The Ramsey Show - App - How to Include Money for Pets in Your Budget (Hour 1)

Episode Date: July 25, 2018

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you are here. Open phones at 888 eight two five five two two five that's triple eight eight two five five two two five dan starts off this hour in canada hey dan how are you i'm better than i deserve how about you oh just the same what's up well i'm one of your financial master coaches, and I just wanted

to get your opinion and see if my advice was right. I have a lady who is on disability, and the constraints of her disability say that she cannot have more than $3,000 in her savings account, and otherwise her disability payments decrease. She's gone through Baby Step 2. She is currently renting, but she wants to own a house. What is the nature of her disability? I haven't been able to get that from her. She said it took her three years to qualify.

And she is afraid to go off a disability because if she does and she has a relapse, she's going to wind up not being able to get back onto disability. So basically, she can borrow as much money as she wants and as long as she can pay it. And that's fine with the government. Basically, she can borrow as much money as she wants and as long as she can pay it, and that's fine with the government. But if she has more than $3,000 in her savings account, then they start cutting her benefits. Right. So the thing is she's got an insurance settlement coming in that will allow her to put a significant down payment on a house. And she's allowed under the disability rules to own a house.

And then she can make the payments out of it. She wants to do like a duplex and rent the other side, and she's allowed to have passive income. So my advice was to get the insurance company to pay the down payment, and then she uses the rental income to pay off her mortgage, which she could pay out of her disability payments as well. How much is her disability income? I couldn't.

We just started talking, and I haven't got exactly the numbers. Well, when I'm facing these things, what I look at is if they're trapped in the disability income, which is what we're describing, then we either have to say we're going to live our life on that income because the nature of the disability is so extreme that this is our income and we're going to make this the rest of our life because that's our only shot and so we got to acquiesce and fall within these things right oftentimes though i i find people who uh the nature of their disability allows them to have a different kind of a career that makes them a whole lot more than they would have gotten from disability. And I would rather them have an encore life here and, you know, take another bow after the disability hit. Again, it depends on the nature of the disability.

If someone is completely, you know, just, you know, in a situation where they can't do anything, then you've got to just stick it out, right? Right. But if they're facing depression and they got declared disabled for that, then, hey, let's work with a good set of prescription drugs, with a good counselor, with a good doctor, and let's work our way through that.

Lots of people do and then go on to have fabulous careers. So, you know, what I really would like for her to do is not be trapped in disability. I'd rather have an encore career where she makes three times as much money and she can just go, I don't care what the government says, just drop the disability, let's go on. But she's fearful about that for some reason, and you've got to dig into that. So there's really no middle ground. You're not going to prosper with a limited income and a limited ability to save. And the government is ensuring that you are their slave at this point with this program.

And so, you know, or you can say, I'm going to cut the tether and we're going to go adrift and we're going to put this game plan together in order to be on our own. And those are really the only two ways you can get at this. Joe is with us in San Francisco. Hi, Joe, how are you? Hey, I'm doing great. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Quick question. I think I have the answer figured out. I just wanted some reassurance from you. So I'm 30 years old, married with two kids, and besides our house that we own, we have no other debt. So we're pretty much working on baby steps three through six.

Way to go. Thank you. So my question is, we've been having a lot of problems with our house lately, so we've been having to dip into our emergency fund. And I'm down to my last $600, and I'm being told that I need a new water heater and new parts with my AC, so probably about $1,500. My question is just, should I wait, like, two months, praying that nothing, you know, praying that they last those two months?

And I could probably pay those off, out of my um my net income a month i save about five hundred dollars that goes towards our house paying that off early and everything so that's what i would do five hundred dollars save it for two months pay off that you know pay off the water heater and ac and then it's not pay it off you're saving up and paying for it. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what I would do. Exactly. That's exactly what I'd do. I pay cash for it.

And, you know, you're getting down to the edge with no savings here. It's a tight, scary situation. So I hope nothing blows up over there. It could be a long month. But the other thing I'm going to do is I'm going to lean into this and say, is there anything around I can sell? Is there an extra job I can pick up for a month that accelerates this? What can I do to, you know, temporarily give an injection, you know, an adrenaline injection into your cash flow here to get this thing where you can do this?

