Financial Peace University Please share some encouraging stores and successes

[susancollins]

We are starting Financial Peace University at church in January please share your success stories and some encouraging facts. We bought the kit and took the 1st class about 3 years ago and extended family health issues kept us from going. My husband is a skeptic. I am trying to get him excited!!

[NavyMommy]

Well if you have the same book and kit from 3 years ago, you may need to get an updated one. They just released (I think fall of last year) a new 9 week class instead of the 13 week class. I think their research showed most people who dropped, did so after 9 weeks so they shortened it. I am actually in the same place, I have been trying to contact them to see about just getting a new workbook since I don't want to pay for the entire thing all over again, but I haven't heard back yet. I assume they're still out for the holiday.

 

That being said, the class was a great inspiration for us. Once we actually did our first budget we felt like we had a raise, and we'll be completely out of debt by the end of the year. That is something I never thought would happen, I just assumed that all people lived with debt their entire lives. It's a completely different way of looking at money than most people have, but for our family it has been very freeing.

[susancollins]

I was told by the lady at our church that we can get the new kit for $49 plus shipping since we have taken the class before.

[NavyMommy]

That's good to know, I should contact the church where we are looking at taking it again. We don't really 'need' it persay, but it will be nice to have a refresher and I want to see the new format.

[milovany]

Someone I know did FPU, paid off scads of debt in a few years (worked VERY hard at it; don't know if they're all the way out), sold a house on which they owed more than it was worth, got released from what they still owed on that by two banks, sold nearly everything they owned, and now both teach overseas now to (I think) pay off the rest of their debt. They are very happy and highly recommend it. :)

[laughing lioness]

I think it's a great program. I don't agree with everything he says, but it is sound, reasonable, and a great way to get the cobwebs about your $ cleaned up. If you've been following the GTD discussion, FP basically has you do a brain dump of ALL of your financial info- get it out on paper, know the truth about your $ and then make a plan. It's not a magical program. It's a tough love program.

What exactly is your dh sketical about?

[susancollins]

He just doesn't want to commit to a program or talk about our financial life with others. We have some credit card debt not alot both of our cars are paid off. He doesn't want to do a budget and stick to it. He doesn't like the envelope system he is worried either of us would lose the money. I think these are just minor excuses not to do the program. We should be saving more money but we don't other then retirement.

[Erica in OR]

We did the course at our church last year. We just finished an entire year of budgeting and I agree with a previous poster—it feels like we're making more money. It's been useful to make conscious decisions about where the money is going to go beforehand. I wasn't a big fan of the idea of using cash either, but we adjusted the envelope system to make it work for us, rather than strict Ramsey-style. When we started the program, it was mainly because it was at our church; we didn't have any debt other than our house and already had an emergency fund. We've made great progress on the other steps, starting college funds for the kids, hitting retirement contribution goals, switching into better retirement accounts, cleaning up our life insurance, and working toward paying off the mortgage entirely.

 

Just going doesn't mean you have to commit to it all or share any more of yourself than you choose. The one thing it helped was as a catalyst for the two of us to talk about money together outside of the class. That's what the goal is at the end anyway. You won't be in the class forever, but the two of you will continue to work together on your finances.

 

Erica in OR

[Lily_Grace]

When dh and I started, we had no FPU program. We used the TMMO book. We were both working and putting necessities on credit cards because we couldn't meet our monthly obligations. In a few months, I quit working, we sold most of our belongings, and moved. One car was turned back in to the dealership (lease), the other was sold to a friend. We bought a cheap beater. And then a second when the first needed repairs more than it was worth. (the second got us through, whoohoo!). We used the envelope system and slowly cut back where we could. When we realized dh was spending over $200/mo on "$.50 coffee" (+ danish for breakfast snack, and bag o' chips or dingdong for afternoon snack..), we set about to curb that drastically. We bought a nice coffee maker, learned to cook better, and bought dh a large carafe. Coffee bill - $16/mo. We ate no fast food, kept entertainment free, and stuck to a small budget.

 

In two years we paid off over $18,000 worth of debt, took a cash-only trip to WDW, and banked our savings. Then I found out I was pregnant and we were facing another move. We made the decision to buy a new car, financing it for 4 years. The envelope system was going to work for us even less, with the need to handle two currencies in more budget catagories and two formats (online/electronic and in person). We got there and found most of our belongings destroyed by the moving company and they didn't reinburse us for 3 months and not without a lot of phone calls and going up chains. It was awful. All of a sudden we found ourselves back into a position we didn't want to be in: no savings, car payment, credit card debt, and a barely functioning household. We had no schoolbooks and they were last on the priority list so the kid went to school that year. It took 25 months to dig ourselves out. We kept a tally on a spreadsheet (instead of the paper DR suggests), and every time we hit a milestone we celebrated. 6 months after we were debt free we took the kids on a cash-only trip to Disneyland Paris. :) We're big Disney freaks here.

 

Dh was a skeptic at first. I dragged him into the program, and we didn't do things exactly the DR way. We kept putting aside our retirement savings even though it didn't match up to his idea of quiting if it takes over X months to get out of debt. And we added into our budget a catagory for local trips, since being in Europe was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We could spend a weekend in Pisa for $300 - and that's not something we'd be able to do in a year or two. We also changed the envelope system to an electronic one, making a spreadsheet with all the different budget categories across the top and subtracting how much was spent over the pay period.

