Dave Ramsey Changed My Life
June 12, 2008 by Karen Weideman
Filed under financial matters, saving money
Last year, I told you about the Financial Peace classes my husband and I were taking at church. These classes helped my husband and I to get on the same page financially. We both saw the bondage that debt had on our lives and ever since then we have worked hard to get out of debt.
It didn’t take long for my husband and I to start selling some of the things we had accumulated. We’ve been married for over 10 years, so you can only imagine the hobbies, toys, and things we had collected. One time a friend of ours said that our basement looked like an ebay store. lol
In the last year, our family has nearly completed baby steps 1, 2, and 3 for financial freedom. In case you don’t remember, here are the steps:
1. Save $1,000 to start an emergency fund
2. Pay off all debt using debt snowball
3. Save 3-6 months of expenses (This does not mean 3-6 months of income.)
4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5. College funding for children
6. Build wealth and give! Continue to invest in mutual funds and real estate.
In the past year, we have paid over $12,000 in debt! Isn’t that amazing?!? We have our $1,000 emergency fund and were working on 3-6 months of expenses. And in case you’re wondering, we don’t make a lot of money. You can do this too!
Let me tell you a fact that most people don’t know. Within the past year, my husband has been laid off from his job for more than four months!!!!!! It wasn’t long ago that something such as that would have sent us scrounging for money, stressing to the limits, and racking up tons of debt to stay afloat. I can’t honestly say that we’re doing fine. Some days are hard because thoughts of uncertainty sink in, but we’re ok.
God has provided by allowing us to sell a bunch of stuff that we no longer needed and through other unexpected ways. Of course, our tax refund and stimulus check helped out too. I’m just amazed when I think back to where we were last year and where we are now. I’m looking forward to where we’ll be in another five years.
Have you heard of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace classes and his book, Total Money Makeover? What do you think of it?
image from Dave Ramsey
I am so proud of you! All that hard work, coupon clipping, and selling has really paid off. Can’t wait to see you in a few days.
congrats on the getting hold of the beast (debt)
I have been looking around you blog and there is great info here. So I wanted to know if you want to add something to your contests
http://www.totaldelights.com/contest.html
come and check it out. . . . . Di
I love Dave Ramsey too. We are on baby step # 2. I’m writing all about it in my blog. And we live off of a $1000/month since I’m a SAHM. Way to go!!! We have a whopping $48000 debt, but we have already paid off about $4000 since January. Yay!
i’ve heard so much about dave ramsey but never had the time to attend one of his seminars. which of his books would you recommend? i’d love to read them and pass them along to some older daughters to help them plan a strategy for their future.
p.s. so COOL that you and karen will be getting together soon. i hope you have a great time!!!
Dave Ramsey has been so good for our family too! We are on step #3 as well. My favorite part of it is that as we started throwing serious cash at our debts, Budget talks became FUN!
mom_of_14: Although I’ve never read it, I would recommend Dave’s book Total Money Makeover. I have a link to it above, in the article. I think it’s on sale right now. Someone else also told me that the Christian bookstore had it on sale this month.
We took the Financial Peace classes through our local church. The church purchased the dvd seminar set and we watched a class each week and filled in the blanks in our FP kits we had purchased. Then afterwards we talked about what we had learned and the action steps. It was a 13 week course. I think churches are supposed to register through his site, so that you can look on his site to see if a church in your area is offering the classes. It makes it easier to join in on the classes in your area. Good luck everyone! It CAN be done!!!!!
i am looking for a 13-week seminar near my home/office. my zip codes are 30106/30339 respectively.
thank you