The Ramsey Show - App - NOW Is the Time to Take Control of Your Finances (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 16, 2020

Budgeting, Debt, Home Selling Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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. Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author of the book Debt-Free Degree, is my co-host today on the Dave Ramsey, personality, number one best-selling author of the book Debt-Free Degree, is my co-host today on The Dave Ramsey Show. Ashley is going to start us off this hour in Tennessee. Hi, Ashley. How are you? Hi. Good. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? Well, my husband and I are making a decision or needing some help to make a decision. A quick background. We moved to Franklin last year. We haven't lived here in about 13 years. He was in the military and we moved away. I've just moved back. We purchased a home we thought we could afford

and are now basically struggling looking at a furlough. He flies for Delta Airlines. And I have taken a pay cut when we moved here to work remotely from home. So I'm making about $30,000 a year. He's making about $120,000 a year right now. They have him on reduced pay, just trying to figure out where the chips will fall in the next 10 months. So we have acquired over the past couple of years about $70,000 worth of debt. The home that we purchased turns out is a lot more work. It's about six acres.

And we do have some animals. We've got four horses and two dogs. So it has required a lot more work and a lot more money than we expected, even though we did budget for certain things. And we are facing a decision about potentially moving to California away from our family, which we've just moved back to. We have a daughter who's 15 months old. But out in California, he would have a backup plan.

I would return to my old salary of about $80,000, and he would have an opportunity to make what he's making at Delta and then some, so about $160,000. And our living expenses would actually decrease out there as well, which I know is surprising. No, they don't. Living expenses don't decrease in California. They decrease over the farm that you live on that you've got to sell,

but they don't decrease over Franklin, Tennessee. Heck no. Well, so the setup for out there would be we would live on the property of my former. I worked out there in the racehorse industry, and the property that we would be living on would only have a rent of about thousand dollars a month. And then our horses would board there at my work. So those are our two major costs.

And so those would decrease allowing some, a lot more wiggle room in our budget out there. So actually, actually have you all actually sat down and written down the budget as far as they compare both to each other? And how much is it saving you a month? It's saving us about $6,000 a month. Okay.

I think the problem is you presented two options. Both suck. Yeah. Okay. Staying where you are is ridiculous in the situation you're in yeah you overbought you got you took on more than you can handle on your plate you're emotionally drained by this property and financially drained by this property and that was all exposed by his furlough it was already occurring but it was exposed and heightened highlighted by the furlough. But you wanted to be near your family, and you left California.

Yes. Okay. So I think there's a third option, or a fourth option, or a fifth option, or a sixth option. Okay. I mean, just going back to where you came from that didn't work so you left it is a bad option staying where you are in a situation is a bad option so um okay here's what i heard and you can take this for whatever you want to use it for okay i think you got a property that you overbought by double and i think it absolutely was an asinine purchase.

And it has something to do with horses and your love for them. And I think if I'm in your shoes, I'm going to decide if I want my 15-year-old to be near their grandparents and the quality of life and the situation of the community that you're in and move into a property that's one-third of what you paid this in your immediate area, and you can do that because you bought some stinking expensive real estate. Did I miss something? Yes. No, you're 100% correct.

Okay. Now here's the hard one. Not going to have room for any little animals. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's hard, isn't it? Now, here's the hard one. Not going to have room for any little animals. Yeah. It's hard, isn't it? But this is the place where you choose where you're going to raise your 15-month-old or whether you have horses. Yeah.

Because these horses are killing you mathematically. Because you're making all of your plans around where horses live in this whole discussion. In both cases, you made a bad purchase here, and you're talking about making a bad decision to go back to California, because in both cases, there was a place for a horse. And that sounds really harsh, because you're a horse person, and I understand that. But I'm just telling you uh i think when you get to the end of your life you're going to be a lot more concerned with where you raised your kid than whether or not you had horses and um in this stage of your life for sure so if i were in your shoes i would consider a possible third option among others and you can look at

others if you don't like mine. I'm fine. You're an adult. You get to do what you want to do. But it would be sell that property and all those animals and stay in the area. That is half the cost. And let's get Delta Airlines back up and flying, which it will. It's just a matter of when.

