Back to survival mode.

[barnyard]

I volunteered to take all of next week as layoff. My youngest is doing a skype interview to teach in Montana and I may be moving her out there. I am very happy to be in a position to be able to do that.

 

[ChrisTheBrown]

In the simplest of terms, you are correct.
If you follow Dave Ramsey, he considers credit cards, car loans, student loans, HELOC's, medical bills, etc as debt.
A mortgage is almost a necessary evil but as long as it's a quarter of your monthly budget, it's not grouped with the others.

I do follow Dave Ramsey, actually. He is great & has helped me tremendously with my finances.

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[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I do follow Dave Ramsey, actually. He is great & has helped me tremendously with my finances.

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Dave Ramsey was a life saver for me. I was just shy of $50K in consumer debt in 2008 with little hope of digging out all on my own. I bought his Money Makeover, followed the program and was debt free in just under 24 months. While most, if not all, of what he teaches is common sense, he presents it in such a way that you can't wait to pay off that first bill before moving on to the next.

I had a binder specifically for this program. On the first page I listed all of my creditors and balance owed, from high to low with the total at the bottom, as of the 1st of the month. I then chose a creditor to start with and put all of my extra money toward that bill while making minimum payments to the others, updating the balances, total paid off and remaining debt on my list along the way. It was a great feeling when there was a zero next to that creditor and I could drop it off of my list for the following month. 24 months later the list of creditors was empty, the balanced owed was zero and the debt paid off was just over $50K. I kept that binder for a couple of years to remind myself of how hard it was to dig out of that hole and to never do that to myself again.

While the Money Makeover does have a religious theme to it, you do not have to be a religious person to benefit from his wisdom.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Dave Ramsey was a life saver for me. I was just shy of $50K in consumer debt in 2008 with little hope of digging out all on my own. I bought his Money Makeover, followed the program and was debt free in just under 24 months. While most, if not all, of what he teaches is common sense, he presents it in such a way that you can't wait to pay off that first bill before moving on to the next.

I had a binder specifically for this program. On the first page I listed all of my creditors and balance owed, from high to low with the total at the bottom, as of the 1st of the month. I then chose a creditor to start with and put all of my extra money toward that bill while making minimum payments to the others, updating the balances, total paid off and remaining debt on my list along the way. It was a great feeling when there was a zero next to that creditor and I could drop it off of my list for the following month. 24 months later the list of creditors was empty, the balanced owed was zero and the debt paid off was just over $50K. I kept that binder for a couple of years to remind myself of how hard it was to dig out of that hole and to never do that to myself again.

While the Money Makeover does have a religious theme to it, you do not have to be a religious person to benefit from his wisdom.

He helped get me out of debt too. I like that it has a religious theme. I also liked his radio show when I was still able to listen to it. His political views are almost in line with mine too. Some say that some of his methods might go too far (such as advising against prenups for marriages and literally living on rice and beans) and I agree on some of that but overall he is the master of finances. We need people like him in Washington.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

He helped get me out of debt too. I like that it has a religious theme. I also liked his radio show when I was still able to listen to it. His political views are almost in line with mine too. Some say that some of his methods might go too far (such as advising against prenups for marriages and literally living on rice and beans) and I agree on some of that but overall he is the master of finances. We need people like him in Washington.

His free podcasts on iTunes went from 1 hour a day to his full 3 hour radio program (commercial-free basically) daily.
I have a 3-4 hour window of residentials which I listen to my iPod.
This new podcast format is a radio listeners dream and between Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard, makes delivering residentials the highlight of my day.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I also like Clark Howard.

 

[Returntosender]

UPstate after you were debt free. Did you call Dave Ramsey and do the debt free scream?

 

[reyUpser]

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

UPstate after you were debt free. Did you call Dave Ramsey and do the debt free scream?

No but I did treat myself to a nice dinner.

 

[ChrisTheBrown]

I never got into credit cards (besides a small Best Buy credit card back in 2008) but yeah...They are no good. Thank you, Dave. For those of you that haven't, please do check him out. I watch a lot of his videos on YouTube, & follow him on Instagram. Haven't read any of his books or played any of the board games.

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[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I have 1 debit card and 1 credit card. I pay cash whenever possible but like to have the security of a credit card, especially when I travel.

 

[toonertoo]

I got rid of all of them. If I need to travel I am in trouble as many rentals wont take debit, but I am so done with credit. I like knowing I only owe utilities, a truck payment and a house payment. I would do without the truck payment, if I lived closer to work, but I am not moving, and its not outlandish. I used to listen to Ramsey, I got the jist. I am in

 

[oldngray]

A credit card is great for the convenience but you have to use it responsibly. I use mine for almost everything and pay off the balance every month.

 

[watdaflock?]

(I'm not whining, I promise.)

Really?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

My daughter disagreed with me when I urged her brother to get a credit card when he started his new job. While I did worry that he might run it up I was more concerned that he have one "just in case". He got a points card and so far has been really good about paying it off as he goes.

 

[ChrisTheBrown]

Really?

Yes...Working just the preload keeps me humble.

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[Overpaid Union Thug]

A credit card is great for the convenience but you have to use it responsibly. I use mine for almost everything and pay off the balance every month.

That is what I do only I pay the balance every week. That is an example of one of the things Dave Ramsey would be against. He is completely anti credit card but its mostly because of the over kill approach to handling debt. He figures that if you completely avoid it then you will be better off. True but that's like eating absolutely no "bad" foods to avoid obesity when you can indulge every once in a while in moderation. Plus.....credit cards don't make any money off of me. I make money off of them.

 

[pkgdriver]

Yep...I make money/miles etc. off of my cards also. practically everything put on the cards and paid off every month. A card used responsibly will help your credit score also.

 

[rod]

His free podcasts on iTunes went from 1 hour a day to his full 3 hour radio program (commercial-free basically) daily.
I have a 3-4 hour window of residentials which I listen to my iPod.
This new podcast format is a radio listeners dream and between Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard, makes delivering residentials the highlight of my day.

This reminded me of how I always listened to Paul Harvey's "The Rest Of The Story". I'm sorry UPS (not really) for all the time I spent sitting in my truck because I didn't want to miss the ending.

 

[rod]

We put EVERYTHING we possibly can on the "card' and use the miles to fly back and forth to Texas to visit the Grandkids. The way we have it set up our card is paid off 100% automatically every month. Works for us but I wouldn't advise it if you can't do that.