Uncle Dave Says, "Give"
If you haven't read the rest of the series, check it out here:
First, I want to share with you some great resources that helped us along our journey to being debt-free.
- Listen to Dave on air: He provides great help to people all over America on his daily 3-hour talk show. You can download a condensed 40-minute version on iTunes. I highly recommend tuning in to Debt Free Friday's for motivation. Kels and I usually end in tears as we listen to other people tell Dave how they fought tooth and nail to dig out of their debt and then yell I'M DEBT FREE!!!!! Cue the goosebumps.
- Find tools that will work for you: We stumbled upon a few great tools that helped us stay organized and focused on our budget and our goals.
- Our mentors in Financial Peace University, Bob and Debbie Conroy, have a part of their personal website dedicated to Financial Peace and have made their own spreadsheets out of some of the Dave Ramsey forms. We use the Allocated Spending Plan-Monthly on a daily basis. It's much easier than keeping track on paper.
- We wanted to keep track of our debt snowball electronically and project when we would pay off our last debt, so with a quick Google search I found the handy dandy website What's the Cost? We were able to enter all our debts and then add in our payments as we went along and see the months start to come off the final end date.
- When we started trying to get a handle on how much we were spending on certain things, we were completely clueless. We started using mint.com to track all of our spending and after a few weeks we could start to see some numbers we could work with. We don't use this much anymore, as our monthly budget spreadsheet is now the motor that drives our budget, but I do recommend it as an initial tool to help gauge spending.
- Talk about it: Tell your friends what you're up to with your finances. Tell your family. Most of all, keep the lines of communication open with your spouse. If you're not married, talk with a trusted friend and ask them to be an ear that you can bounce your ideas off of. Consult them in every financial decision. After we finished Financial Peace University, we were so pumped up and wanted to share our knowledge with others, we decided to put together a small FPU class at our work.
So there you have it, some awesome tools to help you win in your financial battle against debt. But once you win, then what? I'm glad you asked.
Remember how I told you about our tithe and how it didn't make sense on paper, but it all worked out in the end? Giving has a beautiful way of paying us back, and that's what I love about Uncle Dave. His plan is not for you to get filthy rich and hoard everything you have. He wants you to get rich and give like no one else!
So that's what I get to do now that I'm debt-free. Give. And because I love you all so much, I'm giving away some great Dave Ramsey materials.
The winner will get this slew of resources to help you win with money. Check out the details of what's included here (I purchased this a few weeks ago because of the great deal, and it looks like they now have a different envelope system included. The one you will get is brown, not red.)
Here's how it works:
1. Post a comment below of why you want or need this bundle.
2. Check back next Tuesday to see if you won. I will choose the winner randomly.
Disclaimer: I encourage those who are already familiar with Dave's teachings to share this on your Facebook page, Twitter or any other way you wish. Spread the word to those who need to hear it.
This contest is open to U.S. residents until Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011, at 9 p.m. CT. One entry per person.
All posts in this series: