I've decided, after a few years here and on the old forums, that I'd like to start a blog to document my family's journey through the DR program, and our life in general. We have lots of goals, dreams, etc. that we want to accomplish, and a blog through here is the best way to do it for right now. Eventually, I'll probably start a craft/cooking blog as well, but I'll let you know when that happens

Our Story

My name is Alicia and my DH's name is Byron. As my username suggests, I love to knit and have since summer of 2004, right before my last two years in college for my BA (in General Studies). DH and I met in college, and dated for about 4 years before we were married September 11th, 2010. I had found DR in April of 2010 when I was unemployed, planning a wedding, and looking for a budgeting program for when we were married. What I found was a lifesaver for us, as in total we've had 9 jobs between the two of us in 2 and a half years. I'm now in what I would consider a very nice job for my combined experience, in Seattle. I also have an MBA (debt-free, no student loans, I might add), so it helped me to get this job in Accounts Payable. I've been there for a month now, and look forward to a future with this company in the finance field. My DH works at a locally-owned bookstore in Kent, WA. Eventually, after BS2, we will save for him to go to school and get a Masters in Teaching. He wants to teach Math, History and Government at the high school level where he went to high school (more about that below). We have one cat and live in a two-bedroom apartment south of Seattle. We do not have children yet, but will plan for them within the next two years.

As far as our future plans go, we have roughly $25,000 to complete BS2. Our goal is to complete this before Christmas Day this year, and to have saved up one month ahead for our income and go on our Debt-Free trip to Disneyland for my 30th birthday/our 3rd wedding anniversary in August. That's our goal for this year.

Next year 2014, we hope to save up $15,000 for DH to go to school, and $11,500 for BS3 and hills/valley fund (DH does not get sick leave or vacation pay so we have to save for that). We will also begin to save for our downpayment for our future house. We want to move to Vashon Island (where my in-laws live and DH and BIL went to school). We want to buy at least 5 to 10 acres of land, and put down a manufactured home. Eventually, once settled, we will have chickens, a large veggie/fruit garden, and some sheep (that's where the knitting comes in play).

With utilizing my MBA, I will also be starting a yarn/notions/jewelry business next month.

Those are our plans so far. I would like to update here on Sundays with my weekly goals, Snowflakes earned, and BS2 progress.

For this week, 1/21 to 1/28:

1. clean guest bathroom, living room, kitchen, dining room, master bathroom, master bedroom, guest bedroom, hall closets, cars (2) and our storage area

2. prep for Scrapbooking event on Saturday (upload and print pictures at Costco, call Mom regarding what to bring)

3. Make at least $10 in snowflakes (earned through Swagbucks, MySurvey, Zoombucks, and Amazon Mechanical Turk) - this will go towards our combined Christmas gift of an XBox360 Kinect with games

4. At least 5 hours in overtime at work

Overtime and our snowball goes toward our American Express card at roughly $9,400.

Thanks for reading!