Total Money Makeover/debt elimination programs.

[palavra]

Does anyone here do a modified version of Total Money Makeover or a similar program? We are mostly following TMM. So far, we have the $1,000 emergency fund, and are snowballing debts. We aren't, however, cutting back on everything and trying to get debt free as fast as possible. AS it is, we only have about $8,000 dollars in debt,excluding mortgage, most of which is a car we own. Our other car is paid for. I know we could do without internet, cable and eating out. But, we have a 7 year old daughter, who will only be young once, so we've modified the plan to fit our needs. On our schedule, we should be debt free, except for mortgage in about 3 years. I would love to get some tips from others who are doing their own debt reduction and budgeting.

We did recently take a trip to Disney that was saved for. We did not go into debt for the trip.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

That's kind of what we have done too. We took out an equity loan and did a five year fixed at a very low rate to pay off all of our debt. It will be paid off this year. I know Dave says not to do that but it just worked out better for us.We do owe on my car but we had leased before, this time we bought a used one and put it on low years to get it paid off quicker and put enough down so that my payments are low.

We save money each payday. The kids have learned the importance of saving money. The bigest thing for us is that if we want something, we save for it or plan for it. My kids have what they need but we do not rush out and buy something everyweek.

We save for vacations. We pay cash for them or we do not go. We went to Disney in Sept & we are going back this year for Christmas. I know we should pay the equity line off in stead, but it's on a fixed rate and we are about to double up on this last year of it to get it paid off sooner. I want to enjoy life and not stress over the petty things.

So basicly we are debt free other than the house and one car. We have two cars that are paid for and we have a pretty good emergency fund in the bank that we NEVER touch. We do with out a few things but life without stressing about bills is so very worth it.

I think living this way and explaining to the kids has helped them so much too. They already have an emergency fund in place, thanks to my mom, and they are adding to it when they get money. We have made them save 25% of all money that they get for birthdays & Christmas. They are excited to see the savings grow.

I think that everyone needs a basic plan to get out of debt. Sure it can be done sooner if you work at it but the main goal for us was to never charge anything ever again. I have seen so many people charge credit cards up & take equity in the home to pay them off and then charge them back up again. It's a horrible cycle to get in and it will never work until the CC's are gone.

 

[DVCBELLE]

We do a modified plan as well...my kids will only be little once and all the debt we have left now is manageable and on payment plans (home equity, mortgage and student loan)

We also built up a larger emergency fund b/c we don't want to worry about what we would do if DH lost his job now.

DH and I were just discussing today that we do a few things that Dave probably wouldn't approve of but it works for us and we are so much happier now and have more money to do the things we want!

 

[DawnM]

Well, I am not sure we ever really needed to eliminate everything. We have never lived too far above our means.....but we did need some heavy guidance.

We didnt' have cc debt when we started, but we did have student loans and cars and a mortgage. We also did not have proper savings.

It took us 3 years to get about $65,000 in debt paid off and adequate savings set up.

The biggest change for us was not in eliminating cable or stopping all eating out or vacations, the biggest change was going to all cash and finding far cheaper ways to do our vacations and eating out. We kept our cable (well, satellite) because we don't really do that many other forms of entertainment. We don't go to the movies and we have eliminated most eating out and buying things we don't need.

We do have a set budget for everything now and we also pay CASH for almost everything....groceries included.

So, I guess you could say we modified it too.


Dawn

 

[bookgirl]

I did a modified plan, as I was not a gazelle. I used envelopes and paid cash, I had catagories.

I did a plan that worked for me. I stayed on track by working in some fun stuff and I kept my CC.

I took some vacations during that time and I had funds that were put aside as fun money. I also believe in using CC responsibaly so I never canceled my CC, nor did I stop using 1 as a travel/internet purchase device. I do not use my debit card online.

I am also an agnostic, so I do not tithe nor do I follow any of his 'religious' guidelines.

Oh and I think the amount of money he makes off those that he helps is a little ironic, I got his book from the library, I followed not his official website but a free website of followers, and I never bought one financial aide from his company.