And it's not two years. It's not two months, probably, but it's not two years. It's not two months probably, but it's not two years. Let's get them back up and flying, and let's remember why you came here. And you did a good thing the wrong way when you came to Franklin, and you overbought, and you took on too much responsibility, and then you had a baby. So that's what i heard you saying now you can do what you want to do and you can be mad at me i'm not trying to make you mad at me i'm trying to love you well and just tell you the truth so but you got to decide because i'm uh

it's not my horses if you told me i had to sell my dog i'd have to think about it a lot because i love my dog but um but not gonna choose my dog over my 15 month old either that's true dave so um and he better not growl at one of my grandkids again if he wants to live so mean little shih tzu but um i looked at him at this i can take you out boy you know i can take you out so um but yeah that's you know that it's a dog yes and i love my dog but it's not my grandkids don't mess with my grandkids and so you you just got to lay out okay what are our family's priorities and where do we want to live where do we want to make our life in proximity to family with a 15 month old and where do we want to make our life and then

later on as you rebuild wealth maybe you add some of these things back. Maybe you've got a seven-year-old and you've become millionaires six years from now, and you can afford to move up in property or buy a piece of property that gives you room to have horses again at that point. But the care and feeding of very large four-legged animals is expensive. So is. They are an expensive hobby. And, you know, at best, they're expensive.

And, again, I know you love them, and I know I'm stepping all over your toes. But I just want good things for you, hon. And I think of a different option. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Most people's money problems come from not paying attention. That's why before I spend a dime of my money on something, I do the research and make sure it's going to live up to what it claims. Recently, I got a great pair of sunglasses from a company called Shady Rays. When you're looking for sunglasses, it feels like your options are limited.

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ramsey personality you jump in we'll talk about your life and your money. So, Anthony, one of the things I wrote about in the very first book, Financial Peace, and it's been talked about in a lot of different ways in the almost 30 years since that book was written, is the idea that we just keep acquiring things, we keep consuming things and until we're completely overwhelmed not only by the things but by the debt that's associated with them and this idea that if i just if i get that i'll be happy if i get that i'll be happy if i get that i'll be happy if i get that i'll be happy if i get that i'll be happy yeah and we don't even realize we're doing it we don't think of ourselves when i was doing it i didn't think of myself oh i'm shallow or i didn't think of myself of oh i'm a materialist or i'm a consumer or uh i worship at the idol of stuff i didn't think of that but we all have a little bit of or a lot of a disease called stuffitis

we do we do we really do and it's real easy to get caught up in these things that jingle and that gleam. Yeah. And even, I've done this too, what the possessions that brought me joy in one time in my life, in a different phase of my life, didn't bring me joy. They don't. But I kept holding on to them to the point that I almost ended end up hating them does that make sense it makes sense dave uh you know and that's that's still true to myself today i have to remind myself of that you know there's nothing wrong with nice things there's nothing wrong with wanting nice things but just make sure

that that you know your your priorities and your focus in life you know there's a saying that i'm always saying i don't want to look rich. I want to be wealthy. I don't want to have the fake rich. I want to have the true wealth. And so I think a lot of people, we just want to get the nice cars, have the nice stuff and, you know. I think as you move through, and I've had to do this consciously, and the best example

I've seen of this is our friends, the minimalists. Yep. Yep. And they talk about, does this bring you joy? Yes. And does this item, you know, what function does it play? Have you touched it in a year? Yep.

Have you enjoyed it in a year? Because what happens is we move on into another phase of our life, and the motorcycle that we had before we got married, we don't ride it for three years. Right. It's no longer a part of our life right and the thing's still sitting there yeah or the boat that we had or the property or the horses yeah that we had talking about our last caller i'm not saying that's what happened to her yeah uh but it just made me think that that was a possibility and that possible narrative in her

situation but that that you know before they had a child yeah they were really into the animals yeah and a lot of people i mean i we had one couple uh we were broke and gone through bankruptcy they gave us their dog because they bought a home and it had two children and uh they didn't want this dog in the house and we didn't mind there's a little schnauzer. It was a great little dog. It raised our kids. It was a sweet dog. And we were praying for a dog.

