Man Crush

Let it be known I have a HUGE man crush on Dave Ramsey! The thing is, I dont have a crush on him for the obvious reasons. I mean sure he is somewhat attractive, rich, and smart, but that is NOT why I have a crush on him. He is my man crush because he got us out of debt!

In California it seemed like no matter what we did, how hard we BOTH worked, we just were getting into more and more debt. We didn't have any car payments, only had rent, but for some reason, the money was just not making it to where it needed to be. Then we moved to Utah and everything changed!

Shaun loves to listen to podcasts while he drives. Personally, I think they would make me fall asleep faster, they are SOOO boring!!! However, he was driving one night through Wyoming and Dave Ramsey came on the radio. I have heard the name before, knew he had some system of getting people out of debt, but I always though it was for people who had huge incomes. I was SOOO wrong!!!

We ordered his book and started reading it as a couple each night Shaun was home. It is kind of silly how EASY his system is, yet we needed to HEAR it from someone else for it to register. It really is BABY STEPS and they are REALLY EASY!!! It took awhile getting used to, but it pays off! We don't do the envelope system as it is just too complicated for us, but we do give Shaun an envelope with money in it for the month for when he is out on the road. You see, I pack all his food while he is gone, so really there is NO REASON he should even need the money but somedays he needs a coffee, somedays there is a sweet tooth etc. So together we agreed that his debit card will stay home and he will take the envelope. When that money is gone, its gone. But he can decide how he spends it. (This also GREATLY helps as he is trying to remain healthy so not having his card there to just swipe aimlessly helps keep him on track)

This is the FIRST year we are starting that we have ZERO unnecessary debt. We still have our car (okay so that MIGHT fall into unnecessary BUT for us, it was a necessity!) and our mortgage. This year we are working on getting the car paid off, continuing our savings, and then hopefully we can start to double the mortgage payments. Clearly things come up and some of these might not be possible at some point, but they are our goals. The faster we pay off the car, the less interest is thrown down the drain. The faster the house is paid off, the faster we bank that money and can move back to California! GOALS people, GOALS!!!

I encourage EVERYONE to at LEAST read into Dave Ramsey. Set yourself up for a successful future. We lucked out because my brother in law is a financial planner so we have free advice and the BEST advice as to where to put our money. He was able to set up both our kids college funds, tell us where to invest, etc. I highly recommend going and talking to someone. It is so worth it in the end! So much stress has been lifted from our shoulders it is amazing. We know we are headed in the right direction, and our kids will have money for college when they get to that age!

So what are you waiting for?!?

This is the actual sheet we used! It was less complicated than the others and just really straight forward. It became addicting to both of us to cross things off the list! It was so fun to do as a couple and SUCH a great relationship building experience!!!