5.09.2012

Dave Ramsey Told Me To Do It!

*Pictures don't really go along with the words in this post... Just, as usual, I have some cute ones of Bubba to share... and He's (kinda) wearing clothes in some of them!

Last Saturday John and I used one of our favorite wedding gifts. Tickets to go see Dave Ramsey live. This gift was a favorite because it wasn't just something we needed for our kitchen or home... but knowledge to help us better our lives and our future! 

I had heard of Dave before (I think most people have?) and because the tickets were accompanied by his book, The Total Money Makeover, John and I both read it before going to the show. 

Dave mainly preaches about being debt free. About the power of OWNING things OUTRIGHT. About the lie that our country tells us about needing and depending on debt. 
The best part? It all makes perfect sense. It's not a get rich quick scheme, he isn't manipulating information- it is cold hard facts. Both John and I cannot deny that. 

I don't think that we have been "stupid" about money in the year that we have had a joint bank account, but we aren't really being "smart" either. We made a budget "in theory" but it was never on paper. There was no teamwork going into what we were spending each month, barely any communication, and that has left us feeling unorganized - and guess what? We are spending WAY too much on stuff we DO NOT need. 
We are lucky to not have any student loans (yet), car payments, or mortgages. We are in a position to get really aggressive with our savings and realizing that dream of putting a really large downpayment on a house within the next five years! But in order to get there, we need to do without... this is hard.

The blogging world is great for many things... but materialistically it is NOT good sometimes. It is so easy to compare yourself to other people with their HOUSES and their NICE CARS and cute clothes and all the shopping sprees they go on. And honestly? Sometimes I find myself saying, fine, lets be in lots of debt so I can have all of these nice things! And for this... I feel ashamed! 
So it's time to change some things around here. Time to get serious about sacrificing - so the house and the cars and the shopping sprees can all be mine- guilt free baby! The thing is... we are making ABOVE the average household income, yet we definitely aren't living like it! What the heck?!
But I think it's easy to say we are going to get aggressive about saving and sacrifice and then half ass it. One of the few things that John and I own OUTRIGHT that is of any worth is our rings. Now our wedding bands? Those are off limits. They were blessed by my great uncle on our wedding day and are precious and not replaceable. But my engagement ring?! John didn't pick it out or create it, we always said it would get upgraded eventually, and my band is gorgeous all on it's own - so why not SELL IT! I know, I know... but really?! I want a house and a nice SUV and mostly FINANCIAL SECURITY more

So this week is a trial run. I am wearing only my band and if at the end of the week I miss my ring, then we won't sell it. 

So what do you think? Am I completely crazy?! 

Photobucket
Click To Vote For Us @ the Top Baby Blogs Directory! The most popular baby blogs

14 comments:

Jayme said...

Wow, great post. My hubby is the saving King & loves Dave Ramsey! So this post really hit to home! I am not great at saving money, although since being a SAHM I have nothing to save. So I have to watch my spending of our, "Bryces" hard earned money! I agree its easy to want things when you look up to people in the blogger world! I see a lot of women have everything great & everything I've dreamed of for our family! But buying things doesnt create happines & your exactly right financial security is the BIGGEST key to happiness! We are are in the savings process right not to! Were buying a home this summer! Best Luck!

Sara McCarty said...

I don't think it's crazy, I think it's kinda brilliant. Saving for your future is the best thing you can do for yourselves. So important. Since I've been pregnant (and my hands are super swollen) I haven't been able to wear my engagement ring either and honestly, it doesn't bother me at all to just wear the beautiful band. Like you said, you can always get another ring later (upgrade) if you want.

Megan B.B. said...

I'm going to play the devil's advocate, but take my advice as a grain of salt, considering I have student loan debt I'm going to be paying off for the next gagillion years (hopefully before my OWN kid attends college), a car payment (although we are a single car family) and a soon to be mortgage.
Gold and gemstones have shown nothing but appreciation (money wise) over the past few years. In fact, it's one of the only things thats value has gone up in this economy. Housing costs have plummeted, cars lose value by at least 1/3 the second you drive them off the lot.
To me, it would be a far better investment for you to keep your ring as part of your equity, since gold prices are at an all time high, and show no trends of slowing down (unlike stock, housing, cars, etc.)
Like I said though, take my advice as a grain of salt, lol.
Maybe a good compromise would be to sell your diamond and replace it with a moissanite (a very good diamond substitute- jewelers can hardly tell the difference.) and keep your setting?

Life As Wife said...

To me my wedding set is too meaningful for me to sell and is not an option. That is all personal preference though. You can always get another - yes but will it be the one you were proposed I with? Or the one he said his vows too? I guess I'm pretty sentimental.

We are all for finding a way to save money too. We're renting an have student loans and credit card debt. If we can pay off the credit card debt we are going to be able to put away a lot of money. Our key? Foregoing eating out and little things that add up.

Anonymous said...