And so we get a free dog. God sent us a dog. But they moved past the dog phase in their life and got rid of the dog. And I'm not suggesting everybody gets passed. I've had a dog my whole life, so I'm not talking about that. That's not the point. Right. But the point is there's things life, so I'm not talking about that. That's not the point. Right. But the point is there's things in your life you need to reevaluate.

And we do this in business, too. Around here we call them sacred cows. Yes, sir. We always did it that way in the past. There's not a reason to keep doing it that way. If there was a principle that was guiding us that we're sticking with, that's fine. But this idea that something that brought me joy when I was 16 is probably not going to bring me joy when i'm 36 with two kids you know what dave man you you're you're absolutely right i think it was about like four years ago um i grew up seeing everyone uh

having a louis vuitton backpack and i said you know what i'm gonna get one i got me one and dave i will walk around the airport like i'm the man but now i probably haven't even touched that bag in two years see that's it i haven't you got past that phase whatever it was yeah because i'm like it looked cool but i'm like honestly dave it was an overnight bag and you know i'm on the road two three four days at a time and i spent all this money for this bag. And I can't even really use it effectively for my life right now. So it's like, you know what, Dave? I'm going to give it away, too. I'm going to give it away.

That one, you might need to sell. That's a good advice. I heard the name you said before. You said backpack. And I actually recognize that name. My wife might have recognized that name. Yes. Yeah.

But, you know, dude, there's something about, like, I was taping a film for the Minimalists. They're doing a new thing. I was with Josh the other day. Yeah. And he was talking about, okay, what happens when you move? Yes. You go through everything and all the crap that you're not using you get rid of it but you don't do that until you move yes and i wonder

what there's a it's a good spiritual thing it's a good emotionally maturing thing it's also financially freeing there is to say i'm gonna cut bait on some of this stuff yes sir and i'm gonna trade it for money yeah and use that money for my future rather than my past. Yeah. Now, you don't want to get rid of everything. Some things are nostalgic. You want to keep some items in your life. That's fine.

I'm not saying you need to live Spartan lifestyle or whatever. I am not a minimalist, okay? I love those guys, and I think their message is really cool, and a bunch of people can learn a lot from them. Yeah. The idea of contentment and living a simpler life. And those are things to aspire to. But I have noticed that when I put too many things on my calendar, too many things on my budget, and too much stuff around me, the more stuff I own, the more repairment I have to know. Yes, sir.

And that's really been the only benefit is I get a lot of relationships with repairman yeah and so geez man there's something always breaking it really is and david knows minimalists are actually josh and ryan helped me um uh furnish my house because did they really yeah because there was like anthony think about just buy the stuff that you need buy quality nice stuff but don't buy all the stuff for your house so when you walk in my house any team members that came by my house they'll tell you Dave that it's nice but it's very simple and it's just very

one two three it's not over decorated it's not over decorated at all it's really nice it's nice stuff but my living room is not decked out my bedroom is not decked out I don't even have a dresser in my bedroom i just have a bed and two chairs and a backpack and a backpack you know that's right well we all have stuff itis in america there was a book even written called affluenza uh-huh the idea that the affluence the disease of affluence in other

words it's a great title yes uh book's 15 years old, 20 years old or something. But the concept still is there. And the number of hours of television that we watch is correlated to the amount of debt people have. Because of the advertisements. Because these people are blinking and dinking right in front of you all the time telling you that you need something to be happy that's true i need this to be sexy i need this to be happy i need this to be cool i need this to you know be caught up i need this to whatever and um you know we're the most marketed to yes culture in the history of the world we talk about that you do in financial peace university and um the the and with that marketing

comes the debt yes that overwhelms us from the stuff that we own yes and so under the debt is this disease called stuffitis it is it's kind of materialism but it's not really even as shallow as materialism it's just i just gathered up a bunch of stuff and I never cut loose any of it. Yeah. And it never did for me what I thought it was going to do. For real.

