(Editor’s note: the links shared in this article are provided for ease of referencing resources I’ve found helpful. These are not affiliate links. I do not get a kick back or commission.)
We’ve now been in our new home for two-and-a-half years. It’s a mid-century A-Frame just outside of town, with a few acres of land to call our own. We found ourselves in a really good financial position to cherry-pick this home from an estate sale (as-is) at a bit of a discount, even in a multiple offer scenario. This was due to following Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps.
It would be nice to say we continued on our previous path with maintaining little to no debt (except for my student loans, which were in deferment due to the COVID pandemic), and socking away money, but alas, that was not the case. We racked up some credit card debt over the past few years, for a few needs, and in all honesty, too many wants. Recently I started re-reading some of Ramsey Solutions’ book offerings, to rekindle a little personal finance romance.
In addition to re-reads, my renewed interest in getting a better handle on our personal finances coincided with the release of George Kamel’s book, Breaking Free From Broke. What I liked about this book was that it is a fresh perspective and presentation on Dave Ramsey’s overall personal finance approach, detailed in The Total Money Makeover. George owns his millennial generational identity, and reaches to an expanded audience that might not be as quick to pick up Dave’s books.
Coupled with George’s platform as a Ramsey personality, he also has a YouTube channel, where he uses media and memes to keep the topics he discusses engaging and light-hearted – while still getting the message across. I find myself lightly binging his videos while sipping on coffee or winding down from the work day, and I highly recommend you try him out.
To say our personal finances are magically back on track to pre-new-house status would be a lie, but we are once again focused on paying down credit card and student loan debt, following a budget, and “telling our money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”
We’re still fine-tuning our budget and trying to squeeze as much value out of each dollar that comes in as reasonably possible. We are aiming at paying off the credit card debt in full by the end of this year, and my student loans the following 1-2 years. We have no car loans, as I like 20-year-old luxury vehicles, and we’ve paid cash for our last two purchases. Once the credit card and student loan debt are cleared, we will follow the next Baby Step of saving up 3-6 months of expenses in our emergency fund, and then we get to increase our retirement contributions to 15% and fast track paying off the house. After that, we will be focused on building wealth and living and giving like no one else!
I would like to express my gratitude for what Dave Ramsey and George Kamel, specifically, have contributed to our personal finance journey. While we have ebbed and flowed in the Baby Steps for nearly 20 years, and still have a bit of work ahead of us, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I believe we are at a point in our lives where we can take this seriously and see it through the the desired outcome – financial freedom.
I know Dave Ramsey isn’t for everyone. Do you agree with his approach? Have you tried it in the past or are currently working the Baby Steps? Comment below!
