We read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover in February 2019.
It felt like we got a gigantic raise this year, but after sitting down with year end pay stubs, our income only went up 5% compared to 2018 tax year.
What happened?
How did we, with an “only” five percent increase in household income decrease our household debt by 29% in one year?
I have a lot of people ask me questions about our process and our journey and I think they get a bit turned off - our family didn’t find a debt magic bullet, nor have we achieved some sort of personal finance utopia. They may have been hoping for an MLM. I’ve been asked for a “registration link”. I don’t have any of that. I read a book, and followed the outline.
What we’ve done:
-had a significant humbling
-said “no” an awful lot
-borrowed our last dollar
-built and maintained our starter emergency fund
-budgeted every dollar
-worked harder than ever before
-downsized our housing and lifestyle
-increased our giving like crazy
I’m not sure that I believed Dave Ramsey’s statement that money was 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge when we first started our journey. I sure do now.
As I get further along in Baby Step #2 - pay off all debt except the house - I’ve drawn a conclusion - this isn’t for everyone. This is humbling, this is hard, this is weird.
It’s also been the best year of our marriage and my life. I’ve never experienced less anxiety or slept better.
Big thanks to Christina for giving this a chance - she was the only person in the grocery store paying cash yesterday - I don’t think she’d live any other way now.
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