The Ramsey Show - App - When Can I Pay For Home Repairs?

Episode Date: April 14, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Dr. John Delony discuss: Selling stocks to pay off debt, Sacrificing to win and paying off $1.2m in debt, Where home repairs go in the baby steps. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

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I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the 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 of multiple choice. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, best-selling author and host of the Dr. John

Deloney Show, is my co-host today. We'll be answering your questions about your money, about your relationships, about your job, about your mental wellness, about boundaries, about your career, about your life. It all comes up right here on the Ramsey Show. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Matt is in San Bernardino, California. Hi, Matt. How are you? Hi, guys. How are you guys doing today? Better than we deserve, sir. How can we help? Perfect. I just want to make this quick. I have a quick question for you. So it's about making a mistake on skipping the baby step. So I had about $20,000 in savings by the age of 23. I'm now 24.

I started a business and I lost it all. But then I got in touch with Dave Ramsey and I realized I didn't, I had debt that I should have paid off before I started a business. So I have $8,000 left to pay off on my car loan out of $22,000. I have approximately $4,000 in my stocks that could help me get out of debt in three months instead of six months. So I thought I could skip Baby Step 2 because the interest was so low, but I just feel like a slave now. Okay. was so low um but i just feel like a slave now okay well uh the the paradox is is that if you the very nature of skipping a baby step means you didn't take the baby step right yeah well played dave well played. Dave was in honors classes, Matt.

I had to learn that the hard way. We've all been there, man. So what we're really saying is, are you really now ready to follow this system, or are you going to continue to do Matt's system? No, I'm completely ready to. Okay. Then our system is you would liquidate anything that is not retirement, anything you can sell that you don't have to have that's not a retirement account, and down to $1,000 in savings.

That's maybe step one, and everything else goes on your debt, which is your car, right? Right. So your stocks are worth $4,000. What else do you have you can liquidate um i can sell my motorcycle okay what's it worth uh probably about two thousand okay says something on my screen about crypto tell me about that yeah so uh all of my all the four thousand is in my crypto and individual stocks okay so that's the total portfolio. Okay. All right, so you liquidate that, and you make what a year? $50,000.

And what did you say the motorcycle was worth? About $2,000. Okay. And it was $8,000 on the car, right? Yes. So I could pay it all off in six months, but I'm so eager to be out of debt. It's like, do I need to do it in three months? I need to get it done.

Do it in two. Sell everything and then start driving Uber after work. Get done, man. Get done. Yeah. Two months. Yeah, sell the motorcycle, sell all the stuff. Because what you're doing is you're resetting your brain into a different groove,

and the groove is I'm going to follow this to a t and i'm going to follow it with intensity and that that sets your that sets your your life pattern up your habit patterns up to carry forward another decade if you do that the more extreme you get the more you deepen that groove is what we're saying that's what the gazelle intensity thing is it's really the essence of it the one challenge i have when folks are able to sell everything their way to it is you don't have to do behavior change you can sell some stuff but he's gonna have to because he's got 4 000 in in crypto and stocks he's got 2 000 motorcycles got 8 000 on the car so he's still 2 000 in the hole so and you got to keep a thousand back so 3 000 in the hole and so let's just get in attack mode right here and like john said work like a crazy man take all the extra hours you can get doing

something and um you know before the end of the summer you should be a hundred percent debt free and you will have adjusted your mind to fit this the rest of the time and you will never do it again no never yeah and um you know it's what I would do if I woke up in your shoes. And that's how I answer questions here. Knowing what I know, having coached millions of people on becoming wealthy, you know, what is the shortest possible right path to do it? And it is deep levels of sacrifice. And because that permanently changes who you are.

You know, John, the negative thing about me and Sharon going broke in our 20s and losing $3 million worth of real estate that I had borrowed too much on and losing everything, and you're Rachel's born, we have to file bankruptcy because we're just completely devastated financially, emotionally, spiritually, and everything, the beauty of that extreme experience is the change that resulted from it was permanent. Yeah. Yeah. It was a deep, deep, deep groove, and I've never gotten out of that groove again.

