monies!

You always hear it isn't polite to talk about money or that you simply shouldn't talk about money. 

However, right now, I'm passionate about our finances and I want to talk about it! We've gotten pretty hard-core on this Dave Ramsey kick.

If I'm being honest, we've always been pretty good with our money. Very frugal and very responsible - with the occasional splurge. Especially with my husband. Everyone here already knows what I call him. 

So take that and notch it up like x10! 

I love Dave's teachings. It's so great, because I've been told my whole life things like: you can't prepare for everything, if you wait to have money to have a kid you'll never have a kid, what's the point in saving all your money now and spending it when you're 'old.' 

I love how Dave brings scripture into it too! 

"The borrower is slave to the lender." Wow. Takes on a whole new meaning. 

Or that by taking care of God's money, He'll bless your situations. 

He teaches you ways to prepare for the unexpected. He teaches you how to save your money! He teaches you how to spend it wisely!

Like getting that untouchable $1,000 set back for emergencies only. Snowballing your debts. Getting 3-6 months of expenses saved in another account.

And we've hit rough patches. Just this year alone we've had to cash into the emergency fund to fix Cory's car, I blew out a tire, Cory's been in hospital twice this year with kidney stones, I've been in too for the flu, pneumonia, and asthma. Crap happens and it happens to everyone. But, with proper measures, you can handle it. Make it a priority! 

He even breaks down how achievable this is for low-income families. 

Sure, you might have to give up eating out on a weekly basis, some of those date nights, or not buying those new clothes or shoes or makeup or that new toy you've been wanting. But… "By choosing to live like no one else, you can live like no one else."

By following his suggestions on top of our history of already handling our money well (honestly, we'd basically already done his 1st and 2nd steps), we will have everything paid off (except our house) by next year! Everything. After that, if we stay in this house (or buy/build another of equal value) we'll have even our house paid off two years after that. 

By the time my husband is 31 and I'm 28, we'll be completely debt free! Then if we save and invest the recommended amounts… by the time we reach retiring age, I won't have to worry about freaking social security, because I'll be like a millionaire. 

And probably even before then! I mean, with the hubs current rate of income - or even less - and even with his current and building 401K. He could retire at like 45 with… a lot of money. Enough money to live off of for the rest of our lives and send our kids into the world completely debt free. And with proper investment, maybe even our grandkids!  **Of course all of this is with proper investment, IRAs, mutual funds, etc.**

Change your family trees! Break the curse of debt. It's so acceptable now days it's crazy. People think they have to have car loans, house loans, furniture loans! That's crazy talk! No, you don't. Save your pennies and buy it with cash! You don't need instant gratification on everything. I know in today's times that might seem like a real challenge, but you have to make up your mind to do it. And it's not that you can't do anything ever. It's just that you should always save for everything you want to do and not do it until you have the cash to do it. Seems like a pretty simple concept. But geez, how often to people go get furniture on 1 year no interest in store loans, or on store credit cards? How often do people take out car loans (all the time)? How often to people buy clothes on department store cards? Or washer and dryers? You get the point. 

"By choosing to live like no one else, you can live like no one else." Perfectly said, Dave. 

That's the difference. If you work really hard now and if you go without now, then later in life you'll be set. The difference in spending money as you make it versus saving it for later in life, is working your butt off for a little while or working your butt off your whole life. It's your choice. After all, these are just suggestions. You can only lead a horse to water.