So you bought the boat, now what's the plan?

As you may have figured out by now, we are not trust fund babies. {I know, shocker!} We work for everything we have and we save for anything we want! So, we are living on the boat and saving in order to take some time off in the near future to go sail, cruise and explore by way of the boat! 

When is this near future departure date? No one knows....not even us! But we do know there are certain things we want to cross of our 'To Do' list before we leave....and let me tell you, the list ain't short! 

This was Joe in the middle of winter starting our to do list. Notice the smirk on his face? Hmm!!

In case you couldn't zoom in enough, here's a closeup shot of our list. 

Of course the first thing he writes in my column is, 'get job' .....um, I had/have a job, I just had't started it yet, when he was first writing out the list! {crazy man} ;)

Sure, we love living on the boat, but that was only the first part of a much bigger dream! And after recently checking out our neighbors boat, Joe got inspired by their 'to do' lists {things they need to do before they leave to go cruising}. 

Now, we have started our own 'to do' list. One major item that's not listed {because it's a no brainier}, is the fact that we need to save up enough money to be able to take off work for (at least) an entire year so we can truly enjoy the cruising lifestyle that so many of our fellow sailor peeps are also doing! This means we need to have enough money saved to pay any ongoing bills that you can't pay off, (insurance, cell phone, etc), any docking fees/boat maintenance, oh and money for food for an entire year! Joe might be living off fish, but anyone who really knows me, knows it's nothing from the sea for me!! I may not look like it, but I actually eat a lot! In fact, just writing this post is making me hungry. 

--->quick break from writing to have some chips & salsa<---

You may have noticed it's been a while since my last post and that's because we've both been working every chance we can get so that we can work at paying off a few things while also saving money, like its going out of style!!

Our list at Christmas looked like this....

As you can see, a few things have actually been crossed off, but at the same time a few things have also been added. I have a feeling this is going to happen quite a bit. :[

Living at the marina we see a lot of people come and go. Some live on their boats for a short time and then sail away but for some, it takes a lot longer before they are ready to leave. We are part of the latter group. Because we chose to live on a boat while saving and prepping for our departure. 

We can now cross off getting the bottom job done & purchasing a dinghy! 

We're getting closer every day, but don't be surprised if you don't see us out cruising next year. While that would be awesome, we are trying to be realistic and not jump the gun, just because we are impatient and want to go now! 

Plus, there's that one other thing we want to do before we go....and that is to sell this boat and buy a more sea-worthy boat!!! 

Welcome to our ever-changing, but truly wonderful, life!!! :)

Until next time....