Addiction can be a good thing

Okay... we are totally addicted and not ashamed to admit it. We are addicted to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Now most are complaining about the economy and we are in that group. My husband and I daily complain about gas prices... see he is addicted to checking the price of a barrel of oil and wondering why when it's so low the prices don't decrease and sometime go up. We also question what's up with oil companies still making the largest profits ever! However one good thing has come of it, the economy has inspired us to get serious about money. I don't think I ever was "serious" about money. I just wanted money to get things I needed or thought I needed. Well after my husband read Dave Ramsey's book we sat down together and talked about money. We never really talked about money before other than I don't have money for that now do you? I gave Danny Dave Ramsey's book for Christmas, after what happened I'm thinking I should have given it to him earlier.

So a back tracking a little bit. Right before Christmas he took my car into a different dealer for an oil change. The dealer we bought the car from was farther away and the highway was under construction so he chose to go to a closer one. NEVER EVER AGAIN! This dealer called me up at home and wanted $1,000.00 worth of repairs okay'd. I think not! But in the process of him "waiting" for the oil to be changed he fell in love. Yes he fell in love with some cute red head... okay a red F-150 crew cab. So by close of business he had a new truck. This is why I should have given him the book earlier because instead of paying off one truck he owned, he rolled that loan over into his new truck. He is now beating himself up for the spontaneous decision. On the bright side we do like this truck better and he owes less than blue book value so it wasn't a totally bad decision.

But back to the book... Danny finished reading the book and decided we are going to declutter and sell all our wonderful treasures we don't use on craigslist. To our surprise we are really getting decent money for our treasures. He's sold fishing poles/reels, a pack-n-play, crib, numerous cordless power tools, a tent, stereo equipment and more that I am forgetting. But to make a long story shorter we are addicted to having no credit card or vehicle debt in the near future. The only "loan" we will have is our home. Is that cool or what? Our vehicles are new enough we plan on having enough time so save up and pay cash for our next vehicle. This economy has inspired us to live different than most Americans. We want to live debt free. And we are okay with not being able to take a vacation or splurge on a few extras until then. In fact my husband now admires my freakish addiction to coupons clipping and the whole coupon game. He now gets my excitement as I come home and tell him I've saved $40.00 in coupons at the grocery store... and we don't even have double coupons here in San Antonio. He still has a little way to go when I want to go to the 99 cent store for produce... but come on fresh veggies for 99 cents??? How can you beat that? If anyone wants tips on coupon clipping just ask. I am not the guru I want to be and I am still learning, but I can point you in the right direction. I am still working on saving $40.00 then I should take the $40.00 and put that into savings or reducing the credit card debt. But you know something... my husband is just so good at it by the end of February we will be credit card debt free and unless something major and unforeseen happens that credit card is going in the safe and not going to see the light of day for a very long time. We may even have to have it cremated and the ashes scattered over our local Wal-mart. But I still hold an attachment to the card... I need it like a security blanket... what if the worst happens and we need it for an emergency. But I am working through my feelings and hopefully without the help of an expensive therapist I can let go in the near future. I only wish I would have been inspired to live this way when I started working. Imagine I could be independently wealthy by now! But for now our home is content living with our new addiction. I so love my hubby for getting me hooked and for being the hyper focused man I met almost 10 yrs. ago.