In the spirit of "paying it forward" I'd like to share a personal story of me and my husband's journey through our Total Money Makeover with Dave Ramsey.
A little over 2 years ago I was talking to a close girlfriend of mine when she mentioned Dave Ramsey. My husband, Luke, and I had never heard of him before, nor did we know what he did for a living. My friend mentioned his book, Total Money Makeover, and thought that my husband and I might benefit from reading through it together. Come to find out, he's the author of several personal finance books, including Financial Peace University and EntreLeadership, his most recent publication.
It only took us about a week to read through TMM (Total Money Makeover), and let me tell you something... I am not exaggerating when I say that it literally changed our lives! Everything we knew about how to handle our personal finances was challenged and called into question. This was not an easy 'pill' for us to swallow as we have always considered ourselves to be very responsible people when it comes to our money. We quickly learned that we were, in fact, not.
Dave takes you through his 6-step program to get you out of debt and living credit card free in TMM. Currently, Luke and I are on step #2 - Debt Snowball, or pay off your debt (not including your mortgage, which is step #6). Before I go any further, I want to stop here and let you know that I'm about ready to tell you JUST how in debt Luke and I were, and how much we've been able to pay off. I want this to be an inspiration for anyone that may read this and a testimony to just how amazing this program really is. What I am NOT trying to do is brag about our success or rub this in anyone's face about how 'awesome' we are (because trust me - we still have a long way to go!). My sole purpose is to inspire someone who may be struggling financially to start taking control of their life!
When Luke and I first started this program the current sum of our combined debt was over $50,000!! YIKES! In percentages, a whopping 77% belonged to student loans; 16% in car loans, 1% in credit card debt, and 6% in miscellaneous loans. In 2.5 short years we have been able to pay off over $24,000 worth of debt! This is over 43% of our total debt!!
This is crazy considering Luke is a youth minister and I work 2 part-time jobs, but nevertheless, I truly believe that anyone can do this if they take Dave's advice and spend within their means, a concept that today's society knows nothing about. If you don't have the cash to purchase those things considered "non-essential" then DON'T BUY THEM! Hard work can get your farther than you ever thought it could, and trust me... it's worth it!
