How Dave Ramsey Has Taught Me to Use Money and Not Be Used by It

If you've come across this article, I bet you're in debt. Heck, if you are American, I bet you're in debt. I'm in a lot of debt. I'm a young mother with a bachelor's degree and a bad past of thinking I was rich because I had credit cards. I'm engaged to the father of my baby because we can't afford to actually have a wedding. Isn't that ridiculous?! That's what life is starting to look like for a lot of us, and Dave Ramsey learned the hard way and decided to share what he's learned with others.

Now I'm not here promoting for him, but I'm in a class at my church using his ideas. They aren't rocket science. I think the concepts are easy, but no one has ever taught us how to use money. We are just thrown out into the world with a credit card, checkbook, and lofty dreams and we are supposed to make it. It's not working!!! I'm only in week 4 of the 13 weeks of classes, and in just 4 weeks I've learned enough already that I think I could finally start to turn my life around.I just want to share with everyone what I have taken to heart from his lessons so far.

Visa Mastercard Discover....

They don't love you, they love your money. Rewards are, what, 1 to 3 percent of your purchases that are charged interest of 8 to 30 percent or more! Does this make any sense? Credit card companies are making millions off of us while we are drowning and losing our homes and families to debt. Cut them up. Get rid of them. RUN! (But don't forget to pay them off)

Emergency Funds

An emergency fund is not the credit card that still has some limit left. It's actual cold hard cash that you put somewhere, in a savings account or a safe. It's money that you can use if your car breaks down, you get laid off of work, someone in the family gets really ill... it's an EMERGENCY fund. What we are supposed to aim for is at least 3 to 6 months of living expenses in savings (that's kind of hard), but a good start is $1000.

Stop financing

This includes: cars, payday advances, rent to own, 90 days same as cash... ect. Literally stop. If you can't afford it, you can't afford it! Dave Ramsey's biggest lesson I really took to heart was about cars. I really thought that we are supposed to always have a car payment in order to have a car. Not true. Save enough for a cheap car that runs, maybe $1000 to $2000 dollars (typical down-payment for a new car). Then... while you are driving your hooptie, save money each month towards your next car. A good figure I think of is half the car payment I would have had if I bought the car I wanted, so about $200 a month. If you can get 2 years out of the junky car, you'll have $4800 in savings to buy an even better car out-right. If you can get it to last 5 years (the average length of a car loan) you'll have $12,000 to BUY a car out-right! No car payment. Cool huh?

That's about all at this point. But keep your eyes peeled... there will be more.