The Ramsey Show - App - When There's More Month Than Money in the Budget (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 25, 2018

The show about you

🎵 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, America. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225 that's 888-825-5225 amanda starting off this hour in cincinnati hi amanda how are you i'm good how are you dave

better than i deserve what's up i am looking into starting the baby steps and my concern is that i have a son who does select soccer, and that costs some money. It's not too expensive, but I don't feel like pulling the rug out from under him just because I've made mistakes. So how would you suggest I handle that? What does select soccer cost? It's only $750 a year, and that's with all of his uniforms and everything. And your household income is what? Just under $100,000.

Okay. And you have how much debt? $75,000. Okay, good. I mean, it's not a deal breaker at $750. The thing that Sharon and I did when we were looking at things like that was if we found one thing like that that we were going to not cut to hit our debt-free goal, we had to find something else we were going to cut deeper.

Okay. That means that if you were going to cheat and go out to eat once a month, now you're not. Gotcha. Or if you thought you were going to do X, now you're not. Gotcha. And instead we're doing select soccer. And how many kids do you have?

Three. Okay. And is he the oldest or the youngest? He's the oldest. The oldest. Okay. All right. And, well, I mean, you get yourself out of debt,

but then the other kids, as they come up can do you can do whatever you want to do right uh with them in terms of uh you know activities and sports and stuff you can afford to do all of that the thing that we decided was that all of this is for fun because um i mean daniel my son played ice hockey all the way up through high school. We knew at six years old he was not going to play in the NHL. Right. We were pretty sure at that point, you know. And so we made decisions to invest in ice hockey to have fun. Right.

Not because we were trying to create a future career for him. Right, and that's why we went with the club we did. There are a couple of different options, and the one we put him in is less than half the cost of the him. Right, and that's why we went with the club we did. There are a couple of different options, and the one we put him in is less than half the cost of the others. Yeah, and, you know, so parents go bananas on this stuff is my point. And some of them, you know, they spend $10,000 on whatever, and, you know, in a sport that the kid is never going to go pro, probably not even going to get a scholarship.

Right. And all you're doing is burn up the kid and half your budget. But $750 is not the case that you're fine. You know, you just got to be. But you do need to look. What it does is it makes you stop and give pause enough. You called me. That's pretty cool.

Yeah. You paused and you went, crap, I got to think about this. And so, you know, just try to find you a tradeoff to, in a sense, pay for it. In a sense, we're going to knock this out. Dylan is with us in Indianapolis. Hi, Dylan. How are you? I'm doing great, Dave.

Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, a quick little background for you. I'm 23, and I live with my fiancé here in Indy. We are in Baby Step 2 and looking to pay off about $10,000 worth of debt by the end of the year. So we've been attacking it hard. And the question is actually referring to my fiancé has a sister who is 24. She lives right now with her parents, and she's just been having a lot of struggles financially.

She's upside down on a car payment, I know, and just really struggling career-wise as well. She's expressed a desire to come and live with us for a while in Indy and get back up on her feet. And I want to know what's a smart way to try and help her because I do have a desire to help her, but I don't want it to cause any kind of stress between myself and, you know, my future wife, because I don't want there

ever to be a situation where she's, you know, stuck between myself and her sister. No, too late. Um, the, uh, he, so when's the wedding date? Um, we're looking for sometime around Christmas next year. Okay. And why are you waiting until Christmas next year? We would like for her to finish college before we get married. Why? She's about to graduate for PA school.

Why? I don't know. We just felt like it was a good decision to try and wait a little bit and make sure that we're, you know, We didn't wait to move in together. Right. So I don't know what the difference is. decision to try and wait a little bit and make sure that we're, you know, secure and hope that's a good job. Right. So I don't know what the difference is. You're right.

Okay. Just something to think about. Because it kind of affects the other question. I'm not just being a smart aleck, okay? No, absolutely. Because this is your sister-in-law or it's your girlfriend's sister. There's a difference. Right. Okay.

Girlfriend's sister, i can stiff arm a lot easier than i can my sister-in-law right you know and uh so you got to walk that through so here's the thing uh it takes strength to be gentle you guys are not standing on really strong relational strength right now you're not married and you're not standing on really strong financial strength and for you all to be gentle with this other girl who's not got her act together it happens to be a sister um it's gonna be hard it's gonna be hard because you don't have a lot of margin you know versus like sharon and i've been married 35 years we got a bazillion dollars okay so we could handle this kid without any trouble.

