JeneralMom Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 DH and I have been looking into Dave Ramsey. We have a church near us that offers it, but would most likely just get the disks because DH needs to travel quite a bit in the next 4 months. We just want to become more financially secure and have some tools to work with. So, if you have done DR is it really worth the time and effort? Does it really help and give you tools to work with? Tell me your experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXBeth Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 DH and I have been looking into Dave Ramsey. We have a church near us that offers it, but would most likely just get the disks because DH needs to travel quite a bit in the next 4 months. We just want to become more financially secure and have some tools to work with. So, if you have done DR is it really worth the time and effort? Does it really help and give you tools to work with? Tell me your experience. Yes, absolutely. It works if you work it, at least through Baby Step 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusksAngel Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 We just started reading so :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Yes, it definitely works but BOTH spouses have to buy into it and work it together. We've lowered our debt 50% following DR in 1.5 years. We're on track to be debt free in another year. You have to remain faithful to it for it to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthwestMom Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 We did Dave Ramsey online and it was great. Dh and I watched the videos separately and then discussed them together and worked on the snowball and budget together. This could work well if one spouse is traveling frequently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Yes, it definitely works but BOTH spouses have to buy into it and work it together. .... :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Yes. DH and I did Crown Financial rather than DR, but the principals are similar. We now have no debt other than mortgage and we refinanced to a 15 year about 2 years ago. It is HARD and it will require you to maybe take drastic measures, but it is so worth it. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3Boys Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 It absolutely works. As someone else said, both spouses have to be on board and you have to be committed and willing to make some tough choices. It is so worth it, though. I wish this had been around when dh and I were first married. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwjx2khsmj Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 If you are willing to do what you have to do then the program definitely works. For us, the babysteps made it all manageable. We just did what came next and because we were both in the class we were both committed to the change. We took the class four years ago. For the last two and a half years we have been debt free except for our mortgage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paintedlady Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Iit works, IF both parties are committed. You can't have one person working on it and one person out spending willy nilly. Six years ago dh & I were in debt over 80k, between lines of credit from the bank, a second mortgage, credit cards and personal debt. We almost lost our house, ended up being sued in court, the whole nine yards. We did not file for bankruptcy, but committed to the process of changing and getting out of debt.. It was a huge wake up call about how we'd been living our lives. We bought Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and started right away. DH worked every single weekend at a second job for over 3 years. I went back to work full time for a year and a half. We cut everything frivolous first and then cut everything else. Today we're working on paying off our last debt--one of our cars, and then we'll get to work on the mortgage. We're still super frugal, because now we save. We're hard core penny-pinchers, and refuse to own a credit card, but have been able to take vacations, have more peace of mind, and start living our dream. Dh was able to start his own business almost 2 years ago, something he never would have been able to pursue if we'd still been in debt. Now he's got a successful business doing something he loves and doesn't have all the sleepless nights worrying about debt. It's not easy, but it does work. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Yes yes yes yes YES! Dh and I were over our heads in debt a few years ago, to the point where we were putting gas on a credit card to make it through the month. I started looking into DR and we ended up making some radical lifestyle changes but being so much happier! Dh wasn't on board at the beginning "another book? Ugh!" so I presented it as my idea. :D For the first time ever we started with a budget that worked with where we were at and moved to where we wanted to be. The ideas in the books are simple. Live within your means, save for a rainy day, and get out of debt. But implementing them in the order he presented let us get completely out of debt (about $18K) in two years and have a nice bit in savings. :lol: Course, Murphy got in his laugh and we had a hellish move and needed a new car, so last year went back into debt again. We'll have our new car completely paid off by next year, at least 1.5 years early thanks to DR principles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Yes. DH and I did Crown Financial rather than DR, but the principals are similar. DH and I did Crown Financial Ministries when we were first married and it has brought us a LONG way -- having the freedom to move without a job because we didn't have debt and had been socking away the money we used to spend toward car payments. Then to get a job paying less money than we left in the new place, for husband to go back to school. Even having a second child. It has allowed us a lot more freedom of choices than we would have had without that cushion of no debt/savings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeneralMom Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 Thank you everyone. I first mentioned it to DH because I saw it mentioned here alot. Then he looked into it and seems to be onboard. I will look