The Ramsey Show - App - Every Bit Counts, Even the Oatmeal… (Hour 3)

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

Jade Warshaw & Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss:  "Finding support while on the Baby Steps" What it means to be gazelle intense, "Which job should I take?" "How do I get my finances back on track?" Support Our Sponsor: Neighborly Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Here's an EveryDollar deal just for our listeners: get a 14-day free trial PLUS $15 off your first year of premium. Click the link below and start budgeting today! www.everydollar.com/jade Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3cEP4n6 Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Interested in advertising on The Ramsey Show? https://ter.li/s64ye3 Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where we hang out to have a conversation about your life and your money, the things that are concerning you. I'm your host, Jade Warshaw, joined by Rachel Cruz, who is also host of the Rachel Cruz Show and Smart Money Happy Hour. And the list just goes on and on and on. It's really great. But you can give us a call today and we will give you our input, our advice, what we would do if we were in your shoes. So give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225, and we will take your call.

In the meantime, let's go to Michael in Mobile, Alabama. What's going on, Michael? Good afternoon, ladies. How are y'all doing? Doing good. How are you? I'm doing great. So me and my wife have recently started FPU,

and we're on baby step number two. And there's been a lot of excitement, you know, seeing the snowball, you know, rolling down the hill, paying debts off. And the question I have is when we reach out to friends and family, you know, just telling them, hey, this is what we're doing and, you know, this is what it's doing in our lives, we get a lot of negativity. And I was just curious, you know, why people are so negative about stuff like this. And then also, how can we build a support group, you know, with like-minded people that, you know, have shared our journey and can encourage us and us encouraging them? Yeah. Number one, I'm really proud of you guys for taking control of your situation. I mean,

you mentioned that you're in Financial Peace University, which is our course for getting control of your money and you're in Baby Step 2 paying off this debt. So I'm really proud of you guys. And yeah, a lot of people when they're in that phase, they are met with some opposition. It's like you're sharing this journey. You're hoping that you're going to get the support of your family and friends. And sometimes you do. And sometimes you do later on down the line. But, you know, to your point, I think sometimes what happens, Michael, is at least what I found is sometimes when you make the strides to better yourself in any area, it could be health and wellness. It could be financially, spiritually. It has the tendency to become a mirror for other people

and when you're saying oh i'm i'm on a budget i'm making smart choices with my money yes it would be great if people said good for you i'm proud of you way to go way to be a responsible adult but instead it kind of holds up that mirror to them. And maybe, not in every case, but maybe they are starting to see, oh, I should do better with my finances and I should be, you know, and they start to run through this checklist in their mind and it maybe kind of makes them feel bad or guilty or weird. And sometimes that comes out as a little bit of haterade. You know what I'm saying? It comes out a little bit like, oh, really?

You know, well, good luck with that. And they get a little funky fresh. But I want to encourage you that as you go through this, I bet you you'll start to see that change because they're going to start to see the fruit that it's having in your life. They're going to start to see those wonderful outcomes from what you're doing. And the smart folks are going to start asking you how you did it. Yeah. And I think, Michael, too, they're, you know, regardless of what they're saying, which I know this is easier said than done. You know, there's a there's a confidence that you and your wife have to have in each other. And in this process that you just say, OK, you know, we're choosing to make these decisions

regardless of what people think or not. We're choosing to do this. And I think Jade made a good point, too, that, too, that it can be a mirror for other people. But also, Michael, I've learned when you get healthier in a part of your life, whether it's you're doing therapy and it's the emotional side, if it's in your money and you're actually making progress there and in control, whether it's wellness and you're actually watching what you're eating and thinking about taking care of your body, whatever the thing thing is, or your marriage and you're like working really hardcore in your marriage, like whatever the season of life that you're getting healthier in, it can start to feel lonely because there are a lot of people that don't do the work on themselves.

