Dumping Debt and Building Wealth with Dave Ramsey~ MARCH - Page 2

[Purple*Lotus]

Okay, I have everyone added/updated so far

[Einley]

Originally Posted by Galatea

DR says that if you can't pay it off within 18 mos, sell the car for something cheaper. I don't follow that piece of advice b/c we needed a bigger car and I'm a fanatic about safety, but that is what he says.

Yes that's right. Thanks for the reminder!

Need to get out the calculator...

I'm nuts about safety too, and my dh drives a lot for his job so it is so important for him to have a reliable car.

[wendizbaby]

WOW...already March! It looks like February was a good month for most!!
I'm so happy to update that I sold my grandma's car!!! So here I am:

BS1: done
BS2: skipping for now. Just so I get it down, we owe: $2000 @ 0% until 2012 for furniture; $16,000 @ 4.9% for car and by the time I get to it, about $10,000 in student loans. Oh and the second on our house: $20,000 @ 8%.
BS3: $6,000/$10,000 - YIPEE!! So I'm staying on this step for the next 4 months or so and then going back to BS2.

I hope you all have a wonderful March!!

Wendi

[jeca]

I have been following these type threads but never know where to start can someone point me in the right direction. I don't have the book, actually he'll be hosting a seminar here soon that I plan on attending so is there a website that tells you the gist of it in the meantime?

[Mama Rana]

Originally Posted by jeca

I have been following these type threads but never know where to start can someone point me in the right direction. I don't have the book, actually he'll be hosting a seminar here soon that I plan on attending so is there a website that tells you the gist of it in the meantime?

http://www.daveramsey.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Ramsey
Here are 2 places you can start.
Good luck!

[Galatea]

Originally Posted by Mama Rana

Do you mind if I ask for some numbers? Like how much the set was worth, and what kind of cut he took? I hadn't thought of that idea, but it might be worth it....

It was worth about $500 (paid about $100 for it at auction), and they took 40%. I didn't know then that they had coupons, and had I waited for one, I could only have paid them 20% commission. But still to get $300 when they only cost $100 was nice.

[wendizbaby]

Originally Posted by jeca

I have been following these type threads but never know where to start can someone point me in the right direction. I don't have the book, actually he'll be hosting a seminar here soon that I plan on attending so is there a website that tells you the gist of it in the meantime?

Also, go to Youtube.com and type in Dave Ramsey. You can see an entire seminar on there! It covered most of what's in his book.

Wendi

[Einley]

Originally Posted by wendizbaby

Also, go to Youtube.com and type in Dave Ramsey. You can see an entire seminar on there! It covered most of what's in his book.

Wendi

I had no idea! Great tip!

[all in green]

As always, thanks for much for all the hard work, Jamie!

I was at $488.52/$1000.00 for BS1, but we paid our 6-month auto insurance policy of $1051.65 all at once this morning and now I'm back down to $188.00. We were waiting for a check from a side job my husband did last month to pay for most of the insurance bill. When that didn't arrive as expected we had the BEF to dip into, so all is well. I'll be putting money into an "insurance fund" going forward so we're all set when September rolls around and the payment is due again. (And if you're wondering why our insurance is so high, it's because we have full coverage on two fairly new cars and my husband has had a rough couple of years with accidents and speeding tickets. )

We still have that side job check coming in, and my husband is getting a check for a week of vacation from last year that he didn't use. We've made up our budget for the month, and we should have a fully funded BEF as of March 23 barring any financial emergencies -- this despite the fact that we're spending extra money for my husband's birthday (we budgeted for a gift and going out for dinner for him) and a trip to CA to visit the in-laws.

It is so, so, so nice to have our finances in order. We still have a lot of debt to pay off, but we have a plan and we're working together to take care of it. I actually get excited about setting up our monthly budget! Crazy. If I can just stay obsessed I think we're going to get this thing done.

[my2girlz]

I'm in! I'm actually working on $3781.33 balance on our AT&T Universal Card. We paid off 4 cards in February with our tax refund. We're experiencing a little hiccup right now as our car "fleece" is up in June. After reading the paperwork, the buyout is a lot more than we thought. So now we are looking at putting our snowball on hold and taking all the money we can and putting either as a downpayment or to buy a car. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

[bc1995]

Originally Posted by Einley

So then what do you keep your emergency fund in? Our emergency fund is currently in a savings account attached to our checking account.
I'm debating whether to open another account or use the savings account we already have.

I opened an ING savings account for our BEF. It is also linked to our savings account, but not something I can instantly transfer like a savings account with my bank. I didn't want to be able to access our $$ quite that easy. It could make it too tempting in a non-emergency. You know I have that problem with instant gratification. The savings account with my bank that is linked to my checking will be used for our slush/sinking fund, gift and vacation savings, etc.

