Starting Over - Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I have changed the name of this blog to Becky on a Budget.

Let us pretend that you and I have never met. You know nothing about me and I am introducing myself to you for the first time.

Hello! My name is Becky. I am a 33 year woman born and raised in Davenport, IA and currently living in Springfield, IL. I am happily married to my husband, Andrew, and we have been together for almost 12 years and married for almost 8 years. Together we have two amazing children, Carson (4) and Dean (22 months), two insane cats, Hobbs and Butters, and a dumb but loyal shih tzu, Walter.

Madison, WI trip 2017 - its really the best we could get.

I have many interests and hobbies but mostly my life revolves around my family. My oldest son, Carson, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 3 in March of 2018. He was diagnosed with needing substantial support in communication and daily activities. I was also told he had a Global Developmental Delay. I have pages upon pages of reports telling me all about my son... however, I can sum up my son in a few short words. Amazing. Talented. Smart... and above all, he brings such joy to my life that I don't care what any diagnosis says. Carson was nonverbal until he was 3.5 years old. Now that he is enrolled in 35 hours of ABA Therapy every week he is able to say a handful of words and hearing that little voice say "mommy" or "daddy" is the greatest gift I have ever received.

Living with an autistic child is not easy. We have days where we sit and cry because the life we dreamed for our son will be different and need a little more work to obtain.... but we will get there.

My youngest son, Dean-o, is a ball of energy and has me on the edge of my seat most days. He's a climber, a dare devil, a choco-holic, a human tornado, and I love him to pieces. Recently he had tubes put in his ears due to chronic ear infections and concerns with speech delays. He is also in speech and behavioral therapies but I am most certain he will grow out of needing the extra help now that he can hear better.

Just having a blanket party on top of daddy

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As the description of my blog says, I am trying my best to live a more minimalist life and I also try my hardest to eat a whole food plant based diet. Many people know that I try to eat this way as much as possible. That being said, you can't be perfect in an imperfect world and I go day to day making the best decisions I can without being hard on myself. All of the research and evidence I have opened my mind to has shown how a SAD (Standard American Diet) has led to the rise of so many diseases that kill us on a daily basis. Therefore, I have cut all meat and most dairy out of my diet. Dairy still sneaks in because.... cheese.

Now, the main reason for this blog will be to document daily life with my family as well as give a detailed encounter of our debt free journey. You can read previous posts to see some of this information already, but my husband I have been on this journey since we got married and we haven't been 100% committed to it which is why we are still on it.

I am going to be brutally honest and open about everything we go through because I'm tired of watching these YouTube channels of people that only give you the good. The stuff they can all do NOW because they're debt free. What about the struggles? What about the daily life stuff that makes you sit and cry and wonder if you'll ever be OK? That's the stuff that inspires me the most. Yes, people who have made it to the other side also inspire me... but I like to see the nitty-gritty. The real life. So.... here goes:

When we started in 2011 we had over $95,000.00 of debt ... no house.

Total debt with the house: $128,980.00
Total debt MINUS house: $77,335.00

Most of that debt is my student loan. The rest is regular consumer debt which got worse after Carson was diagnosed with ASD because I went to working part time, gave up on everything except him, and used credit cards just to buy diapers, groceries, clothes, and crap.

As of January 2019, I have committed to a new way of doing cash envelopes that will take SO much stress off of having a ton of envelopes. Give a big shout out to Jordan Page from Fun, Cheap or Free. She only uses ONE envelope for TWO categories. GENIUS. (You can watch her video here.) One category is for Groceries/Consumables (paper plates, paper towels, diapers, etc.) and the second category is for Other. Those random miscellaneous things that just happen. She budgets $100 per person in your house per month. So, we have 4 people in our house times $100 each = $400. Guys, I can make that work NO problem. When I plugged those numbers into Every Dollar I had SO MUCH LEFT OVER TO THROW AT DEBT.

Now, I use Every Dollar to budget because I love it. I use an Excel Spreadsheet to keep track of what bills I have and when they are due. I am a total NERD. Most of our bills are taken out automatically or I pay them on line. We use cash for everything else in those TWO categories listed above. I used to have 8 or 9 envelopes and it got SO confusing. This new method is a game changer.

I am going to blog as much as I can, and I am going to try and devote more time to my vlog as well. I have a tendency to sit on my iPad at night after the kids go to bed and I could definitely use my time more productively.

I hope you stick with me on this journey and I hope that it gives you some inspiration or tips to maybe get you to a better place financially as well! Until next time!

The closest they've ever been to each other

Vlogmas #4

Trying to catch up! :-)

Vlogmas Day 3

Yeah, I am going to try my hand at Vlogging. I may not be good at it, but it's kind of fun! This is how everyone starts, right???

