Friday, February 20, 2009

Frugal Friday- Dave Ramsey

The DH and I went to see Dave Ramsey live last night. Even though there was a hoard of people at the sold out venue, we still managed to have a good time and walked away, not with new knowledge (well some facts were new to us) but with a vision. He used a clip of a gazelle trying to avoid getting eaten by a cheetah as a visual on how we should be trying to avoid debt. Worked for me.

This morning my son counted his money and had me price a video game he wanted. He tried to convince me that he had most of the price and I could just pay for the rest. Uhmmm... not! Seemed like a good time to start in on the "save till you can pay for it fully" lesson and start moving him away from instant gratification. It is, however, much easier to be good when it is not your money and desire that is in the way.

Now we have to come up with a budget and stay on track. We are on Baby Step One. Not sure how we are coming up with $1,000 but it will be time to look at our "stuff" really carefully. We really are in for a total money makeover and lots of delayed gratification. We are definately not purchasing a house without 20% down and are even considering 100% down.

I recommend Dave Ramsey to any one. You don't have to buy his books or pay to see him live. Listen to him on the radio or tv. He's not saying anything new but he is really good in the motivation department.

Mom, would you be angry if I sold my china?

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5 comments:

Amanda said...

Isn't Dave a great motivational speaker? I have a couple DVD's of him that I purchased during a sale he was having and I have enjoyed them so much.

We are on baby step two at our house and have about $80,000 in debt to pay off (not including our mortgage). It is scheduled to take 5 years, but I intend to get a part time job to help out and it should take about 1/2 the time. I am so looking forward to being debt free!

I would highly recommend doing the 100% down for a house, but if you choose not to do it that way, have at least 20% down and do a 15 year mortgage. We did no money down and a 30 year mortgage, so we have about 25 years left to pay on it... I sure hope it doesn't take that long!

God Bless!

Anonymous said...

You can do it! We are following Dave's plan too and saw him live in Portland. He rocks!

Katie L said...

I saw your post through the Frugal Friday link and just wanted to encourage you-- once you decide to pay off debt and stay out of debt, things can happen faster and faster! I stay motivated by listening to the DR show podcast-- the first hour is available on iTunes for free.

Anonymous said...

We saw him last year when he came to town.. which I think is the same town I am in since he was here last night again? How funny. I liked seeing him in person - it really changed us. The radio show makes me cringe, he's so mean sometimes but I know he's right. I just feel kind of bad for people when he really beats them up.

Marti said...

We love Dave too! We do the free podcasts from ITunes as well and we have his book. We did the debt snowball and finished paying off our debt just before we moved to England two years ago. What an incredible feeling.

We are now saving for a house when we move back to America. We plan to put a lot down and do a 15 year mortgage and pay that off early, God willing.

We have so much peace in our life, living debt free. It is worth all the hard work and sacrifices.