My husband, Michael and I met in May of 2017, we were both young (he was 23 at the time, I was 24). We hit it off instantly. Within a month we were engaged and in less than a year from meeting, we were married (and still going strong 6 years later!). Money and budgeting has always been a struggle as we were learning as we went, or really, spending what we wanted and getting by on bills.
Two months in, we were out on our own paying $400 for rent, $130 for our phones, electric was running $600+, I was driving an hour one way to work and back making just above minimum wage at the time, he was working close to home making minimum wage, we were both partiers, vehicle hoppers (adding on a truck payment in the midst of being broke.. I know… smart) and neither one good with money/budgeting. Bills were always paid and we always kept a roof over our head, but most of the time bills were late and there were many times we were on a Ramen and tap water diet. Looking back, we could have easily paid bills with having money to spend and to save… our priorities were just turned backwards.
Fast forward a year later, Michael got a job making a few dollars more and I left my job as it cost more in fuel than it was worth. We were now paying $800 for a house payment, $200+ in electric, $600+ in propane, $130 for phones, along with other bills, and still on the party road with most of our after bill money going toward alcohol and going out. We started a fence business that had a lot of positive feedback, but again, both very bad with money and budgeting… we had money for the now, but nothing to save, we were living comfortably, bills were less late, but in the end, we lost more money than we made as we were conflicted on business situations and neither knew what exactly we were doing as far as running a business. We tried. I got a part time job when covid hit and hours were cut almost immediately, which did not last long when I was offered a full time job at a non Profit organization that I would, a year down the road, move up in. Michael also found a farming job making the most either of us had made to date. We stayed stagnant. We were comfortable. We got by.
For three years we talked about the possibilities, the “what ifs”, the “if I had this I could do this”. But we stayed stagnant. We were comfortable. Bills were being paid on time, we had some extra money, but not for long. We were paycheck to paycheck, but comfortable. Remember, through all this we were also both drinking pretty heavily still and going out 2-3 times a week.
2023: Where are we at now and what did we change? Let’s start with where we are at now… in the last three months. In the last three months, our income has more than tripled. We stopped drinking daily a year ago to maybe once a week having a couple, we eat out less often, we prioritized what to spend our money on, I left my job, and Michael went out on a limb for work.. we left the stagnant and comfortable place we were in. We are currently paying a $850 house payment, $425 truck loan (some things never change lol), $235 for phones, $200+ electric, $600+ propane, along with about $2,000 in other payments a month, while still leaving us plenty to save/spend on what we want.
Don’t get me wrong, we were both very scared for the leap that we were about to take. It is something that Michael has talked about wanting to do since I’ve known him. It was going to create an entire lifestyle change we both needed, and it was going to solve every money problem we had ever had. Last year he started to do what he needed to do as requirements for his farm job before we knew what was in store for him now. And that was passing his Class A CDL test.
Welcome to the Sanders’ Livestock Life, where we might be afraid to take chances, but we take them anyway because when you are stagnant in life, there will never be a chance for the possibilities or “what ifs”.
If you want to follow along with us on our journey and experience this new adventure with us, I have provided an option to email subscribe to our blog. We can’t wait to share all the exciting things to come and share our experience to hopefully encourage who needs it to take that chance and to walk away from a stagnant life! In the following blogs, I will talk about the pros and cons of him becoming a bull hauler that we had discussed, how it started out, how it’s going and will continue to share different aspects of this lifestyle (where we go, how it’s done, tips we both find useful for living on the road throughout the week etc). There is so much to this lifestyle and I’m so excited to share it with you all!
The Sanders’ Livestock Life 
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