But, yeah, I'm not going to tell you to borrow. If I were in your situation, I wouldn't borrow. I've been in your situation and I didn't borrow because I decided I'm not going to tell you to borrow if i were in your situation i wouldn't borrow i've been in your situation and i didn't borrow um because i decided i'm not going to borrow anymore i'm not going into debt anymore it changes everything when you do so hey good question we appreciate you joining us open phones at 888-825-5225 scott's on instagram is a separate pet emergency fund good to have if you're going to own pets i'll be debt free at the end of the year. I'm looking to get a dog, but I want to do it the right way. No, I think your emergency fund will cover your pet.

It always has mine. We've had dogs or dog ever since we got married and love animals. And, you know, you go through some heartbreaking things with them. I just lost a golden a few weeks back. And now you just, you know, you love them, but you have to also use some common sense and remember they're animals. And while we love them like a member of the family, we're going to remember that they're animals.

And so we're going to spend reasonable amounts on them. And reasonable amount is in ratio to your wealth. If you're extremely wealthy, you might spend more on an animal. But if you're broke, you know, you're not in a position to do that. And that's when you make some choices. But most of the time we make the choices for the good of the animal. And they're difficult. But, yeah, you cover that with your own emergency fund.

I would not have a separate emergency fund just for a dog. I wouldn't do that. Hey, good question, though. Thanks for joining us. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know, statistically, when it comes to life insurance and protecting your family, that women are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured than men? This doesn't make any sense. Women make up half the workforce, contribute mightily to family incomes,

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This is something every family has to deal with. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282. Seattle, Washington. Daniel and Gabby are on the line. Hey, guys, my screen says you're debt-free. Congratulations. We are. Thank you, Dave.

Love it. How much have you guys paid off? Just about $30,000 in exactly, to the day, five months. Way to go. And what was your income during this time? So before we started, we were at about $91,000. And then during, we were at $96,000. And now we're down to $71,000.

Whoa. Okay. Sounds like somebody quit. Yeah. I did. I quit my job. It was a celebration of becoming debt-free. Love it. So what are you going to do?

Going home to be a mom or what? Nope. I'm back in nursing school. Oh, okay. Neat. Very cool. So what kind of debt was the $30,000? So we had $21,700 on my student loans that I had inquired from part way doing nursing school,

about $8,300 on my car, and then a little over $800 on both of our cell phones. Gotcha. Okay. So what happened five months ago that put you on this trek? Yeah. So a coworker of mine by the name of Erin, if she's watching, hi, Erin, introduced me to The Minimalist. And one of their catchphrases is, there's no such thing as good debt.

And when I was listening to them, I was like, oh, but student loan debt, you know, it's productive. And they actually mentioned you and how they paid off their debt was following your plan. So I checked you out, and I was all in. Very cool. I drank the Kool-Aid. I shaved my head, the whole deal. And I was just 100% on board. That's fun.

That's fun. Those guys are in town in Nashville this week. Rachel was on their show last night. I know. She was on with them last night. I think they may come on here tomorrow. I'm not there. Yeah, she was on with them last night. I think they may come on here tomorrow. I'm not sure. We're trying to get a hold of them.

But I think they're coming over here to do Rachel's YouTube show tomorrow, and I think they're probably going to drop in if they have time. But they're important guys. So very cool stuff, you guys. Yeah, they're a big deal. Well, congratulations. So Daniel and Gabby, Gabby comes in, and she's like, you know, joined this cult and shaved her head and everything. Daniel, what are you saying? I mean, I believed in what she was doing.

It was really motivating her, and I was seeing her really take a grip of the finances like I'd never seen before. So I really was enthusiastic about it. I'd already paid down a bunch of debt myself, but I didn't realize we both had to pay it down before we were really debt-free because it's both of our debts since we're married. So it really opened my eyes to that, I thought. That's cool. Very cool.