And so it starts to even magnify the other unhealth around you. So when you're on this, you're like, oh, I never would have thought about people using credit cards or taking out car loans. But now that you're in it and you're trying to get out and you're working so hard when someone says I got a car loan, it's going to feel bigger to you. And it's probably going to magnify a little bit more to you because of what you're walking through. So that's on more of your side than the other people. But I think regardless of what the other people are saying or doing, you have to, I think finding that community is really key. And this sounds so cheesy because we always say your Facebook

friends aren't your real friends, but there's like the Baby Steps community on Facebook. Like there's people all around the internet, you know, may not be next door to you physically, but there's so much support that I have found with people, you know, whether it's on Facebook or Instagram that are part of these groups, or if you're in an FPU class and it's your class that you're talking to, like. Even on this show, like listening to this show and hearing that there's other people doing what you're doing. Yes. It's just encouragement. So whether it's community that you find, which would be ideal in person, that it's actual friends, maybe walking the journey with you. That's a, that's an ideal situation. But even, even if you don't find that you find which would be ideal in person that it's actual friends maybe walking the journey with you that's a that's an ideal situation but even even if you don't find that you can find

people all over the place doing this stuff so uh i would encourage you guys because you're not alone in it so i don't want you to feel isolated either yeah and stick it out because um sometimes if you let those voices carry too much weight you can let them shift you off course. And I've seen that happen sometimes. It's like, oh, well, I've been on the plan for a while and you kind of get comfortable. And then whoever it is, just keeps chatting in your ear about

why it's good to have a credit card for the points. And before you know it, you're like, oh, maybe I should. So just stand strong and be firm in what you've decided and just understand that sometimes when people are negative it probably has nothing to do it actually has zero to do with you and way more to do about whatever is going on in their life and there's probably you know because money too Michael as you probably know creates a lot of insecurity a lot of fear like it's not a very happy topic for a lot of people, which we hate.

That's why we do this show, because we're like, we want to spread hope and help people have the opposite effect when it comes to their money. But as you guys start to gain traction, like Jade said, I think for a lot of people, that can be, it can stir up a lot of their own fear and security, too. What do you think, Michael? Does that hit you right? Yes, ma'am, it did. And the whole reason that me and my wife started FPU

was because my best friend, him and his wife had went through it and they paid off all their debts and their house. And we got to talking one day and he's like, I'm going to gift you a free year of Ramsey Plus. FPU. And I was like, really? He's like, yeah.

He's like, I've been wanting to do this for a year. He's like, but I've never found that right person to give it to. He's like, you know, all the people I know, they're not going to take it serious. And he's like, I want somebody to really use this. And he's like, I feel like you and your wife will. So that's how we got started with it. And I'm really appreciative to him for that. We just started a month ago and

the momentum is just incredible. Yes, love to hear it. I love that, Michael. And I'm tempted, I'm going to do this. I want Austin to pick up because, Michael, I want to gift you, I get a gift card because we have like the live and give bundle or we have the ability to get you a gift card for you, Michael, then to pass on what your friend did to you. So I want you to hold on to this. I want you guys to get through FPU from that gift from your friend. And then when you guys finish and graduate, I want you as a couple to find another couple and do that with and keep that chain moving. George hates a generosity chain at Starbucks, but I'm doing one for FPU right now.

Well, as long as you don't make it creepy and be like, don't break the chain. If you break the chain, something evil is going to happen. As long as you just do it nicely and say, hey, man, pass it on. That's how you do a generosity chain, not in weird, creepy, pseudo religious ways. Just be nice. Pass it on. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries.

CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget at chministries.org slash budget. Hey, what's going on, guys? You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. This is Rachel Cruz. We're taking calls about your life, your financial situation.

Although I'll be honest, the word financial, sometimes it feels a little like... Highbrow. Yeah. Yes. Highbrow, Rachel. I like the word money. Money feels like everybody's got it. It's accessible.

So if you want to talk about your money, we will talk about it. 888-825-5225. And that's what we do on this show. And while I'm talking about that, I really want to encourage if you listen to this show regularly, or if you just recently found it and you're like, this show is the business. I want to tell my friends about it. Please do that. Tell your friends that you love this show. Share an episode with them. If it's an episode you you really loved that's a great one that you could share talk about it on social media like subscribe you could even leave a comment however just leave kind comments um some people like myself and george camel like to look at the comments so don't be saying anything crazy because we're real people with real feelings but anyway no say what you feel it's a free country