You see what I'm saying? You see the difference? And so you guys, every little thing is going to be sandpaper. Every little thing is going to be fingernails on a chalkboard. And so if you were married for three days or three weeks and you called and asked the same question, I would have to say I think it's a really good thing for you guys to help her at a little bit more of a distance than down the hallway. I wouldn't move her in with you. I would put your relationship ahead of her need.

I want to help her. I'm with you. But there's really a lot i'm just being an old guy now not a financial guy okay there's just a lot of downside to this relationally um and because you know she comes in there you can't there's no there's nothing you if your sister your fiancee decides she's going to be an enabler and give her sister money, you start stepping in and saying that's a bad idea, you're going to be the bad guy. Or you get to participate in the enabling, and both of these things are stupid. And so nobody's going to tell this girl no because everybody's standoffing from each other.

It's triangulated, and I wouldn't move her in. If she wants to come to town we'll feed her occasionally she can come by love her and she needs to get a roommate have a job and come to town and get her act together and be like a stand-up adult if she comes she could come for three weeks and stay while she's looking for her first place but at the end of three weeks pre-arranged three weeks an exact date that we've initialed on the email that says we will be out by this date. And so otherwise you look up three years later and that three weeks is still going. So, yeah, just put a date on it.

And it's just dangerous, really, really dangerous for you guys. And, hey, thanks for the call. This is The Dave 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. Thank you for joining us, America. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Carla is with us in Jackson, Mississippi. Hey, Carla, how are you?

I'm doing very well. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, our situation is that there's three in the household. It's my husband and myself. And my dad passed away two years ago, so mama moved in with us. So she couldn't make it on her own. So we just kind of combine our incomes. Our monthly income with three of us combined is $3,442. I've done the everyday dollar budget, and we're like $47 a month over budget as things stand now.

We had back in January, we had some identity theft going on in our account and that put us almost i say 12 to 1500 in the hole that the bank took for overdrafts and stuff so that put us why did the bank charge you anything if there was identity theft? Well, it was iTunes that was charged to our account. I know, but if it's identity theft, the bank shouldn't be charging you anything. Well, they did, and they said there was nothing they could do about it. I can change banks. Yeah, we did.

Okay. We actually closed banking, and we just have a debit card that is like one of those little Walmart cards, you know. So we don't even go through the banks anymore. It's just a debit card. But they charged us like near about $600 in overdrafts, and they wouldn't take them back. Okay. But during that time, because all that was going on, we got behind on our house payments and a couple of more things,

some of the smaller notes that we had. Well, we caught the smaller notes up, but we're still too behind on our house. I've talked to the housing loan people, and they're working with us, but we're having to pay extra a month on our mortgage payment. Sure. How old are you guys? 59. Okay.

I'm 59, and he's 60, and Mom's 79. Are you guys on some kind of a fixed income for some reason? Yes, it's a disability, all three of us. And none of you are able to work? No. I do a little side business with crafts and things like that. What is the nature of your disability? Mine is a hip displacement.

What's wrong with him? He had broke his back, and he has a piece of the bone that's sticking close to his nerve sac. And he also had triple bypass surgery a few years ago, and he has a defibrillator. And so he's got like 25% of his heart is beaten. Okay. Well, what you guys have more than anything else is an income crisis. Right.

Due to the fixed income, and that's why I was exploring that question. It does sound like you've got some pretty serious limitations. But what I'm going to do, if I'm in your shoes, is what you kind of started doing there with the crafts, and even in his shoes, obviously none of you all are going to be involved in physical labor of any kind. Right. Okay. But if there was something that you could do,

like I talked to a lady the other day who was just going to garage sales and she was buying clothing for a quarter and a nickel and selling it on eBay for $1 and $2, and she had done that like 10,000 times and made like $10,000. And that didn't involve any heavy lifting, obviously. It involved the keystrokes on the computer to set up an eBay account and sell some stuff on eBay. I'm not saying that's what you do. I'm just saying that something like that that is in line with the limitations that you guys have. Because if we can add $1,000 a month only to your world, it would change your life, wouldn't it?

It really would, yes, sir. It would be dramatic. And how old is mom? Mom is 79. And how much of this $34.42 comes from her? $11.47. Yeah. She passes away.

You all got a real problem. Correct. So we've got to solve some of this income issue one way or another here. And how much is your house payment? They were $4.78, but they've increased it to $5. Yeah, but that's just due to taxes and insurance going up, probably. Correct. Yeah.

