Just finished another great Dave Ramsey Class. I was on the site and thought I'd share this interesting idea with everyone. Enjoy... I hope you have all had a great week.
Want to know how to drive a free car How to Drive a free car.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Not Poodle Intensity
So we had another great lesson by Dave, Dumping Debt lesson #4. Love the part about the cheetah. This was the turning point lesson for me the first time through FPU. This was the lesson that I said enough was enough I need to get out of this mess. We are now 13 months into the plan and almost half way there except for the Mortgage. The last couple of months for us has been slow because of my work. We went from the debt snowball to survival mode with our work giving hit and miss paychecks. I wish I had started the plan much earlier and had a fully funded emergency fund of 3-6 months, but in the same breathe I feel blessed because I know how to use what income we get for the best uses. I like what Dave said about prayer and how our Heavenly Father is crazy about us. He wants to see us free from debt. Just lately I have had some freelance work come in that will help out a little and I know his hand was in that.
Gazelle Intensity that is the way you get out of debt. Remember Gazelle Intense, Not Poodle, Nowhere did he say Poodle Intensity.
Gazelle Intensity that is the way you get out of debt. Remember Gazelle Intense, Not Poodle, Nowhere did he say Poodle Intensity.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Murphy meet the Farnes Family
Murphy showed up at the Farnes Family on Saturday. After a fun filled morning of Honey Do's and trying to prepare meals for my folks that were visiting, I pulled into the garage and walked around to go into the house when I glanced down to admire the dirt on my VW tires. Guess what I found sticking out the sidewall of my tire. Yup, It was "Murphy" in the form of a nail. I wasn't too concerned except for the fact I had to race down to Rocky's before all the air let out. Patches are pretty cheap. I dropped of the car and my Dad followed me down. The car was going to take a 1/2 hour to be fixed so we went for a drive. It gave me a chance to talk to my Dad about Dave Ramsey. He still can't figure out why I would volunteer to be the class co-ordinator for a course that is 13 weeks long and not get paid for it. I told him that the class had changed my views on money and debt and it was working for us and I had a chance to help other people, plus it's a good refresher course for Nicole and I. (I'm still working to get him on the plan remember the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, but at least this acorn has a plan.)
Well back to the story about my car. I pulled back into Rockies and noticed the car was still in the bay. The Attendant was shaking his head at me as I wandered up to the counter with a worried pit that was now growing in my stomach. "Can't patch it" he said, "It's on the sidewall" Now if anyone hasn't seen the wheels on my car you might notice that there is not much sidewall between my rim and the tread. Only Murphy or Micheal Jordan could make a shot like that.
I then asked the next question but before I could get the sound to come out of my mouth, he had already told me that he had 2 17" that he could put on it. For safety reasons they can't patch a hole on the sidewall especially when the patch is larger than the area it needs to rest on. I asked him how much and said throw in a deal. He added it all up and then told me $239 I said a few other things silently in my head. $249 wasn't in the budget, My emergency fund is more like the jar of coins in my closet than an actual emergency fund..."Remember my Christmas story" Don't spend your Emergency Fund!!!
I said "OK" I only had one car and this was it. So I went to the teller and withdrew $240 dollars from the bank went and drove around for another 1/2 hour feeling like the stuff I cleaned up out of the backyard earlier that day. Returning now for the second time to the Tire shop I found my car was fixed and waiting for me with some new front tires. I went to pay and he added it all up and it came to $269 with tax. Doh! I said I thought you told me $239 so I went down to the bank and brought back 12 Uncle Andrew Jacksons. Cash! He looked at me and then at the money and said "I'll take care of you." and he marked the price down to give me the tires for the $240 cash that I had. I told him that I appreciated that and went about my way. I had wondered if I would have got the same deal using a debit or credit card.
The bright spot about the whole experience was that I didn't have to make a $428 car payment this month. So even though it wasn't in the budget. It worked out.
Well back to the story about my car. I pulled back into Rockies and noticed the car was still in the bay. The Attendant was shaking his head at me as I wandered up to the counter with a worried pit that was now growing in my stomach. "Can't patch it" he said, "It's on the sidewall" Now if anyone hasn't seen the wheels on my car you might notice that there is not much sidewall between my rim and the tread. Only Murphy or Micheal Jordan could make a shot like that.
I then asked the next question but before I could get the sound to come out of my mouth, he had already told me that he had 2 17" that he could put on it. For safety reasons they can't patch a hole on the sidewall especially when the patch is larger than the area it needs to rest on. I asked him how much and said throw in a deal. He added it all up and then told me $239 I said a few other things silently in my head. $249 wasn't in the budget, My emergency fund is more like the jar of coins in my closet than an actual emergency fund..."Remember my Christmas story" Don't spend your Emergency Fund!!!
