I first heard of Dave Ramsey through my husband, Charlie. Then I would occasionally hear Dave on the radio when traveling in the car with Charlie. Even though the philosophy sounded good, the subject bored me. You guessed it…I am the free spirit. Before long I really did not want to talk about the finances, plainly because it took too long and it overwhelmed me. I knew we needed to get focused on our large student loan payments, but it was easier to dismiss the subject. I really thought I was going to be stuck paying the loans until the time I retired – and I had come to accept this as a fact. As time passed, I could see the stress mounting in my husband. I would hurt for him, but did not know how to help.
Finally, we signed up for Financial Peace University. After attending just the first few classes I felt hopeful again. After three weeks we had saved our $1000, baby step one, and I could NOT believe how much it relaxed me. Even though it was not verbalized, I felt a huge tension release in our marriage. We are now chipping away at our debt, baby step two, and I am amazed to watch how quickly it is going. In the past six months, we have paid off the truck and several credit cards. It is hard to believe that with our planned budget we can be debt free in 5 years! I have been so revitalized and encouraged that I am starting to enjoy working on the budget.
Photo credit, Digital Magic Photography