But I do think he has a really good practical way of getting out of debt. I would be fine recomending his advice to others.

 

[bettymae1121]

DH and I are sort of following DR's advice too. We aren't "gazelle intense" but we've cut out some things we can do without (cell phones being a biggie) and have put off new furnature and appliance purchases. We still eat out some and we are still moving forward with the renovation of our home (most of it needed repairs rather than cosmetic) but we have a plan to pay off the CC debt in about 2 years. Meanwhile we have no car payments, the CC debt is our only debt other than our modest mortgage.

Even with a job loss we'd be able to keep our heads above water so I don't feel the need to cut to the bare bones just to get things paid off 5 or 6 months sooner. If we were uneasy about our jobs or had car payments on top of the CC's, I might feel differently but our two vehicals should last until the CC debt is gone and our jobs are as secure as can be, even with the times we're in.

Use TMM as a guide, but with only $8k of debt I don't see the need to go crazy trying to pay it off ASAP.

 

[justbishop]

Another "non-gazelle" DR follower here! We have our $1k BEF and are in our 2nd month of snowballing our debts (2 CCs, medical bills, and a car loan = roughly $23k). We have stuff that we could sell off (ipad, 2 flat screen TVs, etc.), but decided to start with a clean slate, keep what we had, and move forward from there.

We are planning a WDW vacation (which tax refund money will pay for) before we're debt free for a few reasons. By the time we hit our payoff date, we'll be trying to conceive DC#2. I had a horrid HG pregnancy with DD, so no way could I ever go while pregnant, and having a new baby pretty much knocks us out for a good year or so. So, if we waited, DD would probably be 6 or so by the time we got around to it again, and I really want to see her experience it at a younger age (she'll be 2.5 when we go next year). Plus, I just REALLY want to go, lol!

Even so, we're on track to hopefully get all debt except for our mortgage paid off within 3 years (woohoo!) We've already decided that we will never finance another car, and we really cannot wait to start building that $10k FFEF once the debt snowballing is done

 

[2disneyboys]

DH & I just started the FPU version (FInancial Peace University) (as in this past monday was our first class) and I am excited about it. We aren't doing it because of having a lot of debt (basically Mortgage and very little on a 0 interest charge card. We are doing to program so that we can learn how to do better with what we have. Our main goals are building the emergency fund (our goal is a 6 month fund and then seperate "sinking" funds) we also have some decesions to make as far as college/retirement.

I know that Dave's program is like anyother "program" which ironiclly include Diets... there is always the extreme approach... do this exactly like this and don't dieviate at all.. and yes, typically, when you do it this way, you see the best results (lose the most weight, save the most money.. same sort of thing) I also think that if you are in a good financial poistion and already were on frugal side of living (for lack of a better word) that you CAN modify his plan.. the point I would think is to know what YOUR GOAL to accomplish from the plan and back into it from that angle. You won't be "as" successful overall as compared to someone who follows the plan to the letter, but you can ultimately be successful when it comes to meeting the "goals' you have for yourself. Hopefully my rambling thoughts make sense!

 

[bumbershoot]

Yes we've modified it, in that we're not as gazelle as some. But we are way way way more, as in worlds more, gazelle than we ever were before, and THAT is the important part for us.

One of the things that pushed us over into looking into Ramsey was that we financed DVC, and just after the 10 days where you can change your mind, DH got word of an impending layoff. It was the final straw and we finally opened our eyes to see how close to the edge we were. Since we chose to keep DVC, that's been one of our debts, and since I do not wish to rent out points, the main part where we are not gazelle is that we do vacation. However, as of today, it has been a full year since we've been to a disney park; we've been saving all this time for a big WDW trip in December. That's very different than how it had been since '07 when we really rediscovered Disneyland...

So we *could* cut more. But we've cut quite a bit, we have a budget, we use cash...we're affording our lives, paying off debt, and going on vacation...not bad for right now.