further into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Yes! We read The Total Money Makeover 5 years ago and have changed our financial picture drastically to the positive. Working together brought us financial peace and improved our relationship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrieann Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I love love love Dave Ramsey! It has been a huge blessing to our family! I especially love the funny looks we get when I say that we don't have any credit cards...it's so amusing to me how people can't wrap their heads around the concept of paying cash for everything! Throw in the fact that we homeschool and we are certified weirdos! Wouldn't have it any other way!! It's definitely worth looking into and even if you aren't 'gazelle intense' with the program, it is full of very practical information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I am a fan of the class, however. While I don't know how the on-line option works, I think having a group to go through the process with together is very helpful. Both spouses do need to be on board, but it isn't 100% necessary for both spouses to attend all the classes together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Yes it works. We are almost finished with Baby Step #2. SEPTEMBER we will no longer owe money on anything but our house! We are hitting baby step #3 really hard! and I mean "beans and rice" as Dave's says so that we can move on with our lives! Here's the baby steps: http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 I agree with pp, like anything else, it works if you do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunflowerlady Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Well, I am sure it works. Unfortunately, when I started in January, our drainfield went out and it sucked up all the money we were going to use for our emergency fund. I guess it was good that we had the money there and I am thankful for that. (We were using our tax return $ to fund the emergency fund) We didn't even get to put the money in a savings account.:glare: I was sort of discouraged. I am just now starting to set aside money for the emergency fund, but it is a lot harder setting aside 10 or 20 dollars here and there than funding it all at once would have been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 There is a free DR forum called LivingLikeNooneElse.com Warning: We are hard core over there.....if you are wishywashy on the program you will be called out and told you are NOT following the program. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMOm Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 We did it, we loved it and we are debt free except our mortgage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amydavis Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 For those of you that have done Dave Ramsey, do you mean that you read the book, or do you have to take the classes in order to be successful? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ma23peas Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 There really is no trick to Dave Ramsey, it just has to be a 100% accountability of all your spending. I sat down and counted our income down to the penny, figured out how much to spend on groceries, ($600 a month for EVERYTHING house/food related), set aside a specific budget for clothing/shoes, cancelled our cable/netflix...anything else that was a monthly fee that we could live without....worked with credit cards to get the lowest interest rate...and started setting aside money to pay our credit down (we had 2 mortgages for 31 months so credit kept us alive but now we are getting it gone!) Some people take extra steps and sell their car so they do not have a car payment and buy a car outright with cash...we do have a car that is 12 years old and one that is 2 years old with 18 more months to pay on it, but it's a Prius and the $10,000 a year we save on gas is worth having the new car..you just can't find a used Prius anywhere and we got a great deal on our tradein for it. We will never be mortgage free until 15 years from now, I just do not see that as being feasible or desirable to live that way...but any extra money we have (our mortgage is at 4%) after getting rid of debt will go to mortgage, even at 4% the stock market/even commodities just isn't earning anything at this point. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 For those of you that have done Dave Ramsey, do you mean that you read the book, or do you have to take the classes in order to be successful? We took the classes, read the books, and listen to his radio show. I think you could be successful by reading the book and listening to his radio show. There's a lot on his website too! There's no reason to wait for a class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 For those of you that have done Dave Ramsey, do you mean that you read the book, or do you have to take the classes in order to be successful? I've never lived where there was a class offered, so I just read the book and use online support groups. :001_smile: The accountability keeps me in check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Yep...but you have to be willing to do it. I didn't need any discs or dvds. I did it just listening to him on the radio over 10 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 We started by reading the Total Money Makeover and listening to Dave's radio show online. We took the class when it was offered near us about two years later, but we didn't really need it then because we already knew what we were doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 We never took the class. We read The Total Money Makeover, and then ran with it from there. DR will tell you his information isn't new or profound, which is true, but the way he's marketed the ideas, and the way HE presents them has made it much easier for people to latch on and feel comfortable with taking such drastic steps in order to find financial freedom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 It works well if you have a spending problem, but won't help if you have an income problem. Get your income up first, and then work the Baby Steps. Sell anything you have that you just don't have to have in order to fund an Emergency Fund. The biggest thing is to stop using credit now - no matter