Uncle Dave Says...

I call Dave Ramsey "uncle Dave." He is like an uncle to me (no, I've never met him). But I watched him wear the same blue-collared shirt and blue jeans for 13 weeks during Financial Peace University, and I listen to him on the radio helping millions of people. He is like a weird uncle who says absurd things that on the surface hurt your feelings, but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

  • "If normal is broke, I want to be weird."
  • "Thanksgiving dinner doesn't taste the same when you owe your family money."
  • "Debt is dumb, cash is king."
  • "Borrower is slave to the lender." (OK, that one is from the Bible, but Dave preaches it well.)

In late 2008, Kelsey decided it was time for us to get our financials in order. I had been telling her that we needed to put together a budget for a while, but there are 2 reasons it didn't happen:

1. I didn't make it happen (grind it out myself, get it done). I love my wife but our communication about money used to be like the first rule of Fight Club. You don't talk about fight club! She wouldn't talk about money. I would let the conversation end there and bottle up my financial anxiety into an "I told you so" later (sadly, I used to be a pro at this).

2. It wasn't Kelsey's idea. (Here is where I drop the "I-told-you-so" bomb.) Kels loves to do things when it is her own idea. So like Inception, I have to plant ideas in her head, let them simmer for a while, and then when she brings it up she thinks the idea was her own.

In September 2008 we took a trip to Kansas City for a friend's wedding. This also happens to be Kelsey's birthmonth and our anniversary is Oct. 7. Being the young, fabulous and broke couple that we were, we went on a shopping spree with our credit card. (It's OK, we earned points, duh!) That trip moved in with us the next month when the credit card bill came. We had to transfer money out of our savings account to pay it off. We titled said transfer "We suck at life." This is when Kels got the idea that we should take a financial class...

All posts in this series:

  1. Uncle Dave Says...
  2. Financial Peace University
  3. Our Second Jobs
  4. Our Mistakes
  5. Give
  6. Giveaway Winner

 

Money, Our StoryEric WilliamsDave Ramsey, family, Money4 Comments