we're gonna do what we do anyway but like subscribe and share the show all right rachel uh i kind of want to talk about something here and that is this idea of we call it gazelle intensity yeah okay so if you're listening for the first time you you're probably like, what the heck is that? Explain, please. Now, obviously, you can go and get more information by going to RamseySolutions.com and clicking that get started button because we have all this lingo and terminology around here. And whenever we're talking about baby step two, which is paying off all your debt, smallest to largest, using the debt snowball. All right. That's a crux of all the things that we do around here. But we talk about this concept of being gazelle intense. And there's more behind that that I feel like is necessary to unpack because the way this plan works, it is contingent on you doing all the steps and you doing the steps the way that we're teaching it. Right. Because part of paying off your doing all the steps and you doing the steps the way that we're teaching it, right? Because part of paying off your debt, we might tell you, hey, pause retirement

temporarily so you can get that money back so you can have more money to pay off this debt quickly. But if you're out here lollygagging around and you're like, yeah, I'm going to pay off my debt. I'm pausing my retirement. I'm paying off my debt, but a little here and there. And I'm gonna pay off my debt I'm pausing my retirement I'm paying off my debt but you know a little here and there and I'm just I mean you could mess around and this thing could take you a decade and you've paused your retirement for a decade that's not what we're saying what we're saying is we want you to go as intense as possible and the way your dad Dave Ramsey has always explained it is a cheetah chasing a gazelle, right? In the wilderness, right?

And that gazelle is like, cheetah! And he's running and he's trying to get away from it. And the cheetah is dead, right? The cheetah is trying to eat your butt. And so you've got to get away from that. So that's one of the reasons we say gazelle intensity. Because there's a scripture in Proverbs that says, yeah, if you've signed surety, my son, if you've gotten yourself into debt, so that means do this and it says give no sleep to your eyes

no slumber to your eyelids and deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hands of the hunter there you go and it's this like powerful imagery of a gazelle running for its life as you watch the cheetah yeah you kind of think of that discovery channel moment yeah and and it's and like that's the intensity in proverbs what it says and again whether you believe you know in the bible or not that doesn't matter proverbs is just a great book in general right yeah of wisdom and it's like yeah if you want to get out of debt do this and it's like you have to run like your life depends on and we say it all the time jade you can wander your way into debt but you cannot wander your way out like it has to be intense yeah i i yeah um it's just there's a screen we're talking about scripture i gotta hit

one more because this is the way it talks about the thief it says the thief comes to steal kill and destroy and you, you know, I'm like, OK, that sounds like debt to me. Debt, it comes in. It's stealing your income. Right. It's destroying your your relationships. It's destroyed. It's destroying your peace. You know, it's it's it's killing your hope. It's a thief. And you've got to get yourself away from that as quickly as possible. So gazelle intensity is that idea of scorched earth, right? We're cutting our budget down to bare bones as much as we can. We're not doing all these extra things, all these extra subscriptions. We're not going out to eat, guys. We're not going on and buying a bunch of clothes. We're just getting what we need. And then in addition to that,

we're probably finding ways to increase our income, Right. And so the whole point of this is as much money as we can get our hands on to throw out this debt snowball. We don't want to kick this can down the road. We want to move quickly. And so a lot of you might know Sam and I's story, which, you know, we had four hundred and sixty thousand dollars of debt to pay off. And I'll be honest, in the beginning, we weren't, it's not Rachel, like we tallied it up and we were like, let's see what we have to pay. That would have been so depressing. It was like we listed them, but we never like added the total number. Maybe, I don't know, maybe the Lord told us never do that because you'll never make it. But we listed them smallest to largest and it was like okay we're

going to be in this for the long haul and there's something about being gazelle intense that you go to these extremes and i think sometimes people comment or they call in and there's like this incredulous like do i really have to do that and yeah you might you might have to do that um i remember there was a time where our budget was cut down so low. I was spending $60 a week and I would I had such a like detailed list at one point my husband and I were in the store and I look in the cart and I see this package of oatmeal in the cart I'm like why is that in there like that's not on the list you know we got 60 dollars what's happening and my husband we had bid in the journey at that point for like four and a half five years oh wow yeah and he's looking at me he he goes, oh, I put that in there.

