Dave Would Be Proud

No, not Dave Letterman.

No, not Dave Chappelle.

Not Dave Matthews.

Dave Ramsey.

Last September, Shad & I decided to apply what we had read in Dave Ramsey’s book, Total Money Makeover to our finances. What does this mean?

Well, it meant accounting for every penny. Yes, every penny, even the pennies that dropped between the couch cushions.

We started by cutting up every single credit card we owned. Thankfully, they all had zero balances (thanks to Shad’s discipline about getting those suckers paid off – we were not always credit card debt-free, believe me). Nevertheless, this is still a scary move. We rely on credit cards. Society relies on credit cards.

What if one of us breaks our leg & we need to see a doctor? How do we pay for that? What if the engine falls out of the car? How do we pay for that? What if the house burns down & we need to stay in a hotel? How do we pay for that?

Well, first of all, God blesses those who obey Him & I believe that getting our finances in order is certainly one way of obeying God. We were sure we would be blessed & we had faith that the funds would come from Above if they were absolutely necessary.

So, we sat down at then end of August & came up with a budget for each & every penny we earned. We both had second jobs at the time too, so the extra income was certainly helpful.

As Dave advises, we built up a $1000 savings account for any emergencies that presented themselves (i.e. the broken leg, missing engine &/or burned-down house). Then we tithed, paid all of our bills, including our debts & allowed ourselves a small allowance each week to use for food & entertainment.

Shad is such a numbers guy & absolutely wonderful when it comes to being organized & buckling down when it comes to a budget. The hard part for him has always been getting me on board. I know we all have our flaws, especially when it comes to spending money. Like most girls, I love to be able to treat myself to a new shirt every so often, a tube of mascara once in awhile, something fun for the house, & there’s no way I am NOT getting everyone a gift for their birthday … & their anniversary … & everyone deserves a gift on the 4th of July & Martin Luther King Day & Halloween & Flag Day! Well, Shad put his foot down & gifts had to come out of our weekly “fun money”. Dang. That also meant his monthly Poker money had to come out of the “fun money” too.

So the whole point of this is to become debt-free & as Dave says, you may “live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later.” It’s that phrase that keeps me motivated. Okay, I may have 10-year-old jeans (doesn’t matter because jeans don’t fit right now anyway) & I may not have any friends anymore because I’m not buying them things (only kidding), but we’re that much closer to being debt-free!

Last week we paid off Shad’s education. Yeah, he was the brilliant one who took only 4 years to complete his degree; therefore his was a little less expensive than mine. But going into this, we had his loan, my loan & our Pilot. Not bad, but we still knew it would take awhile before we could actually pay something off.

Well, one down, two to go! Not to mention, ... we also paid cash for Cashe last November! So, we treated ourselves. We went out & got credit cards & went shopping!! (I'm such a kidder.) We took one day last week & allowed ourselves each $50 to spend on something fun - so we hit the mall. It took me all day to spend mine because my $50 was so precious. And, I wasn't going to get to do this again until maybe a year from now. (That's right - Christmas & birthdays are the same. We each get $50 to spend how we want to. Boring? Sure. In less than 5 years, I'm buying a yacht though.)

So, following Dave’s advice, now we take Shad’s loan payment & put it towards the car now in addition to paying the car payment. This should allow us to pay the car off in less than a year. Once that’s paid off, it’ll probably break down. Just kidding. Once that’s paid off, we will take Shad’s old school loan payment + the Pilot car payment & pay on my school loan. That should allow us to pay that baby off in less than a year too!
I promise I’m not boasting; I’m just excited … & explaining why you no longer get gifts from us. I promise to shower you all with gifts once the house is paid off!