Starting a Family

Hello there, friend! My name is Karine (or Kari for short) and my fiance's name is Ignas. Our story began on November 9th, 2015, when we met each other and became close friends. We started dating in February 2016 and one beautiful July 2017 evening we got engaged! :)

So, a little bit about ourselves and why I decided we should give it a try and raise money for our future. We are both 26 years old. I am currently a student in Vytautas Magnus university and I am studying Health Psychology. I was a volunteer for mental health causes in different organisations, in Lithuania and abroad (such as "Nightline" in UK, "Jaunimo Linija" in Lithuania and many different mental hospitals), however this year is really difficult for me so I am trying my best to concentrate on my master thesis. Ignas graduated Lithuanian Health Science university last June, he is currently working as a dentist in a small town/ village 120 km away from home and looking for a better job. We are currently living together with our adopted cat Petras (or Peter) in a simple, yet cosy rented flat in Kaunas. We don't need much and we enjoy walking around our city or drinking how chocolate at home with our cat. However, we do not want to wait too long to start a family due to my health issues. We are planning our small wedding ceremony at the end of July 2018 and we hope to remember that day as one of the most beautiful day of our lives. Our incomes currently consist of my student scholarship and Ignas's salary - a total of about 900 Eur/month. After we pay our rent and taxes, we are left with not more than 500 Euros, from which we need to buy food and fill up my fiance's car so he could drive to work. Also, taking into account the prices in Lithuania, we spend about 80 Eur/week on food (eating the basic products and - trust me- nothing fancy), try to save up some money for domestic means, which we buy once a month and leave at least 120Eur for diesel. I guess it is also important to add, that our families do not help us financially. In fact, five years ago my parents divorced and I I used my lifetime savings (which were meant for my education and future family fund) to help my mother buy and arrange her apartment and I am feeling happy and proud of that. :)
All in all, we meet our ends and we're thankful about that, however we cannot afford to save up. And that is why I turn to you and ask for help. :)
After our wedding (which we will be taking a small loan for) we would love to move to our own place and instead of paying a nearly 300Eur rent to save that money for children or something meaningful, or pay off a long-term real-estate loan to the bank. Sadly, our banks demand large financial contributions and we have absolutely none (especially if we will be paying out our wedding loan for the upcoming several years). Currently small houses and apartments in Kaunas have a great price for young families - there are plenty of places further away from the city where yo can move in and start painting and arranging the place with your own hands (and we sure are motivated to do so!) and that would cost us even less than our rent.
We are asking you for help to get a sum of money needed for contribution to get a small property of real-estate or some savings, which would allow us to plan children in the near future.
A big, healthy and happy family is out biggest dream - please support us and let this dream come true.
Karine and Ignas,
soon-to-be Mr and Mrs Cestovai.

P.S. We are now adding a video of our beautiful home-town and we will replace it later with our family video :) Right now we have none and we are not very keen on putting up our personal videos on youtube. Thank you for your understanding


UPDATE: I wrote this for the fundraiser more than a month ago and, sadly, since then we had a really hard time, since we both ended up jobless and with no incomes, thus we have been living on our last saving. Hopefully now things will get better - my fiance is working again and I am doing my best and working on my thesis and volunteering in a clinic where I hope to get a job after my degree. Staying positive! :)