Next week, I’m starting Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at my church. It’s a 13-week financial course, two hours per week. I’m sure some of you are thinking Kristin, you’re a CPA. Why are you attending a financial course? I’ve read two of Dave’s books: The Total Money Makeover
I am pleased to annouce that we paid off our last appliance this week. We purchased all new appliances, one by one, after we moved into our house. They were all old and needed significant repairs. We purchased them all with interest free financing and paid the balances before the 0% period expired. Last night I made the last payment on the washer and dryer. We are also planning to pay off one of our student loans this month. It was a small student loan that I took out my freshman year in order to pay some expenses my other loans didn’t cover. It feels awesome to knock down our debt. I was also able to purchase 2 new computers this month (yes, I said two. That’s a blog topic for another day) with cash and without touching my savings.
I was paying a few bills last night and decided to pay the utility bills and the credit cards so I could determine if we had enough to pay off the student loan. I realized that I could not pay these bills because I had paid them last month as soon as the bills arrived and the new bills have not arrived yet. It feels so good to be that far ahead. I hope you have reached that kind of financial peace. I know we still have a long way to go, but it feels good right now. If you haven’t reached this point, consider picking up one of Dave’s books.
Have you attended FPU? What suggestions do you have for those about to start? Do you need to read Dave’s books before attending? Have you attended other financial workshops that you thought were good?
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I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan who spent the past 20 years working in banking, investments, and financial planning, and never realized that we had fallen into the traps of believing the myths about credit and debt. We’ve been debt free (except for the house) for over a year now, and are definitely “living like no one else.”
We attended FPU early on in our debt snowball, and because we were already pretty savvy about finances and investments, some of the material was really basic. But that being said, the motivation that comes from FPU is priceless, as well as the opportunity to help others in the class. And Dave’s video with the cheetah is awesome! (Wait for it – I think it’s session 4 or 5.)
I would definitely recommend FPU to anyone, as well as going to one of Dave’s live events.
There was a preview last weekend and the video was pretty entertaining. I’m really looking forward to the program. Thanks for sharing your story.
While I haven’t attended, I listen to his radio program as often as possible.
I just paid off another department store credit card (5 down, WHOO HOO) and it DOES feel good. I have all of my bills listed and the revolving debt has balances in my “nicknames” That way I see the smallest balance and I can keep throwing money at it.
I’ve noticed that I end up having MORE money this way. Those five little cards were costing me 100 a month!
So while I don’t plan on taking the class (You can take my debit from me when you pry the Visa from my cold dead fingers), I do love the feeling of not paying it back anymore.
I have a house, car, student loans, of course, but if I can get out from the credit cards then I’ll be able to work those down faster.
Congrats of paying off the card! It feels amazing when you pay off the last of a balance. Are you snowballing your debt?
I’m still not convinced about the cash thing. I download all my transactions into QuickBooks so I think it would be more difficult to track my spending using the envelope system. We’ll see how it goes. The FPU course includes a cash wallet system like he talks about on the radio and in his books. I guess I’ll have to see it.
Keep paying down that debt!
My husband and I attended FPU last summer when we were already 6 months into our self-directed Total Money Makeover. Neither of us was in terrible financial shape with consumer debt before TMM, but we loved the idea of being debt-free and getting rid of the student loans, car loan, and second mortgage. We decided to join FPU despite not being religious and having already paid off half of our debt because we were sending two sets of friends through the course and wanted to flesh out our knowledge of the chapters not covered in the TMM book.
I’ve been interested in personal finance since about age 6 when my mom convinced me to buy my first savings bond by explaining the power of compound interest to me, so I found a lot of the FPU material just more of the same stuff I’d already learned from other PF books, but I did get some good information from the lessons on bargaining, insurance, real estate, and careers. The small group discussions after each video were great as well; we really bonded with our group and everyone made progress.
I *don’t* think you need to have any prior knowledge of TMM or Financial Peace in order to get the most out of FPU. Dave Ramsey pretty much covers everything in those books through his class and workbook, and he presents it in an engaging, entertaining way so the Free Spirits won’t zone out too badly.
BTW, we are not on a fully cash-based system yet either. We use cash for groceries, dining out, and entertainment, but DH still uses a CC for reimbursed work travel expenses, and I use a debit card for my fun money, craft side business supplies and expenses, and gasoline. I track everything in MS Money (household/personal) and Adarian Money (hobby business) on my Palm OS smartphone, so I always have a good idea of how much we have.
I found your comment over on Ravelry inviting feedback on the FPU course. We took the course in January 2006. I found that I knew almost everything he presented, but I had never seen it all together in one place as a *system* of finance. For me, it clicked instantly and made so much sense I kinda wanted to kick myself for not recognizing it on my own.
The course is amazingly effective. Any time you start a new “system,” there are kinks and issues and problems. In the class, everyone gets to work them out at the same time, sharing tips and tricks and helping one another avoid pitfalls.
When we started that class and itemized our debt snowball, we had over $63,000 in debt. As of today, we’ve paid off just over $48,900. We made plenty of mistakes along the way; I think our earliest snowball estimate would have had us paid off by December 07. However, we have learned so much along the way that I don’t know if I would trade those months in. Regardless, we’ll make our last debt snowball payment on September 4.
We went back to FPU last spring and really enjoyed it. I’ll probably do it again this fall, and I’ve thought of becoming an FPU leader, too.
Regarding cash envelopes, we do use them, but it’s difficult when there are two people. My husband will whip out his debit if he forgot the envelopes at home, then forget to tell me. So I have to monitor the account online almost daily to make sure I don’t need to take money from the envelopes and put it back into the checking account.
The biggest thing we finally had to learn about budgeting is that we have to re-do it every payday. So in late March, we sat down and customized our March budget and agreed on it. But we have a teenager, and if we said no to everything that comes up that we didn’t know a month in advance, she wouldn’t be able to participate in any extra-curriculars at all. So when the first paycheck comes in, all of us (kid included) sit down at the table and brainstorm anything we know about, adjust the budget as necessary for that and the next paycheck, and then make our various payments. Lather, rinse, repeat for the 2nd paycheck, and then we customize our next month’s budget. It works very well for us.
Melissa,
I think it’s great that you include your kids in your budgeting meetings. You are teaching them a very valuable lesson. Grats to you for all your success with your debt snowball.