Financial Peace

One of the websites I have under my list of favorite websites is www.daveramsey.com. Jeremy & I were "introduced" to him by my father-in-law. I say introduced but that's by listening to a CD set of a conference he does called "Financial Peace University". If you're wanting some good financial advice, I'd recommend checking his site out. But if you're also wanting Biblical financial advice, then I'd absolutely recommend him! One of his key verses is Proverbs 22:7, ". . . the borrower is slave to the lender." He has a 7 step way to financial peace which he calls "baby steps." #1 is to have $1000 in the bank (not checking) as an emergency fund. So we did that. And wouldn't you know the emergency came! We started getting a weird growling sound in the Blazer when driving. Took it to the dealership yesterday & found out we needed a left "hub bearing" (and, no, I don't really know what that is). It cost us just under $600! But when it's a transportation thing you can't just ignore it & hope it goes away. So as hard as it was for me to write that check, I felt at peace knowing that we at least had the money & didn't have to borrow it.
His Step 2 is a Debt Snowball. You take all your debts from smallest to largest. Then start paying on the smallest first as much as you can budget. Pay minimals on all others. Then once you pay the first one, take that amount that you had been paying & apply it to the next one. You'll feel a small victory & have some momentum to keep going. We were able to do that by paying off our piano as our first debt. It really did feel good to write that last check!
The key point I learned through listening to Dave Ramsey is about being a better steward of what God has given me. We've often prayed for Jeremy to get a better paying job & think that that's when we'll be on top of our finances. But, paraphasing Ramsey, "if you can't take care of what God has already given you, why should you expect Him to give you even more?" That hit me like a boulder! So for the last few months we've been working on sticking to a budget & wisely using what God has already given us.
So check out his site sometime. He's got some worksheets you can print out to get a start on your way to financial peace. And Lord willing eventually we will be able to yell out "I"M DEBT FREE!!!".