Dave Ramsey followers-which BS do you start vacationing again?

[tinker&belle]

Hi all...

We are Dave Ramsey followers and we are finishing saving for some major medical expenses this year and then we will be finishing up BS2 this summer. After that we build our FFEF next year. After that is done I was hoping to take a trip to Disney (paid with cash of course). I can't remember when doing things like a vacation are okay according to Dave. I was just curious what others have done.

If it matters we do already contribute 5% to get another 4% match for BS4 because it is taking us so long to move through BS2.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

We did step 1 and 2, then took our vacations once again. Only after we had our debt paid off, all but mortgage. We also had our 6 months emergency fund set. I then saved to cover everything for the vacation, even the tips for the luggage service and ME driver. I factored in fuel, airport parking, snacks along the way.

But I got myself into debt by charging all my previous vacations to Disney and now it feels great to know that my trip is paid in cash before I even leave.

We are now, "better than we deserve".

 

[HHSTigerFan]

We are still in the middle of BS2 even though I am not a real Dave guy, but going to Disney this summer because the kids are young.. Just cutting back even further so we can make sure its 100% paid for in cash..

 

[bookgirl]

I'm the wrong person to answer because I went on vacations in BS1, BS2 and I'm getting ready to do BS3 and I'll be taking vacations there as well, but I planned them all and had cash for them. I know me and I'm not a gazelle.

On LLNOE they talk about them in BS2 rarely and BS3 occasionally and more in the vein of going camping for the weekend/visiting family/buisness trip that we're taking an extra couple of days.

 

[minnie1928]

I agree...those over at LLNOE are pretty hard core. Just don't criticize them about it...geesh!!

I'd say latter part of BS2 (or later) for vacation. I think the key thing is that it's paid for with cash.

FWIW, I didn't change my 401k contributions while working through the steps either.

 

[wdwfan16]

IMHO I would not vacation until I was doing well on BS3

 

[dvcgirl]

I think you need to definitely need to complete BS 3, but truly, you should be very close to contributing 15% to retirement before taking vacations.

I've heard Dave tell people it's okay to take a cheap vacation after completing BS 3, paid with in cash before moving on, but really, the whole point of the Total Money Makeover is to not just get you out of debt, but also to get you on track to retiring with dignity.

 

[teacup princess]

I'm not a true Dave follower, I'd say I'm doing a modified BS2 right now. I do plan to take a vacation before I pay off my last big debt. If it were just me and hubby I'd say absolutely not until after BS3. However, my kids are at such a prime family vacation age I just can't pass on making these memories for them. I won't do it until I have all the cash saved in advance, though, even though I'm dying to get out of the house and leave this snow right now.

 

[Mrs.Reese]

We started vacationing after finishing BS2 as long as we paid cash. Now our financial situation is different since we both will get pensions when we retire.

 

[DawnM]

We started vacationing more on the cheap in BS2 and have continued cheap vacations into BS5!

Dawn

 

[iwrbnd]

You know, we've always done Dave Ramsey before it was called Dave Ramsey! (Meaning we paid cash, didn't charge and stayed as much out of debt as poss...except for house and sometimes car) The problem is my kids are growing up on me without having those bonding family vacations. I realized we would never go on vacations so I went back to work part-time a couple years ago. That's what my money goes to so now we've taken some vacations and I LOVE IT! However, I'm in a little bit of mourning for all the lost opportunities we missed!What does Ramsey say about that?

 

[Brer Shay]

We didn't stop vacationing, but we did require it to be paid cash BEFORE we went. We've done 1 and are working through 2 pretty well. We've contributed 14% to retirement the whole time and continuted to give regularly. Vacations are too important to our family time, whether it be camping or Disney.

 

[momtosam]

We didn't stop vacationing, but we did require it to be paid cash BEFORE we went. We've done 1 and are working through 2 pretty well. We've contributed 14% to retirement the whole time and continuted to give regularly. Vacations are too important to our family time, whether it be camping or Disney.

Same here. I won't stop vacationing in any step, but our vacations are now paid in cash. Vacation time is important time for my DH and I with our kids.

 

[bumbershoot]

We're in BS2 and we aren't stopping vacations altogether. Then again, the thing we did right before we got scared enough to listen to DR was buy into DVC, and we didn't sell it, so we kind of "have to" take a vacation.

Yeah yeah, I don't buy it either, but that's where we are.