Okay. And what's the home worth? Oh, it's worth right at $110, $112. We only owe $112,500 on it. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. We'll have it paid off. It sure would be good, wouldn't it?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. We'll have it paid off. Sure would be good, wouldn't it? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I think more than anything, the magic wand here is some kind of an idea for you to create some income. And I don't know what that is, but I want the three of you to sit around and talk about what you could do. You're obviously not going to do anything that's physical. I get that. You've got some serious limitations. I understand that. And I'm not picking on you.

I'm just trying to help you. But, man, $1,000 a month would change your whole life. $1,000 a month for a year, and you pay that house off. And that would be rid of that payment. And then when mom passes, you're not in a problem. And right now you'd be in a serious problem. $2,000 a month income change, you'd feel like you were rich, like you were multimillionaires or something.

It would change your life that much. And so is that possible? Yes, that is possible. It's very possible. But you need some income ideas, some things you can do. And it's probably something you jump on the computer and sell something or whatever. And, again, I don't want to put a bunch of strain on you physically, but, you know, I'm having an intelligent conversation with you over the phone,

so you could have an intelligent conversation with somebody over the phone and sell them something. Right? over the phone so you could have an intelligent conversation with somebody over the phone sell them something right and that that's a possible thing you could do um the the you know and it doesn't cause you to work 40 hours a week necessarily but if you could do anything that creates a thousand two thousand dollars a month it would change your world and that's that's really what i would work on rather than try to solve the $47 problem that you've got. What that is is symptomatic of the fact that you're struggling with income. And legitimately, you're struggling. It's not because you're lazy or something like that, but it's just, man,

if you could come up with any kind of a small business idea that your husband and you could do together and just get the needle to move a little bit here. Man, it would change everything for you. Hey, thank you for the call. Open phone is at 888-825-5225. Benjamin is in Oklahoma City. Hi, Benjamin. How are you?

Good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So my wife and I graduated college about a little over a year ago cool and we got good jobs good and bought a house good and i'm wondering in your eyes we do have some student loan debt but we paid it off about half at this point okay um i'm wondering in your eyes or your opinion when from a financial perspective is a good time to start thinking about

having kids because the life's getting kind of pushy and you know how that is i'm sure um so i just wanted to get your thoughts on it no i was actually the one that wanted kids faster than sharon did so i was the pushy one but um uh i i don't think that there's a financial measure other than just being completely crazy. Like, you don't have 16 kids if you're broke. That's stupid. Okay, that's crazy. But you guys are in great shape.

You're a sharp young couple. Whenever you're emotionally and relationally ready to have kids and God says it's okay to have kids, go have kids. I don't tell people they need to be out of debt and have their emergency fund. There's not a baby step for kids. You don't have to be at a certain place. You're going to be out of debt and have their emergency fund. There's not a baby step for kids. You know, you don't have to be at a certain place. You're going to be fine. A child is not going to destroy your life financially. As a matter of fact, you probably won't even hardly notice.

Everybody talks about, oh, children cost $562,000 to raise. Yeah, really, not really. They eat the same broccoli you eat after a certain point. They're in the same warm house you're already in after a certain point. And so the actual cost of a kid is just not that. It's not devastating. But again, you don't want to just load up a whole house full of them

if you're broke, and that'll cause a problem. But to decide to have your first couple of children, I mean, that's not something. That's between you and God and your wife, and you guys are in good shape. You're financially smart. You're already moving in the right direction.

If you want to start now, it doesn't bother me at all. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major healthcare costs. Christian Healthcare Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry,

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chministries.org. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Olin and Stephanie are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve. Good to have you. So you're here from where? Where do you guys live?

Clarksville, Tennessee. Clarksville, Tennessee, just up the road. Very cool. Well, welcome. Good to have you. And you're here to do a debt-free screen. Yes, sir. Fun. How much have you paid off? $40,000. $40, you. And you're here to do a debt-free screen. Yes, sir. Fun. How much have you paid off?

$40,000. $40,000. And how long did that take? 26 months. Good. And your range of income during that time? About $38,000 to $42,000. Okay. Very cool. And what do you guys do for a living? I just recently medically retired from the military, and I start as a civilian contractor next week. Oh, cool. And doing what?

Working on Blackhawks. Oh, good for you. Wow. Fun. And what do you do? I stay home with our boys. All right. Two boys, huh?

Yes. Very good. Good. Good for you. Well, thanks for your service. Appreciate it very much. And what kind of debt was the $40,000? It was both our vehicles and some credit cards.