It even goes back down to that coupon shopping, Dave. People just go buy stuff and they don't even need it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to say who, but my mom,

for example. But her name might sound like my mom. Right. Well, I mean, you have six of these and you use one a year so this is going to be six years so you don't count storage you don't count the gas you drove across i'm not sure where you got a bargain i don't i don't you still spent money yeah it's a type of hoarding yes is what it is she's listening now i love you and that's okay not but i've seen people do that i've seen them fill up their basements with bargains. Yes.

Isn't that weird? Think about that. Think about it. She has soap disaster for three years. She's got what? Soap. For three years. For three years.

Well, nobody's going to be dirty. That's good. That's good. Keep them clean, Mom. I'm on your side. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Oh, man. Families all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting health care costs, whether they're anticipated or completely unexpected. For example, take the

Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Carice had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy. Shortly after, they had another expensive medical issue come up. They could have faced a huge financial setback. But thanks to Christian Healthcare Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of CHM, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually support each other. CHM is the longest-serving health cost-sharing ministry

and is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity. It's Christians helping other Christians and it shared nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis. To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. It feels good to see human beings back in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, even if they all work here. Not all of them, but there's a whole bunch of them on our team out here. Because a team member is on the debt-free stage to do her debt-free scream. Anissa Roberts is with us. Hey, how are you?

Hey, I'm great. How are you? Great. Congratulations. You made it. Yes, thank you. You got the t-shirt. I'm debt-free. I'm debt-free. How much have you paid off? $33,750 in 20 months. Good for you. Well done. So what kind of debt was that? It was a cell phone, a car payment, and most of it was student loans. Okay. So you were fairly normal. Very normal. And you're on

our team as a copywriter. And you've been with us, what, a little over a year, my notes say. Does that sound right? About a year and a half okay three months of that was as a contractor okay cool and you were so good as a contractor we had to make sure you stayed yes and we're so good to work for that you made sure you stayed there we go it's a good trade very cool so uh how old are you i'm 25 okay and so 20 months uh did you just start all this as soon as you got out of school? Tell me your story. What happened? So it started before 20 months.

So in 2017, I was laid off from my job. And that same day, I started applying for new jobs, and I applied to work here at Ramsey Solutions. I had heard of you, but I had never dug in, found out what you taught. So as part of the interview process, I started reading your books, listening to the podcast, watching the YouTube channel. Smart. Yeah, I made my first every dollar budget. And I did not get the job at first, which is totally fine because I got on the plan. And that was a huge game changer for me because what I thought was going to be just like a couple months of unemployment, you know, take a little break and then get back into the workforce, wound up being 10 months of me only being able to afford to keep my four walls up. Wow. Yeah, I was substitute

teaching, tutoring, doing small things on the side, but it was a challenging time. But every single month I made a budget and that kept me on par paying off or staying up with my payments and things like that. And then the interview process paid off just a little late to get you in as a contractor. And then following that, you end up joining us full time. Hey, but God had a plan. As soon as I started working full time salaried again, I knew exactly what to do with my money. I paid up, paid off, or excuse me, started my $1,000 emergency fund and got that saved in the first month. And then from then on, it was just paying off debt. Dadgum. You're sharp. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you. This is amazing. Very well done.

Very well done. So did you grow up in a family that knew about money or a family that didn't know about money? My family's here, so I don't want to embarrass them. Oh, okay. All right. Well, let's just change that question. Let me say it this way. Most of us didn't. Most families, because most people don't handle money well, so most families don't have that.