 

Now that we're debt free again and on step 3, dh is a firm believer in the plan. Our immediate and long term goals have changed to reflect a more modest lifestyle. Dh still has dreams of owning a truck again, but only if we can buy it outright. We will mortgage a house, but expect that to be the extent of our debt and we'll do like we did with the car: extra payments until it's paid off early.

 

We talk about money more and don't feel Pay-end Panic - the days before the paycheck hits, wondering if we have enough in the account or if we're going to get overdraft fees. At one point those darn fees ate up nearly all the paycheck. We changed banks to one that wouldn't re-order withdrawals and well, got responsible. I think just opening the dialogue helped, but having a plan in place to get financially fit made us feel like we *could* do it.

[BugsMama]

I have more than one friend who is now debt free after using Dave Ramseys plan. We took the class last year and have struggled with it- mostly because right now we live in Europe and I want to see the world. I know it would be smart to 'live like no one else' right now- but I will never, ever, be back here. So I am going to travel. We are budgeting his way, but we are not paying everything to our debt like he would have us do. When we get back to the states, we will be following the program to a T.

[SFM]

We did the program and we have been debt free for a year and a half and are SO thankful. It really changed the way we viewed our finances, I highly recommend the class.

[Hoggirl]

We are big Dave Ramsey fans. I think your husband will get on board once he has gone to a couple of the classes. Even though length of sessions has changed, I am truly hopeful that he has kept the bit about the "nerd" and the "free spirit" when speaking of husbands and wives. It's a classic. Sounds like your dh is a free spirit.

 

We did not use every single suggestion that Dave made. I think on anything like this, it's best not to view it as the gospel truth. If there are parts that don't work for you, then don't use them. As long as you stay within the spirit of the process, I don't think it is necessary to totally abide by the letter of the process. It's hard to imagine that the restrictions he places are liberating but they are.

 

We love being debt free.

[....]

We are huge Dave Ramsey fans. I don't want to post too many specifics, but in a nutshell....we survived a year of unemployment, a cross-country move, having 2 houses for 3 years while we sold the other one (which we had to leave because there were no jobs), and here's our grand total of debt erased so far: $210,000 (some of this debt should have been BS4, but oh well - it's gone).

 

Also, we have not used a credit card in years. Credit cards = Bad!

 

I am also an extreme budgeter. I mean extreme. My husband's friends at work make fun of him. :tongue_smilie:

 

I hope you do it. It was probably the most helpful financial advice I ever got. I'm going to have my kids do the class for teens when they're older. We weren't taught how to handle money when we were kids and we were an absolute financial train wreck in our 20s.

[Carrie12345]

He just doesn't want to commit to a program or talk about our financial life with others. We have some credit card debt not alot both of our cars are paid off. He doesn't want to do a budget and stick to it. He doesn't like the envelope system he is worried either of us would lose the money. I think these are just minor excuses not to do the program. We should be saving more money but we don't other then retirement.

 

I ordered a bundle that includes the FPU audio discs. Dh fell asleep during the first one. :-/ But he's primised to listen during his long commute, so there's hope.

 

My dh also has issues with "having to stick to a budget."

The approach I plan to take is to remind him that we can budget whatever we want into any category. If he wants a gabillion dollars in blow money, great! Just let me know which other categories that should take away from. Would you like to take it out of the food line? The cable line? The electricity line? The life insurance line? I didn't think so! ;-p

 

We've been lazy DR'ers for a few years. It's helped us to improve things, but I'm hoping this really helps us get to where we need to be.

[susancollins]

Thank you all for replying!!! I am very excited about the new class what we will learn and working together to tackle some our cc debit and start a savings.

[Angie in VA]

We took this a few years ago at church. We didn't share personal info, and everyone was respectful. DH and I got far more out of our talks on the rides home after class than from the small groups we discussed things in as part of the class. (As a PP said, it has been revamped, so that may not even be a part of it now.)

 

I know DH and I needed to go to a class and not just do this at home. I know I would have bought it, and I would have nagged him and we probably would never have gone through the whole program. But that is just us (me).

 

We had already stopped using credit cards long before we took the class, and other than our mortgage we had no other debt except for a small loan that we were already paying extra on. Still, we learned a lot from it and it was time and money well spent.

 

 

[NorthwestMom]

We did the online course since we did not have consistent babysitting at that time. It was nice because we watched the videos separately, on our own time, and then did the homework together. Your DH might like this option if he does not want to share financial information with others. We paid off about $22K of debt, including 2 cars, built an emergency fund, and have cash flowed everything since. I definitely recommend it!

[SBMama]

We love Dave Ramsey! We took the class 4 years ago, and it changed our life. We haven't been very gazelle intense lately, but we will finish paying off our van and will be debt free in 3 months! We owed $54K in debt when we started out. DH lost his job, we moved, and then we had another baby all in that time. We haven't used a cc in 4 years. My DH was skeptical at first, but after starting the classes he became a fan too. It has really changed the way we look at money. I wish someone had taught me all of this before I went out on my own.

[DawnM]

We didn't do FPU but we did Crown Financial. We got out of debt, but more importantly, we have a hefty savings account now and some cushion should something happen.

 

We live differently than we used to.