Digging Out of the American Dream

My husband and I were young when we met - I was 17.
We were young when we married - 20 and 22.
We were young when we had our first child - I was 23.
And here we are, still young and ahead of the curve on a lot of things, pregnant with our second child, we are living in the second mortgage-bound home already.
We started young, and we've continued young.  We are on track with our friends, most of whom are in their thirties at this point.
So I guess it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that we (at 26 and 29) have already made the leap into our 50s and figured out that the "American Dream" isn't all it's cracked up to be.
We have 25K in student loan debt (for a degree I have never and will never use), a combined 28K in auto loans, a 250K home loan, and recently found ourselves with about 10K in other random debts.

OUCH.

And guess what the result of living this dream is?
A husband who has to take any and all overtime available.  A 2 year old who struggles most on days he doesn't see his daddy.  And a wife who is so exhausted she has to pay someone to clean her home, even though she is there.

I had a revelation recently.

The more you have, the more you have to take care of.

I have always hated debt, but bought into the idea that it's just what you do.  There's no way around it.  I've bought, financed, and paid off plenty of things in my adult life because that's how you get by.

But what if your monthly expenses were so minuscule, you were more self reliant, and you accumulated less garbage to take care to such a point that your life was actually enjoyable?  And closer to the dream that our founders actually had in mind!

Today is day 1 of our journey, and I'm inviting any and all takers along.

We started by building our budget.  I called around and found a few different bills I can cancel.  And our lifestyle changes today.

I know this blog will be an incredible one to look back over a year, two years, and five years from now.

I hope you enjoy the ride!