Total Money Makeover

Here are some quotes to get you interested in the book.  Some of these run through my mind every time I think about buying something.  Throughout the book he compares getting out of debt to a person trying to lose weight.  Something I could relate to.  You can't just go on a yo-yo diet and expect to lose and keep off the weight, you have a make a total life and habit change.  That's the same things with money.  The world wants you to view money in a certain way. it wants you to think that "credit cards are good if you pay them off every month" that "you should have a car payment to build credit" "a house is a good investment" (only if you can afford one!) these are all misconceptions that the world has caused you to think and they make you think this is the right way to spend your money.  Well, Dave Ramsey proves differently.  It is very effective.

In his book there are 7 steps to building wealth.  I will talk about the 7 steps in a different post.  I wanted to do this post to get you wanting to get the book and start seeing your money differently.  Below are quotes by Dave Ramsey.  I really could go on and on.  Did i mention I think anyone who is reading this should get the book?  :)
 
“We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.”

“If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.”

"Christmas is not an emergency!!  It is a holiday that happens every year on the same exact day.  Do not go in to debt for Christmas!! start saving throughout the year."  **(This one is one of my favorites.  So many people (including Danny and I before we read the book) are panicked when Christmas comes around and end up spending WAY to much and putting it all on credit card that they end up paying off over the next three months or more. Save for Christmas and other holiday and birthdays throughout the year and keep a budget of how much you will spend on each person you're giving to)

“Act your wage.”
       It is human nature to want it and want it now; it is also a sign of immaturity. Being willing to delay pleasure for a greater result is a sign of maturity. However, our culture teaches us to live for the now. “I want it!” we scream, and we can get it, if we are willing to go into debt. Debt is a means to obtain the “I want its” before we can afford them. 

If the Red-Faced Kid (“I want it, and I want it now!”) rules your life, you will stay broke.

Winning at money is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge. Most of us know what to do, but we just don’t do it.

"A budget is people telling their money where to go instead of wondering where it went." - John Maxwell

In other words, don't try to keep up with the Joneses. Sure, they've got lots of nice things. But they're broke! To find financial peace and sleep well at night, you've got to live differently than those around you ("like no one else"), so that you can eventually live debt free, with a substantial emergency fund, and a sizeable nest egg saved up for retirement ("like no one else").

"The Forbes 400 is a list of the richest 400 people in America.... When surveyed, 75 percent of the Forbes 400...said the best way to build wealth is to become and stay debt-free.... They all lived on less than they made and spent only when they had cash. No payments." (p. 23) 

"Taking a car payment is one of the dumbest things people do to destroy their chances of building wealth." (p. 32)

"You have to reach the point that what people think is not your primary motivator. Reaching the goal is the motivator." (p. 33)

Even if you pay your credit cards off each month, they are a bad deal. 

"A study by Dunn and Bradstreet showed that the credit-card user spends 12 to 18 percent more when using credit instead of cash." (p. 42)

 "Money is an excellent slave and a horrible master." (P.T. Barnum)   

wow, i got a little carried away.  but, In reference to the credit/debit (yes group them together) verses cash is there is no limit on a credit or debit card.  You cannot see how much you are spending and how much it is taking from you budget each month.  Danny and I have been on an all cash spending for a little over a year now.  It was definitely hard to adjust to at first and we weren't always true to the cash only stuff because it was a hard transition.  But now I really have more financial peace than I ever have.  I know exactly how much I can spend and also see how much I have spent.  

It's a learning process

In response to my last post I would like to share with you mine and Danny's journey with MONEY!! It has been said that the most common arguments between spouse's is over money.  And let me tell you, we've had our fair share of "discussions".  There are going to be a series of these posts becuase it has been a big learning process for us.  I would like todescribe my take on money and Danny's take on money because we did not start out on the same page AT ALL! this is why we went on a search to learn whats best when it comes to money. I'm sure many of you out there feel the same way in that you and your spouse might not see money and budget in the same way.  I hope to encourage some of you to start thinking about your money more. 

I'm quite conservative when it comes to money.  I have an extremely hard time sometimes.  I love to keep extra cash and hide it away in my house just so I know I have it.  I have a difficult time buying things I want unless I see a need behind it.  I always like to say to Danny "is it a need or a want" :) It will actually make me cringe sometimes when I think about having to buy new work shoes or pants.  I buy things when I need them.  If I don't see a need I will feel buyers remorse before I've even made a purchase.  I will wear some things out till they have holes all over and i can tear them apart :)  I even still wear some of my jeans and t-shirts from high school. I had a pair of jeans that got so worn out and thin I tore them off myself one night :)
Anyway, I've never had a credit card in my name and I didn't have any student loans because I got a full-ride track scholarship for SUU so I never had to pay for schooling.  I know that this is not the case for everyone but I was lucky to have it for me. 

Danny also likes to save money.....but he LOVES to spend it more.  When we first met he really was an impulse buyer.  He has gotten so much better now....however his purchase prices are getting larger each time he is smarter in the way he does it.  If he sees something he wants he can't stop thinking about it, or planning how to get money to buy it or how hes going to get me to let him buy it.  I do have a weakness of not being able to say no to him very well)(.  This aspect of him sometimes drive me absolutley nuts.  I could not understand how one person could want soooo many things!!

Then there was the big money thing that happened when we got married.  Danny did what he wanted to do by becoming a pilot.  He has been very successful in it but has also accumulated an immense amount of student loans with it.  looking back I do think there are lessons he has learned about how he got so much debt which has led him to become smart about money now.  This was probably the biggest issue when we got married.  I had a very difficult time taking on all his debt after marriage.   But along with Danny's spending/impulse buying/wanting everything on the face of the planet (love you honey) he does have a good sense of how money works and everything I've learned about money is becuase of him.  My take on money is to hold on to it and never let it go...which isn't always the best.  Danny's take on it is that it's okay to buy things if you do it the right way.  so here are some books that got us started.  And we started this money journey about 4 years ago

first we read The automatic Millionaire
Then The Richest Man in Babylon
Then Rich Dad Poor Dad
 
These books were all great about what to do with the money you have but they didn't help us in our issue of getting out of debt and how to be smarter with our money. Then Danny read Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey and he loved it! I have not personally read this one, but it did lead us then to read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and that has gotten us to where we are now.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO EVERY PERSON OUT THERE WHO MAKES MONEY :)  and I will talk about the total money makeover in another post because this one has gotten waay too long :)

So much hair!

One of the most common things people say about Ashlynn is how much hair she has. I don't really realize how much hair she does actually have until I see other girls her age and realize she has a full head of hair. Ashlynn has been able to have a ponytail for a while now so i decided to take a picture..

I have come to realize that I really do write about Ashlynn alot. I was a pretty good journaler before I started the blog because I find it therapeutic. So now Sunday mornings when everyone but me is still asleep I find it therapeutic to journal but in a different way. But I realized this morning there is a lot more to my life than Ashlynn. Even though she is my pride and joy....I also want to write more about things I used to write about in my personal journal. So now I'm just trying to decide if I should start another blog or just add it to this one.

homeless ashlynn

Some of the outfits Ashlynn ends up in some days are really quite interesting and make her look like a homeless child. She loves to put beanies on and she has so much hair it's almost always messy. And she likes to walk around in my shoes. So when you put all those together...you get one goofy looking child. But we still love her :)

I Love To See The Temple...

We were in St. George for an afternoon and decided to walk around the temple ground. It was a beautiful day.

Danny told Ashlynn to give mom a kiss. She literally pulled my whole head towards her and gave me a nice slobbery open mouth kiss

Nice picture Danny!