Another post from my 'other' blog. I think this came from the TMMO message board, with many people adding to it.
1. When walking through the parking lot, you stop and think, "Wow, that's a fine car......I wonder if it's paid for."
2. You watch someone pay for a paper, coffee & cigarettes with a credit card and you silently pray "Forgive them Father, they know not what they do."
3. Your nine-year-old with a terminal case of "stuffitis" starts asking, "Mom, is this in the budget???"
4. You have sold your big red truck and your camper to speed up your snowball to reduce your debt by $40,000 in less than 4 months, only 8 more months to go.
5. You can start a crazy thread like this one, laugh at the craziness, but realize this used to be your way of life.
6. When you see people are driving a 12 year old car and see another one driving by and think...Yeah baby, smells like money to me!!!
7. Your friend just bought a new car and is bragging about how he got such a great deal, then you run the #'s, your friend realizes he gave his trade to the dealer and had the balance owed on it rolled into the new car loan. "told ya $500 per month for 5 years DOESN'T equal $15K !! (the amount your friend said he got his new car for)"
8. You overhear your 11 year old daughter is telling her friends that "Credit Cards Reek!"
9. You no longer ask "How much is that a month?" and do ask "How much is that?"
10. Just shake your head when your office partner uses one credit card to pay the minimum due on another. And gleefully think this is the way you used to live. (This incident just happened about 10 minutes ago)
11. Your 9 year old son tells a customer in Wal-Mart who's buying a CD player on credit that "by the time you pay that thing off my mother will be a GRANDMOTHER!" (True story.)
12. Romantic talks with your spouse center around being debt free
13. You've actually got a plan to get out of debt that doesn't involve consolidating all of your debt into more debt.
14. You spend your tax return on debt repayment instead of a down payment on a new snowmobile...and you adjust your withholdings so you don't get another return next year.
15. Your co-workers are laughing at you for brown bagging your lunch and your laughing at them for going out to eat everyday.
16. Your peers laugh at you because you live in a paid for cracker box while they are a payday away form loosing their house ...
17. You have traded out the pleasures of the debit card to stand in the 20 minute long line at the bank each payday to get cash in certain denominations so that you can fully fund all of your envelopes to pay cash for everything until the next payday. And you gladly continue to do it because you save 12-17% more than using plastic, you are "really telling your money where to go" and you can "hurt" a little more when you spend it.
18. When your car breaks down and instead of crying, "Oh, no!" you say, "Oh, well."
19. You tell your 15 year old daughter if she wants a prom dress she has to work for US! (We paid her minimum wage to EARN it)
20. You start selling candy to your school bus kids to get out of debt quicker!
21. You create a detailed spreadsheet of you home loan showing the rate of interest per day, hour and minute and changing that rate every time you make a principal only payment or when a normal monthly payment occurs. Yup...I do that!!
22. You listen to the Kenny Chesney song "A lot of Things Different" and instead of thinking of missed chances and lost loves you think of lost dollars! Yep, I'm weird.
23.When you work 70 hrs a week and want more. And love it!!!!!!!!!
24. You look forward to getting calls from companies advertising credit cards so you can explain how and why you want to be debt free (and why they should too)
25. You think: if I played the lottery and won 100,000..... $34000 would go to taxes, $6995 would pay off my van, $6000 would fund my Roths for the year, and then try to calculate how much you would need to fully fund your 403(b)s for the year (around 22,000). Then you think how much of the remaining $31000 would I put in the kids college fund and how much would I blow on a vacation. (Let's see, $25,000 for the college funds and about $6000 to take the kids to Disney)
26. When you look forward to debt CON-solidation companies calling you about how they can reduce your interest rates/payments, and you tell them "The only way to reduce MY payments is to pay ME, cause I don't have no stinkin' payments !!"
27. When your friends tell you that a CC is needed for emergencies and you explain to them MONEY also works in case of emergency.
28. When you and DH discuss your anniversary, you suggest going to Nashville to see Dave's office and meet him, and DH thinks it's a really good idea! (Yes, this is true...we did it in January!)
29. When credit card bills stop being a cause for depression and stop being a surprise because you know EXACTLY where your money is going.
30. When your landline phone doesn't ring for days, and you don't dread it ringing anymore!
31. When you look forward to getting your monthly bills!
32. When you back into your friend's car you say "Dang Murphy!", and don't panic because you know you have an EF for such things.
33. When you look at other cars on the road that are exactly like the one you're trying to sell and think, "Man! I bet they're WAY in debt with that SUV!"
34. Someone at the office mentions that he paid $2.75 for his daily morning purchase of a Starbucks coffee when it usually costs only $2.25, and you think Hmmm, $2.25 every weekday, that's $11.25 every week, over $45 a month, and probably over a million dollar expense over a few decades considering what a good investment of the same money would yield.