And I'm like, it's not on the list. He goes, yeah, but it's like $1.99. And I'm like, it's not on the list. And so we're like standing there in the car, like face to face, like laser beams going through between our eyes, like having this face off moment over oatmeal. And I finally said to him, I was like, we're so, like, honestly, I feel myself getting a little bit choked up now, because him I was like we're so like honestly I feel myself

getting a little bit choked up now because I'm like we're so close yeah every bit counts like every bit counts you have to put it back and I kid you not my husband's eyes started tearing up and I was like are you are you gonna cry right now he was like I'm just so ready to be done with this and those moments are so real. And people will play you online and act like, oh, your latte every day doesn't count. It's just $1.99. Don't let those Ramsey people tell you

that you can't get your latte. Folk, you can't get your latte. You can't get it this time. And that's okay. Make your coffee at home. What is the big deal? We're big boys and big girls and we can make these sacrifices and we can

do them for a limited time only and change our life for the rest of our life it's so worth it if you're on the fence and you're like man it's not worth it live for today i'm like no it is worth it it is so worth it to pursue something greater because it's not going to just affect you it's going to affect the people around you. The guy that called earlier and some people say, well, I don't have kids. It doesn't matter. It affects the people around you. When people see you doing something countercultural that's making your life better, they have

questions and they're going, oh, wait, we can do this. Like people can actually be debt free. People can actually have savings. People can actually be millionaires in their 30s and in their 40s. What are you saying? Yes, but it requires sacrifice. Gazelle intensity is what it requires. Short term, short term sacrifice for a long term gain.

So good, Jade. It's so good. And I think to the point that you said limited time, because that's it too. Like we're not these crazy people asking you to live like this and not get two dollar oatmeal for the rest of your life we're not saying that but for a period of time the deeper you sacrifice yep the deeper you sacrifice and the more consistent you are in it the faster you're going to get out which means the faster you get back to your life that's right and do what you want to do but it's it takes that level of it and we and we hear

these calls every day and people stand on their debt-free stage here in the lobby with sharing their stories and you guys it's it's possible what's the average time amazing what's the average time because i'm over here seven and a half years that's not normal please understand 18 18 to 24 months is what we're finding on average but if you have to go seven years you're living proof that you're still here yeah i'm still standing still strong for friday and life is okay so it's it's impressive yeah life is good to you and sam for sure man incredible journey you guys walked you guys can do it too we're not special we're not super human we're just normal folks following a plan and you can do it too. I don't care who you are, your background, what you make, what you don't make, or the color of your skin. You can

do this. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, what's going on? You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw, your host. This is Rachel Cruz to my right. And we're taking calls all afternoon long. We got a couple segments left. So give us a call, 888-825-5225. In the meantime, let's go to Keisha May in New York City, New York. What's going on, Keisha? Oh, my God. I can't believe it.

Hi. Hey, what's up? How are you? Hi, guys. How are you? I'm hanging in there. You? Thank you so much for taking my call.

Of course. How can we help? So I have a two-part question, but you kind of nailed it with the baby step one for the second question. But my first question is I'm in kind of a dilemma. I am a registered nurse in the emergency department. We are on baby step two. We currently make, I make 105K and my husband makes 45K. I will be transitioning to a new position, a practitioner position, but I have to decide between the two.

Okay. And one of them pays $147,000 and the other one pays $130,000. Okay. But I'm looking to work at a four-day week. So the one that pays more is offering the four-day week. The one that pays less is a five-day week. week, but the commute is not as bad as the one that pays more. Okay. So, um, and then my other part of that, how much more commute, sorry, how big is the commute? What's the difference? So, so the 130 K commute is about 50 minute drives and the 147 is the hour and 20 minutes. Okay. So 30 minutes more. Okay. And they're both non-unionized. I'm currently in a gaming position now that if I stick with it,

I can be vested in the pension by May of next year. Now, my question was, do I choose the one with the higher amount because we're on the except two in addition to keeping the very highly stressful job that I have now? If I work part-time, I get to keep my pension and my medical benefits, working every Sunday for a year and a half?

Or do I take the one with the lesser commute, taking the slight pay cut as an MP while still keeping my emergency room job? Or do I just like, hey like hey I'm young I can just save up the money for the pension and just yeah I don't know yeah I wouldn't let a pension be the thing that sways this decision for me um so I mean an hour difference in commute basically if it's 30 minutes one way 30 minutes the other I mean an hour is that's a significant that's a significant time and because you have kids right yeah i have two kids yeah so that's significant to me that almost adds up to the full work day if you really think about it an hour for you know it's half a work day it's for four hours a week which is half of a normal workday. It's kind of crazy.