[Mama Rana]

Originally Posted by Galatea

It was worth about $500 (paid about $100 for it at auction), and they took 40%. I didn't know then that they had coupons, and had I waited for one, I could only have paid them 20% commission. But still to get $300 when they only cost $100 was nice.

I assume you dont' know how they set hte price, do you? I'm just curious how much my set is "worth".... 40% seems like a lot, and I don't think I've ever seen those coupons. Oh well....

[koofie]

Full update on us:

0 -- Done!
1 -- $2,000/$2000
2 -- All paid off except SL
3 -- Working on this while...
3.5 -working on this!
4 -- Invest 15 percent of household income (Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement)
5 -- College fund
6 -- Pay off house
7 -- Build wealth and give!

[Einley]

Originally Posted by bc1995

I opened an ING savings account for our BEF. It is also linked to our savings account, but not something I can instantly transfer like a savings account with my bank. I didn't want to be able to access our $$ quite that easy. It could make it too tempting in a non-emergency. You know I have that problem with instant gratification. The savings account with my bank that is linked to my checking will be used for our slush/sinking fund, gift and vacation savings, etc.

Okay that makes sense. My dh had mentioned opening an ING account- maybe we'll do that then!

My mind was wandering just today thinking about the BEF and what I could do with it

[CeciMami]

I feel like I should update:

0: Get current on bills: DONE
1: $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund: DONE
2: Pay off all debt: $13K in CC's, $21K in Car Loan, $16 in Student Loans
3: Three to six months of expenses in savings: $10K/$10K DONE
4: 15% income into retirement: On Hold for now
5: College funding for children: On Hold for now
6: Pay off home early: In the distant future!
7: Build wealth and give: Someday!!!

Should be done with BS2 in May of 2010!

[bc1995]

Einley, let me know if you decide to open an ING account. I can send you a referral and you will get $25 for opening an account with at least $250. I got a referall from a friend when I opened mine. It sure was nice to watch our $1000 go up $25 instantly!

[Mama Rana]

Originally Posted by bc1995

Einley, let me know if you decide to open an ING account. I can send you a referral and you will get $25 for opening an account with at least $250. I got a referall from a friend when I opened mine. It sure was nice to watch our $1000 go up $25 instantly!

We're thinking of opening an ING account. Do you get anything for referrals (I would hope so, if they're going to give the refer-ee $25)? Did you say yours was linked to your savings in a way so you can easily put money IN, but getting it out wasn't too easy?

[bc1995]

I would get $10 for referring someone and that person would get $25 for opening an account with at least a $250 initial deposit. I have mine linked to my checking account and can easily deposit money into it, but it takes 2-3 days to transfer money out. You can find out more information here... http://home.ingdirect.com/products/p...SavingsAccount.

[TanyaS]

My update:

0: Get current on bills: DONE
1: $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund DONE
2: Pay off all debt: Since 2/1/08, we have paid off 18% of our total debt. Mostly with the help of tax returns and selling some things around the house.
3: Three to six months of expenses in savings $0
4: 15% income into retirement: On hold to put every extra penny to debt snowball.
5: College funding for children: $0
6: Pay off home early - $112K home loan @5.5%
7: Build wealth and give!

Will update the things we're doing this month later! Off to FPU tonight!

[Purple*Lotus]

I'll get everyone updated in a minute, but right now I need advice. I don't want to post it on the regular board, because I just wanted your opinions.

I have money in the budget every month for my weight management. I am obese so I do have a membership to a gym (that I use faithfully) and I was going to weight watchers for a while. I decided that I wanted to learn how to eat healthy, so I started going to a nutritionist. Techincally her fee is cheaper overall than weight watchers was, so I thought I was good to save that money. However, the foods she is wanting me to eat is making my food budget go through the roof

I eat mainly fresh fruits and veggies and fish. I don't mind the fresh salads, but the other fresh veggies are killing me. I have tons of frozen veggies, but she doesn't think they are as good. I also get free beef, raised on my Aunt and Uncle's farm. It is the leanest there is because they do not add any fat during butchering and they do not feed their cows any hormones, so I feel better about the quality overall. My nutritionist does not want me to eat red meat. I hate fish. I can also get chicken breast cheap at a local store, but I am still eating a ton of very expensive fish that I hate. Despise it is a better word. I will eat it, but I don't like it.

Basically I need some advice on how you all handle your food budget? I want to eat as healthy as possible, but I just simply can NOT afford to eat on this plan. It is financially draining me I want to eat healthy, but, and I hope this doesn't sound terrible, I truly want to be out of debt too! I just can't justify spending $200 a week on groceries for two people!! That is unbelievably absurd.

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