So you guys just jumped on it. You're done. Now, how are you paying for nursing school? Fun story about that. So my husband is active duty Navy. We're actually up on Woodby Island. And he was able to give me his GI Bill. So the Navy is completely paying for all three years of my nursing school.

Wow. Awesome. Well, Daniel, thanks for your service. And what a great benefit. That's amazing. Very cool. Way to go, you guys. We're proud of you.

What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Definitely being intentional, which is, again, with the minimalist, you know, cutting out poison people, cutting out poison practices, just being intentional and really deliberate with the plan. Definitely working together and compromise. Because when we started going into this, so my husband's a saver. And so he actually had about five months worth of expenses. And I told him, you know, Dave's thing is to drop it down to a thousand. And he wasn't comfortable with that because he didn't know if he were going to stay in the military at that point.

And so we compromised and said, okay, but will you help me pay down the debt from this point on? And he said, yes, I can do that. So we kind of didn't necessarily go in order, but like you say, Dave, like whoever is the most scared wins. And so it's a compromise, but just really coming together and doing it, doing it together is definitely a key. Good for you guys.

Well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's Retire Inspired book for you, number one bestseller. And, of course, we want that to be the next chapter in your story, that you go on to become millionaires now and outrageously generous along the way. Well done. All right.

Daniel and Gabby, Seattle, Washington, $30,000 paid off in five months, making $91,000 to $96,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Yep. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! There you go, baby.

That's how you do it right there. Wow. Very well done. Very well done. Wanda is in Boston. There you go, baby. That's how you do it right there. Wow. Very well done. Very well done. Wanda is in Boston. Hey, Wanda. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi. Thank you for having me on your show. Appreciate it. Sure. What's up? Yeah. I have two IRAs. One is in a Roth.

It's only about $15,000 in that. And the other one is not a Roth and is about $90,000 in that one. And I'm 59. My husband's 67. I'm the only one that has retirement savings. And we're still in Baby Step 2 and just actually towards the beginning of it. And I was originally contributing between 10% and 20% to my Roth, I mean to my 403Bs. But when I started this program, I went down to 5% so I could put more towards the debt,

and I'm just making sure that that's the right move, and if I should try to do something else with that IRA that's not a Roth. Okay. I would just make sure that all of the investing that you're doing is in good growth stock mutual funds that have a good long track record. Our program says stop all investing temporarily and completely focus wide open on the debt on Baby Step 2 to get that cleared off as fast as you can possibly get that cleared off because when you don't have any payments then it's much easier to invest huge amounts

when you try to do three things at once nothing gets done but the power of focus even at your age i'm your age it's exactly what i would do i'm 58 and uh but here's the thing how much debt have you got left not counting your not counting your house. $80,000. $80,000 on what? Yeah. We have a couple car loans. We have an equity loan, a student loan, and a couple credit cards. Yeah.

What do you owe on your cars? About $30,000. And what's your household income? About $90,000. Okay. One of those cars, $25,000? Say that again? Is one of those cars $25,000?

No, one is worth about $17,000, and the other one's worth about $14,000. Okay. All right. I'm going to go completely crazy and get rid of this $80,000 as fast as I possibly can, and I'm going to live on beans and rice, rice and beans. I'm probably selling one or both of these cars and moving down dramatically in vehicle to get there. Yeah, I've actually been thinking about that, to tell you the truth. Because the thing is, the $80,000 is a big barrier to your retirement.

It is. And, you know, yeah, at your your age you need to be very serious and very intentional you know to make sure you're putting money in there but man you don't want to go into retirement with 80 grand either no no i'm hoping that you know i did all the math and it looks like if we stick to what was our budget we should be able to have that $80,000 paid off in three years. Yeah, I'd want to do it in two. Yeah. Yeah, I'd cut my lifestyle to nothing. Because you'll be 61 in two years. You want to have no debt then.