We try to be VERY honest with ourselves. Any money we do NOT put towards the snowball (for instance, with some "leftover" money from last month, we're buying one WDW ticket) we are sure to say, out loud, that we are, in essence, paying the car loan interest on that money. I just sold a bunch of CDs and we're selling more...instead of that going immediately to the car, it's going to buy things for the trip, like a Passporter book. Again, we're paying nasty interest on that money, because it could have been used to pay down the car.

We've tried to define all of that as strictly as possible, so we don't find ourselves on a slippery slope.



So anyway, you're not supposed to do it until you're well established with the 401k full percentage going and the fully funded EF, but as everyone says, it's *personal* finances, and that just doesn't work for every single person. But you do have to be careful with it!

 

[tinker&belle]

I think you need to definitely need to complete BS 3, but truly, you should be very close to contributing 15% to retirement before taking vacations.

I've heard Dave tell people it's okay to take a cheap vacation after completing BS 3, paid with in cash before moving on, but really, the whole point of the Total Money Makeover is to not just get you out of debt, but also to get you on track to retiring with dignity.

We will definitely be done with the emergency fund before taking the trip, and probably be just starting to hit the 15% mark with contributions. (That is if we count the 4% contributed by his employer. I know Dave doesn't count it but when DH switched jobs, that was the majority of the 'raise', so that's how we are figuring it for now.)

The biggest variable is after we finish funding the emergency fund we need to have a rough idea of how long we have to create a sinking fund to pay cash for the next vehicle. We sold a car during FPU and bought a car for about 5000 with cash. It runs really well and is nice and will hopefully last a while. We hope to create a sinking fund after we hit the 15% BS4 mark so that we can pay cash for a mini-van when that car dies or gets to the point of needing too many repairs.

Sorry for so much info. I have been on the llnoe forum and they are great people and really motivating; however I was wanting perspectives from people who are travel AND budget minded so I thought the budget board would offer a good perspective.

 

[dvcgirl]

We will definitely be done with the emergency fund before taking the trip, and probably be just starting to hit the 15% mark with contributions. (That is if we count the 4% contributed by his employer. I know Dave doesn't count it but when DH switched jobs, that was the majority of the 'raise', so that's how we are figuring it for now.)

The biggest variable is after we finish funding the emergency fund we need to have a rough idea of how long we have to create a sinking fund to pay cash for the next vehicle. We sold a car during FPU and bought a car for about 5000 with cash. It runs really well and is nice and will hopefully last a while. We hope to create a sinking fund after we hit the 15% BS4 mark so that we can pay cash for a mini-van when that car dies or gets to the point of needing too many repairs.

Sorry for so much info. I have been on the llnoe forum and they are great people and really motivating; however I was wanting perspectives from people who are travel AND budget minded so I thought the budget board would offer a good perspective.

I think he does count the match from your employer on a 401K. He does tell people to save in addition to a *pension* from an employer. The difference being that you control the 401K, in many cases the employer controls the pension. You sound like you're in good shape to me.

 

[nunzia]

I'm not a true Dave follower, I'd say I'm doing a modified BS2 right now. I do plan to take a vacation before I pay off my last big debt. If it were just me and hubby I'd say absolutely not until after BS3. However, my kids are at such a prime family vacation age I just can't pass on making these memories for them. I won't do it until I have all the cash saved in advance, though, even though I'm dying to get out of the house and leave this snow right now.

Amen...you can't get back those kid years. We took many vacations we couldn't really 'afford' by certain standards and have not one regret. We do a modified Dave and it works well for us
I salute everyne who is struggling along and being financially smart.

 

[LoraJ]

I do not think there is anything wrong with taking trips at any step as long as you are not behind on your house payments or in collections with credit card companies. If you have a handle on the debt and know it will just take you a little longer to pay it off, and you are fine with that it should be fine. Just make a vacation sinking fund to save up for it and pay in cash.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

I am starting BS5. It's strange though how the further you get in paying of debt and saving, the less desire you have to spend money. I love to vacation but I find myself pondering the cost much more now, when I am more financially secure, than I did when I didn't have as solid a foundation. It's strange.

 

[TnTWalter]

I think as long as you're not adding new debt, you should be fine. It will just take you longer to work through the steps and as long as you're ok with that and have it planned, go and have fun. Maybe don't stay at concierge on deluxe dining plan for a week! LOL.