There's a new man in my life...

I know, sounds crazy, right?  For those of you who know me well, you know that I am head over heels in love with my husband, Aaron. In February we will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary!  (Yes, I was married at a VERY young age.) ;) As strong as my love for him is, there is a new guy in my life. Who? You ask?  Dave Ramsey.  Go ahead, laugh.  I am. 

If you don't know, Dave Ramsey is a financial expert who has his own radio show. I found him when someone posted a short video of him talking about Obamacare. After watching that video, I was hooked. I had to know more about this man and his program. As it turns out, the Lord directed me right to him because his ministry is just what I need right now. He thinks that debt is dumb. He says that cash is king. He teaches people to dig out from their debt and then invest their money for their future using his "baby steps". His teachings are so NOT what is normal in today's America and I am hooked. 

I've never spoken publicly about our family's debt. I don't talk about it because I'm embarrassed by it and, quite frankly, I find it overwhelming. Aaron and I have very good credit scores and we've never missed a payment....ever. However, we are maxed in minimum payments on everything from cars, to credit cards, to a home equity and even a dentist bill.  I'll share more of my story as we go through these baby steps, but for now I'm not ready to spill the beans completely. We'll just leave our debt total as "a lot" and come back to it another day. ;)

Baby step number one is to put $1,000 in an emergency fund as quickly as possible. This is to protect your household from financial upsets so you have no need to use a credit card. So far, we have $560 in our savings account and I just sold a small desk on Craig's List for $40. Typically a Craig's List sale would fund a family pizza party and a movie. Not today. I'll be going to the bank in just a bit to deposit today's sales. Once baby step number one is set, we'll move to baby step two, which is paying down debt using the debt snowball method. That one scares me. Here's to completing baby step one first. Our goal is to have it finished by the New Year. Time to sell more stuff.....

Here is the desk I sold today. I bought it a few months ago at the goodwill for $20.99 and painted it with paint I already had at home (leftover from the kitchen). I'll miss the storage, but am glad to be $40 closer to our first goal. :)