A Total Money Makeover- Dave Ramsey- Anyone ever done this to completion?

[Iott Family]

I just finished reading Total Money Makeover and I am now reading Financial Peace-revisted. DH and I are sooo exhausted trying to make ends meet and going up and done on the money yo-yo. With January 1st looming and the inevitable resolutions ours will be a year of intensive money making over!
That means no WDW this year But maybe just maybe we can take our dream disney vacation in 2009 and have two weeks in a deluxe with the dining plan Something to look forward to when life starts feeling bleak.
Anyone here on the dis care to share? success? encouragment?

Thanks!

 

[trekkie2]

I did, I have actually backslid (is that a real word?) somewhat, but it really does work and has made a big difference for me. Last year at this time, I was always behind, struggeling to keep up and really stressed. Did the program, got everything paid off ( I wasen't that in debt really) and can not tell you the decrease in stress!! I have not been great the past few months, ( stress is back) but the cards are almost paid off yet again, monthly money management is better and we are going to WDW for the first time ever. The best thing is did for me was to change the way I thought about money. i went from spending everything and then some to really thinking about where my money was going and what I wanted to do with it. just being proactive made a big difference. My kids laugh and call it mom's money cult, but I have caught them changing their money habits too.

 

[minnie1928]

I've been doing it for 2+ years and I've paid off 2 cars and 1 of my DVC contracts. I've freed up $1450/month in monthly payments and will be snowballing them into DVC contract #2 and should have that paid off by 03/08. Then it's nothing but house!

It's a great feeling to see yourself getting somewhere financially. I'm a big believer in Quicken (or other similar things) because it makes it very easy to see where you were vs. where you are.

It really works! Good luck!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

To completion?
No.

But I (we) did use alot of his advice re: paying off all debt, not financing cars, funding college and retirement....term insurance etc etc We didn't go 100% to a fully paid mortgage, but his guidelines were great at helping us set our lives in order. Getting free of consumer debt was a huge stress relief in our lives.

They only caution I have is do not go hog wild buying all his stuff...the books and the software and the kits and the toys etc etc etc. You can even watch his seminar online at YouTube.

His plan doesn't change and all the information you need is freely available online and at the library. Take that money and put it toward the baby steps.

 

[jennz]

Haven't done it but am subscribing!

 

[poptoone]

I've read his stuff and used my own version of it. We how have 3 paid for cars, no credit card debt. Did purchase an RV but made a good cash downpayment, so we have the RV loan and the mortgage only!

The #1 thing I found to help was I stopped carrying a credit card with me. I had it in the safe at home. If I couldn't buy it right then with my debit card or cash I didn't buy it.


Good luck on the makeover, it's hard at first but once you change your habits it gets easier and soon becomes a no-brainer.

 

[Chicago526]

I'd have loved to but couldn't get my DH on board (he didn't want to stop spending on everything except needs, he still wants his "wants".) But since I control the finances I've been able to make enough unilateral changes that we're on track to be debt free other than the house in 36 months. Of course by then we'll need a car loan, but at least it will be a small car loan!

Anyway, I think his plan is great. I've heard his investment advice for when you're out of debt isn't the greatest, but for getting out of a hole, he's one of the best.

I also agree, the books are great but I wouldn't bother spending money on any of his "accessories" like tapes, work books, envelope system, etc. Read teh books and listen to his pod casts or radio shows, and you'll be good to go.

 

[Iott Family]

Thanks to the pp about the advice to check him out on youtube dot come. In doing so I can across another website titled gazelle intense dot com that has many of his worksheets free for the printing. Im sure it has other resources but I havent checked it all out. Happy going!

Thanks for all the great replies!
Cari

 

[DawnM]

We are doing DR. We have paid off all consumer debts (cars, student loan, credit cards and paid cash for our adoption last year.)

The only thing we owe is on our house and that may be gone soon as well.

We do not have full savings for our kids' college, but we do have a fairly nice retirement going and are putting $$ into that monthly.

We now only buy with cash and only after we have paid our tithe, savings and retirement funds.

Dawn

 

[nzdisneymom]

We have adopted several of Dave Ramsey's princples and practices. The most eye-opening one for us was spending our monthly income on paper every month before spending the actual dollars. That helped us plan where our money was going to go rather than seeing where it went (and wondering why there wasn't any left-over).

We have DVC contracts to pay off and one car payment, plus we have two vacations we are saving up for. I have them figured into our monthly budget so that we will have the trips paid for in advance, unlike what we've done before. I told our family that starting January we'll be "gazelle intense" toward paying toward DVC and saving up for our vacations (treating them like a debt - otherwise I would let other things take away some of the $$ we want for vacation). I've already spent the next year's salaries on paper so we can see what our goals are.

Good luck with it - and as others have said, you can pretty much find everything you need online or at the library. We did get the Financial Peace Jr. kits for the children for Christmas (they are 10 and 11 1/2).

