Dave Ramsey. At the mention of this name, you are either nodding your head and mentally high five-ing me OR you are shaking your head in disgust. Dave is sort of a love him or hate him guy, there isn't really much in between. Previously I was of the
Then our church offered Financial Peace University and we heard testimony of couples that had gone through the program and (ta da!) had found financial peace. I looked it up online and still felt it was a bit extreme, putting every penny towards your debt and anything extra at the end of the month goes to that debt too. Where is the wiggle room? It seemed like a fad diet- looks great on paper but can you realistically put it into practice? Sure it is easy to vow to never eat out and never buy yourself another pair of shoes again, but life happens. I mean, we aren't swimming in debt. Aside from my school loans and our house we are debt free. We paid cash for my car, we do not carry credit card balances. We're ok... right???
In an effort to bridge the gap and learn more about this Dave and his program, I got his book "Total Money Makeover" and read it front to back in 3 days. Here is what I learned: 1.Dave has been there. He has been to the bottom and gotten back to the top, I give the guy a round of applause! 2.He is funny, I found myself laughing aloud while reading, which I wasn't expecting. 3.While I still feel his plan is a bit extreme, it can be modified (although his book pretty much says the opposite. I feel now that I have read the book, I get Dave on a different level. We're homies. Brotha's from otha Motha's, if you will. I am sure if we were in person he would give me the green light to just go ahead and alter his plan slightly 'cause we're tight like that...) 4.Debt is debt. And I have been in denial (De Nile, it's not just a river in Egypt!) about my student loans and just how big they are. I have called the school and offered to return my degree as I am not using it, but they spouted off some lame excuse about, "That's not how a college degree works..." Whatever. So, after taking some artistic licensing with Good 'ol Dave's plan, we will officially own that Art Degree in 14-15ish months. And to give you some idea of just how much this lovely art degree is worth, I could buy 33 iphones, 10 Samsung 51" Plasma TV's, and a zero turn John Deere mower with a 62" deck. Faaaaannnnnntastic....
So, while I won't be the gazelle, I am going to be a gazelle. I won't be the leader signalling danger to the group, but I won't be the slowest gazelle that gets eaten either. We will tighten our belts a little, set a budget, and hopefully be better off in the long run.
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