Okay. So you're kind of normal. Yes. Just bopping along in the military. Got a couple car payments, credit cards. And something happened 26 months ago and woke credit cards. Okay. So you're kind of normal. Yes. Just bopping along in the military. Got a couple of car payments, credit cards, and something happened 26 months ago and woke you up. What happened? She said, let's take FPU. Oh, it's all your fault. Yeah. Okay. All right. So Stephanie, where'd you hear about Financial Peace University and where did you guys take it? We took it at our church. We had actually just started a new church and they were offering it. So we're like, let's try it. So, was the start of a new year, so it was a good time to start it.

So no big revelation. It's just like, this is probably something good to know. Yeah, it sounded good. She thought I was going to hate it. Yeah. Okay. And now I coordinate. Oh.

Well, there you go. I love it. Very good. Okay. So you kind of, in a sense, there's no big crisis or no big emotional revelation. That's just the class. Let's take the class. And then you get in there and what happened?

It was life changing. Yeah. What'd you say? Murphy. Murphy happened. Okay. All right. So while you were in the class, stuff happened?

Oh, lots of stuff. Vehicles breaking down. We had to get a new washer. Our second son was born a year after we started. Okay. And then flash forward seven months, I had a hunting accident and fell out of my tree and down we had to get a new washer um our second son was born a year after we started okay and then flash forward seven months i had a hunting accident and fell out of my tree stand and had to be live flighted to st louis oh there's your medical discharge huh part of it part of it part of it ouch and then two months from the end of it our oldest son dakota was diagnosed with a form

of kidney cancer oh my goodness how's he doing now cancer free yep yay thank you god very cool absolutely how old is he he just turned six yesterday all right and cancer free go dakota and now i see the dakota strong shirt now i understand okay that makes a lot of sense so we're cheering him through that process huh yes you guys have been through hell yes it's been crazy it's like we used to laugh and say if you take financial peace university the transmission on your car will go out you know but it was like a whole lot more than that one thing after another as soon as we got our emergency fund built up it was like boom the week one right after yeah and it would go again

yes we get it back up and then it would be something and still doing all of that you managed to pay off 40 000 bucks in about about two years, making $40,000. Yes. Yeah. That's pretty impressive. Yeah. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? How do you do that?

Keep digging. Yeah. And you have to pick and choose. You know, you have to see what's really important and prioritize. And you can cut way more stuff than you think that you can. We didn't realize that at first, but the first time we did our budget how much did we find like like 800 bucks yeah so we're like where is our money going so yeah you feel like you got a raise then yeah yes yeah and doing nothing different really just doing a budget did you sell anything big um we sold

little stuff but nothing crazy okay all. All right. Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. Thank you. Very proud of you. What was the hardest part? Dealing with Murphy, I guess, in your office. Yeah, Murphy, yeah. But being a coordinator and doing class after class.

We just closed out our seventh class last night. Wow. Well, thank you very much. And that's all him. I haven't been helping with that. That's all him. It keeps you honest. It keeps you going.

Oh, definitely. Yeah. Once you do that, it's all him. I haven't been helping with that. That's all him. It keeps you honest. It keeps you going. Oh, definitely. Yeah, once you do that, it's game on. Because you can't not do the stuff and lead the class. I mean, it makes you. It's a different kind of accountability. Yeah, it's just. I mean, if you're a person of honor anyway, you know, you just couldn't. I mean, I guess you could go in there and just lie.

But, yeah, it's just very hard. Well, congratulations, you guys. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire inspired book for you. Thank you. And tune into his podcast now. That's the next chapter in your story. Be millionaires. You're on your way.

You can do it. I mean, if you can do this, you can do anything. And you guys have thought through all kinds of stuff to get here. Absolutely amazing. And so congratulations, you guys. All right. And so Dakota and Noah are with us. And Dakota is six, you said, right?

Yes. And how old is Noah? One. One year old. Oh, my goodness. Here's the guys. All right. All right.

It's Olin. Is it Olin or Olin? Olin. Olin and Stephanie and Dakota and Noah from Clarksville. $40,000 paid off in 26 months, making $30,000 to $42,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready?

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it, love it, love it. Well done, you guys. Man, oh, man, oh, man. Is that fun or what? Well done. I'll tell you what, you can fight through debt while you're fighting through cancer with your baby.