35. When the cashier at Kohl's invites you to apply for a charge card by saying, "The interest rate is only 5.9%," and you reply, "No thanks, cash is at zero percent."
36. When your go into an "Everything's a Dollar" store, your kid, seeing a toy he wants, says "Is that on sale?”
37. When you pick up a penny on the parking lot, not because it's "heads up" or lucky, but because you'll add it to your debt snowball jar when you get home!
38. When you consider picking up your dinner plates (with rice & beans, beans & rice) and going to the porch "Eating Out"!
39. You start potty training your son because (and ONLY because) you want to cut diapers out of the budget.
40. You confuse a half dozen bankers because you're trying to setup an automatic recurring DEPOSIT INTO the account.
41. When someone calls to offer you a great investment opportunity to triple your money in just 60-90 days, ask the guy why, if his commodities investments are so good, is he sitting in a telemarketing cubicle trying to get YOU to be like him.
42. When your 11-year old son, seeing you use a debit card at the checkout line, yells out "That isn't a credit card, is it?" and when you assure him it is not, he yells out "Good, because credit cards are stupid!"
43. When your 10-year old daughter offers to donate her commission to help retire the debt.
44. When your eating out with friends and you hear the music in the background and you tell your friends " This is Dave Ramsey music". They look at you weird and say "Huh uh, this is Pink Floyd. Who is Dave Ramsey? What does he sing?" lol Then you start explaining.
45. When someone asks you for financial advice you begin each statement with, "Well, Dave says..."
46. You refer to the Total Money Makeover as your financial bible.
47. You see a cookbook titled "101 Tasty Ramen Noodle Dishes" and think, "Lightweights. Only 101???"
48. When your usual greeting to your coworkers changes from "what have you been up to lately" to "what have you sold lately?"
49: When somebody asks you how you are doing, you reply "Better than I deserve"
50. When the cashier at Wal-Mart, seeing your envelopes, asks "You listen to Ramsey too, eh?"
51. When your co-workers roll their eyes when you start a sentence with, "Well Dave says......"
52. When your 7 year old begins a conversation with the doctor by saying, "We're getting out of debt..."
53. When a server at a fast food place, when you pull out your Financial Peace envelopes, suggests a non-advertised sale since "I know you're looking to save money..."
54. When your dog dies, and after the initial sadness passes, you are comforted by the realization you're going to save at least $10 per month on dog food! (Sorry, true story!)
55. When your family and friends tell you that working 3 jobs is "working too hard" and you take it as a compliment!
56. Seeing a "Pre-Approved, 0% for 6 months" envelope in your mailbox automatically makes you yell "CHEEEEEEETTTTAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
57. You use dollar store paper towels as coffee filters, and reuse coffee grounds.
58. You explain to your certified financial planner (who has a PhD) why getting out of debt is an important part of financial planning. (of course wondering the whole time, who gave this guy a degree and does he really do this for a living?)
59. When you cry whenever someone calls Dave and screams "We’re DEBT-FREE!!!!".
60. When your girlfriend asks you, "Is Dave coming on the honeymoon, too?"
61. When your broke, completely-unaware-of-the-irony-coworker with: a mortgage, car payment, credit card debt, and a financed 55 inch TV tells you that renting is throwing your money away.
62. You see a possible 'FOR SALE' sign in every 70’s-80’s model, egg shell blue car on your daily commute!
63. When you are watching Sponge Bob Square Pants, who is talking about kids spending their allowance on their summer vacation, and you think "I can't believe their parents give them allowance! They need to be EARNING COMMISSIONS!!!"
64. When your car dies and your well-meaning father offers to give you $25k of your "inheritance" early, if you will go buy a new car with it, and you say, "Thanks, I'm buying a car with the $3k I have saved for that purpose. But, if you really want to send me the money, do part of it this year, part next so I avoid paying taxes on it, and I'll slap it all on the mortgage."
65. When one of the highlights of your day is bringing in the mail and your two year old daughter's face lights up as she says, "Daddy, is that another bad credit card!!" because she can't wait to help you take the application to the shredder.
66. When you call the insurance company that you have (had) a Universal Life Policy with and the customer service rep asks "Are surrendering the policy because you have had a problem with the company?" and you reply, "NO!!! I'm getting DEBT FREE!!" and she asks, "How??" Of course you can't keep a secret, so you tell her about DR and TMMO. She says, "Wow, I need that!!"
67. When your creditor calls you to negotiate and you happily share your "Ramsey" outlook on life and ask them if they know what a debt snowball is.