Yeah. I've never gotten, it was a deep ditch. I couldn't get out of it in your brain. The way, you know, it's the neuroplasticity, I can't get out of the in your brain the way you know and it's um the neuroplasticity I can't say it uh research indicates now that that's actually a physical thing in your brain so let me ask you a hard question you you make this switch and it happens and let's fast forward a decade and let's say you've you stuck to this in your home and then here at work, there had to have been seasons where in a traditional business setting

that just goes to the bank for some, man, that would have been nice. And you looked at it and said, I could take this shortcut here. We can go take a big business loan out because I just need to be able to buy these new books or be able to get this new building. And you are quick enough to do the math

on the back of a napkin and say, or it's going to be seven years or six years. We're doing this the right way. That's a different level of behavior change that says, come what may, I'm willing to fill in the blank because this is the right thing to do. What kept you going in those seasons? Because that's hard. Yeah.

I was playing golf the other day with a guy who's uh been it was a raging alcoholic and he's been dry for uh 15 years 14 years and some change and uh you know we were out there and we were talking about all kinds of trash on the golf course and everything else and i said so you know that one right there will drive you to drink and i was making a joke with him because we're good enough friends he can handle that and he's like no and no. And he got like, he turned on me. You know, he like back got up, right? Hair stood up on the back of his neck. And he's like, there's nothing going to drive me to drink.

Oh, wow. And, you know, there's that. It's that kind of a thing, right? And that's the way I am about debt, you know. And it's just, no. There's nothing I want bad enough. There's nothing you can threaten me with. You can't make me afraid enough to believe that this is the best way out.

Gotcha. Or the only way out. Ever again. Wow. And so, you know, we had this building under option that we could buy for $5 million, and we didn't have $5 million. And while I had it as a five-year lease with an option, while I had it under option, the value went from $5 million to $12 million. So not closing on this is walking away from a $7 million gain.

Right. Right. Which is blowing my mind. Right. I'm getting nickels out of the corner of the couch trying to get the money together to close on this thing. We closed on it with one month to go. But Sharon and I talked about it several times. If God wants us to have this building, we'll find the money. He'll show us how to find the money together to close on this thing. We closed on it with one month to go, but Sharon and I talked about it several times. If God wants us to have this building, we'll

find the money. He'll show us how to find the money. If He didn't want us to have this building, we won't have the money, and we're not closing on it, no matter what it looks like, no matter what the gain is. Never. You ain't got anything? I want bad enough. And that was about the biggest temptation I can remember, because the gain was so large.

Yeah. Wow. No, never again. Never again. This is The Ramsey Show. I get asked all the time, when in the baby steps is the right time to buy life insurance? My answer is typically now. Life insurance is not part of the baby steps because it's needed when your family has debt and not enough savings to provide for their financial needs. That's when they're at the highest risk.

And no matter where you are in your baby steps, it's a necessity, not a choice. This includes working husbands and wives, as well as stay-at-home parents. It's pretty expensive to replace those stay-at-home parent responsibilities. I only recommend term life insurance, since it's the most affordable way to get the right amount of coverage and not break your budget. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. These are the guys I personally use. Term life insurance is inexpensive, and your family needs this no matter where you are in your baby steps. That's Zander.com.

Or call 800-356-4282. Zander.com. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Dan and Marie are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? hey guys how are you great how are you doing awesome honored to have you guys where do you live phoenix arizona cool cool welcome to nashville how much debt have you paid off one million two hundred and seventy five thousand and three hundred and eighty four dollars okay that's a heck of a phone bill you two. $1,275,000. Yes. All right and I'm trying to get my speech back here and how long did this take? Took four years and nine months. Four years and nine months and your range of income during this time? Started at $62,000 and ended at $300,000.

Cool. What do y'all do for a living so we actually have a store called the yard in phoenix arizona and we're stone suppliers for uh kitchen and uh countertops as well as bathrooms so yeah okay very cool good good and um so there's got to be a story here obviously indeed oh my goodness gracious uh what happened and what in the world kind of debt was this? Well, we're serial entrepreneurs. Dan's owned many businesses since he was 14, and we've owned the yard for 12 years. But in the middle of that, we decided to go open another business. That business took us on a roller coaster ride.

