Saturday, September 19, 2015

101 Things in 1001 Days – a list of goals by Karen Deanna Joyce

Hi there! Glad you stopped by again.
I've been sitting here thinking about you and wanting to share what I thought was my plight, but which has turned out to be an ultimate challenge . .
First, as you may already know, I had a mini stroke April 1st this year. This caused me to stop and reevaluate everything. I realized I needed to slow down big time and began looking at ways to cut my stress and reduce the load I carry on my shoulders. I definitely needed to have more prayer time and relaxation and less problems/money worries.
Then, to add to my stress . . .
Since 2009 Matt has received SSI benefits barely bringing our household income to the poverty level. About two (2) months ago I received a letter stating that although Matt still has Autism and ADHD they feel his symptoms are no longer severe enough to require he continue receiving benefits.
I was in shock!! The benefits were what made it possible for me to make Matt the priority of my life vs going back to school or getting a second job. Those benefits covered all the extra expenses that come along with raising an autistic child!! I was lost, speechless, devastated . . What would we do now???!!!
Then I sat back, took quite a few weeks in prayer and began to look at the situation differently. Just prior to receiving that letter Matt and I had talked about seeing how little money we could live on. We had already been in an informal competition with my Mom and sister to see who could maintain the lowest utility bills and were doing quite well so trying to live on less money seemed like the next logical step . ..  was this was a next logical step to lose roughly 1/3 of our household income?
Okay, so $688-710/ month was 'suddenly'gone from our budget. Now what? Obviously we needed to find a way to seriously live on less income. . . As I looked at our regular bills (water, sewer, electric, mortgage, car payment . .), I realized we would need to sell the house and find a Way cheaper place to live. I looked at the Tiny House Movement and, although it was interesting, I didn't think Will County would allow it being an agenda 21 county.
What then? I happened upon a YouTube video about a family in Portland, Oregon who were part of the live aboard community. . .  Imagine~> Matt and I living aboard a boat?!!! I watched so many live aboard videos about houseboats, longboats (on the English canal in London) and sailboats . .
And so a decision was made and a new list generated:

https://dayzeroproject.com/user/Cozieluv/list/109954

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