My budget cheerleader

I am at the end of my rope financially. Being sick for so many months coupled with crummy financial management skills, I have finally hit bottom. So when I heard about a Dave Ramsey class coming to town, I decided to sign up. I had heard about Ramsey from a few friends and read his columns in our local paper.

Ramsey's class, Financial Peace University, is 13 weeks long and is usually sponsored by a local church. The first session we watch a video and "get-to-know each other." By the end of the night, I didn't feel so bad about my situation. There's some other people in way worse shape than me. (A few of them looked like they should cut their food budget, but I digress.)

Last night, session two, it was time to dig into my own financial plight. I was up until about 2 a.m. this morning doing an on-line budget available to students. Before I adjusted ruthlessly my budget, I was in the red about $900 per month, which explains why I keep going deeper into debt. So now I can drive seven miles a month, eat about $100 worth a month, and have to sell my second car and a gun and perhaps the dogs -- never mind, no one would want them.

When I grew up, we didn't talk much about money in our family. My family seemed to assume I would learn good money management skills by osmosis and all they did was teach me to balance a checkbook. I remember some terse conversations between my parents because my father was generous to a fault and my mom seemed to live in fear of economic catastrophe. They were both depression-era children, so they definitely knew how to make a nickel stretch. They managed to live pretty frugally, although with their kids they were very extravagent, which was no help to a couple of us, in the long run.

Anyway, I'll probably blog about my financial "digging out" as I go along because this is a major change for me and one that's long overdue (Step One). I always had a good income after I got clean and I spent it all. I traveled, bought a house I wasn't sure I could afford (I lost it when I got sick), and blew through my entire inheritance (which wasn't huge by any means) because I had no cash saved when I got sick, nor did I have disability insurance.

After my surgery, I had to borrow money from a brother who, as my mother said, "would squeeze a nickel 'til the buffalo s---." But over the years, while we made fun of him, one of my other brothers and I have both had to go to him to borrow money. Talk about embarrassing.
I refuse to let this happen again. I have hit my financial bottom and I'm more than willing to dig my way out.

I know I'm not alone. Debt is an American way of life and our vulture banking system will continue to encourage us to spend way more than we make. I thought my bank was so nice because they gave me automatic bounce protection. I had a moment of clarity the other day when I realized that this only encourages me to write a "warm" check because if it bounces, the bank will pay it and only at the small cost of $29 or some ridiculous charge.

If you're in my boat, or worried that you'll end up there, check out Dave's website www.daveramsey.com or his radio show. It streams every day from 2-5 EST and is also on many stations throughout the US. I was going to a meeting tonight, but I think I'll save the gas. I spend quality time with Romy, instead.