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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