I agree a million % with you here! we're also doing the ramsey budgeting and love being in control of where our money is going. You are SO right...blogging makes it so easy to compare yourself to others. I had a coworker just yesterday tell me he went to a Dave Ramsey seminar up in Michigan somewhere. I'd love to go to one sometime soon!!

Allie said...

It is really easy to get caught up in what everyone has. I know I get jealous of all the shopping and stuff people do, but we really watch what we spend and have gotten so aggressive the past few years and paid off J's MBA and cars and it is so nice to not have anything weighing us down! I am super frugal about a lot, I love the outlets to fulfill all my needs because I gag over full price items!
I personally would keep my ring bc picked mine out but if you really have no attachment to it then screw it! You can always get another!
Also a few months back we started using cash for everything and it kept me on target a lot more than swiping a card!
You guys will rock it out! I know it!

Lissa @ her + him said...

thanks for the great post, kay. i've been feeling the same way lately. have you tried mint.com?! i love it. i hate credit cards and put off getting one, but i really need to start building credit for when we want to buy a house, etc. (and i'm hyper safe so just in case something happens to jay... you know. i just need a credit score ha) so i got one. ever since i got it, it's been harder and harder to budget and i've been frustrated. BUT we signed up for mint.com and it links all of your accounts and makes budgeting SO MUCH EASIER. i was shocked with how many over budget alerts we got- i thought we were doing so well! so anyway... try it out! :)

bonbon said...

I just foudn your blog through living in yellow and I am so glad that I did! What a great post. I think you look great with just the band and I admire you so much if you are brave enough to sell the ring!

I love what you wrote about how the blogging world enocurages spending and shopping- even bloggers who aren't paid are constantly linking to pinterest and unbeknownst to them are actually advertising all the time for all sorts of products. I still haven't gotten a pinterest account for this exact reason- it's like going to the mall every day and looking around and then never expecting yoruself to buy anything. I think it's so great that youa re trying to save up for a house. We are still paying off the last of my husband's student loans and my car payment- both should be paid off at the end of the summer and it's going to feel SOOOOO good!

Love the blog and love how real you are!

new follower :)
bonnie
bonnielouisa.blogspot.com

Heather @ Cookies For Breakfast said...

First, I was just going to send you a note today, because I whipped out my new, Kay-recommended EOS lip balm at dinner last night and got, "Heather, what the heck is that?" from hubs. I explained about your vlog, etc., etc., and he said, "Heather, this blogging only seems to be costing us money because you keep buying things that other people recommend!" Ha! So true...

I have a half-written blog post waiting in Blogger about not wearing my engagement & wedding rings too - just waiting to have non-chewed-on, painted nails to take a photo of and pop in! (the topic of the post is how my fingers got so dang swollen when I was pregnant and couldn't wear my ring until recently... I missed it terribly). Anyway, having gone that long without a ring, I'd never want to do it again (but I'm sure I will whenever we have more kids and the swelling takes over)!

One thing to consider is how much financial freedom selling it will actually give you. When we bought our house, I was shocked at how little of a difference adding to our down payment made in our monthly mortgage. Say you sell your ring for $10k and put all that into your house down payment - your monthly mortgage will be about $50 less than if you didn't add in the 10K (which is horribly sad!). For $600/year, I'd rather have the ring and find another place to cut $50/month out of the budget.

But, that's just me - see how you feel without it this week! Looking forward to a post about your decision :)

Heather @ Cookies For Breakfast said...

Okay, I was just creeping your blog and saw the pic you have of your ring. It's BEAUTIFUL! Don't sell it!! Hahaha I know, I know, your decision, but it's sooooooo pretty!!!!

Lauren said...

The only thing I would say about your ring is that you will get SO MUCH LESS for it than you paid. Plus if you do want to upgrade one day, maybe you can pass on the diamond and/or setting to your son to use or for a future daughter so they can save up whatever money they would have used on a ring for their future. Just a thought :)

I'm glad we started aggressively saving prior to kids... We've slowly given up things in our monthly budget to pay for daycare but never had to cut back on saving, it's helped us adjust gradually. We paid off our car early so we can keep making our regular payments into savings when our daycare costs double this go around... Between that and eating out, and a cut back on shopping, we are able to cover the gap. It's amazing the amount of money you find when you start looking.

Lauren said...

Okay and I meant the diamond... The gold has probably kept up it's worth, but if it were me (and I know it's not) I wouldn't sell it - even if I wasn't wearing it.

Clara said...

Kay, I love this post! Way to stand up and plan for your future! I am right there with you on the materialism battle. To be honest, sometimes I feel like I just deserve something for no reason at all. And Jack will thank you one day when he graduates college with no student loans! And as for your ring, if you were going to upgrade it in the not do distant future then why not? I admire you so much for being so proactive, it's inspiring.

Brianna Renee said...

This is a difficult one! I hear you on wanting to invest in your future. My husband and I are definitely focusing (or at least trying to) on similar goals.

If it doesn't bother you and you won't miss it than why not? Only you know what would be best.

I admire your drive to reach your goals!