It failed miserably. And in 2016, we closed that business, or sorry, we closed that business. And our other business was hanging on by a thread, never was profitable to that point. And we had 50,000 in personal credit cards, 55,000 in vehicles, 80,000 in personal loans, 930,000 in business debt, and 155,000 was our home. Wow. So how do you turn this around in four years, these kinds of numbers? Well. Good question.

Hey, before you answer that, it's important if you're just listening to this. Dan, as she told that story, your eyes went to the floor, your shoulders dropped. I mean, you still feel that, huh? Absolutely. Those were dark, dark moments because you knew how much money that was. Absolutely. So what inspired the change and what did you do? So when we closed the business, the other business, it was really hard.

We were emotionally, physically exhausted. Our children were young. And I was at home doing laundry. Our other business was barely hanging on. And we were living off of personal loans and credit cards. And I was listening to a mom podcast. And Rachel Cruz was on that Christian mom podcast featuring her book, Love Your Life, Not Theirs. And I was like, oh, yeah, Dave Ramsey. Mom and dad taught me about that. And I went online and we found that you were having a one-day entree leadership event in Pasadena, California, which ironically was five years ago this past Monday. And we attended that event and it was like drinking from a fire hose. We realized that

we were terrible business owners. We were not strong leaders. We didn't know our numbers. We had donkeys working for us and we felt like you gave us all these tools in one day, and we were like, oh, my goodness, we have to go home and change everything. And we took six hours to drive home, and we just talked nonstop, like, oh, my goodness, we have to, like, restart everything. You know, we had been business owners for a long time, but it was like we had all these tools now. So that's where we started. That event gave us the hope to say, okay, we can do this.

This isn't going to be a lifelong curse for us. That's amazing. Wow. So you just put on the hustle on the grind and plowed through it. We went home and we got rid of everybody or they self-selected. We started over. We started to learn what the problems were. And it took several months.

And then it was like God just turned on the faucet and he just blessed our business immensely. And we started living how his word told us all along that we didn't pay attention to. And everything changed. Absolutely everything changed absolutely everything changed powerful just in time for the whole world to get stuck at home and decide they want to start a remodel project you got it what a couple of years right hey you couldn't have done that

if you hadn't gone through the darkness of the previous few years indeed indeed yeah it's been a long journey that's for sure yeah and yet 2020 was probably a banner year income wise it was yeah it's like you're in the plexiglass business or something oh my god that's right yeah everybody loves their countertops man yeah i mean anything home improvement went bonkers yeah that year so yeah you couldn't find anything because it was just everybody's sitting at home and go i never noticed that before but i gotta fix that you know and it just the home improvement stuff went nuts yeah so you're staring at 1.2 million dollars how do you head into that darkness well like marie said i mean for me it was at that one day event it was just a mountain that was in front of us and we had a small shovel.

And it was like day by day, it was like, here we go, another shovel, another shovel. And I'll never forget, you know, Dave, you kind of closed off with that Winston Churchill speech, never give up. And there's so many times speech, never give up. And there were so many times I wanted to give up. There were so many times where I had doubt. There were many times that were fearful. But through many friends and our family supported us through this, I'm just humbled by God's goodness and his blessing.

Amen. Amen. That's powerful. That is so powerful. Usually, when folks go through climbing a mountain this large, there's periodic, maybe two times, maybe once during that time where it clicked and you went, wait a minute, this is going to freaking work. Do you remember when that was? Well, there was many times when I remember it not working.

The first year we paid off, I think, $32,000, which was really hard to do. And I'm like, oh my goodness, if we continue at this rate, it's going to take us 42 years to pay this off. It feels like it's going to be forever. And then I think that we came to Summit when it was held here at headquarters. We went home. We're like, oh, man, how much more do we have? And we did the numbers, and we're like, oh, man. That was 20.

It's still a lot. Yeah, yeah. Just the other day, yeah. Okay. And I don't know. Then it just snowballed, just gained momentum, and we were managing our business much better, which then gave us more liquid to be able to pay off the debt.

