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