Yeah, with the emergency room job that you could keep with the $130,000 job, and with that emergency room job, what are the benefits there? Again, did you say health insurance? So I get to keep my health insurance, which is excellent, and then I get to continue to stay on my way to be fully vested into the pension. Oh, okay. With the other one. Okay. But it would be a five day a week, which is kind of a lot. Oh, that's right. Yeah.

It would be five days, Monday through Friday, nine to five, in addition to the Sunday emergency room job. Is there any flexibility a year from now where they would take you down hours? No. Unfortunately not. And how much you guys have left in your debt? So we still have

$120,000 left in debt and $107,000 is student loans. Okay. This is tough. I agree with Rachel. The pension wouldn't be the thing that decides it for me. Because of your debt, and I'm sorry,

I wanted to clarify one other thing. Did you say your husband makes $45,000 or $145,000? He makes $45,000. $45,000. Okay. Got it. Okay. wanted to clarify one other thing did you say your husband makes 45k or 145 he makes 45 45 got it okay um i honestly this is just me i honestly think that there's not a wrong choice here um i don't think there's a wrong choice i think there's what serves your situation best either way you're working you know working six days if you do the other one and you're working six days a week that's a lot but you're also you know you're working the baby steps so there's a season where there is a lot of work um if you do the four day a week one you're losing a little bit of time in the commute but all things considered

i think you're going to end up having more time for more money I think the way I'm looking at it unless I'm missing something Rachel so I I feel like I would go with a higher paying job in the less the less amount of days even though there's a slightly longer commute yeah um I think it's going to get you where you want to go quicker and the sac the thing is there's always a sacrifice there's always a rub so here the sacrifice is a third you know 30 minutes more in the morning 30 minutes more in the afternoon but i think you're going to be feeling better if whatever day you have off friday you're going to be like yes i have all day yes and you're getting paid seventeen thousand dollars more doing that yeah so that's what makes sense to me i i don't know that the let me be clear the other choice

is not wrong or there's it's not a it's not bad I just think that the first option is the better choice in my opinion what do you think I think that sounds I was leaning more towards that but yeah um yeah I was definitely because I was like I wanted to be gazelle intense and like I said my part two question was I was one of the people that was fooled about the student loan thing, about the forgiveness. I'm like, oh, yay, we're going to get forgiven, especially

being a nurse during the pandemic. I was like, yes, and then it didn't happen. I'm like, oh, crap. Now I got to go pay these bad boys. I love that you're thinking ahead. You guys are making great money, too. So just know that.

Like this, $147 is going to be so helpful in paying off this debt. And if you guys continue just to keep sacrificing and what Jade was saying in the segment before, living that lifestyle bare bones, you're going to be able to get out of this so much faster. And then you look up in three years, two and a half years, and it's like, OK, what do I want to do with my life if there's no bills to be paid no debt to be paid then maybe you take even a lesser paying job closer to home three days a week to be home more if you want right so all the options continue to flow in such a good point right you have that so it changes the way you work that's good jade i'm with you i think option option one. I always hate a longer commute. I know. But for $17,000 and one less day.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I agree. I really do think so. And by the way, Keisha made a very good point. The student loans are coming back and she is doing the proactive thing, which I think many people need to be doing right now, which is looking at your current situation and asking yourself, does anything need to change? Do I need to be doing right now, which is looking at your current situation and asking yourself, does anything need to change? Do I need to be looking for different work? Do I need to be looking for side hustles? Do I need to be finding ways to shift my lifestyle

so that I can, and get this, not only pay the minimum payment, but pay it off, okay? And I can't say this enough. I'm probably gonna beat this drum a lot and James, our producer is probably gonna be like, hey, stop pay it off. Okay. And I can't say this enough. I'm probably going to beat this drum a lot. And James, our producer is probably going to be like, Hey, stop talking about it. But right now, when these loans come back, guys, all of these service providers are going to try to convince you to do an income based repayment plan. They're going to say, Oh, it's going to be tough for you to make this payment, do a lower payment. And some of these payment plans that