 

[Disneylush]

I am very interested in this and have only ever heard about it on here. Is this only for people who are close to getting out of debt? For example I will have student loans until my 3 year old is in his 2nd year of college plus I don't even want to think of the thousands of other dollars I am in debt but I am so tired of the money stress thing and spending down to the last penny hoping nothing will bounce until the next pay day. If I watch this on youtube will it help or make me more frustrated? Or will I see a glimer of hope? I would love to lose the money stress.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Years ago I did something similar using a Suze Orman book (one of her first) as a guide. We paid off everything, including our home mortgage. That was 3 houses ago, and we're still mortgage-free and debt free. It just becomes a way of life after a while. I guess that we did without a lot of things, but it didn't really feel like doing without because we made so much progress paying off our debt every month.

 

[Iott Family]

I am very interested in this and have only ever heard about it on here. Is this only for people who are close to getting out of debt? For example I will have student loans until my 3 year old is in his 2nd year of college plus I don't even want to think of the thousands of other dollars I am in debt but I am so tired of the money stress thing and spending down to the last penny hoping nothing will bounce until the next pay day. If I watch this on youtube will it help or make me more frustrated? Or will I see a glimer of hope? I would love to lose the money stress.

Disneylush,
I believe the whole point to DR's Total Money Makeover is to attack the debt with boundless zeal. Go check out the book at your local library. Its worth the read! Go to Dave's site for more info and/or go to gazelle intense dot com for free resources and printables. Our first step will be to get caught up as DH has not had a regular paycheck in 5-6 months, then get our emergency fund set up, then look out debt!!!! we will be snowballing you one at a time!

Happy reading! It really changed my outlook and gave me a sense of direction and hope which makes me feel in control!

Cari

 

[Iott Family]

Ok, I printed out the baby steps and taped them to my fridge!

 

[Chicago526]

I am very interested in this and have only ever heard about it on here. Is this only for people who are close to getting out of debt? For example I will have student loans until my 3 year old is in his 2nd year of college plus I don't even want to think of the thousands of other dollars I am in debt but I am so tired of the money stress thing and spending down to the last penny hoping nothing will bounce until the next pay day. If I watch this on youtube will it help or make me more frustrated? Or will I see a glimer of hope? I would love to lose the money stress.

Actually, it's geared towards people who are up to their eyeballs in debt, though anyone can use his system of course. He has examples in his books of people who were one missed paycheck away from losing it all, people being hounded by debt collectors night and day, divorced couples, married people, single college grads with college loans the size of a mortgage, you name it. Go check his books out at the library, you've got nothing to lose. The one book of his I read, Total Money Makeover, was a very easy read, you could finish it in about two days (I finished in one, but then I don't have a 3yo like you do! ).

Now, this is NOT a quick or easy fix kind of thing. I believe he said the average time it takes most people to finish the debt elimination (except the mortgage) part of his plan is about 3 years, and of course it can take longer, it just depends on your circumstances. This will take hard work, sacrifice, and time on your part. You didn't get into debt overnight, you won't get out overnight either. Now, my husband and I don't follow his plan (I couldn't talk DH into it) but following our own plan, it will take us 5 years to be consumer debt free, we've got three years left. But let me tell you, just being organized about our finances and having a goal in sight is a huge relief. I don't need to think about our finances much, I just pay the bills each month according to our plan and that's that. We have a budget and try hard to stick to it, though some months is easier than others. It's basicly on auto pilo now!

 

[MinMouse]

We got motivated in 2007 with the debt-free thread. Read Dave's book on the advice of many here. We didn't have too much debt and always paid on time but we did use credit cards and pay them off each month which was a struggle some months. We often took advantage of the 12 mos same as cash deals and paid them off. But it always felt like we were losing a few hundred dollars each month to pay off the furniture, computer, fridge, snow blower, etc.

Now our plan is to save up and buy cash. So last year we paid off DVC contract and all other credit. We now only owe the mortgage. We have always put 10-20% away for retirement but have not fully funded our girls college. Our goals for this year are to add to savings for girls college, begin saving bigtime for a van (our van is 8+ years old, we're hoping it can go 10! and we're buying used this time -- per Dave's plan), pay for two WDW trips on cash.

In regard to buying Dave's products. . . I just purchased two books as Christmas gifts (16.49 each with free shipping on Amazon). I actually check his book out of the library here when I want to review something. We just recently found that Dave's tv program airs in our area at 8 p.m. on the Fox Business network. We watch him every night. We already pay for tv and he keeps us motivated.

I'd love to hear from others who have completed all their baby steps!

 

[Princess Nancy]

CHeck on Dave's Website.

www.daveramsey.com

ALL of his books are $10 until Dec. 17. This might reallyhelp someone. I recommend "Total Money Makeover" to start.

You also can check out a link to local classes. Mostly they are in churchs.

It costs about $100, DH and I say it is well worth the $.

We are getting out of Debt for school and have paid off over $8000 and paid CASH for Christmas this year, since beginning his class, just 10 weeks ago.

His advice is so simple to understand, just takes discipline to follow.

Good Luck.

 

[MinMouse]

CHeck on Dave's Website.

www.daveramsey.com

ALL of his books are $10 until Dec. 17. This might reallyhelp someone. I recommend "Total Money Makeover" to start.

Oh man, I thought 16.49 was such a good deal! Is this new on his site today? I had checked it one other time when someone mentioned it here and the offer was gone. But I see that it is there now! I may have to buy my own copy! Do you know if there is a shipping fee?

 

[jennz]

Shipping is $5 for media mail.

 

[flying_babyb]

Try Amazon.com and check out there used books!