When I was a child, I had a bucket list that stretched from the ceiling to the floor of my lime green tropic-inspired bedroom. This bucket list contained items from around the world, even though I only knew two people who had ever traveled outside the United States. I grew up with two of the most incredible parents - but my mother struggled with addiction, in and out of jail for most of my childhood.

At 18, I was sitting in my empty bedroom, days away from losing our house, staring at that tattered bucket list still clinging to the wall. Those dreams had never felt further away.

But that winter, my dad scraped together every dollar he could so I could fly to Australia and visit a friend from high school who'd been a foreign exchange student. We got my passport sorted, vastly overpaid for my airline ticket, and in the winter of 2011, I flew across the world alone for the very first time.

I started attending community college and working a couple of jobs to save money for travel. At first, all I could afford were road trips to the Great Lakes, sometimes rolling quarters for gas money and sleeping in my car. But it was travel, & I was exploring for the first time on my own, loving every moment of these new experiences.

Shalee Wanders was born in 2014 when I transferred to Michigan State University. After learning to travel on a budget and frequently getting asked by friends on Facebook how I could afford to travel, I began posting budgeting blogs to show that travel didn't have to be expensive and only for the middle and upper class.

Ten years since my maiden trip, I've knocked off 50+ countries and 49 states and live in my favorite little mountain town of Cody, Wyoming, with my husband, Josh, and our two adventure cats, Maverick & Aspen. I still pinch myself at this life I live. Thank you for being here long enough to read this little section about me. It's this incredible online community that has allowed Shalee Wanders to take me to places I never dreamt of.

I don't remember everything on the bucket list that hung in my room for so many years, nor do I care. Because this life, this right here, no list could compare.