And then you want to be piling on the retirement savings as fast as you can at the same rate. Because to get your nest eggs up, to be able to retire, you know, with some dignity there. So, yeah, I'm going to be very, very serious, very crazy, very, you know, where people are worried about you because you're living so sparsely and so forth. Because, you know, the plan you got, I want you out of there. If you've got no payments, then you can turn around and, you know, from 61 to 71, build an esthetic. But every year that you stay in this debt is another, you know, your calculation of three years also included continuing to contribute, and I stopped that. So we're going to stop that. We're going to maybe sell some cars, one or two. We're going to do some other things

that we can do around the house, anything we can sell. What have we got that we're hanging on to? And get this mess cleaned up because you've got to get ready. I mean, you've got 10 years, you've got 12 years, you know, whatever. And you've got to get ready. And if you don't, you're going to be counting on the government to take care of you, which is a bad idea. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options?

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To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. If you've been listening this week, you know it is Coordinator Appreciation Week. We have over 5 million people that have now been through Financial Peace University, and this wouldn't be possible without our Financial Peace University coordinators. They coordinate the groups at their local church. As you join a one-year membership and get started,

it includes nine lessons that you can go to and join the group, and these guys can do that for you and lead you through it. Mike and Arveta from the Nashville area here, from Murfreesboro, are some coordinators of ours. So they dropped by in person to let me talk to them. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi, Dave. How are you?

Very cool. So how long have you guys been leading classes? Well, we led our first one May 1st to June 26th. So just the other day. Just the other day. So you're just getting started doing this then. Yes, yes. Okay, cool.

How'd it go? Oh, it went fantastic. It was great. Yeah, why. Okay, cool. How'd it go? Oh, it went fantastic. It was great. Yeah, why'd you decide to do that? Well, I retired April 30th. Oh, congratulations. And I wanted to give back. Congratulations.

So my way of giving back was to teach others what we learned from you and decided to do a financial peace class. Okay, so you had gone through a class before. We had gone through a class in 2010. So Mike, she signs up for this and you're going along, right? Absolutely. 33 years of marriage. You've got to believe it.

But actually, the first time we went through the class, it left such an impact on us. We wanted to make sure that, give forward. And one of the things i really love about uh the opportunity to teach a financial peace university class is to allow to watch the people when when they first come in the week number one yeah and a lot of them are stressed out yeah a lot of them have a lot of worries and things on their minds and by the ninth week it's like your light bulb just comes on you watch their faces and their body language change, don't you? I love it.

There's a physical transformation. Absolutely. With some folks, there really is. It is. Because the stress in marriage and stress in everything else is so strong. So, very cool. So, when did you guys originally go through the class yourself? We went through in August of 2010.

Oh, a while back. Okay. So, eight years ago. Very cool. Yeah. So, just at your local church, you decided to launch, a while back. Okay. So eight years ago. Very cool. Yeah. So just at your local church, you decided to launch a class. Absolutely.

Yes. Can we put a plug in for... Yeah, absolutely. What's the church? Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Actually, we go to church at Antioch, Tennessee. Oh, do you?

Okay. Yeah. Where I grew up, yeah. So which church? Rural Hill, Church of Christ, right across the street from Ezell Harding. Right where it is.

And we have another class coming up August 14th. So we're looking for participants. Love to have you. If you're in the Bell Road area right there by Ezell Harding School, right across the street is Rural Hill Church of Christ. Know it well. It's my old stomping ground. Yeah, very cool.

And you guys are going to start a class there August the 14th. August 14th. I'll give you a big plug. Yeah, we'll get some people in there. 7 o'clock p.m. There you go. Good for you. Well, thank you for doing this. So what is the most dramatic thing that happened while you were doing the class? Dramatic? We had one individual who did not come with her husband. And she and her husband were starting their own business. And she had quit her job to be 100% in with him to do the business. And they didn't have any income. So there were like a couple of months where there was no money coming in. And so I was asking, well, how are you getting by month to month? And they said when they have to pay bills,

they would get another credit card to pay those bills. While she's in the class? Yes. Absolutely. Whoa. Yes. So this was week one. And so as, you know, we're talking through this, and she was like, I don't know what to do.

What should I do? And I said, you know, I'm not here really to tell you what to do. You're going to have to figure it out. But I would get another job. I would get a part time job so that you could have some income coming into the house. And so, you know, she thought about it and thought about it. And then probably around week four or five, she said, Arveta, I really appreciate your advice.

