Monday, January 05, 2009

Debt-Free is the new rich

I read an article this morning and it really got me to thinking about values and such. My wife and I had a good 2008 financially, unlike many in America. Our 2006 & 2007 was most every body's 2008. We had it rough (by American standards) with job loss, foreclosure, etc. Thank God we didn't go hungry and our marriage stayed in tact ... got stronger as a matter of fact.

But coming through a 2008 that was stable financially (compared to previous years) and reviewing what we want, and in some cases need to do in 2009, we are making some adjustments and being more disciplined.

Going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University twice was great for us - Fall of 2006 & Spring of 2008. Some of our thinking about money has radically changed. Some of our thoughts haven't. Information is great ... putting it into practice is best! We have more to practice.

We have made a fresh commitment to adjusting our spending in '09 - cutting out fluff like cable, etc. and saving more, eating out less. Our goal is to be better managers of what is given to us.

The Crossroads is offering it's third session of FPU session at the beginning of February. I hope many will put into practice what they learn.

What financial adjustments are you making in 2009? Please share

Here is the article I read.
DaveRamsey.com

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW! I'm glad to read this! Mike and I just signed up on Saturday for Financial Peace University with our church!! Starts Feb 1st! Glad to hear good things from you guys about it!
Our pastor just started a series "In God We Trust" and he talked Saturday about how God takes care of our needs and we need to identify what are our wants vs our needs and be clear on them. That was a huge eye opener for me-so thats my focus in 2009 - wants vs needs. In just the 3 days since Saturday I've realized alot of wants that I can do without!
Melissa in Chicago :-)

D.Lake said...

Thanks Melissa! FPU is great and the principles work. It's up to us to work the principles!

It truly is amazing to know we can do without a lot of stuff. More practically...we are on a TV fast this week. The evening really goes by fast and feels like we are more connected as a family.

Give Mike and Mikayla a hug for us!