And I remember paying off our house and being like, this doesn't feel real. This doesn't feel real, you know? But that big honking $900,000 business loan, man, that was the beastie. Indeed. And now you don't owe anybody anything. No. How does it feel when that check deposits and it's all yours?

It's incredible. Incredible. Now, if you're listening, Dan's, everything changed now. Look at him, man. He's standing tall. Your hands are behind your back now in a bring it on posture. everything changed now. Look at him, man. He's standing tall. Your hands are behind your back now in a bring it on posture. You're smiling. Look at that, man.

It's amazing. Gosh. And even just the opportunity to bless our team. You know, we have a team of, you know, 24 people that work for us. And so being able to pay them what they're worth, bless them in amazing ways. You know, we weren't able to do that before. And you got ones now that you want to bless indeed that's a big that's a big deal yeah yeah it's powerful i'm so proud of you guys you're an amazing story wow very very very well done

well we've got a copy of baby steps millionaires for you that's the next chapter in your story if you're not already past it. And obviously a copy of the Total Money Makeover 2. You brought the kiddos with you. What are their names and ages? We've got Jacob. He's 16. Julia, she's 14. Ava, she's 12. And Autumn, she's 8. Alright.

Very good. Well done you guys. Beautiful family. Well done, well done. That's amazing. Well, that's the most debt uh debt-free scream that we've had this year so we're at 19 million dollars in debt-free screams for the calendar year so far and uh you just added another million 275 000 to it rowdy i love it i love it i love it all right dan and marie jacob julia ava. Count it down. 1.275 paid off in four years and nine months. Let's hear the debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Woo! Yeah! Oh my goodness. This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage.

It's back-to-back debt-free screams. Landon and Samantha are with us. Where do you guys live? Clarksville, Tennessee. Clarksville, just up the road. Yes, sir. What do you all do for a living? I'm a dental hygienist.

And I own my own business. Cool. Doing what? Lawn care. Good for you. Weed control. Excellent. Excellent.

What kind of debt? How much debt did you pay off? 401,000. 401? How long did this take three years 401,000 yes sir three years and your range of income during that time 54,000 to 184,000 well there's a nice jump yes sir you've been pulling a lot of weeds. Hopefully not. Somebody asked. She's been pulling a lot of teeth, man. Well.

Something's going on here. All right. Well done, guys. What kind of debt was the $401,000? 35 student loans, and the rest is the house. You paid off your house? Yes, sir. Couple of weird people. I love it.

What's this house worth? About 000 wow good for you well done guys how old are you guys i'm 31 i'm 29 and you have paid for house did you ever think he probably did i didn't right, tell us the story. How did this happen in the last three years? Well, we got married, and I've never been in debt besides mortgages. And I had a rental house, too, and it was two hours away. And I started getting nervous as far as it taking care of. And once we got married, I said, let's pay off the student loan. And then I didn't think we were going to be able to get the house paid off that quick. But God blessed us with my business.

I was not on board. Why not? Well, my parents and I mean, we just lived life and were able to go and do. And they didn't care whether we had paid off stuff or not so all right so how did you get on board what happened i got stuck on i-65 for eight hours and listened to your podcast snowstorm or he just pulled over the side of the road no we were going to the beach oh driving to the beach okay we weren't't stuck. You were stuck in the car with me. I got it.

Okay. I'm catching on now. Oh, my gosh. And at the end of that beach trip, you're like, okay, we'll do it. We'll do it. Well, there was no argument at all. I roll. I roll.

We'll do it. Okay. So did you sell the rental? Yes, sir. What did it bring? $185,000. Okay. So that was almost half of this.

Well, I owed $100,000. Oh, I apologize. I profited $185,000. Okay. So that was almost half of this. Well, I owed $100,000. Oh, I apologize. I profited around $70,000. So it was a fourth of this then. Yes, sir. Okay. Was the $400,000 all your mortgage, or did that include that mortgage you paid off with the sale of the rental?

They included all of it. Oh, okay. All right. So it was $185,000. $185,000 moved to your mortgage, and $100,000 got rid of. So it's $185,000 of the $400,000 with that one move. Yes, sir. Yeah, very good.

