Anyone do this? I've wanted to for a lONG time, but it seems to me that we don't have the "funds" to do it..Or maybe I'm just in denial Is this something that works for everyone? Or is it geared towards people who make more than $30-$40 a year? Which is a VERY small amount in my opinion when you have medical bills and are unsure of what your future holds as far as finances go due to an illness.. Any insights would be great! We don't have a house payment, we don't have car payments either only the "basic" bills every month.. Don't have cable even.. I'm just trying to figure out how in the world I feel so BROKE every single month! I'm SICK of getting the pink bills in the mail too.. Hubby works his hind end off and we really have nothing to show for it.. And I'm stressing over house taxes.. We HAVE to be doing something wrong. YES, I do have debt from when hubby and I were younger and used credit like it was free money so that's now hanging over my head.. (((sigh))) I'm just so frustrated with our money situation right now.. I know we can do better even with the limited funds we have...
I adore the Dave system, but don't apply every bit of it to my life. I went through FPU and got really obsessive about doing it right and it was just impossible given our circumstances. So I got burnt out and gave up. Years later I started applying just those doable bits into our finances and it made a world of difference. Everyone can use the envelope system and debt snowball, no matter how little you make. More than anything, though, it was a paradigm shift. Don't get overwhelmed! Take what you can use. File the rest in your brain for when you've got more wiggle room. (Be willing to push the boundaries of what you think you can afford to do, but don't let a brick wall stop you!)
One of my brothers is doing it (his SIL teaches the course) and they are doing well; however, I don't think they were in deep debt to begin with and he is a pilot, etc, etc. We did somewhat of our own version years ago. We took the "windfalls" of our tax returns for several years in a row and paid off debt. We then sold a house that we had a fair amount of equity in to pay off the rest. Then we built a home (but you could buy one) now that has a lower interest rate and taxes than the one we had. I'm glad we did that then because the cost of living has increased so much that had we been in any kind of debt other than the house and a cheap car we would not be making it. (Dh just got a second job and I will be babysitting in another month from now)
We did FPU almost 2 years ago and it has been great for us. We are on 1 income and self -employed. My husband is a contractor so in the winter months if he does not get a job that's inside like a kitchen remodel, then he sometimes goes 2 months without any work at all. Last year was the worst year for us .... 4 months without any jobs. But thanks to all the insight from the FPU course and Dave Ramsey's materials it got us through. We are down to our last $7,000 of debt. Our vehicles are paid for for now and we cut up our credit cards and haven't used one in over a year. We are strict about our envelope system and we have "budget committee" meetings around the 1st of each month. Outside of the envelope system one thing that has really helped our situation is the zero based budget - the idea of assigning your dollars to a category so it is "spent" before the month even begins. I do not shop with my ATM card - I know myself and I will blow my budget. It's just to easy to swipe that thing vs. handing over cash. I have had to actually put things back because I went over what cash I had set aside that week. I think assessing our spending habits and our weaknesses also helped. My husband was an impulsive buyer - he buys first and then thinks about it later. He has really been working on this and has shifted his way of thinking. I on the other hand have a weakness of blowing small amounts of $$ ( $10 here , $15 there ) and at the end of the month I have blown an extra $100 that could have been saved or budgeted for something else. Small purchases are sneaky and catch up to you if you don't watch it. We also cut our cable 2 years ago and just rely on DVD's. Been the best thing ever. Not having any debt is so against the American way of doing things. When we were shopping for a used mini-van we completely dumbfounded some car salesman because we walked away from a deal - we refused to finance $4000 above our trade in and have a car payment. We decided to keep our 7 year old car that was paid for and save more $$ . The salesmen could not believe we were happy to say No . Our culture has it so engrained in us that we need to leverage everything and max ourselves out. When in fact we just need to practice self discipline and delayed gratification. If your not committed to the process it will drive you crazy. How I viewed $$ , and how I thought it should be spent have totally changed since doing FPU. Start by picking a few things from Dave Ramsey or some sort of system that you think can work for you so that you can experience some sort of success and slowly add in a few other things if they work for your situation. Good luck and enjoy the journey!! Jamie
I was raised on a system similar to Dave Ramsey's ideas, and I guess I just thought that was how everyone handled money. The basic principle I grew up with is if you can't pay cash for it, you did with out it. I just thought it was common sense, then I married a spender! I didn't know until years after I married him that when he was in his early 20's, his g-mother used to confiscate all his paychecks and dole out an allowance just because he was so bad at handling money. *sigh*. I can't quite understand how he feels so comfortable just dropping a $100 on a whim while I save my change and buy underwear only after the elastic falls out of my old ones. The one rule we both adhere vehemently to is NO CREDIT CARDS so at least we don't have that debt. But the savings plan...probably never gonna happen. It would be so doable, even on dh's income, to implement Ramsey's principles if we could break him of his need to spend.
I love the Dave Ramsey show!! I am trying to start with his program too, but Dh is not on board. He abhors anything that involves planning, believing instead in "just winging" it. I love to have a clear plan of what we're going to do. But anyway, since I handle the bills etc, I have been quietly doing whatever I can without Dh noticing. Like paying double payments on something when we have a bit extra. His debt snowball, budgeting, all of it makes a lot of sense. The only thing I do NOT agree with and will never do, is his suggestion of putting my evil little darling* on Craigslist to save money. *cat
I think that getting rid of pets is is more of a crisis senario suggestion. If you were borrowing money from relatives and workmates to buy groceries and keep the heat on in the winter, then pets would need to go. Just winging it is a push against percieved authority. One would need to understand that they are the authority and plan maker, before accepting planning as other than oppressive. I struggle with "winging it" myself, but fortunately not in finances. I have the fortune??? of being paired with a penny pincher with the most incredible financial discipline, it is my job to balance that. LOL
I was traveling this week on business and happened to hear this guy, Dave Ramsey, on the radio. What a rude and obnoxious individual - laughing at people, mocking them, and so full of himself. I don't know about his system, but there's no way I would spend time or money on anything he offered. Five minutes of listening to his smug and self-righteous voice, and I'm lucky I didn't smash into another car!!
