Dave Ramsey is too hard!!! - Page 2

robinkeith1 · 02-21-2008, 12:01 AM

Honestly I think his point is to do that before you start the program. Once you've got a budget that works, you allocate the cash to the envelopes and off you go. Yes, you can write on the envelopes when you pull money out, but that's no bigee. My husband and I tracked our expenses once in the beginning and haven't since, but we're PLOWING through his program. We'll be done with his debt snowball this year (and just started in January '08) off of just one income. It CAN be done. You have to want it, though.

Kristen L · 02-21-2008, 05:10 PM

My husband and I just completed our debt snowball and we are now working on fully funding our emergency fund (we already have 2 months of expenses saved up).

I think you really have to make the program work for you. Some people have to follow it to the letter and some people need to tweak a few things. We never wrote down every dime we spent. We made our own excel spreadsheet and put in our fixed expenses. Then we take a certain amount in cash for gas, groceries, and eating out/entertainment each week. When the money is gone, it's gone - if there is some left over it gets put back in the bank. The only reason I would see to write down everything you are spending is to get an idea of how to set up your budget and where your money is going.

We also ignored Dave's advice about when to start saving for retirement. We kept contributing 15% to our retirement savings while we were doing the snowball. This won't work for everyone, but we did not want to miss out on our compounding interest since we are so young.

morgie's mom · 02-21-2008, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delicateflowerknot98

Are you recording every transaction so that you can figure out your budget based on those figures? We have been doing the Ramsey plan for about 18 months and I don't think we ever have tracked every dime on paper. Rather, we use cash envelopes for our spending categories that aren't bills that have a check written (like food and clothing). We put a set amount in the food envelope every month ($400 for our family) and then spend it on food, when the money's gone no more spending. I find this easier than tracking that I spent $1.50 on a coke and a pack of gum to put it in the food category in a spreadsheet. I just pull out $2 and buy it and put the change in my savings jar.

Try and keep things easy for yourself so that you don't give up...it is worth it to stick with the program. We can see the end of our debt - hopefully by December of this year. You can do it!!!

I am also a Dave fan, and don't track every puchase on paper. I just have x dollars that I I put in an envelope for a certain expense, and buy anything related to it (such as the food/gum example above) from that envelope.
I think the "every dollar has a name" concept relates to writing out what your bugeted expenses are for the month, and then allocating extra funds to paying down debt, etc.--not just blowing the extra money.