Good. Awesome. Good. But still $200,000 now, or $250,000 roughly in three years. That's pretty stinking amazing. Well done. Well done. I love it.

I love it. So what was your best disagreement you all had? Going out to eat. I bet you had some juicies y'all had going out to eat i bet you had some juicies i like to go out to eat yeah that's probably the worst argument it was like no rice and beans uh ramen yeah that's what i chose i never ate lunch in high school just to save my money so oh you've been a tightwad your whole life okay he still has clothes from middle school so it sounds like cosmically y'all both need each other right yes we're very opposite but needed i love it then we have a baby dude in may oh yeah you're old at home i love it oh very good

congratulations thank you what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is, Samantha? Don't go. Well, when people ask you to go out to eat, just don't go. Make sure you bring your lunch. Or your husband will track your location and be like, what are you doing? Sure looks like you're hanging out in front of a Chipotle. Probably Mexican. How come you're still speaking spanish

i mean i don't know what do you think landon what do you think uh just getting over yourself really you don't deserve that new car if you can't afford it and just don't worry about what you look like i could care less if people think i'm broke i know what my bank looks like and uh i don't worry about what you look like. I could care less if people think I'm broke. I know what my bank looks like, and I don't have to have so much stress, and my family's taken care of. How does it feel to be completely debt-free, Samantha? Weird.

Was it worth it? Oh, yeah. Definitely. Yeah. So you'd do it again? I would. I was a little pushed back. Even with the restaurants, but I'd do it again.

Yeah. All right. What do you think, Landon? What's it like yeah all right what do you think landon what's it like being in a house that you don't owe anybody anything it's nice running a business you know you sometimes have to do things you wouldn't do and now i can kind of not have to have so much stress so we're taken care of no matter what yeah yeah beautiful man yes the interesting thing is is that you don't have to take clients that give you more trouble than they're worth. There's a lot of those.

And the net is you end up making more. Exactly. It's strange. With a little bit of that desperation gone, your business runs a little smoother. It's on a little better rhythm from strength rather than from desperation, and it just becomes more profitable. It almost always happens that way well done you guys i'm very proud of y'all y'all are neat you're fun thank you very fun you did a great job we've got a copy of baby steps millionaires for you i bet you're already

there are you landing almost i'll be there before 35 okay all right he's got it figured out he does it's gonna be a 35 year old baby steps millionaire not if she can restaurant her way she may maybe 36 we're going to eat after this that's right i've already picked out a nashville restaurant i'm just saying i love it way to go you guys also a copy of total money makeover for you to give away and bless somebody and stir up a ruckus in their life and uh very very very cool very cool. Very well done. All right. Landon and Samantha Clarksville, Tennessee.

$401,000 paid off in three years. House and everything. $29,000 and a little bit more. I love it. I love it. I love it. $54,000 to $184,000 income. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free. Yes. You bet me. That'll do. That'll do. I love it.

That may have been the greatest debt-free scream that fit the couple the best. Yeah, that fit the couple the best. That's exactly right. I like it well it's uh uh you know she's fun because she's she's uh authentic yeah yeah and giving the eye roll yeah yeah on a stuck on 65 with dave ramsey in the car i can't get out and uh and yet here we are four hundred thousand dollars at 30 years old in zero debt zero house or anything that's pretty stinking powerful that's a lot of fun wow very 400 that's 1.6 million dollars paid off in the last two debt-free screams it's a lot of freedom that's true almost 1.7 yeah hey can we get can we poke on something

real quick yep they mentioned in the last debt-free scream and i know it's the same here too because they don't owe anybody any money they don't owe anybody money they're able to take care of the people that work for them in a different way which then ends up blessing their families and it makes their kids go to school with a little bit less stress and helps that teacher out so if you will in your home we get so concerned with, oh, the national. If you will fix your home, the derivative. The ripple effect. Piece that you pass along is incalculable. You can follow the math on it.