68. Instead of getting a cup of coffee on a break, you pop in to get caught up on the Dave Ramsey forums’ posts.
69. When you buy a dresser from a furniture store with cash and they can't come up with the change of $10.05. The salesmen and women get together to see who has enough pocket change. "Honey I don't see a cash register near the stack of credit applications."
70. You spend your $20 that you budgeted on entertainment for the month to buy a copy of The Total Money Makeover.
71. You pull an all nighter (until 6AM) downloading, updating, and categorizing the last 5 months account statements into MS Money to get a better look at what you've been doing so you can STOP IT!!!
72. When you are living like no one else and everybody thinks you are broke just like they are. When tell your co-workers you OWN all the stuff you have outright they don't believe you, because the idea of owning something nice without having payments boggles their mind. Normal people think only the "rich" can have nice stuff and own it outright, not the people you work with ...
73. You start thinking that Jesus must have been on this program and must have really cut the grocery % by eating bread and drinking water.
74. You start wondering around the house looking at different designs in the ceiling because your "blow" money is gone.
75. You're at your one of your three jobs and you overhear someone ask an elderly relative for money, saying "You know I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to" and you think, "You know you wouldn't have to do that if you sold that brand-new car out there! And what other toys do you have?"
76. You see someone buying bottled water, and think "That stuff's $4 a gallon! And you complain about gas prices!"
77. You feel sorry for the people around you who spend money like it's water...
78. When you tell your Kids to apply the "Dave Ramsey" lifestyle to their Animal Crossing game and they celebrate because they are "Debt free!"
79. When a family member suggests to you that you need to get a NEW car because your six year old car will surely break down, your son tells Grandpa that car repairs are a lot CHEAPER than car payments plus insurance every month! (Go Joe, GO!)
80. When you apply for a mortgage and they ask you about your payments trying to figure out you debt to income ratio, and you tell them you don't have payments!! Of course they are baffled by this concept ...
81. When you can't watch these home improvement shows, like Landscape, and wonder if their house is paid for and are they paying cash for all that work.
82. When you see a young couple looking at a new Mustang with those starry eyes and drool running down their chin and all you want to do is scream " RUN, RUN, IT IS A CHEETAH dressed like a car"!!
83. When you take the usual $20-30 that you would have paid for one dinner out- You take that to the grocery store to buy 5-6 dinners instead=) WITH COUPONS!
84. When you create a budget that outlines the spending of your Christmas and Birthday Amazon.com Gift Certificates when you received them. AND when you spent them, it hurt just as much as CASH!
85. Your "Blow" money for the month is $40, and the thing you want to blow it on costs $45, so you make yourself wait until the following month...
86. You actually pay most of your utilities ahead one month, as opposed to one month late like you used to.
87. You thoroughly enjoy the look on the cashiers face when she asks "would you like to open an xyz account with us", and you tell her you don't believe in credit cards.
88. Your tenth (yes tenth) child is born and you feel a sense of excitement (after the initial rush or excitement and emotion due to the birth) come over you because you realize that your tax return will be a lot bigger and getting out of debt is that much closer.
89. You continue to eat MREs even after your power is restored because you don't want to spend the money to restock the fridge.
90. When you look at your bed with an eye for including it in the garage sale and you realize that you have to sleep SOMEWHERE!
91. Your 8 year old Daughter gives a gift of $5 to one of her classmates and can't believe she spends it all at the school store - "she didn't save any or give any to God".
92. When somebody at coffee break mentions charging something on a credit card, and the entire group cringes and looks out the sides of their eyes at YOU... because they know "them’s fighting words."
93. When you want to scream at a co-worker who 1) makes twice what you do w/ her dh's income, 2) but has already declared bankruptcy once 3) just bought a new house 4) and borrowed the down payment from **her parents** 5) mentions that her dad makes her car payment 6) and wonders why her in-laws won't "help" her with a medical bill....when you want to scream: "Me and my husband don't need "help" from anyone, why do you?"
94. When you are a finance Manager at a car dealership and the only thing you can think of when you are doing the paper work is how much money this person is wasting. I do this every day, it may be time for a career change!!!
95. When you freak out while having an MRI and you calm yourself by going over your budget and snowball. I DID this today!
96. When you’ve just started the program and your diamond falls out of your wedding set and the insurance gives you a check...and you decide to use it on debt snowball and save for a new one when you can buy it with cash and are debt free!
97. When a family member invites you out to dinner, their treat... and you reply "Great, as long as we don't go somewhere that serves beans OR rice!"
98. When you see a Hummer driving down the road, and smile, thinking "hey Dave, Daniel's going to put one of these in your driveway in three years!"
99. When you wander through the kitchen appliances section of Target, and your only thought is about what each of these gadgets would do to a credit card.
