I'll be honest, I've taken Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class twice at my church and I am a big, fat failure at the whole thing. *sigh* I've tried. I really have. And I absolutely believe in what Dave teaches, but... I am a failure. I don't pay with cash - I'd be in a mell of a hess without my credit card. Well, I'm in a hell of a mess with it, but without it I could never put gas in my car. I spend about $300 a month in gas just to go to and from work. I don't have that kind of cash lying around to put into my gas tank, but I can't not go to work. I have debt that I want to pay off, but can't. I honestly, truly can not do it. Not because I won't, but because the money isn't there.
I guess I am not totally hopeless because after the first class ended, when my tax return came that spring, I paid off my grad school loans in full and was able to scratch that one off the list. That was a wonderful feeling and it freed up $155 a month that I try to take out of the bank each month in cash and use to buy my groceries for the month. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. I am all about the debt snowball idea, but it sort of takes having any spare money lying around to be able to start doing that. I would put 'extra' money toward my debt (and let's not even get into the money I owe my father who paid off the remainder of my heating and air unit when I was laid off my job a couple of years ago - I don't know that I will ever be able to pay him back), but all my money goes to paying for gas or food or, y'know, electricity and all that stuff. I've cut my cable down to the minimum and quite frankly, it drives me nuts. I don't go out and do things, so my entertainment is television and by cutting most of that out, it can get awfully boring when I'm hanging around the house. (Yes, yes, I read. A lot. But I also like my shows. Deal with it. And I usually read AND watch TV at the same time.) Sweating or freezing because I have the AC or the heat turned to an insane level so that my bills are hopefully lower. You can just take off or put on more clothes, right? *rolling eyes* Yeah, I'm basically miserable in my own home most of the year because of trying to save money.
My frustration lies in the fact that I feel like a failure because I can't make that program/system work. It seems so simple. Cut out unnecessary expenses. Do more with less. Learn to do without. But then... I have to go to work. To pay for the gas to put in the car to go to work. It never seems to stop. And I will hurl something heavy at the head of anyone who says, "Get a 2nd job." Um.... ok. Sure. When do you recommend that I do this? I get up at 4am to workout because there is no other time to do it. My work day consists of about 11 hours because I include commuting time into my work day. I get home, grab dinner, maybe get a little time to read a book or sometimes see friends and do something fun and then get to bed - all of that in about a 3 hour time period. I sleep maybe 6 hours a night and generally am dragging myself to work the next day because I function best with 9 hours of sleep. So yeah, I'm not sure when I'd have that magical second job, even if it was really possible to find a second job these days.
I don't mean to whine, but a news story this morning set my teeth on edge. It was about how you should try to pay off your credit card debt and geegollygosh you'll feel soooo much better. Y'THINK??? Wow. I'd never have figured that one out on my own. *snort* I think sometimes people who put those stories together just do not realize that so many of us are living paycheck-to-paycheck and there literally is not extra money to put toward reducing debt. I'd do it if I could. I put my entire tax refund this year towards my credit card debt. It was merely a drop in the bucket and my debt is small compared to some people's.
So I guess I'll just have to keep on going as a big, fat failure in the Dave Ramsey world. I have dreams that some day I will be able to get my head above water. (I'm not asking to be rich - nice as that would be - I just want to get out of debt and feel like I have enough money to cover my bills without worrying whether I can afford the gas or the food.) Without having to sit in a house without heating or air, without any television whatsoever, without... without... without... It seems so, so simple, but it's really, really not.
I guess I am not totally hopeless because after the first class ended, when my tax return came that spring, I paid off my grad school loans in full and was able to scratch that one off the list. That was a wonderful feeling and it freed up $155 a month that I try to take out of the bank each month in cash and use to buy my groceries for the month. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. I am all about the debt snowball idea, but it sort of takes having any spare money lying around to be able to start doing that. I would put 'extra' money toward my debt (and let's not even get into the money I owe my father who paid off the remainder of my heating and air unit when I was laid off my job a couple of years ago - I don't know that I will ever be able to pay him back), but all my money goes to paying for gas or food or, y'know, electricity and all that stuff. I've cut my cable down to the minimum and quite frankly, it drives me nuts. I don't go out and do things, so my entertainment is television and by cutting most of that out, it can get awfully boring when I'm hanging around the house. (Yes, yes, I read. A lot. But I also like my shows. Deal with it. And I usually read AND watch TV at the same time.) Sweating or freezing because I have the AC or the heat turned to an insane level so that my bills are hopefully lower. You can just take off or put on more clothes, right? *rolling eyes* Yeah, I'm basically miserable in my own home most of the year because of trying to save money.
My frustration lies in the fact that I feel like a failure because I can't make that program/system work. It seems so simple. Cut out unnecessary expenses. Do more with less. Learn to do without. But then... I have to go to work. To pay for the gas to put in the car to go to work. It never seems to stop. And I will hurl something heavy at the head of anyone who says, "Get a 2nd job." Um.... ok. Sure. When do you recommend that I do this? I get up at 4am to workout because there is no other time to do it. My work day consists of about 11 hours because I include commuting time into my work day. I get home, grab dinner, maybe get a little time to read a book or sometimes see friends and do something fun and then get to bed - all of that in about a 3 hour time period. I sleep maybe 6 hours a night and generally am dragging myself to work the next day because I function best with 9 hours of sleep. So yeah, I'm not sure when I'd have that magical second job, even if it was really possible to find a second job these days.
I don't mean to whine, but a news story this morning set my teeth on edge. It was about how you should try to pay off your credit card debt and geegollygosh you'll feel soooo much better. Y'THINK??? Wow. I'd never have figured that one out on my own. *snort* I think sometimes people who put those stories together just do not realize that so many of us are living paycheck-to-paycheck and there literally is not extra money to put toward reducing debt. I'd do it if I could. I put my entire tax refund this year towards my credit card debt. It was merely a drop in the bucket and my debt is small compared to some people's.
So I guess I'll just have to keep on going as a big, fat failure in the Dave Ramsey world. I have dreams that some day I will be able to get my head above water. (I'm not asking to be rich - nice as that would be - I just want to get out of debt and feel like I have enough money to cover my bills without worrying whether I can afford the gas or the food.) Without having to sit in a house without heating or air, without any television whatsoever, without... without... without... It seems so, so simple, but it's really, really not.
