March 1st, 2015
Little did we know, that March 1st 2015, would be the beginning of some drastic changes for our family. This is the day that I ordered the book, the Total Money Makeover, from Amazon. I had read other financial books, such as The Millionaire Next Door, Rich Dad Poor Dad, and others. But I will be honest, none of them really prompted me to change much in the way we handle finances. In fact, here is what I wrote to my family in an email after starting the book, "I am curious as to whether or not some of you have read Dave Ramsey's, The Total Money Makeover (or any other of his books for that matter). I'll admit, I've read other financial books, but I feel like this was the first one that actually motivated me to change something. Which, is and of itself surprising, since I kind of went into it thinking there is nothing this guy can tell me which I don't already know."
I was prompted to read the book after I had finished a book called "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton Christensen. I was looking for another book to read, and this one seemed as good as any. At first, I was very skeptical of what Dave was saying. First of all, I did not trust that $1000 was enough for a starter emergency fund, when I have a family of 5 kids and a rental property. So, not trusting this, we did a $5000 starter emergency fund instead. Then, I also asked myself, how can we get by without a credit card? We will miss out on the rewards! No, not the precious rewards! And what about booking hotel rooms! How can we book a hotel room without a credit card!? Despite all of my doubts, I kept reading through the book.
Over the next few months, I slowly became more convinced of what Dave was saying as I not only began to put in practice what he was teaching, but also started listening to the radio show. We eventually dropped our emergency fund down to the recommended $1000 and even stopped using credit cards. It turns out that we have saved much more than we ever got back in rewards by sticking to a budget each month. As Dave often says, sticking to a budget was like giving ourselves a raise.