I am looking at getting a job because I can't keep living like this. Yeah, it's going to go deeper and deeper in a mess. Yeah, yeah. So then at week nine, she said, Arveta, I have some leads that I'm going to be, you know, getting a job so that we can pay off some of this debt because I can't keep paying like this. So she's going back to full-time work. Yes. Wow.

It's just amazing. You get a front-row seat to watch people transform their lives. Yes, you do. And then you do all of the work for us. Oh, on the videos. Yes, on the videos. The guy running up and down the stage flapping his arms. It's pretty easy.

Pretty easy. Well, thank you, guys. We appreciate you coordinating a class, and thanks for dropping by. And we appreciate you leading another one. August the 14th, people. Royal Hill Church of Christ right here in Antioch and Nashville. Yes. So right, it's near Bell Road and Murfreesboro Road intersection is where that is for those of you that don't know.

But very, very cool. And you can get in touch with them. They'll get you signed up for the class. It's probably posted on our website. It is. And the class finders, that kind of a thing. And you can join these guys. They're going to be great.

They already are great coordinators. Hey, thanks for dropping by. It's good to talk to you. Thanks for having us. Sure. God bless. Appreciate it. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Let's go to Ryan in Atlanta. Hey, Ryan, how are you? Doing well, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I am trying to decide if I should sell my truck and get a cheaper vehicle. How much do you owe on it?

I don't owe anything on it. What's it worth? About $10,000. Okay. What's it worth? About $10,000. Okay. What's your household income? $50,000. Okay. Why would you sell it?

Well, I have $40,000 in student loans, and I am trying to get on top of it as quickly as I can. I just graduated, and I've been working, and I'm dedicated on getting this done and not behind me. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. What do you make?

What's your household income? You said 50,000. You said 50,000. That's right. I'm sorry. Yeah. And you're working 40 hours? Yeah.

Okay. If you told me you had a $30,000 truck, I would tell you to sell it because it's more than half your annual income, and it would actually move the needle on the $40,000 worth of debt. Because you could buy a $5,000 truck, and you could put $25,000 towards your $40,000 in debt. That would make sense. But selling a $10,000 truck and putting $5,000 towards your debt, nah, a $10,000 truck's not a problem. It fits within your lifestyle.

It's not a big deal. truck's not a problem it fits and it fits within your lifestyle it's not a big deal it's not overdone what's your what's your answer to your equation though is is to get on the written budget jump on every dollar.com download the free app or use the free um desktop either one and get your budget going every dollar and tighten that up no going out to eat no partying i'm gonna just lean in okay so if i make 50 000 and i live on 30 000 that's 20 000 a year for two years and i'm debt free that'd be pretty cool that would be pretty cool but that's like 1800 a month yeah it might mean you work an extra job even and get out of that faster but i would keep the truck because the truck doesn't move the needle and it's not a big enough part of this equation to solve the problem or to be a

problem either one so it's not you know it's it's it's a nice truck but it's not over the top crazy here. It does fit with everything except the $40,000 part. And the good news is you don't have any truck payments. So let's just get on a really tight beans and rice, rice and beans, low lifestyle budget, and attack that student loan payment with an absolute vengeance. Alyssa is on Instagram. Dave, is it a good idea to switch from a fixed rate to a variable rate to pay off the loan quicker?

Absolutely not. Never take a variable rate, especially in an increasing interest rate environment. Interest rates are going up. Now, they're not going down. And they're not shooting up. they're not shooting up they're not spiking up but we have seen mortgage interest rates climb over a point and over you know from three in the threes up into the fours right and and so you know all interest rates are tending

towards an increase and they really just about had to because they down about as far as they could go you couldn't go down any further. So, no, variable rates add extra risk. Debt adds risk to your situation. Variable rates add even more risk to your situation. So avoid all of that. Avoid all of that. Hey, Alyssa, thanks for following us on Instagram.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Guys, let's talk about that timeshare pitch that you fell for. They promised you exclusive access to travel anywhere you want. Tropical beaches, mountain getaways, or whatever. Oh, my gosh. They claimed it was the affordable way to travel, and then they convinced you it was a good investment. But here's the deal. Search any auction site for your exact timeshare and see what it's selling for.