they're proposing are five five percent of your discretionary income that's nothing yeah and and when i uncover the interest that doesn't thank you rachel it barely even covers the interest and so what happens is and you see it all the time people complain and they and they go wait a second i've been making these payments but somehow my my bill keeps going up somehow the balance keeps going up. Somehow the balance keeps going up. This thing is rigged. This thing is jacked. And I'm like, no, you're on an income-based plan. And if you're not attacking at least all of the interest and getting some towards the principal, it will never go down. And I don't say that to be hopeless. I say that to say, you pay as much as you can pay, not as little as you can pay. And if you want more information

about that, go check out our documentary, Borrowed Future. That's where we're really uncovering what's going on with these student loans. And guys, don't wait. Start being proactive. Look at this stuff now. See what your payment's going to be. Look at your budget. See if you have the money.

And don't bury your head in the sand. When it comes to your money, ignorance is not bliss. It's broke. Do not bury your head in the sand on this. We to your money, ignorance is not bliss. It's broke. Do not bury your head in the sand on this. We're here to help you if you need the help. This is The Ramsey Show. All right, you're listening to The Ramsey Show.

I'm your host, Jade Warshaw. This is Rachel Cruz. And as always, we're taking your calls. We enjoy sitting here talking to you guys about your situation, your life, your money. And the scripture and quote of the day is up next. It says, whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. That's Proverbs 10, nine. And then Kenny Loggins said this,

come on Austin with the Kenny Loggins. The more honest you can be, the less you have to hide when i have nothing to hide i have everything to give that was good that's a good one that's a good one i feel that one's got like a couples sharing their money vibe vibe to it right look i'm always gonna put that out there and by the way um just want to kind of let you guys know a little bit of information uh we have a really great newsletter here um available to you guys anybody who's listening uh it's our ramsey solutions newsletter and it's filled with all these great tips it's wonderful uh it says work from home jobs have exploded the past few years and americans enthusiasm for remote

work is still going strong. Cool. So if you're ready for a new opportunity outside of the office, working from home could be a good option for you. So this week we're breaking down the 15 best work from home options. Simply sign up at RamseySolutions.com slash newsletter to subscribe or our Sunday newsletter and learn learn how to re to make remote work your reality wow that was a mouthful um yeah i love this because i think that there's so many moms who want more time staying at home and would love to figure out how they can do some work from home whilst kind of have an eye on their kids or like do like that partial daycare day and yes sometimes work

from home is a great opportunity for that so flexibility yeah man check out the newsletter we're always dropping little nuggets of wisdom like that for you all right this is Diane from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania what's going on Diane hi Jade hi Rachel thank you so much for taking my call. So I am trying to figure out what to do here. Um, without even realizing it, it looks like I'm on baby step two. Okay. So I have about a total of $21,600 in debt. 16,000 of that is a home equity line of credit. So between my car and some credit cards, they come out to about $5,400.

I have right around $15,000 in my savings right now. So what I'm wondering is whether to take out the $5,400, pay off everything except the home equity, throw everything else at the home equity, which I'm figuring would probably take me about just under three years to get it paid off. Unless I do a good purge through my house and I have some things that I could sell. I figure out really don't have a retirement plan. My house is pretty much my retirement plan. What's your homework at the moment? Um, 400 to 425,000. How much do you owe on it? Well, the thing i don't pay there's it's going to be paid off in 2025 it's being paid off by my ex-husband so i do not have a mortgage okay okay that's good uh and it'll be paid off in almost like a year and a half in 2025 yeah there's only about

$35,000 that's great That's great. That's wonderful. What's your income each month? Let's see. I gross about $45,700 right now. I have a raise coming up this month and another raise that will come up in January. So puts me at a gross of, I figure after this month when I get the raise, I should, I should gross about, um, no, not gross, but actually net about, about 2,800 a month. 2,800 a month. Okay. Yeah. So your situation, I would walk it through the baby steps just like any other situation. So I think you've got the right idea, which is you're taking this $15,000 that you have saved and you are dispersing that. You're keeping $1,000 out just for that starter emergency fund and you're throwing the rest at

your debt to tackle that as quickly as possible. And then I do think, like you said, Diane, go through your home and sell the things that you can sell because gazelle intensity, we want to go quickly and pay this debt off as fast as possible. How much money, Diane, real quick, do you think you could get? Like, what are the things around your house that you see that you're like, I could probably get some? Are we talking like $300 or like $3,000? Probably

close to $10,000 maybe. That's wonderful. Wow, Diane. Yeah, totally. I tried to start a business and I actually have a laser machine, which if I sell that and some of the supplies that I have, I should be able. Yes, there you go.

