For those of you doing the Dave Ramsey Plan...

[melafive]

Do you have any stories of success to share? I'm really thinking of starting but feel like I need more motivation.

 

[Tink-aholic]

Go to www.livinglikenooneelse.com or www.llnoe.com. TONS of success and motivational stories there! I love it!

Good luck.

 

[DawnM]

Yes. We started 4 years ago. We had $14K in student loans left and $21K in auto loans. We did not have CC loans.

We have paid it all off and paid cash for everything since.

Dawn

 

[mrtr62]

We LOVE Dave!
We have been doing the plan for a year now and have almost paid of 50000 in debt. We had credit line debt and a car payment.
My husband and I always joke that Dave wouldn t like me lurking on a vacation forum! I am just dreaming about when I can live like no one else!

 

[KristinU]

Sure! (and Hey DawnM! I haven't been around in a while)

We started DR's plan in February of 2007 when we "woke up" to $27,000 in debt between car loans, credit cards, and home improvement loans. We tightened our belts and lived on next to nothing for the next 6 months and paid it off in those 6 months. We then beefed up the baby emergency fund to full size. And like Dawn, we've paid cash for everything since.

I can give you a couple of instances where having our emergency fund enabled us to focus on the crisis at hand and not have two crises at once:

The first was right a fter we had filled our EF to 6 months of living expenses...my FIL passed away and we live in a different state. It wasn't a mad scramble of "where is this $ going to come from???" to get DH on a flight ASAP. That was certainly a comfort and a blessing to just be able to focus on supporting my MIL and grieving. The EF could be backfilled later...and it did, of course.

Then this past year our DK9 needed emergency surgery..again, it was so much better just dealing with that emotional crisis rather than it being a financial crisis as well (or having the decision to do the surgery at all weighing on us for financial reasons). And again, we backfilled the EF ASAP.

Thankfully, DH and I have both retained our jobs through this financial crisis so far, but knowing that we have a budget in place and an emergency plan in place really has eased the anxiety for us.

One side effect that I wasn't expecting was the great bond we've strengthened both as a couple and as a family. When you're both on the same page, it really is amazing. And when you're not out spending money as a pastime (like I had been...lots of "spaving"!)...turns out you have more time to spend with your family doing the simple things like hiking, playing cards, reading books, etc...all good stuff.