It's listed for a dollar with no bids. That's not a good investment. Now, I know I'm just adding salt to a very old wound. But look, if you tried calling the resort and they won't take it back, if you tried selling it and no one will buy it, call Timeshare Exit Team. Timeshare Exit Team will get you out. You'll have to be patient. It can be a long process, and it costs money, but it works.

They're so confident in their exit service that if they don't get you out, you get a 100% refund. Call 844-999-EXIT. It's free to talk. 844-999-EXIT. TimeshareExitam.com Suzanne is in Columbus, Ohio. Hey, Suzanne, how are you? Hi, I'm good. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Sure, what's up? Well, I'm a new listener and I just finished the total money makeover today. And yesterday we completed baby step one. But about eight months ago, we did some really stupid things when we bought the house that we're in now. The biggest of which was buying it before I got my paycheck, my first paycheck from a new job that I had just started. And when we got the paycheck, we discovered that my pay was about 40% less than what we had figured it was going to be due to mandatory retirement that was taken out. Taxes were a lot higher, and our insurances were higher than we thought they were going to be.

So fast forward to today. Last week we put the house on the market because we just decided that we can't afford it. We've been trying to increase our income by selling some stuff, and I'm looking for a part-time job. But my question is, until our income increases, do we default on our other payments and keep paying the mortgage, or do we allow the house to go into foreclosure while we're still trying to continue with the baby steps? What other debt do you have other than your home? We have $20,000 on a camper, which we're trying to sell. We have $3,000 on a credit card and $2,000 in medical.

Okay. And what does your husband make a year? He makes about $38,000, and I make about $22,000. Okay. Is that take-home pay? Yes, sir. Okay. So you have a $60,000 income.

How much is your house payment? $19.25. Okay. All right. Are you doing your written every dollar budget yet yes i just started i just got that all entered last week okay so you've been doing a whole week okay yeah um well yeah the camper's up for sale the camper's up for sale. The house is up for sale. We're changing as many directions as we can here. A garage sale is in order. Craigslist stuff is for sale. All that kind of stuff is going on.

Both of you are looking for part-time jobs. That's a good thing to get this to balance. I think, though, how much is the payment on the camper? It's $220. Okay. I was making payments of $250 to try to pay it down faster, but then, you know, we stopped doing that to start doing the baby steps. Yeah.

I think you can make all these payments. You're going to have no life, but I think you can make these payments. Okay, let's prioritize, though, to help you with that um okay but i i mean you got 2300 and you got five thousand dollar take-home pay on those two payments is 2300 um and that leaves you 1700 to buy food and You know, you ought to be making this. I don't think you're in default. We have four kids. Yeah, but we're not going to be paying for piano lessons and our house goes into foreclosure, okay?

So, you know, if you're choosing between house foreclosure and that, the kids get to, you know, everyone's limiting lifestyle right now because we're in everyone's limiting lifestyle right now because we're in a crisis mode now i'm not saying i'm not saying don't feed them but short of that um you you can make this um you just got to tighten down so anyway here's your priorities the first thing you buy is food okay groceries not eating out you don't need to see no we don't need out you don't need to see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there. Right.

Then the second thing you do is you pay lights and water. Okay. The third thing you do is you pay a house payment. Okay. The fourth thing you do, you don't have any car payments. You keep gas in a car. Right, and we tithe also. Yeah, what I just did, and tithe.

What I just did was what we call the four walls, but it's old seventh grade civics lesson. The necessities of life are food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and utilities. Okay. We do those first. That keeps the four walls of your house standing. You have a place to live. It's heated. The kids are eating.

Everybody's eating. We're driving the cars and going to work. And that's where we start is getting these real basic necessities of life taken care of. You've got enough to cover all of that. That wasn't the camper and that wasn't the MasterCard or the credit card, okay? The last thing on the list is the camper. Okay. Actually, I paid the camper before I paid the credit card.