It really does happen. It's amazing. It's actually powerful. I mean, how can I be a blessing to a teacher? Well, send a kid that's not stressed out to school. Why are they not stressed out because my household is being run on a system and we're debt free and mom and dad are in agreement and we're we're not yelling at each other we're not yelling at the kids you know

we're not out of you know there's mental health all over this man mental wellness all over this oh and by the way the team you know becomes the best place work. Yeah. Because it is the best place to work. Hello? People want to do business with you because you tell the truth and you show up and you do good work. So you make more money. Because I don't have to put up with your crap if you're one of those other people. I don't have tolerance for you anymore. I keep that out of my life.

You bring drama. I don't want drama and crazy. I lock the door that drama and crazy use. I don't want them coming in here. Take care of what's going on inside your house. It changes the whole deal. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. We'll be right back. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. His brand new book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, comes out on Tuesday.

We are in the middle of book launch week. One week from today it comes out. It will be mailed to you folks that have pre-ordered it. Thank you to all of you thousands, tens of thousands of you who have bought this book already. We will be shipping them out promptly, I promise. We are not having any issues. We've got them here in the house. We're ready to them out promptly, I promise. We are not having any issues. We've got them here in the house. We're ready to go. Everything's happening. John's been doing a ton

of media. We're getting emails in while we're on the air today that he and I will be doing appearances. He'll be doing appearances all regarding this book launch in the next few days, weeks, and months. He did a big one this morning in Dallas with my friend down there, Mark Davis, and that was a live hit, wasn't it? Yeah, sure was. So that's already happened, and good. And so, hey, if you want this brand-new book, it's only $20 if you preorder it. It comes along with the e-book and the audio book as read by the author.

And that's a pain in the butt, isn't it? Oh, man. That's a hard thing. It is. People don't have any idea how hard it is to read a book for five hours that you wrote it's super and not miss a single word oh it came out of your head and now you're reading the word yeah it's it's it's how many how many errors did you find while you were rereading it oh dave i found three when i was rereading baby steps millionaire one of them was

bad oh dave we had several that were uh several a lot we had a lot oh no yeah oh no yeah yeah we had some good back and forth i had three that were very distinct and made my face turn red yeah and not once from embarrassment once from anger yeah yeah so there you go anyway all right so as too much authenticity here as read by the author of the audio book oh and by the way uh if you find those mistakes and you need therapy that's right i myself had to reach out better help is uh going to give you a month of free weekly therapy sessions and uh hey this is a book all about mental wellness uh if you go well this is a book for crazy people no it's not we're all a little crazy if you're real honest about it.

But we've all got stuff that we go, okay, there's a thing in my past there, and if I somehow could put that in a different bucket, I probably could move forward in a different way, a different framework, a different way of looking at it. And Own Your Past, Change Your Future is the framework. It's going to show you how to do it. It's a not-so not so complicated way to do relationships mental health and mental wellness so check it out you can pre-order it now at ramsey solutions.com

please go ahead and get it before tuesday so you get the deals also be ahead those of you in phoenix be marking it on your calendar a week from today april the 21st john will be signing books at the desert ridge marketplace on tatum bouvard, the Barnes & Noble there. Be sure and head up there and get your book signed by John at 6 p.m. on that Thursday. The following Wednesday, April the 27th, Barnes & Noble in Dallas at the Prestonwood Town Center on Beltline Road, 6 p.m. there. So he'll be out doing media and some speaking events and so forth in those two cities and lots of other things through the coming week as we get this push on this book launch and finish up the marketing process here.

But we don't market things around here that we don't know are going to help. This is a transformative book. If you ever wish you had Dr. John Deloney sitting across the table from you, telling you how it is, helping you, being compassionate with you, that's what he's going to do through this book. It's going to be just like he was sitting there. Don't miss this thing. So get it at RamseyFelicit.com.

The coolest thing that's happened today over the last few weeks is doing media and having the media personalities or the podcaster write me personally and said, I skimmed through this for the interview. I read it after the interview, and it's become meaningful to them, and that's what they do for a living. That's been some neat feedback. I can't wait until it gets out into the world.

