![]() It is common to hear recent graduates lament the fact that they were not taught the very basics of managing finances in school. But classes focusing on an important and universally applicable topic are often ignored in favor of these scientifically-focused courses: financial literacy. There has been a huge push towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) oriented curriculum in public schools. If I could do all that with next to nothing, then I'm sure others have done it, too.Financial Literacy: Essential at Any Age Presented by Christine Pikutis-Musuneggi Pick up extra shifts, work a few extra hours if offered, etc. One other significant thing I learned from Carol Keefe's book: if you are motivated for a goal, you will start looking for new ways to make money. #Dave ramsey success story free#It is so possible to get debt free when you are poor. #Dave ramsey success story how to#We even learned how to make (not) refried beans from budget bytes' website. We are much better off financially now, but to get here, we worked tons of jobs, were extremely creative with saving money, and yes, beans and rice was and still is a real meal here. :) And someday we will pay that off early. It was only in 2013 that we found Dave Ramsey on the radio and I said, "Oh my gosh, we just found our people!" We paid off my husband's final loans by Easter of 2013 and have been celebrating ever since. ![]() I also helped my now husband pay off his huge student loans from undergrad. I ignored all of the stupid advice I got from people. I was so upset about it, but I worked very hard to pay tuition and pay off that loan long before I graduated. I only ever took on one loan in 2010 which was for grad school, since I was surprised with much higher tuition (I should have gotten resident status but the school refused to accept any resident students that first semester). I was strongly motivated to stay out of debt since I paid off all debts. I refused any offers of loans and just lived without a lot of things (no car, no cell phone, no cable, often no food, etc). When I went back to school (after a very long medical leave which is why the loans went into default), anything extra from grants went to pay off the student loans I had left until they were paid off. It worked: I got my psychological boost from the gratitude and focusing on the debt free feeling every day instead of letting it disappear. So when I did save up and pay off debt over time (very, very slowly, but paying off that $2000 credit card was huge for me! and then paying off the student loans that had gone into default of $10,000), I set a goal to write in my gratitude journal every single day until I replenished my emergency fund and got that $2000 back in savings. It's also less gratifying to pay off debt - it feels like nothing has happened when you pay off one debt. That's what a lot of people do and what I did back then. That is a very crucial first step (and fits with DR's baby step 1).īut she also had such a great point: if you pay extra on your debts without a plan, that money seems to disappear psychologically and you overpay out of desperation and end up using your credit card again by the end of the month because you are out of money, so you get nowhere. I probably wouldn't advise that, but I would advise learning how to save first if you've never had the chance to learn that skill. She has a very different approach which is to only pay the minimum on debts and stop increasing the debt so that you feel the weight of the debt and never ever want to be in debt again once you do pay it off. Once I saved up for a few goals and learned it was actually possible, I then realized I didn't want to buy yet another thing, I really wanted to pay off my debt and be free. I learned how to save money when I was painfully poor from, "How to Get What You Want in Life With the Money You Already Have." I needed that first step because she really focused on people who have no saving skills and the tiniest of incomes. ![]() Long before I found Dave Ramsey, I paid off debt while living on disability ($800 per month, rent of $600), having a tiny part time job, and being a student. ![]()
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