My Murphy
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A few days ago I posted a photo of the title to our most recently paid off car. There is only so much I can post on a small Instagram picture, so I decided to give some more context to what that means to me and my family.
In April of 2016, We made it past the hardest part of the Dave Ramsey baby steps, Paying off all of our consumer debt. Shortly after, we saved up to replace an aging vehicle and were lucky enough to pay cash for that car. I remember years prior when my friend and fellow Dave Ramsey follower Daniel and Allyson Hodges did the same. I could not believe it was possible at the time but here I was doing the same! This is when things took a turn.
Dave Ramsey talks often about Murphy’s law: “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” My Murphy arrived late in 2016 and took our family down a long and hard road that we are still working on even today. During the past 18 months or so we have experienced ups and downs including the passing of my mother in law, my cousin, a close friend who married us, and two of my uncles named Jack. On a positive note, we were blessed to find out we were having our third beautiful girl, Esther! She is always smiling and there are days that I just need to look at that smile to remember that its ok and we will get through the tough times.
Prior to this time, I had only been to the Dr. for very minor reasons, I have since undergone 3 surgeries. Lucky me. Babies and surgeries can be expensive, and when you throw in a blown tire, a destroyed garage door, a speeding ticket, and a blown AC unit, just to name a few ..…. things get a bit tight. The final straw happened when my car with 275K miles finally bit the dust. Our emergency fund depleted, we had little choice but to take a loan out to replace the dead car. Although the medical bills have not quite stopped coming from the most recent surgeries, I am thankful that we made it to the point in the financial peace steps to help us weather most of the storm and cash-flow a good portion of those unexpected expenses.
I tell this story not to boast but to show thankfulness and to show that the Financial peace plan really works. If we had not been out of debt and had emergency savings during this time, we would have plunged farther and farther into debt leaving little hope to get out in the near future. I will admit that it’s frustrating to have to seemingly start over again, but I still move forward knowing that it works for me and can work for you as well. I look forward to brighter days because I know there is a future with persistence and patience. There will be more storms but hopefully, they will be far in the distance.
I am passionate about a few things in life and this is one of them. I have had streaks of good and times where I just don’t want to pay attention to my budget. Money is a touchy subject for most people but its something that we use every day. No matter what you make, no matter how deep in debt you are, no matter if you think you are ok or not, most people are in need of a budget tune-up at the very least. The statistics say that one in three people in their 30s has any retirement at all! That is a scary statistic for my generation and I want to help people plan for the future. Join a Financial Peace class, read the book, listen to the podcast, talk to your friend that is a “Dave Ramsey” person, or come by when I host a class at my office. I will be happy to help and at least point you in the right direction.
Below are some links that I think are helpful: