Another Dave Ramsey question

[rowan25]

I know almost nothing about Dave Ramsey, though I've seen him come up several times here. If I were going to get one book of his, what would be your suggestions? We are looking to reduce debt, if it makes a difference.

 

Thanks in advance for the recommendations.

[sunshine]

Makes a serious difference. We are out of debt almost completely in less than a year.

 

I would suggest any of his books. The Total Money Makeover is one that my dh read and became a "Ramseyite"

[staceyobu]

Total Money Makeover.

[....]

I've posted this before, but you can get the monthly subscription (for 10 bucks a month) and that was a milliongazillion times more helpful for me than his book was. It has a huge baby step tracking program that walks you through his baby steps. You have to track your savings, debt, etc. You go in and record every single bill you have in a month and it tells you what percentages you should have in each category. So, if you are using too much spending money or spending too much on living expenses, it will come up and red and tell you to lower your expenses somehow.

 

It also tells you when you will be out of baby step 2 (the debt repayment step) and gives you encouraging dates for each debt. Then, you can change your snowball and see how it affects your pay-off date.

[rowan25]

I've posted this before, but you can get the monthly subscription (for 10 bucks a month) and that was a milliongazillion times more helpful for me than his book was. It has a huge baby step tracking program that walks you through his baby steps. You have to track your savings, debt, etc. You go in and record every single bill you have in a month and it tells you what percentages you should have in each category. So, if you are using too much spending money or spending too much on living expenses, it will come up and red and tell you to lower your expenses somehow.

 

It also tells you when you will be out of baby step 2 (the debt repayment step) and gives you encouraging dates for each debt. Then, you can change your snowball and see how it affects your pay-off date.

Is this through his webpage?

[Scarlett]

I've posted this before, but you can get the monthly subscription (for 10 bucks a month) and that was a milliongazillion times more helpful for me than his book was. It has a huge baby step tracking program that walks you through his baby steps. You have to track your savings, debt, etc. You go in and record every single bill you have in a month and it tells you what percentages you should have in each category. So, if you are using too much spending money or spending too much on living expenses, it will come up and red and tell you to lower your expenses somehow.

 

It also tells you when you will be out of baby step 2 (the debt repayment step) and gives you encouraging dates for each debt. Then, you can change your snowball and see how it affects your pay-off date.

 

There is also a free web site that is helpful. livinglikenooneelse.com

[rowan25]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Much appreciated!

[Ravin]

I just recently read Financial Peace Revisited and found it very helpful.

 

I'm actually kind of excited about it. I already ditched the credit cards years ago. Just being on a budget is going to help us a lot, I think. The last fiasco of trying to get the car fixed has me so done with living paycheck to paycheck.

 

Paying down debt is still a ways away for us; it'll probably take a year or more to get emergency savings in place, but we'll get there, I think.