But the last two things on the list are the camper and then the credit card. Because the credit card can't do anything short-term except damage your credit. Short-term, the camper could repo you if you just quit paying it altogether. But you got it up for sale. So we're going to get rid of it. That's going to be helpful. So I so we're going to get rid of it. That's going to be helpful. So I think you're going to get through this. But what you've got to do is just prioritize from most important thing to least important thing.

The least important thing I heard in this list so far is the credit card. Next to that's the camper. The most important thing is your family being taken care of. Food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and utilities. Where would the medical bills come in on that uh you didn't mention you had medical bills yeah 2000 and medical okay then they would be down there by the credit card because there's nothing there's nothing they can do secured debts come before unsecured debts and both are at the bottom once we get past necessities

okay because secured debts they can take stuff. Unsecured debts, they just bother you. Right. Eventually, they'll sue you, and eventually, they'll garnish you. But you're going to get to this long before that happens, because the house is going to sell, the camper is going to sell, and you're going to be in a better place. I mean, this is a matter of months.

It's not a matter of years. Okay. So you survive three months doing this. You're going to be, you know, everything is going to turn. The house is going to sell. The camper is going to sell. you're going to be you know everything's going to turn the house is going to sell camper's going to sell you're going to be the other side of this you're going to be going man we almost screwed that up right but we got out of it by the skin of our teeth right that's what you're going to be saying um thank god you're turning the corner here but here's the thing if you eat and have lights and water and have a place to live

and you have transportation emotionally the rest of it is just a monopoly game and you're behind. But when you get inside your house, inside those four walls, and you start having the lights turned off or getting foreclosed on and you're homeless or that kind of stuff, now emotionally, your relationship, everything's been invaded then, and your stress level goes through the roof. But if you separate necessities from the rest of it's just a game I'm losing right now, I can lose a game, but I don't want to lose my house. Right.

Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. That lowers your stress level. It's not going to go away until you get rid of the house and the camper, but it lowers your stress level. It's not going to go away until you get rid of the house and the camper, but it lowers your stress level. And if these collectors call, just say, you know, you're too far down the list. I can't get to you right now.

I'd like to, but I can't get to you. You're on the list. And the more you call, the further on the list you drop. Just have some fun with it, right? We're not setting out to destroy your credit. We're not setting out to not pay bills. That wasn't your plan. It's not my plan.

But I'm going to take care of your family first because that's the best way for your bills to actually get paid later. Okay. Because if you get this out of order, you're going to get all stressed out, and it's going to mess up your marriage, and you're going to end up in bankruptcy court and divorce court and all this other stuff. We don't want any of that stuff going on. No. Yeah, we're just going to lock arms here and fight our way through this little bit of stupidity, and it'll be in your rearview mirror within a year.

Oh, I hope so. Oh, I know it will be. I know it will be. Put the house on the market competitively. Put the camper on the market competitively. Get them sold. Price competitively. Good question.

Thank you for joining us. Sometimes when you're scared, and I've been scared. You ever been scared? Scared? You ever been scared? I've been scared, man. I've been terrified. Sometimes when you're doing that, it's hard to think clearly. One good rule of thumb when you're facing something like that where the fear is coming at you is just stop and break the problem down into bite-sized pieces and go okay what can i do what what variables can i control okay our family can eat that's good so we're not hungry one less thing to worry about lights and water are on So we're not hungry. One less thing to worry about. Lights and water are on.

We're bathing and we are drinking water and we have electricity, so we have heating and cooling. One less thing to worry about. We're going to pay the rent or the mortgage. Now I have a place to live and do all that. We're going to put gas in the car so we can go to work. Yep, we'll pay that car payment if you got one, right? Now, and you start working your way down these necessities first, and you really start understanding the rest of this stuff is just a really ugly game,

and you work your way through it. And that's all we did there. You can do this too. If you need help, you call here. We're here to help people. It's a pretty simple thing. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, guys, it's Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer for The Dave Ramsey Show.

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