I was raised in a pretty normal household. My parents had a
car payment and their mortgage and I just thought everyone lived that way and
that was the way of life. My parents also installed in both me and my sister
the importance of a dollar and hard work. I had my newspaper route, and I
started working in concession stands at a very young age. Now that I think
about it, I think my parents got tired of me complaining during my sister’s
softball games so they put me to work, hmmm. My parents also taught us that if
we want something we work for it. So when we were in college, my parent’s
allocated money monthly for bills, rent, etc. but if we needed/wanted anything
else we need to get a job to pay for it. And since I like nice things and had
been working throughout high school, I went out and got a job.
I started working at White House Black Market. There I met
friends that will always be huge influences in my life. One day about a year
after I started working there, and right after I purchased my very own car all
by myself, my supervisor (who was only about 30 years old) was talking to me
about Dave Ramsey and how she was debt free, except her house, but had a goal
to pay off her house in just a few short years. If you’re familiar with DaveRamsey this is baby step 6. I was fascinated by this conversation and wanted to
know more! She didn’t come across as being well off or wealthy, she didn’t drive
a nice vehicle, in fact it was a manual, single cab, ford truck and she didn’t
buy expensive clothes but she was well off in my books. I remember looking Dave
Ramsey up on the internet and looking at his baby steps and thinking there is
no way. Buy everything with cash, including a car; you have to be out of your
mind. I put the conversation towards the back of mind just telling myself “it’s
not normal” until I started going to a new church. (We actually still go to
this church and absolutely love it there; you can find out more information or
find a campus near you, here)
They did a special with Dave Ramsey himself, remembering the
conversation with my supervisor I knew I had to go and find out more. My pastor
spoke first and he told us his story of becoming debt free. I have to be honest
here, I was truly thinking “another one how many are there”. Dave later came on
and spoke about being debt free and his journey. I was so moved by this sermon
that from that day it really changed my life. I purchased my first Dave Ramsey
book and got to reading. I also changed my lifestyle and started a budget, for
the first time. I started shopping at Ross and TJ Maxx instead of shopping at
department stores. I started waiting on sales to come out and didn’t buy
anything unless I got a really good deal for it. I was in it to win it. You can
call me crazy all you want, I’ll take it.
If you remember, I had just bought a new car all my own. I
had a loan for the first time. I was scared to death after the Dave Ramsey
presentation and I remember asking myself “why didn’t I wait?”, “What was wrong
with my old car?”. To be quiet honest I wouldn’t change it. It really taught me
a lot about being determined and about striving for something that meant so
much to me, getting it paid off.
The process took me about 2 years to get my car paid off. Was
it hard, yes, especially being in college and not having that much of an
income. I would work every chance I got. There was one time I was working 3
jobs. In the end it was completely worth everything I had strived for. Dave
Ramsey talks about the snow ball effect. It means writing down all of your
debts and picking the one you owe the least amount of money on and start there.
Since my car was the only debt I had, after it was paid off I was debt free
before I graduated from College.
It was easy to say “no” to certain things while I was in school.
When I graduated and starting working it got to be a lot harder and I started
to fall into my old pattern. I never got back into debt but I found myself buying
things I didn’t need and paying for them full price. I was making money now,
real money and I felt like I needed to live up to that. Luckily Dave was there
to catch me once again. I purchased one of his other books and starting
focusing back on the baby steps that he talks about.
When my husband and I first starting dating it was difficult,
you see he was still in school and had a school loan. We talked about money but
not that much, I mean I was still trying to win him not scare him. As soon as
we got engaged we really started to talk about money and talked about getting
his loans paid off before we got married. It was something that was very
important to me to be financially stable before we got married and especially
before we have kids. I referenced Dave Ramsey so many times that I think he was
going to go crazy if I mentioned him one more time. He grew up the same way I
did where his parents had loans and just thought that it was the way of life.
When he started joining me in going to our church together he really started to
understand the importance of being debt free.
I am beyond blessed to have a man that is on the same page
as I am when it comes to finances. I understand that this is a touchy subject
and one of the leading causes of divorce. I know that it can be difficult if
both parties do not see eye to eye on this subject.
Throughout this whole process my whole perceptions of
wealthy people have changed completely. Most people think that if someone is
driving a nice car, carrying an expensive handbag, goes on vacations every 6
months that they are wealthy. I think of them differently. Dave Ramsey quotes
this book “The Millionaire Next Door”. It talks about the surprising secrets of
Millionaires and the statistics. You see real Millionaires aren’t the ones
driving expensive cars, you’ll find them driving used Ford’s instead just like
my old supervisor.
Did I mention that it’s HARD? I can’t tell you how many
times I would love to just go to a car dealership and sign my name to get a new
car instead of saving up cash or to just put a vacation on a credit card. Yes
it’s hard, yes it takes a ton of dedication, yes people will try and take
advantage of you and judge you. I’ll be the first one to tell you that it’s
worth it and people can judge all they want. Chad and I had a huge unexpected
expense that came up this year and although the situation was stressful in itself it
was less stressful because we were able to pay it off in cash. The worry and
the weight of money and the stress is lifted.
I know this was a really long post but hopefully it will
touch and inspire someone!
Dave Ramsey - Total Money Makeover