I said "OK" I only had one car and this was it. So I went to the teller and withdrew $240 dollars from the bank went and drove around for another 1/2 hour feeling like the stuff I cleaned up out of the backyard earlier that day. Returning now for the second time to the Tire shop I found my car was fixed and waiting for me with some new front tires. I went to pay and he added it all up and it came to $269 with tax. Doh! I said I thought you told me $239 so I went down to the bank and brought back 12 Uncle Andrew Jacksons. Cash! He looked at me and then at the money and said "I'll take care of you." and he marked the price down to give me the tires for the $240 cash that I had. I told him that I appreciated that and went about my way. I had wondered if I would have got the same deal using a debit or credit card.
The bright spot about the whole experience was that I didn't have to make a $428 car payment this month. So even though it wasn't in the budget. It worked out.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Living Like No One Else
I figured that I didn't have enough to do in the week or maybe I have just rationalized that I'd rather be doing this than some of the other items that I could be doing. I thought this might be a fun way to share some of my personal stories without having to share everything in class. Like I mentioned in the beginning that I didn't sign up to be a coordinator because I have all the right answers or that I'm a shining example of financial success. In fact I think just the opposite I would say that my examples thus far in my life has been ones of stupidity. Dave Ramsey likes to call mistakes made with money "Stupid Tax" and I'm going to be paying for my stupid tax for awhile.
My wife Nicole and I started Financial Peace University last Feb 08. We started with 49K in debt, that included a few credit cards and two car loans. Over the last year we have paid that down to 18K as of yesterday after we finally lowered the price and sold our car having tried to sell it for 6 months at a price that was too high. We are happy that we have sold it, but also realize the pain of only having one car. I think this is what Dave means by "Living Like No One Else, So That You Can Live Like No One Else." My kids remind me daily of how much Dave Ramsey has ruined their lives.
It's hard to change habits and tell each other no when it's dinner time and you want to go out to eat at a restaurant instead of hearing the kids complain about something Nicole has fixed them to eat. The kids adapt and they are learning that even though we want to go eat out we're sacrificing something we want now for something that's better later and for the first time in our lives were showing some responsibility for our spending habits. I was in the habit of always trying to out earn my stupidity. Eventually it catches up to you and our life started to sound like a country song. We were using credit cards to pay our bills when we had more month than money with the idea that I would work a little extra on freelance jobs to pay it all back.
Nicole and I just got tired of it all. We were fighting about money and who spent what, and why?! Now that we have a budget and we know where every dollar is being spent for the month. We have grown closer together because we communicate. We talk through our financial hurdles instead of pretending the problem will go away. I love my wife for really sacrificing to make this work. Now we just get pumped up about paying something off. Little wars that we win against debt one step at a time. We lose some battles when Murphy shows up, but we both have goals in sight and we're on the same page. My advice is to really take these next few lessons serious and try to implement a budget and stick to it. I know when you do you will see changes for the better immediately.
I told Nicole tonight that I was setting a goal to be completely out of debt except for my home by the end of this year. That means I have 18K that I still owe, but I also have to replace the car that we sold eventually so I'll have to save up an additional 10k making the total for the year 28K to pay off. It has now been written and now I have to lay the plan of How.
My wife Nicole and I started Financial Peace University last Feb 08. We started with 49K in debt, that included a few credit cards and two car loans. Over the last year we have paid that down to 18K as of yesterday after we finally lowered the price and sold our car having tried to sell it for 6 months at a price that was too high. We are happy that we have sold it, but also realize the pain of only having one car. I think this is what Dave means by "Living Like No One Else, So That You Can Live Like No One Else." My kids remind me daily of how much Dave Ramsey has ruined their lives.
It's hard to change habits and tell each other no when it's dinner time and you want to go out to eat at a restaurant instead of hearing the kids complain about something Nicole has fixed them to eat. The kids adapt and they are learning that even though we want to go eat out we're sacrificing something we want now for something that's better later and for the first time in our lives were showing some responsibility for our spending habits. I was in the habit of always trying to out earn my stupidity. Eventually it catches up to you and our life started to sound like a country song. We were using credit cards to pay our bills when we had more month than money with the idea that I would work a little extra on freelance jobs to pay it all back.
Nicole and I just got tired of it all. We were fighting about money and who spent what, and why?! Now that we have a budget and we know where every dollar is being spent for the month. We have grown closer together because we communicate. We talk through our financial hurdles instead of pretending the problem will go away. I love my wife for really sacrificing to make this work. Now we just get pumped up about paying something off. Little wars that we win against debt one step at a time. We lose some battles when Murphy shows up, but we both have goals in sight and we're on the same page. My advice is to really take these next few lessons serious and try to implement a budget and stick to it. I know when you do you will see changes for the better immediately.
I told Nicole tonight that I was setting a goal to be completely out of debt except for my home by the end of this year. That means I have 18K that I still owe, but I also have to replace the car that we sold eventually so I'll have to save up an additional 10k making the total for the year 28K to pay off. It has now been written and now I have to lay the plan of How.
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