Read Me: One Book to Change Your Budgeting Habits

As you may have guessed from previous posts, B and I have a lot of debt [more than you could imagine] acquired through some very unfortunate, and quite frankly unfair, circumstances regarding school loans. We are just starting the get-outta-debt climb up the mountain. But we are starting that climb with new found hope, and with a plan.

A year or so ago, B and I came to realize the full extent of this ugly, brute-faced monster I've named Everest. We felt lost, unable to get a handle on life, scared out of our minds. From the base, this mountain looks impossible to conquer for two newlyweds, now responsible for running a household, paying bills, and just starting out on new career paths. And it seemingly just keeps getting worse.

So B's mom gave him this book. He read it, cover-to-cover, and found solace in the tangible possibility of escaping from under the mountain. Last month, he asked me to read it. Since then, we've heard several success stories about the effectiveness of this book, and not a single failure. This key to eventual success in paying off all of our loans is Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, or, in our home, "the Money Book." Dave's written an in-your-face, step-by-step PLAN of how to get out of debt, achieve financial stability, start saving for college funds/retirement, and how to never pay too much for those big ticket purchases. He also provides tables and worksheets, and offers additional budgeting software.

He doesn't say it'll be easy. And he doesn't give you a genie to grant your wishes. He promotes a furious determination, extreme money-earning measures, and relentless pursuit to achieve your goals of debtlessness (<--- Karissa-ism, not Dave-ism). It's not fun, for sure... but its effective.  

We've had to adjust quite a few of his teachings to our personal situation since it's mainly geared toward spenders and we definitely consider ourselves savers. But we still swear by the process and are confident that it will work for us. If you have debt or even if you're unhappy living from paycheck to paycheck, Dave's book can provide you with a plan to pay it off, save it up, and invest it for tomorrow. 

Check out Dave's website, and seriously, I recommend this book.