Dave Ramsey

[xjkrawler]

You have to make a spot in the budget for wheeling. At the beginning of each year me and the wife set down and agreed to a certain amount I can spend on parts and upgrades for the entire year, and once I am out of money the truck gets parked until next year.
With that being said, we had no dept when we first got married, so I was able to do a lot of riding. Now the only dept we got now is the house payment, and I am lucky if I get to ride every other month. But our goal is to pay of this house in 10 years, so there is a lot of money being thown at the house payment each month. But I am ok with that cause I still get to ride some, and one day I can pay cash for a kickass buggy :****:, until then I have learned to be happy with being able to ride when I get a chance.

alot of this is my goal. i am currently saving ALOT of my paycheck to pay cash for a house in 5 years... (im 21) the only bills i have are taking the gf out and gas money. (jeep money as well) thats why i still wheel a jeep cherokee.

Tell me what big purchases, and what people mean by deal? I cant think of a single time I've gotten a better price by paying cash out side of Spec's Liquor which give an discount at the checkout for cash/debit vs. credit.

My last two trucks ('06 & '07 Duramaxs) I have paid cash money for. (different dealers) but on one they actually wanted to jack the price up since I was paying cash because they werent going to make backend interest.
My small Featherlite the price was what it was they didnt care how I paid.
My Big Dumb Ass trailer, paid cash as well but that was more haggling, the dude didnt care how I paid.
Same with my big Featherlite, Nolen named the price, I haggled.
Any home appliances, furniture or electronics I've bought over the years, there were no better deals for paying cash.

Even the huge wad I just spent on a Torchmate, no better deal if I paid cash.

I ask all the time if its a better deal if I pay cash

Only time I felt like I got a better deal was on crap I buy used off of here Pirate, or some of the hotrod **** I do, and thats face to face, and has nothing to do with cash as much to do with just haggling deals that were only going to get done in cash as you wont be accepting a check from some dude you dont know from Adam.

I think Ramsey has some good principles. I myself only have two debts right now. My house and my wifes Tahoe. I had to finance her tahoe in her name to build her credit, it was **** when we got married and hurt mine to the point I couldnt get a home loan with her on the mortgage. So its all on me. I pay for as much as I can with my American Express, if they dont take AmEx I pay cash. I pay it off monthly, unless I have something huge on there and I may carry a balance.
The past three years my wife and I have been able to take IMO very extravagant vacations on AmEx points alone.

I think where it comes into money management is that a credit card is like Vegas Poker chips to people, i.e. NOT REAL MONEY, RIGHT THEN. You still have to be frugal, watch what you are buying. Ask yourself do you really need that, do you really need that right now? And If I really need it right now, where can I get it cheapest? At this store, another store, online?

Every person, every family, every situation is different. You have to one be smart enough to research different budgeting strategies, and two be smart enough to understand where that money comes from.

Hell I have to take the wife out tonight for date night. And I know its going to cost me 3-4 hours worth of work to pay for it. Thats how I look at ****. Its also why I havent built or bought another offroad car.

lots of good advise here.


its all about being smart with your money and your investments.

 

[John Galbreath Jr.]

I have not done Dave Ramsey per se. But, have read his principals and was able to claim debt free in December.

 

[muchado]

Dave has some good things to say but doesnt work for everyone. I read total money makeover and it helped motivate me to get my $$ right. I went from 2 cc's, 3 loans and a mortgage to now $1,300 left to pay on my truck and also my mortgage--by the end of this month my only debt will be my mortgage. That will feel good.

Wyatt's example with the poker chips is exactly why I pay cash money for stuff. At this point I still need to have the greenbacks in hand to help me make a good decision.

 

[InDaShop]

Dave has some good things to say but doesnt work for everyone. I read total money makeover and it helped motivate me to get my $$ right. I went from 2 cc's, 3 loans and a mortgage to now $1,300 left to pay on my truck and also my mortgage--by the end of this month my only debt will be my mortgage. That will feel good.

Wyatt's example with the poker chips is exactly why I pay cash money for stuff. At this point I still need to have the greenbacks in hand to help me make a good decision.

Rob that is awesome!!!

I personally dont like using cash, but I did go through a phase that was all I used. Now I dont think of anything with regards to real or future real expense. I look at it as how long do I have to work for that. It works for me. I know my rough takehome and I know my rough how many hours a month I have to work to cover everything that is fixed. So there I have a small pool of hours left over.
So I break it down to Laziness. LOL I may be willing to work 2 hours for something but say **** that piece of **** I'm not going to work 3 hours for it.

I believe if you can get to that point, you can compliment your consumerism with a Rewards Credit card for things you know you will be purchasing. Might as well get something back for it.

Example: I know I will be paying my kids school approximately $12,000 this year. If I pay cash, its done. If I pay with my AmEx I get rewards points. I know I have to buy fuel all year long to get to work. I can pay cash (total hassle these days at the pump) but if I use my AmEx I get double rewards.

I have a wife that is pretty bad ass and lets me go racing all over the country for weeks at a time (KOH, V2R, Bonneville) but I have to pay the piper. So to make up, I have to take her places she wants to go. Nothing like taking her to Playa Del Carmen on AmEx points. She thinks I went all out really bought her something special. Truth be told all the expenses we had all year that we were going to have no matter what, went on the AmEx and the rewards paid for the whole trip minus spending money.


My last thing and I'll drop it. Build up a little slush fund. I do my direct deposit so I never see it each pay period. Figure out what you know you could live without. $20, $40, $100, $250. Whatever! Do Not consider this savings. I consider this the "In Case of Great Deal" or "In Case of ****" account. And everynow and then I deposit odd earned money in there as well. The reasons I've pulled money from this are everything from Emergency A/C repairs to post Hurricane Fence Repair to new tires to new trailer. I know I'm going to have things larger than my monthly, and this fund helps smooth those bitches out.

 

[onetoncrawler]

Ramsey helped us out a lot

we have an ICE(in case of emergency) account also that is totally seperate from savings account, i never see this money and we do not count it as an assett at all
Dave helped me buy a new mower and pay off the wifes student loan all withen our first year being married

we are currently paying for my truck and her suv but by next summer the only debt we will have will be a mortgage