Dave Ramsey......

[tjsmiley]

Dave Ramsey filed for bankruptcy himself. Wiped out millions in debt. Now he has a "system" for becoming debt free, and he strongly discourages ANYONE from filing for bankruptcy.

However, the man had MILLIONS wiped out. Where would Mr. Ramsey be NOW if he had never filed for bankruptcy? Would he be able to pay off those millions using a "snowball" method that he has so brilliantly created for the rest of us? Please. He is the ultimate hypocrite. HE got a fresh start so he has no business telling others that THEY should not get the same fresh start.

[DYLAN150]

tjsmiley: I agree, most of those people on t.v. are pushing their products to make $.

[discouraged]

I was re-reading some of my old journals today (who knows why) and EVERY single one I am broke and worried paycheck to paycheck. Now on unemployment I am living on 1/2 my salary. Without the bk I would never have made it as far as I have. Still not employed but at least those blood suckers are no longer getting my money.

[GoingDown]

I used to listen to him, but there were several times when people called in who were hopelessly in need of bankruptcy, and he told them to try to settle and starve their way out of it. He also told them that eventhough one of their debts was far beyond the statute of limitations (a 20 year old debt!!!), they should still try to settle it. I stopped listening to him after that.

I liked his idea of budgeting with cash by first figuring out how much money you could afford to spend on each thing-- such as food-- and then puting that amount of cash into an envelop for the week. Once you used up all that cash in the envelop, you were finished shopping for food for that week.

I notice that since I mainly use cash for everything now, I am much more careful about how much I buy and what I buy. There have been times when I have had to tell the cashier to put some things back because I didn't have enough cash to buy all of the items I wanted. You can imagine that the non-essential items were the first ones I sacrificed, so I guess I didn't need them after all. If I had been using a credit card, I would have just paid for all of the items and not put anything back. It is embarassing to put things back when you are already at the checkout stand and there are people waiting in line behind you, but using cash has saved me a lot of money over the years.

[DYLAN150]

GoingDown: I now pay cash for my comcast bill. It includes tv, phone and internet. Boy, that woke me up. $230 or so a month. When you write a check and or pay with credit you really don't realize how much stuff truly costs.

[discouraged]

That is a good idea to put it into envelopes and pay with cash. Being unemployed, I'm not sure how much more time I have so have to be extra careful as I have not been able to find a job and at 57, I'm kinda doubtful that is going to happen anytime soon. I just try to keep as much as possible in the bank to hedge against the day it stops. I will now start budgeting groceries and keeping within the limit. Maybe take a calculator when I shop so I don't go over.

Thanks for the insight.

[frogger]

Once you used up all that cash in the envelop, you were finished shopping for food for that week.

I notice that since I mainly use cash for everything now, I am much more careful about how much I buy and what I buy. There have been times when I have had to tell the cashier to put some things back because I didn't have enough cash to buy all of the items I wanted.

I see that happen all of the time in the grocery store or Wally-World. If you'll look at most of the registers, there is always a few items around that didn't get purchased.