100. When you look back over this list and you realize that you have done most of the stuff on it.
101. You have so many jobs you’ve taken to wearing the different uniforms over each other, superman style.
102. You have sold so much stuff, the kids aren’t just afraid they’re next, they’ve gone into hiding!
103. Taking the family out to lunch entails a trip to Costco on sample day!
104. You have fought homeless people for aluminum cans to recycle.
105. You make an entire mortgage payment with rolled change found in couch cushions, on the street, and in vending machine change returns.
106. You are almost done writing a cookbook entitled ‘Five Thousand ways to prepare beans and rice, and love it’.οΎ
107. You have changed the names of your three boys from Bobby, Tim, and Joe, to Blake Thompson, Brian Kirsch, and Lara Mayes Johnson.
108. You don’t understand why you never see FPU in the collegiate sports listings.
109. You attempt to bargain with a vending machine. Using ‘walk away power’ does not seem to work, however.
110. You took ‘Shaving the head and drinking the kool-aid’ to heart. It’s cheaper than going to the barber shop or buying soda. As an added plus, you now have a remote resemblance to DAVE!!!
111. You stand outside, staring at the power meter, yelling ‘It’s spinning too fast, turn something off!!!’ to your wife.
112.Even your pets are on the envelope system.
113 You go to sleep at night thinking about money instead of trying NOT to think about money....and you get a good night's sleep.
114 When you put gallon and quart sized Ziploc bags on your birthday and christmas list and really hope you get them.
115. DaveRamsey.com is down and you spend your whole Saturday morning hitting "refresh" and praying it will come up *this* time!
119. Your wife starts referring to Dave Ramsey as "your new pastor".
120. You actually look at how many times you posted on this site.
121. You post to this site major accomplishments/milestones before you call your mom and dad.
123. You see one of those giant brand new cars on the road (like a Hummer or Expedition) and you *really* see half your house worth driving down the road!
124. You do the happy dance when your son decides to sell the car that is worth more than his annual income.
125. You see one of those stupid Capital One commercials on TV and when the dude says, "What's in YOUR wallet?", you scream, "CASH!"
126. When your nine year old looks at you on Christmas Day after opening his presents and says, "I hope this all was in the BUDGET!"
127. When the same 9 year old destroys a brand new pair of school pants by doing something that he was told not to do (running in a freshly painted room)...and Grandma offers to take him out... tells Grandma, "Do you have anything that you need help with around your house? I messed up my school pants and Mom says that they'll cost $15 to replace. I need to earn extra money because buying a new pair was not in the budget."
128. When you make a big bargain purchase (new fridge) and capture the teaching moment by handing the cash to your ten year old so she can count out the "Uncle Bens" for the cashier.
129. When you're happy that someone nailed the side of DH's truck while you were out to dinner (using XMAS gift cards to pay). Happy because the insurance paid for a complete repair. Problem is that the repaired door would look to "pretty" for the ole' truck. Took the money, put it toward debt and decided to just fall in love with the new dented door... 185K miles and chugging along with the 1997 GMC Yukon.
130. When your husband states, "I will not give you the receipt from your Christmas Gift to enter into our budget spreadsheet..."
131. When you find yourself asking your neighbor what she's planning to do with her child's awesome winter parka when her child grows out of it. Hmmm, that stinker is now mine, along with matching snow pants. I traded her for some sweaters that came from my nephew for my daughter. They're still too big! And, I am a clothing SNOB in recovery.
132. When you enjoy paying on a loan almost as much as what you got the loan for back before you heard of Dave.
133. When you can't wait to get paid so that you can pay more bills.
134. When you cancel the newspaper because you can read the news online, get the coupons from your neighbor, and you're not going to buy anything from those silly flyers anyway!
135. Your 4 yr. old daughter tells your co-worker that she's gonna get a brown horse after we're done with our "money makeover."
136. When you're playing Junior Monopoly with your 6 year old and he lands on a property and doesn't buy it because "it's too expensive!" Well, he ended up WINNING because I spent all my money BUYING properties and he got his for FREE from getting Chance cards (junior monopoly is a little different).
137. You call your Dad and tell him he was right about everything and tell him he'd LOVE Dave!!!
138. Your 15 year old daughter has started her own emergency fund to use for her 1970 VW bus that she won't even be driving for another year.
139. When trying to get a second job, you put on your resume that you graduated from Financial Peace University and the interviewer is impressed.
140. When you can go through the house for the 6th time in three years and still find stuff to sell for the snowball.
141. When you're glad it's raining because that means you don't have to pay for the water to wash your car.
142. When you're glad it's sunny because you can hang your laundry to dry and save the $ it would cost to run the dryer.
143. When your spouse checks the boards and reads your posts to see how your day was.
144. When you hear someone say "I'll charge it." and immediately have restrain yourself from lecturing them.
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