Well, all of that. I mean, let's just pretend you can get that with this 15, then you're going to be for sure done with the 21,000. Oh yeah. Dana, that's,

that's the gold right there. Cause we talked about in order to pay off debt, sacrificing lifestyle, upping income and selling stuff for your three best like avenues. And most people, they just kind of have crap around their house and they can sell your three best avenues. And most people, they just kind of have crap around their house and they can sell it on Facebook marketplace and get some cash, which is great. But if you have large, if you have like equipment, like what you're talking about to bring some cash in, I mean, I would do that today. Because you'll have

money left over. If you sell that for $10,000 and you've got the $15,000, you'll have some left over to get that jumpstart back to the three to six months saved up. I like it. So you're going to take that $15,000 you have saved. You're going to keep $1,000 of it. And for your start- Well, that's a problem there too

because my daughter's getting married in a couple of months and I still have a little bit of obligation. What are your obligations? Well, I have to pay a balance on the hotel for going down. She's being, getting married out of state. So I have, and her shower, which I've already committed to. That's not $4,000 though. No, no, no, no. It's not $4,000. It's about... Let me walk through this. How much is it? $1,200? $1,200.

Let's get to the point. I'm hoping... And when is the wedding? October. You should be able to cash flow this, I think. Because if you sell the laser machine, like we said, you've got the $15,000 plus the $10,000 from the sale of the laser machine. That clears your debt plus gives you $4,000 extra. So you've got the 15k plus the 10k from the sale of the laser machine that clears your debt plus gives you 4 000 extra so you've got this cushion here um and then you've got your normal cash flow so let's start setting money aside now because we're paying off this debt without even touching your normal cash flow right so let's start setting aside money now to start paying for the hotel room is there anything, make a list of anything else

you think you might have to pay for and put the amount next to it and let's start setting aside, sinking funds and getting this money aside for the wedding. What do you think? Does that feel right?

The only problem is with the laser, it's not going to be like an overnight sale. That's the only, I'm worried about how long that could take. Maybe a month, right? I mean, if you go and how long that could take. Maybe, maybe a month, right? I mean, if you go and put it up, post it places, look into the industry that people need

that type of machine. And, you know, I mean, I mean, that's, that, that's going to send, I mean, like, I hate to put all the eggs in the laser machine basket, but there, it will, it will help propel you forward. So I want you to be motivated to sell it, you know, for what it's worth, obviously, but to at least market it and like, let people know that you have this because that's fantastic. But what Jade's saying is right,

that, you know, once you pay this off though, what's amazing, Diane, is that that 2,800 that you have coming in is not gonna be going back out to payments anymore. Like you're keeping that to go and do what you need to in your life. And that'll be building up that emergency fund. And then that's going to be really focused on, on retirement. And I know your home, you said, is that, and that's, what's tough about, you know, when we talk about funding retirement in your home, as we always say, we don't want all of, we don't want you to go and

just pay off your home because some people want to go and do that and not fund retirement. It's like, we don't want you stuck with a paid for house, but no cash. That's right. And so in your case, though, Diane, obviously this is such a gift that you have this home and it'll be paid off soon. But I want you to start, you know, you know, sitting down even with a smart investor pro and walking through what retirement looks like. Cause you may still have to work, you know, for a few years and not retire, you know, at 65. You may be working just to get yourself in a good place that if you decide to downsize your home

and still own property, which is ideal, you can take the equity of some of that, put in retirement. So you have some puzzle pieces here in the future, Diane, but it's not a hopeless situation. Not a hopeless situation. You have a lot of options, which is great. I love it. All right, guys, that does it for today's show. And remember, guys, when it comes to your life and your money, you can make

changes. You can tell me that you won't do it, but never tell me that you can't. All things are possible with Christ Jesus. Hey, what's up, guys? It's Jade. Look, if you like what you heard in this episode and want to know more about getting started on the Ramsey baby steps, go to ramseysolutions.com and click the get started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation. That's ramseysolutions.com and click get started.