Julie Gumm - Author

The Baby Years: Baby Steps, Baby Boy

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Part 4 of our Debt-Free Story

So there we were in 1999 – both of us working, living in Dallas now and expecting our first child. We were making good money but it was going out as fast as it came in. We had no real savings and no real plan.

When Noah was born Mark had a job that involved a nearly hour long commute each way and it was during that time that he found Dave Ramsey’s radio show.

I would start to get these little tidbits of “Dave Ramsey says…” or “you should’ve heard this caller” each day. He began working on our budget and talking about the envelope system.

I, on the other hand, was knee deep in diapers and daycare and work and honestly don’t remember paying that much attention. Something about “baby steps” (not Noah’s) and paying off our debt. Sounded good to me. Thus a new budget was born and we began to make some progress on our debt with Mark leading the charge.

We moved back to Arizona the summer of 2000 and it was that fall that Mark dragged me to Financial Peace Live, Dave Ramsey’s live one day seminar that he does around the country. (Well, now they’re called Total Money Makeover Live but it’s the same thing.)

It was there that the light bulb went off for me and I was able to put together all the tidbits that Mark kept bringing home.

Honestly I don’t know how someone could attend one of Dave’s events and NOT come away totally excited and ready to tackle their financial issues.

We left there finally on the same page when it came to our financial future. We left there with THE BABY STEPS.

More next week………

P.S. If you live in Phoenix you need to get yourself to Total Money Makeover Life on Thursday, September 23rd.

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Free Cars for Life

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Got your attention now didn’t I?

Did you know that the average American family owes approximately $900 a month in car payments?

Kind of crazy isn’t it. And it’s not $900/month toward an “investment”. That money will never be recaptured. Rather we pay $900 a month for the privilege of driving a newer car every month.

We’ve been programmed to think that it’s expected. A car payment is a fact of life.

Right?

That’s what Mark and I thought for years while we traded up and traded in cars over the first six years of marriage.

Want to know a better way? How about free cars for life? Watch this video, but then finish reading for a few final thoughts.

So what’d ya think? Totally makes sense doesn’t it.

But here’s what we found. In the midst of redoing our budget, cutting unnecessary expenses and driving debt-free cars we realized we don’t need a $26k car. We don’t even need an $11k car.

You can find good, reliable, low-mileage (60-8ok) cars for anywhere from $3,500 – 7,500.

And the difference?

Save it, invest it, give it away.

It’s up to you!

If you’re really dedicated, maybe you can join the Junky Car Club 🙂

Driving our Debt Around

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Part 3 of our Debt-Free Story

As I’ve mentioned, I come from a family who drove cars until they died. In the entire time I grew up I only remember my parents buying 4 cars including the one they had before I was born. One was a 1970 Ford. Then a Pontiac hatchback and two Honda Accords.

The Ford lasted about 17 years before my brother totaled it. One Honda met the same fate (different brother) and the other two were driven until it no longer made sense to repair them. The 3 kids never had their own vehicle but we managed schedules and shared the vehicles w/ our family of 5. There was lots of carpooling and ride sharing going on.

I told Mark early on in our marriage that if it wasn’t a convertible (my dream car) then I didn’t much care what I drove.

When we graduated college I was driving our 92 Nissan Sentra. About three months after we’d moved to San Antonio I got into a fairly minor accident, rear ending someone when my brakes locked up on a wet road. It did a pretty good number on the front of the car despite being pretty low speed.

Suddenly Mark was determined that I needed a “bigger, safer car”. I’d seen the cars Mark had driven in high school. “Bigger” meant “grandma” car. No thank you! We compromised on a Dodge Intrepid which we purchased, trading in the repaired Sentra.

Of course that meant trading in my $156 car payment for a $267 car payment.

A couple years later Mark decided to downgrade the debt he had on his truck. We sold it to his parents and he bought an older used Mazda 626. This seemed like a turning point in our car buying patterns. Our car debt was going down, not up!

Oh wait…

About a year later, Mark got an itch to buy an SUV. We only had about a year of payments left on the Mazda 626 so I pleaded that we not get rid of it. So that meant it became mine and we sold the Intrepid (again to his parents) and bought an  ’97 Ford Explorer.

It was during this time that Dave Ramsey implanted himself into our lives and our car buying habits would soon change forever.

By the way – if you’re counting, that’s 4 years of marriage; 6 vehicles.

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