By Sara Emmorey
When my husband and I were newlyweds, we signed up for a class called Financial Peace University created by Dave Ramsey. We were so excited to start our marriage with such a clear goal of having financial peace in our lives. We got our envelopes, the little folder to organize them, and we even had a binder to keep our monthly budgets. I spent every dollar we earned on paper before the money was even deposited in our account. But not long after finishing the class, we found out we were expecting our first child, and shortly after that, we made the decision to accept a new job and move. That move involved selling and buying a new home— and our debt snowball only grew.
Not long after, the budget system we were so eager to use was out the window and we were in survival mode with our finances. A second job was added and I started to work from home to make ends meet. Our pay structure changed from biweekly to once a month, leading us to resort to credit cards until the next paycheck. We were Financial Peace flunkies! Excuse after excuse rolled in as to why we weren't using the budget system that we knew we should be. Pretty soon, we were living paycheck to paycheck with no end in sight.
I don't share our story to keep you from taking this class. It didn’t work for us the first time around— we knew the tools, but we chose not to implement them into our lives. I’m sharing our story to encourage you to stop what you're doing to seek and use the help this class can bring!
Recently, my husband and I were having lunch and talking about how different our lives would look today if we would’ve followed through on what we had learned at the beginning of our marriage. What a different spot we could be in had we stayed faithful to the program when we were starting out!
This class is not a guaranteed ticket to financial peace. It will take discipline and willpower to tell yourself ‘no’ to things you would just buy without thinking before starting this process. It's not a quick fix or a “get out of debt fast” process. It will probably make you cry, question everything, and want to give up. But I’m asking you to stop looking at the immediate gratification and look at the long-term picture. What are your goals for 5, 10, or even 15 years from now? Is it buying a house, sending a child to college, a vacation, or even retiring? To achieve any of these things you have to look past the present and look toward a long-term goal.
I’m happy to say that my husband and I are now back on track with the Financial Peace method. We are taking it one day at a time, saying ‘no’ in the moment, and really taking control of our income. We no longer live paycheck to paycheck and we are paying down our debt to hopefully be (one day soon!) financially free! •
Sara Emmorey is the wife of Randy Emmorey, our Associate Pastor of Connections & Outreach, and mom to their 6 children ages 1 to 12 years old. She has a degree in early childhood education but chose to stay at home with her children. She loves to help with anything that involves her children and her family.
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