Dave Ramsey Budgeting

My work is sponsoring those of us that want to do it, a course called Financial Peace University.  When they offered it to us so many of us wanted to sign up that we have two classes.  My new company is so awesome that instead of putting a cap on the number of people that are able to participate, they just bought more kits.  They want all of us to be secure with money and know how to live life to our fullest with the money we make.  The class is more than $200 per person so it says a lot that they are paying for about 40 of to take it.  My friend Krista and her husband Tyler have been doing the Dave Ramsey system and are already making huge progress!  I know I have been sent a few messages when they paid off their car and also a college access loan (I know they have paid off a lot more than that though!).  It works when you do!  The program says that getting out of debt and building financial wealth is 20% head knowledge, and 80% change in behavior.

 Dave Ramsey (DR) is awesome, awesome, awesome!  I have read his book before, the Total Money Makeover, but I have never taken his course.  There are 13 weeks total in the program and each week we learn about a new topic.  Have you ever seen the movie ‘What about Bob?” well Bob is taking ‘baby steps’ to get over his phobias.  Our ‘baby steps’ in the program are to help us get out of debt, and become financially secure.  They go from saving $1,000 in the bank for an emergency fund, then using the debt snowball to get out of debt, after you get out of debt then you can go to the next steps like saving for retirement and college.

Just an FYI, I am in debt for student loans and not credit cards. K? Thanks!My favorite part so far (we are on week 2) is creating a cash system instead of using your debit card all of the time.  D.R. says that you aren’t attached to money on your debit card as you are with cash.  You are less likely to go out to eat every week if you can physically see and hand out your money to a waiter. 

I really think this will help me because I will tell you a story about me when I was in high school (long time ago).  When I was in highschool I worked for a childcare center making minimum wage (I think it was $5.15 an hour) and I could only work about 15 hours a week.  My checks were around $150 every two weeks (what a HUGE difference now!) and I would put $75 in my savings account, and the other $75 I would spend on whatever I wanted. I was sooooo good about saving money that when I graduated I had a lot of money (for a highschooler).  Then. I. Got. A. Debit. Card. And. My. Savings. And. Spending. Habits. Went. South. :/

I know that you can only spend what you have on a debit card, but it was a disconnect for me.  I couldn’t touch the money so it didn’t feel ‘real’.  Does that make since?  I had nothing to show (and still don’t) for all of the money I spent.  One month I looked and I spent $600 on going out to eat.  $600?!  WTF!    I am hoping that when I start using cash again that I will get back to being good at saving.  I realized that this is my money.  MINE!  I control it.  I shouldn’t give it away freely.  When I wake up early every morning to get out of bed to go to work I should have something to show for it. 

Moral of this post?  I am on a budget.  Yes, me Queen of Shoe Shopping and needless spending. I am going to try and post some of the tips I learned in class and some of my (hopefully) success stories.

My goal is to buy myself a house within the next few years.  I want to be debt free when I do that though so I can pay for it and not worry about paying for it and also the debt. 

Rice and Beans meals?  Yummy! 

I will be probably posting several things about Dave Ramsey over the next few months so get ready!