And you came in here not knowing about our stuff and then took these tools and used them. So who were your biggest cheerleaders once you started on this? I mean, once I started on this, I would say you were my biggest cheerleader. I would watch the YouTube channel, listen to the podcast and hearing other people get up on the debt-free stage and do their screams. I mean, that was huge for me. But there was one person in particular I really want to call out as a cheerleader. I was living in Clarksville and commuting here, which was like an hour and a half away. So that was like three hours of my day gone. It was really tough to have a side hustle. Budgeting is really how I was able to pay off so

much money so fast. But through a mutual friend, I met a woman named Chris and she found out that I was trying to get my finances together, trying to pay off debt. And she was so generous to allow me to rent from her until my loans were paid off and she charged me less than the average rate in the area and honestly her generosity was a big part of why I'm able to stand on this stage today and say that I'm debt free. Very cool. That's a great gift. Yeah. And so that kept you from having to do the long commute? Yes. Yes. I moved. Wow. Wow. wow cool and your family's here to cheer you on so they've been cheerleaders yes they have been cheerleaders as a matter of fact over quarantine

i led my first fpu class and they're all on the plan so they're not just cheering they're off the sidelines they're playing so all right yeah all in it together very cool very cool so where did you go to school i went to the university of of Kentucky for college, and I went to high school in Clarksville at West Creek High School. Okay. All right. Very cool. Well, you're obviously a very sharp young lady. Thank you.

Very proud to have you on the team, hero. Well done. Very, very well done. Thank you. Good stuff. Good stuff. All right. So you're a copywriter.

Yep. At Ramsey. You paid off $34,000 worth of debt. Tell people how they're supposed to do this. What's the secret to getting out of debt? You've got to decide that this is something that you're going to do. When you make up your mind, you stick to that budget. I mean, the first few months of budgeting, when you're not used to it, are super awkward.

But once you have your mind made up that this is what you're going to do, you're going to do what it takes to see it through to the end. So just make up your mind. Got a feeling nothing's stopping you nope i can't wait to talk to your mom and figure out how she did that because she raised a great daughter that's good stuff she's got to be real proud of you and your daddy too well done very very well done the team's proud of you got a hundred of them standing out here not working watching you do your debt-free scream pretty much pretty much any excuse yeah it's just the way it is now hey that's great standing out here not working, watching you do your debt-free scream. Pretty much. Pretty much any excuse. It's just the way it is.

No, that's great. Everybody loves you. But, Dave, she was asked to do this a few months ago. Yeah. Yeah, and, man, we was all looking forward to this one because we've watched her on this journey. I've got to ask you one question before you go. I was going to let Dave do all the talking because we talk all the time, but I've got to ask you this on the radio.

25, so this means you started this journey at 23, 22 years old. Yeah. What would you tell that 21, 22, 23 year old coming out of college right now? Why going this journey is the best route? Honestly, I think about what Rachel Cruz had once said. Like a lot of the time in college, we live like we're 24, 25 years old. We spend money that we don't have. And now is the time that we're feeling like we're struggling. This is the best time in your life to get your finances together. There's no better time than right now. And that's for anybody of any age group.

But don't wait till you're a two-income household to take control of your finances. Do it now. I think I'm just going let her uh fill in for me and you two can do the show listen man no she got this down man yeah man she does i'm telling you dialed in dialed in touchdown yes convincing that's very well done very well done well i'd give you a copy of chris hogan's book but you probably wrote it. Chris actually wrote it. We won't say that.

But the copywriters do a lot of work around here. I'm just saying. But she is on the Financial Peace team, too. So she probably wrote half of their curriculum stuff. No doubt. No doubt. And we can tell how. Well done.

Very, very well done. How hard was this? Was it tough? It was tough at times, honestly. There were times when I felt like I was smack dab in the middle of it, and all I could see were just more months of paying off debt, seeing friends go to concerts and deciding, like, ugh, you know what, I could take that money and go to a concert. I could take that money and put it towards this debt,

and then I could go to all the concerts I want to when I'm done. So those were some tough decisions, but it was well worth it in the end. Now that I'm debt free, I have half my emergency fund saved. I look back at this and think it was so worth it. And it was very healing for me as well. I think for young people, a lot of the stuff that gets us into debt or like insecurities trying to make up for our um make up our value and the things that we wear and the things that we own and for me I confronted a lot of that in this season so it's tough at times but it's worth it so I kind of had the feeling the way you were telling the story about the room that you were able to rent to get from Chris to get rid of the commute that you

would kind of your emotional tank was getting empty. You were fighting and fighting, but you were, it was a kind of a down moment. And her giving you that break gave you the gas to finish. Did I hear that correctly? Yes. It was tough because I'd been looking for places in the area. I was getting tired. I was working and commuting three hours a day. It was a lot to take on as a 20-something year old,

but I would still do it all again. And if that is what it took. What I'm saying is to the Chris's out there, you'd be watching for the Anissa's out there because you got an opportunity to do one little kindness and you can help be a part of the story of them changing the trajectory of their lives. Yes. All right, Anissa, $34,000 paid off in 20 months. We're so proud of you, hero. Well done.

Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. All right. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! All right. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Please hear me loud and clear. The government is not going to bail you out of your student loans,

at least not completely and not without a catch. What they're talking about only impacts federal, not private loans, and you need to take responsibility for what you owe and pay your debt down quicker. Right now, Splash Financial is offering their lowest rates ever. With lower rates and extra payments, you could just find yourself debt-free in the next five years. Visit SplashFinancial.com slash Ramsey to see if you qualify. Our scripture today, Philippians 2, 3, Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. John Maxwell says to add value to others, one must first value others.

Well, we continue with the thing that started 90 days ago, something I thought we'd never do, and we've done it for 90 days, a 90-day free trial to Financial Peace University. And the membership is a year-long membership, of course, but you've got access to all of the lessons during the 14-day free trial. Did I say 90-day free trial? You did. During 90 days ago, we started. It's a 14-day free trial. Did I say 90-day free trial? You did. During 90 days ago, we started. It's a 14-day free trial.

I just realized I said that wrong. So Financial Peace University, almost 6 million people been through it. Actually, families, so many more than 6 million people. And this includes the EveryDollar Plus, which is the world's best budgeting app tied to your bank, the Baby Steps app, all of this. This is the EveryDollar Plus, which is the world's best budgeting app tied to your bank, the Baby Steps app, all of this. This is the premium product, all of it completely free for a trial for 14 days. We've had almost 100,000 people sign up.

I love it, Dave. It's a good time. I mean, because after COVID, you know, people go, look, I was in a mess. Never again. I'm never again going to be back here. I'm going to figure out what to do so that I'm never again find myself in this situation. Yep. So all you got to do is go to DaveRamsey.com slash FPU, and you can get the free 14-day trial.

If you've had a never-again moment, if the crisis was your wake-up call, the pandemic slam on the economy woke you up, and you said, I don't want to be without an emergency fund. I don't want to be in debt. I don't want to be without an emergency fund i don't want to be in debt i don't want to be out of control i'm going to grow up i'm going to do what it takes to get my money under control whether i'm 22 or 62 davramsey.com slash fpu for a 14-day free trial james is with us in north carolina hi james welcome to the dave ramsey show hey dave hey anthony thank y'all so much for having me today sure what's up so um my wife and i have a home in charlotte and um we bought two years ago and dave it's been tight murphy has moved in more than once um and i am curious whether it is wise if we were to cut our losses and maybe move back

to renting or maybe hold out for a little bit more. We don't want to stay in Charlotte forever. We'd like to move to a different part of the state. And we're looking to do that maybe in two or three years. And we're just trying to seek some guidance on what's best. We are very much in the middle of baby step two, and I can give you some more numbers. How much debt do you have, not counting your home? Remaining, we have right at $40,000. And what's your car payment? None. We paid off our cars. When we said I do, those were the first things to go.

Okay. So what's the $40,000 in debt on? $10K is a credit card balance. $30K is a student loan balance on her student loans. How much debt have you reduced since you started working on this stuff we we decided to be on the same page about a year ago and so i'd say the cars were uh how much have you paid off in the last year three thousand three thousand in one year oh no i'm sorry i'm thinking calendar year um I'm sorry. No, you said you've been working on this 12 months, didn't you? Yes. Okay. And how much have you paid off in debt during that 12 months?

So our cars, which are $10,000, and we've recently started getting on that credit card, and we've brought it down from $12,000 to 10,000 so 12,000 total okay and your household income is what it it hovers around 48k take-home pay and how much is your house payment our house payment ranges between 25 and 30 percent% of our monthly budget. It's about $1,100. Okay, $48,000 is your take-home pay. Yes, sir. Okay, all right.