We were actually talking about that in one of the planning meetings. I was talking to all the personalities, but you in particular, because this book was coming out. I said, if we can write something or do something on the air that the uh that the host of the thing is personally touched by or helped by or transformed by then we know we've got something yeah because by the way those people in front of the cameras and microphones they're like people that's they got kids and they're trying to figure it out they got dreams and broken childhoods that's right like anybody else does yeah and that's the way, those people in front of the cameras and microphones, they're like people. They got kids, and they're trying to figure it out, too. They got dreams and broken childhoods. That's right.

Like anybody else does. Yeah. And that's the way it is. So open phones at 888-825-5225. Ben is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hi, Ben. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi.

Thanks so much for all you guys do and all the help you guys provide. Thank you. So I just started listening to you guys do and all the, all the hope you guys provide. Um, so I'm just started listening to you guys recently. I was gifted, uh, one of your books and now I listen to you guys while driving for about four hours a day. Um, yeah, reruns usually, but, um, I I'm somewhere, I think I'm done with baby step number one, heading into baby step number two, which, you know, long story short, I screwed up the first half of my life, and I'm trying to do a big turnaround. I just don't know where to put house repairs because I have several major house repairs coming up. Major.

Give me an example of a major house repair. I have a hole in my roof that's leaking water into the attic, a small hole. We get bats into our house an average of one to two times per year. And our age track system is about 30 years old. It still works great, but it's 30 years old and I need to plan for it. What's your household income? Between me and my wife is $80,000. That's good news.

Okay. And how much debt do you have, not counting your home? Let's see. Total debt, or not including the home? Yes. So, looking at the spreadsheet, it includes the home. $137,000 with the home, and the home is about $85,000. $120,000 with this.

$50,000 and you make $80,000, so you're going to be debt-free in two years if you do what we teach. Mm-hmm. Okay? Beans and rice, rice and beans. Don't see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there. Living on a budget. You and your spouse are in agreement.

We're selling everything but the kids, and the kids are worried. Mm-hmm. Okay? And the dog and the cat are in agreement. We're selling everything but the kids, and the kids are worried. Okay? And the dog and the cat are on Craigslist. I mean, we're getting this done, right? So I'm kidding. Keep the dog. Definitely sell the cat, though. Sell the cat.

I've been working on that. Good. Give the cat away, whatever. Pay people to take the cat. But anyway. Not unanimous. whatever yeah pay people to take the cat but they uh anyway the so uh uh then having said that uh what you've got to ascertain is what is an emergency and what is impending doom impending doom in your case is the hvac system if we can keep that puppy patch together with duct tape

for two years and get you out of debt you'll be able to cash flow a good heat and air system if you don't then spend the minimal amount to patch it and let it limp through until you get this two year 18 months to two years to clear the fifty thousand dollars okay and then start talking about saving up the money to replace it uh don't go in debt to replace it under any circumstances be hot be hot okay buy a fan uh buy a heater okay whatever you got to do to limp through i did this okay when our kids when we went the year we went through bankruptcy the heating and air went out on our house and i hired a guy for 300 bucks instead of $4,000 to put a used compressor in. And it made it exactly 18 months.

That $300 bought me 18 more months. And then I was able to be clear. And I was able to save up and put a good air conditioner, full on compressor and everything on the back of the house and do it right. I also, oddly enough, had a water leak in the roof the year that uh that we went bankrupt and decided we don't borrow money anymore the guy came out gave us a bid for a new roof it was eight thousand dollars eight thousand dollars might as well been eight million because we were so broke we couldn't pay attention and so um i went to the hardware store and got some of that i got a five gallon bucket of that tar stuff and went up there and smeared it on the roof like white trash.

And it quit leaking, quit running. It was running through the light fixture dripping on the kitchen table. So it's also a fire hazard because it's water running through the light fixture, right? But it quit leaking. It looked like crap, but it quit leaking. And, again, I made it another 18 months with that ugly roof on there. And the neighbors probably would have called hoa if there was one and um but we got through it and then we put a roof on it with cash i don't know what your version of that with the bats is but that's the

way you're going to do it something like that try to hold on try to get through with the minimal so you can get debt free and you can pay cash to do the repairs properly. That's how you work them in. This is The Ramsey Show. Dave here. You can find all of our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. It's the only place to listen to the entire back catalog of episodes. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.