Our newest "thing"

I kinda think of myself as a Dave Ramsey junkie. I watch him every night on Fox Business and I listen to him in the car if he happens to be on while I am driving. I have read his book "Total Money Makeover." Now "we" are enrolled in Financial Peace University which is a 13 week program. I say "we" because I went to the first class by myself and when Matt is on call I will also be attending by myself. Anyways...I just like his whole idea of life and money. He has a seven step program, which Matt and I have decided to alter a bit, to get to financial freedom. The first step is to have $1,000.00 in the bank. Check. The second step is to pay off all debt except the house mortgage. His theory is to pay off the smallest debt first. He says the smallest debt so you feel accomplishment when you get one down and you won't give up after months and months. Matt and I have no credit card debt. Whoo Hoo! We do however have a tractor, a Chevy pick-up, and a H-3 that we make payments on every month. Dave also says that you need to tell others your goals (kinda like my 15 pounds in 3 months on the Wii Fit that I haven't touched since the end of the first week of buying it!) We hope to have all 3 of these paid off by the end of 2010! The one rule that we kinda altered is he says to stop contributing to 401k's and IRAs. We decided that we still wanted to make our contributions. We really don't have a lot of other bills and obviously we don't spend money on clothes! (Have you seen what we wear!) Dave also says that you should try to pay in cash. So we are trying that. I even "made" Matt go inside the gas station the other day to pay for his gas!! Dave says that in each relationship there is a "nerd" and a "free spirit". Between me and Matt I would have to say that I am the nerd, but Matt is a tight wad... he just likes to buy big toys like 4-wheelers and jeeps. Matt told me "we can do this, but I don't want it to be too strict that we can't buy what we want." I said ok, but I still want to get all this stuff paid off. Dave also says that your friends and family will say that you are weird for doing this. Check Check...My family and friends have been telling me that...well way before I ever heard of Dave Ramsey!

Anyways here are the 7 steps:

1. $1000 emergency fund
2. Debt snowball (this is the step that we are at)
3. 3-6 months in emergency fund
4. 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement (the part we aren't going to stop doing!)
5. College funding for children (sooooooooooooooooooooo far away from that!)
6. Pay off home early (that would be so cool if we could do this by 35)
7. Build wealth and give

When I first told Matt that I wanted to give this a try he said ok. Then he said "Does that mean that you have to stop buying stuff for Mattie and Addison?" I said "Yes" with a sad face. This is going to be the hardest part for me!

Anyways if you ever get bored and want to talk to a "nerd" just give me a call. I have "Total Money Makeover" and a new book that came in the Financial Peace University (FPU) that I can't remeber the name of. I also have 13 audio cd's of the 13 FPU sessions. I will be willing to loan them out to anyone else who wants to be a "nerd!"

"LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE, AND LATER YOU CAN LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE" DAVE RAMSEY