You can do anything, man. That's just amazing. Alex is with us in Great Bend, Kansas. Hi, Alex. How are you? I'm doing all right. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Well, I'm going to be debt-free here in the beginning of the year. Good. Paid off about $20,000, only making $24,000 a year. Wow. Good for you. It's been

pretty rough. Been basically living off water and rice but uh my my question is is uh i have two i have two uh children well actually one's not born yet will be at the end of the year um i don't know if i should get a house like i'm wanting to buy a house i don't know if i should get it now or if i should wait or like maybe rent a place i don't know if I should get a house. I'm wanting to buy a house. I don't know if I should get it now or if I should wait or maybe rent a place. I don't know. I just kind of would like some advice from you. I've studied you. So you make $24,000 a year?

Yeah. What do you do? I'm a construction engineer technician. Engineering technician. Sorry, there you go. That, technician. Engineering technician. Sorry, there you go. That's okay. All right. And does your wife work outside the home?

I am a single man. Oh, I thought you said you had babies. I do. I have a little mishap over there, but I'm going to have another child and love my kids to death. But, yeah, me and the mother aren't together. Oh, okay. All right. And so are you paying child support on kids more than one?

No. No, I'm not. It's through the court system. It's, you know, 50-50. It's all even. So it's pretty good. Okay. So you have joint custody. Correct. You know, 50-50, it's all even, so it's pretty good. Okay, so you have joint custody.

Correct. And that keeps the child support off the deal. Okay. And that will be true of the new baby as well? Yes. Okay, so this is your second child or third child? Second. Okay, and how old are you?

I'm 25 years old. Okay, all all right um buying a house is not a bad thing uh your first goal as you know when you're working on it is to get clear of the debt the second goal is to have your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses and then yeah and then above that you save your down payment. And we always recommend you put enough down and you buy a home that you can do on a 15-year fixed rate where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay. Now, my guess is that's going to be pretty limiting on the house that you buy with your income. Yeah, I mean, I get paid, I get paid every other week, and my take-home without overtime or anything like that

is around $800 or so. Per week? Twice a month, yeah, so about $1,600 would be about right. Yeah, and I matched the retirement I'm in. Yeah. I matched that. So what is your long-term career goal? Where do you want to be in 10 years when you're 35?

I guess, you know, owning my own house, obviously. No, that was not a career goal. You need to make more money. So I'm trying to figure out what we're going to do to get you on a track where you make more money because you're moving along in your career and you're not 35 years old making $24,000. And so I don't mind you being there today, but I want you moving in a positive direction. As you move in that positive direction, it's probably going to change the decision on the house when you buy the house. I'd like for you to move your income up a little so you can buy a little better house just for you. We'll be right back. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com.

You know, Jay Steinfeld, my friend, started Blinds.com about 20 years ago to make the complex process of ordering and installing new custom blinds simple. With Blinds.com, you get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you're going to save even more. Always put in the promo code RAMSY, and you'll see the best possible deal out there. That's the magic word, RAMSY, at Blinds.com. Chelsea's in Kansas. I have a medical condition, and I finally got an appointment with a specialist.

The office requires a credit card, a debit card, or a bank account on file. I'm uncomfortable having my info out there, but I really want to see this doctor. I thought about getting a prepaid debit card to use. What should I do? If you are uncomfortable with the doctor having your debit card number, you should be uncomfortable with their medical opinion about your life. If they're not trustworthy enough at that office to handle your debit card number or your bank account number in advance,

then they're not trustworthy enough to cut on you or whatever procedure that this particular specialist is going to proceed with. So, no, I wouldn't go to that doctor or I would get comfortable with that doctor, one of the two. Now, it may be that that's off-putting enough because it's kind of a weird request. It may be that that's off-putting enough to you that you just don't want to use this doctor, but that isn't what you said in the email. Sometimes I hear people say, you know, I'm not going to tithe at that church

because I don't agree with things that are going on at that church. But you're going to trust them to spiritually train you. You're going to trust them with your children's soul in Sunday school class. You're going to trust them to influence you on your view of scripture and your walk with God, but you don't trust them with your money? Well, that's just dumb. That's so inconsistent, it's appalling. You don't trust them with money, but you trust them with your soul?

That's just weird. That's just a bad idea. So that's just weird that's just a bad idea so that's the thing now i have at times uh with a church that i'm attending i'm watching the misbehavior of leadership and i've taken a little time off of tithing and set it aside a little bit to see how this is going to turn out but long term if i'm not willing to give there, I shouldn't go there. And the same would be true of this doctor story here. Ann is with us in Baltimore, Maryland. Hi, Ann. How are you? I'm great. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I paid off 35, well, not paid off, but I paid $35,000 in less than a year.