Day 5

It is Day 5. That went by kind of fast didn't it? So far, we are kicking butt. I haven't purchased one unnecessary item since we started this and boy have I wanted to. It's amazing to me how much of an impulse shopper I am or an "Oh, that would be nice, I could really use that!" shopper I am. I did two groceries trips: one to Aldi and one to Hy Vee for the things I can't get at Aldi. I didn't buy one thing that wasn't on my list. *high five*

If you're curious how we budget, we do the written Monthly Cash Flow Plan from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University If you've never been through his FPU, you're missing out. It's a GREAT course with a ton of information and boy does it get you motivated. Andrew and I have been through it twice. Loved it both times. We also use EveryDollar on the computer and on our phones. It's a fantastical little app and if you don't link it to your bank account... it's FREE! We keep our written budget on our fridge as a constant reminder and we use our phones/computer to be able to see it on the go or when we are at a store. We do try and use cash for most purchases: groceries, pet supplies, kids, misc. items, etc. It helps. It's so hard to spend cash guys... it hurts more. Swiping a card has no emotional impact. Trust me and try it sometime.

We have been on this debt free journey since 2011. So far we have paid off about 20% of our debt. I would love it if that number was more, but alas, it is not. In the last 7 years we:

• got married
• went on a Honeymoon
• bought a house
• had two children
• had a car stolen
• lost jobs
• got new jobs

And all of those other life things that happen. Not to mention that we found out about Carson being Autistic and I went on a downward spiral of getting a credit card and buying whatever the fuck I felt like buying..... so, I added to that debt. *headdesk* 

However, I'm here and ready to dig my way out of it. 

Starting Debt: $83,000

Current Debt: $66,324

That includes a credit card, the van, and my student loan. It does not include the house. My student loan is most of that number. It's nauseating, isn't it? 

We are set to pay off $632.00 of debt this month. 

Since Andrew and I have paid ahead on the student loan (8 months ahead), we are skipping a few months of that payment to get everything else taken care of. 

During this time, and the last 7 years, we have also had out $1,000 emergency fund which has been used and built back up multiple times in emergency situations. Especially for car repairs and unplanned/planned medical expenses. 

I'm excited to see where this journey takes us and how quickly we can get this taken care of now that I am dedicated. I know it's not going to be easy, and I know people will probably think I don't like them because I will say "no" to a lot of activities that involve money.... but it will be 100% worth it in the end. 

As far as my minimalist journey goes, I went on a cleaning spree yesterday and worked on the bathroom, my closet, the linen closet, and the kitchen. The back end of my van is full with stuff to take for donation. Feels good to get rid of excess stuff. 

Starting Today...

Andrew and I are going on a journey. What kind of a journey, you ask? An emotional and spiritual journey. One that will require a lot of patience, a lot of saying no, and a lot of people not understanding.

As you know, we have been Dave Ramsey fans since about 2011. We have been on our debt free journey for awhile now (7 years) and although we've paid off a HUGE chunk of my student loans, we still have a long ways to go. It is almost infuriating knowing that if we just did a little more... buckled down a little harder.... we'd probably be a lot closer to our end goal. Well, now it's time to do just that.

Andrew is what Dave calls the Free Spirit and the Saver. I am the Nerd and the Spender. Boy can I spend money and justify it until I am blue in the face. Um, hello Vitamix anyone?!!? By telling you this, I am admitting that I am mostly the problem. I've never been good with money. I've always had the "you only live once" mindset and I felt I could always out earn my stupidity. Well, I was wrong. Especially since at age 25, I had to file for bankruptcy. I had so much consumer debt that I was drowning. I took the "easy" way out. You'd think that would have taught me a lesson huh? Well, technically it did... because the only debt I have is a tiny bit of CC debt, a small bit of vehicle loan, and my student loans. I do not count the house in with our lump sum because Dave doesn't. The house is the last thing you pay off.

I am reading an amazing book about a lady that decided she was going to have a shopping ban for one year. One year you say? Challenge. Accepted. When I showed Andrew a couple of screenshots of the book he sent me text back that simply said "#metoo". He's on board. I don't know why this is so exciting to me, but it is. I am curious to see how much we will actually save. How much MORE we will be able to snowball into our debt. How much we waste on things we don't need.

For awhile now, I have been interested in minimalism too and I still am to this day. I constantly go through the house finding things to donate or sell. I'm not done yet. I still feel there is too much that I have to clean and put away. Too much getting in the way of what's really important. So, this no shopping ban will really help us to narrow down what we actually need in our lives.

If you're curious about the book, it's called The Year of Less, by Cait Flanders

I will be back soon to list out our plan of attack, our budget, our debt, and our rules for any spending.