Community› The Bump Month Clubs› May 2015 Moms
May 2015 Moms
New Discussion

Dave Ramsey

katiebug66katiebug66 member
in May 2015 Moms
Just curious if anyone else lives by the Dave Ramsey rules of budgeting? We have for two years. It's 99% great but some days I just want to live beyond my means and buy what I want. I recognize that is silly to say "out loud" but it's true. Growing up as a generation of buy what you want, that's what credit is for, it can be hard to actually spend no more than we make. All the while saving and all that good stuff. I know it is the right thing but just feeling whiny right now.


Report Reply to Post

Re: Dave Ramsey

  • cawleyvacawleyva member
    Totally! I wish we were as good as 99%! You are doing great if you consider yourself a 99%er. Christmas is especially hard to budget for and kids see something new they want everyday too
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • katiebug66katiebug66 member
    @cawleyva I mean it is 99% of a positive change in our life -not that we stick to everything 99%. We are still paying off student loans but all credit cards are paid off. We were about to refocus on student loans but right now we are saving for a month of my maternity leave that will be unpaid. I am thankful we are at least preparing for that unpaid time so it won't be so stressful. 


    Report Reply
  • katiebug66katiebug66 member
    @cawleyva For Christmas, I put it in the monthly budget. I did realize this year I need to up that budget or cut the spending but thankfully I had extra cash from doing Pinecone Research surveys. In about 6 months, I had made $180. I am not trying to sell that company - just telling what I did.


    Report Reply
  • ladyteach0505ladyteach0505 member
    I wish I could get DH on board. He really doesn't spend much but I do notice our eating costs bring us down. :( I am also personally struggling with Christmas gift guilt. We spend WAY more than I want every year.
    Report Reply
  • katiebug66katiebug66 member
    @ladyteach0505 It took me a while to talk DH into it but now he is WAY better than me about sticking to the budget. 


    Report Reply
  • Snapdragon750Snapdragon750 member
    I love Dave Ramsey, but I never carried debt anyway because my dad is basically the same person and raised me to spend that way. Besides my mortgage, I never bought anything that I didn't didn't have the cash for. I use my credit card for everything for the cash back rewards, but I pay it off in full every month. We do still have DH's student loans but we are paying them off as fast as we can afford to.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

    IAmPregnant Ticker
    Report Reply
  • cawleyvacawleyva member
    We are credit card debt free, paid off our loan for the siding of our house and now we are working on dh's truck loan. Trying to get the truck done before May because I need a new car (not enough space in mine for 3 car seats) so we will need to take out another loan. Struggling to stay on track especially with eating out, it's our number one budget killer. I wish they had a get back on track class or book
    Report Reply
  • DawnLillyDawnLilly member
    I use cash and write checks. I use the envelope method.
    Report Reply
  • ladyteach0505ladyteach0505 member
    Anyone have any tips about willpower? I seriously find us saying all the time what our budget is and we never stick to it! I can't get DH to go to cash either... :(
    Report Reply
  • FreddyisReadyFreddyisReady member
    We follow some of his principles: follow a monthly budget, envelope system, pay down debt

    But we aren't perfect and sometimes we splurge more than we should.
    Report Reply
  • LimaDLimaD member
    My parents and brother do it and love it!  I"m especially proud of my brother, seeing how responsible he has become with his finances.  
    DH and I stick to a monthly budget but do use credit cards for the rewards, and pay it in full each month. I've tried getting him interested in the envelope system but nope. I do think there's something about seeing the cash leave your hands that would make you an even wiser spender! 
    Report Reply
  • masonsmomandmaybabymasonsmomandmaybaby member
    Yes we've used it for a while. It is hard to stick to at times but I make sure We each have our own fun spending money each Month. We also use mint.com to do a budget bc we just can't utilize the cash system effectively. And eating out is our bid budget killer especially while pregnant.
    Report Reply
  • peteresapeteresa member
    Budget? What's that? I wish I was disciplined enough to stick to one, eating out is the real problem for us! Once this baby is born I will need to work for about 3 months to pay off my "fun free spirited spending" during this pregnancy...yikes!
    Report Reply
  • HeatherC21HeatherC21 member
    My DH is big into this. He made me read the money makeover book so we can start the process together. We are in a pretty good place to start. The only debt we have is his car which will be paid off in a few months and our house. While we haven't actually done a budget yet I know food is going to be the big problem. Not even just going out, we planned for four meals this week and went I went to the grocery store I spent $130 granted that was still with the weekly staples like milk and bread ect. but holy cow how much of your budget should go to food?
    Report Reply
  • Pintobean39Pintobean39 member
    HeatherC21 said:

    My DH is big into this. He made me read the money makeover book so we can start the process together. We are in a pretty good place to start. The only debt we have is his car which will be paid off in a few months and our house. While we haven't actually done a budget yet I know food is going to be the big problem. Not even just going out, we planned for four meals this week and went I went to the grocery store I spent $130 granted that was still with the weekly staples like milk and bread ect. but holy cow how much of your budget should go to food?

    I spent prob $200 a week on groceries. Some weeks more or less. That's 3 in our house, my son is 15. I also have a 21 yr old that eats lunch here 3-4 days a week that eats enough for the 3 of us combined.
    Fucking bump!!!!
    Report Reply
  • katiebug66katiebug66 member
    We spend $400 on groceries a month. Then maybe $100 - $150 a month on eating out. I try to always hit kids eat free places if we are going to eat out. Groceries are hard but I started couponing a few years ago (before Dave) and it doesn't take much time or space if done right. The issue was our only wiggle room was groceries so I had to find a way to make it work. 


    Report Reply
  • CamoBride2010CamoBride2010 member
    Groceries suck. I seriously used to spend only like $40 a week on 2 of us and just in the last few years that number has at least doubled ( although I do much better when I leave DH at home, he always seems to add stuff to my cart....) I use Quicken ( a super old version I got for free) you input your checkbook information then it can show you monthly graphs as to where yours money goes percentage wise ( that makes more sense in my head, but I'm struggling to find the right words, yay lack of sleep! haha).  It is very interesting to see it all laid out on a pie chart by catagories.
    Report Reply
  • rideeventingrideeventing member
    Food is such a huge part of our budget and there is only two of us. But I can't eat gluten and we try and buy mostly organic fresh food. Which means coupons are fairly nonexistent for our meals. I try and budget $100 a week, but really it's more like $130 plus my husband eats out for lunch - usually an additional $7 a day. I try and cut back, but other than DH's lunch there isn't a ton I can do. 

    I use an plain old excel spreadsheet to keep my budget and our mutual budget. I also update with any debts either of us have. Our biggest issue is that we have acquired some CC debt in order to make some necessary updates and repairs to our home including a HUGE unexpected one. However, we are hoping to sell before the baby comes and will make that back and then some so I'm not worried. Our plan is to move into a cheaper neighborhood and find another dump to fix up, so hopefully our housing budget will be cut in the next year. 
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"