Yeah, that'd be right. All right. No, the house is not killing you. I don't know why you haven't made more progress in this, except you're not. I mean, I think probably what I do is try to increase my income temporarily. Yes, sir. And just finish plowing through the rest of this debt.

Part of your discouragement is you've not made huge progress on the debt. But the $1,000 house payment out of $3,000, out of $4,000 in what's killing you, I probably would try to raise my income with some side jobs or some kind of a great side hustle by $1,000 and see if that doesn't help you move the needle. Okay. Because basically you're paying off $1,000 a month in debt, and that's going to take you 40 months. Yeah. Okay.

Ideas? I'm thinking the same thing. What can you do on the side? I'm curious. What are some extra hobbies you could do on the side as far as a side hustle? Sure. So I have the option to do extra work at my current job. That is its own different can of worms.

I'm actually looking for different work for different reasons. Yeah, but that's just more hours. I'm talking about where can you get more hours? Are they going to pay you over time? Oh, yes, sir. Okay, and what kind of income is that? What kind of will they pay? Yeah.

It could be $100 a day. It could be $150. It just depends on if you want to work on your off day or not. Because I'm thinking if you can get an extra $500 to $1,000 a month, that's going to cut your time in half. That's where I'm trying to see you at. So if you can get an extra $100 a month, that's okay, but I'm trying to get you to $500 to $1,000 a month.

Yeah, you're basically reducing about $1,000 a month now. And if you could add $1,000 to that with a side hustle or $100 a day, it's 10 days of work. Yeah. 10 days of overtime a month. That ain't going to kill you. Yeah. And so what we talk to people about is what I did, what Anthony did, is you work like no one else so that later you can work like no one else. And so I don't know what the toxic situation is at that workplace,

and you're looking at changing. But in the meantime, while you're there, I'd work all the OT I could get at $150 a day. That'll change these numbers really fast, 100% of it going towards debt. Absolutely. Because you're already reducing debt by 12 months, $12,000. Yeah. And so that's what we need to do is to increase that somehow, and that will change the numbers in the situation.

The house is not killing you. It's not wonderful, but it's not super expensive. It's not you have a $2,000 house payment with a $4,000 take-home pay, then I'd be telling you to sell it. But it's not killing you. Angie's up. Angie's in Ohio. Hi, Angie.

Right quick. I'm short on time. Oh, hi, Dave and Anthony. Thank you so much for taking my call. I'm just wondering, how do we get ahead in our situation? We went through the FPU about a few years ago with our daughters, and they're mid-20s now. And I just want to know where we're in baby steps and what to do next.

My husband had a career change a few years ago, and our income dropped in half. And we were just starting FPU in the middle of it. So just wondering. What did he used to make? He used to make $100. Now he makes $50. I know. Why is he not, over three years, why is he not seeking jobs to get back up in income?

Well, he's 70 now. I see. Okay. All right. And how much debt do you guys have? We have no debt. Only for our house, $117,000 on our house, no debt. Okay.

Do you have your emergency fund in place? Yeah, we'll have that this month. Okay. Well, you're down to working on retirement and getting the house paid off simultaneously with a 70-year-old. Yeah. And so that puts you at baby steps four, five, six, but five doesn't count. The kids are grown. Yeah.

So no college needed. And it sounds like you guys have just got to get very, very diligent and very careful with the money that you have coming in and make it work as hard as you can. If you want to go back through Financial Peace University as my guest, Kelly will pick up and help you do that, okay? And we'll get you back in there and get you guys started again. Because sometimes you just need a refresher. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

Anthony, thanks for hanging out today. Dave Ramsey, America. It's been fun. Good day. Good day. I love it. Our thanks to Zach Bennett, filling in as producer this week with the vacationing James Childs. And, of course, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener.

I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. On your smart speaker, you can add our skill by saying, Alexa, open the Ramsey Network skill. From there, you can listen to all our shows. Ask Dave money questions like, how do I invest my money?

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