Good for you. Thank you, towards student loans, listening to you. And then I was in a car crash, and the money's been going to medical expenses. And two things. I've lost my motivation, and also the other thing is I found a great deal. I have some auto body problems with my car, and I found someone who's willing to do it for a cheap price, and I want to get the repair done, but it's going to be $800. And you don't have $800?

Well, I have this. I know you're not going to like? Well, I have this. I know you're not going to like this, but I got this. I have a $1,000 emergency fund, but the IRS just hit me, and they're going to get that money. I can save up the money. I thought you were out of debt. Oh, no, no, no. I'm not out of debt.

Oh, you just paid off $35,000. I paid $35,000 in less than a year, but, no, that was I'm not out of debt. No. Oh, you just paid off $35,000. I paid $35,000 in less than a year. But, no, that was toward my student loan. I see. And you didn't pay the IRS before you paid your student loan? Well, that just came out of nowhere. I'm getting paperwork in the mail from my CPA that I have to send to the IRS. So that's getting worked on right now.

That was new. Okay. And so you have $1,000 saved for emergencies is all. Yes, but I got a credit card, and I know you don't like credit cards, and I don't normally use credit cards, but it's 0% interest for 21 months, and I can use the credit card and just pay $100 a month. Use it for what? For the auto body repair.

Which is $800? Yes. Yeah. Okay. And, I mean, that's so backward from everything you've ever heard me say, I'm appalled that you think i would actually respond positively to that ridiculous statement i mean really you just called dave ramsey and said i want to use a credit card on the air okay well i take that back i won't use

the credit card kiddo i mean seriously you are going backward here no i mean you've got you got to think about not what dave ramsey thinks but you need to think about what how do you want to live your life here's why you lost your motivation is you're inconsistent you need to say in your mind and in your heart of hearts and you need to grasp intellectually and spiritually that the shortest path to wealth and generosity and stability in your finances, sustainability, is to get out of debt and stay out of debt. And at that point, you're saying, I'll never borrow again as part of that, regardless of what you need to have happen.

Now, you had a car accident. Did you not get an insurance settlement for that? No, they're saying that there was no visible damage to our vehicles, and they're saying they don't believe that the crash injured me. But I actually had pain before the crash occurred, so I'm just paying for it myself with my health insurance. Okay, but I'm talking about the car wreck. So you did not get any insurance for the damage to your car?

Oh, yes, I did. I got $500. I sent it to my student loan. Oh, okay. Instead of putting it on the auto body repair, which now you want to do. Yeah. So this repair is very, very minor. An $800 is a bump.'s not okay so the $800 repair

the reason i want to do it now is because it's a great deal because it's not it's damage that i've been driving around with for a long time it's other damage yeah let me let me stop you for a second let me stop you a few thousand dollars let me stop you for a second okay number one i'm not going to tell you to borrow money you knew that before you called me right number two this is not an emergency it's not an emergency it's a great deal it's not an emergency i don't care if it's a great deal it's not an emergency and you don't have any money except what's in your emergency fund. Now, and you've got the IRS breathing down your neck, which is a lot bigger deal than a bump on your car. And so, no, you need to clear up the IRS, and you need to save up the money to fix the car.

If the guy won't do it in a year from now for $800, then when you actually have the money, then you just won't be able to do it with him. You just for $800, then when you actually have the money, then you just won't be able to do it with him. You just missed that deal. But so what? You know, one thing I have learned is that when I am impulsive and when I make quick decisions on something based on something I feel like I'm being emotionally drug into, it's almost always a bad financial decision. And a lot of the things circling around this conversation have had that feel to them. And so you need to slow down, get yourself on a very strict plan, and live that plan all the way out, regardless of what opportunities or crises come into your life. Anytime there's a problem, you just get back on track, back on track, back on track.

And when you stabilize that, you're going to stabilize not only your money, but a whole bunch of other areas of your life that have also felt like a dog chasing its tail, where you've just been going in circles. And that's what's going on. I can hear it. I can feel it in talking to you. You're going to be all right, but that's what you need to do. And, no, we're not going to use a credit card to take advantage of a bargain to fix your car,

not with the IRS breathing down your neck. And it's not an emergency, so we're not using the emergency fund. Very clear principles, you hear them? I applied them to you just like I apply them to everyone else. And you should, too. But you get to you just like I apply them to everyone else. And you should too. But you get to do it because you're the grown-up. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Blake, Chief Production Officer for the show.

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