to live in, Maria and I will have to tighten our belts and really watch our spending since we are about to be scrapping the bottom of our savings barrel.

We have two months to go before Maria is permitted to work in Australia, and as for myself I am just living on a pension. I have looked into finding work for myself in the mental health industry with the local community but the best I could find was some volunteer work and even then they couldn't find anyone at this stage to match me up with to assist in their own recovery. This is a good thing for our community that not many people are in need for mental health services, its just that it doesn't give me much hope in finding employment in this area anytime soon. Maria has a diploma in tourism and is also a make-up artist. She is currently using her network on social media to hopefully find a job for what she is qualified to do.

I've basically given up smoking and drinking so we can afford to live, and from what I estimate, we will just have enough from my pension to get by on a week to week basis.

Maria and I are going to have to be creative on how we can entertain one another until either one of us find employment, but at the end of the day, we have a roof over our head with plenty of food in the fridge and we still have enough money left for communications and go for a long drive once in a while as well.

Its going to be tight, but at this stage we are not letting it get to us or put pressure on our relationship. Like I said, I'm just thankful that our basic needs are are met, but if we want more we will have to work for it, just like most people do.

Ref: www.boxrep.blogspot.com