what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Yes, it does work. We were never in debt, but we decided to go by his principles anyway and one thing about meticulous budgeting is that you really do see where money is frittered away, and when you cut that out you find you have more money than you thought you did. It helps so much to prioritize your spending. Sometimes you may be spending money on things that aren't that important to you, and are easy to cut out. Since we started Dave Ramsey our savings have increased dramatically. I agree with the other posters, though, that both spouses need to be on board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 There really is no trick to Dave Ramsey, it just has to be a 100% accountability of all your spending. I sat down and counted our income down to the penny, figured out how much to spend on groceries, ($600 a month for EVERYTHING house/food related), set aside a specific budget for clothing/shoes, cancelled our cable/netflix...anything else that was a monthly fee that we could live without....worked with credit cards to get the lowest interest rate...and started setting aside money to pay our credit down (we had 2 mortgages for 31 months so credit kept us alive but now we are getting it gone!) Some people take extra steps and sell their car so they do not have a car payment and buy a car outright with cash...we do have a car that is 12 years old and one that is 2 years old with 18 more months to pay on it, but it's a Prius and the $10,000 a year we save on gas is worth having the new car..you just can't find a used Prius anywhere and we got a great deal on our tradein for it. We will never be mortgage free until 15 years from now, I just do not see that as being feasible or desirable to live that way...but any extra money we have (our mortgage is at 4%) after getting rid of debt will go to mortgage, even at 4% the stock market/even commodities just isn't earning anything at this point. HTH! Wow, you SAVE $10,000 in gas each year? How much is your gas bill a year pre-Prius and current? My mind is boggling...we drive an insane amount with our various jobs and we don't spend anywhere near 10,000 in gas a year total---at least I don't think so. Now I'm going to have to figure that out. At the prices Prius cars are still at, we wouldn't save anything by buying one with a payment. Used cars, no payments, and we aim for at least 20 mpg. When we save for the next car, we hope to buy something less gas guzzling... I'm feeling inspired now. To OP, we believe in Dave. We did the classes and enjoyed the support there. Our instructors were not as inspiring as Dave...none of them had ever had money or debt issues. I find having the CDs in the car to listen to on trips is good. I love listening to the radio show (available as a commercial free podcast, too.) I've hung out at Living Like No One Else and loved the support there. I was onboard long before my husband was. Debt was a way of life for his family...and those habits are hard to break. That was frustrating and discouraging. If you work together, becoming debt free becomes a game to win. It makes the sacrifices more bearable. Happy Gazelle intensing! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 I can't imagine $10K in gas each year - I thought *our* spending was crazy. Ours was $3500 last year and is headed for $6000 this year.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 yes. it absolutely works. at least for us, it has been a huge blessing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Running the race Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Yes. It changed our lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneplustwoIdaho Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Another yes- He really tells you nothing new, as he says, but he is very consistent and tells it like it is. My grandparents lived this way of course and died with a paid off home with land, two cars, cash stashed around the house, and a lot of money in the bank, despite grandpa earning less than $6.50/hr (that was his highest paying job, which was after he officially retired). Of course, they lived through the Depression. They had enough, nice things, but not frivolous. It has to become your way of life, which is the hardest part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeerkatMama Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Dave Ramsey works for us, but it helps that I come from a family background that taught you pay cash for everything, including your house. For me, his advice is common sense, but for someone like my husband, it is a whole new way of life. He grew up learning that if you have credit cards, that equals cash. Thankfully, my husband was extremely teachable and saw the value of my parents way of thinking over his folks' idea of spendable "cash" early on in our marriage. :) I don't agree with all of his "baby steps". I would rearrange the latter half of the steps and probably completely throw out the college one for a lot of reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 DH and I have been looking into Dave Ramsey. We have a church near us that offers it, but would most likely just get the disks because DH needs to travel quite a bit in the next 4 months. We just want to become more financially secure and have some tools to work with. So, if you have done DR is it really worth the time and effort? Does it really help and give you tools to work with? Tell me your experience. Yes it works and is worth the $100 for the class. I found the actual classes to be far more motivating than just the CDs. And like everyone else said, BOTH of you have to be on board. It helps if both attend the classes if you can. After we attended the classes we moved to a cheaper rental, sold our new cars and got cheap ones, lived well below our income, and lived on a budget. Now it is a lifestyle that we love and we've been out of debt (minus house) for years. We're about to purchase a house well below what we can afford and we'll be able to pay it off in 1 1/2 years. Without debt you can do things like that. It is very freeing and definitely worth the $100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntgoodwin Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 I agree with what everyone else has said. Great stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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