Financial Peace Works for Me

This fall my husband I decided to sign up for a class offered at our church called Financial Peace University. I kind of already thought we had financial peace, since we have no consumer debt other than a small car loan, and we invest heavily in our retirement and kids’ college education funds. But we have never lived on a budget and according to my husband, our spending (after retirement and education savings) was beginning to slightly exceed our income.  So our rainy day savings were starting to drop, and we weren’t really fully tithing as we had in the past and intended to be. Mike, being the security obsessed guy he is, started to get anxious about the patterns. I really just wanted to sit through the class because I love personal finance and write about it here a fair amount.

Financial Peace U. is a nationally available class created and taught by Dave Ramsey in a small group setting with a class facilitator. Our particular class leader happens to be a financial planner who has been teaching the class at our church for years, and has tons of firsthand experience helping lots people get out from under their debt. At the beginning of the class we all wrote down our total consumer debt on a slip of paper and put it in a jar. Our class has somewhere around 30 people in it, and the total debt for the class was astronomical, averaging over 25K per person in the class. That kind of shocked me, but I guess it is consistent with what I’ve read or seen in TV reports. Still, we live in an extremely well educated, upper middle class suburb. I know, I know…that doesn’t mean people are good with their money.

works for me wednesday at we are that familyWe are six weeks into the class and I have to say it is awesome.  The videos with Dave Ramsey are absolutely hilarious and packed with great information. We sat down for the first time and created a very detailed zero sum budget, allocating every single dollar we have to something. Mike’s goal is to increase our emergency fund to a level he feels comfortable with. My goal is to have more money to give away freely to people that need it, like families wanting to adopt and charities helping the very poor. Having real goals that make me feel good is helping me curb my addiction to retail therapy and convenience dining…my two biggest money wasters. Yes, I would love a new Coach bag, and yes I can afford it, but it doesn’t line up with my real priorities.

Financial peace is the goal of this class and besides the money benefit, it has done really good things for communication in our marriage. I feel like Mike and I are working as a team on this project and we are talking more than ever. Yes, sacrificing is hard but I think it will be worth it. So I highly recommend that you seek out a local Financial Peace University class (they are everywhere!) and sign up soon, especially if money causes you a lot of anxiety.

Anybody out there had success following Dave Ramsey’s baby steps? I’d LOVE to hear your stories.

Author: Sarah

Mom of three. Triathlete.

29 thoughts on “Financial Peace Works for Me”

  4. Hey! this is my first time visiting your blog and I love it! I read your “about me” and I look forward to getting to know you and learning from you in your posts.

    I just posted my WFMW about tithing–great minds. 🙂 I haven’t done Financial Peace yet, but my dad and father-in-law are both finance guys so we have a great background. I’d still love to take the course sometime soon!

  5. Hey! this is my first time visiting your blog and I love it! I read your “about me” and I look forward to getting to know you and learning from you in your posts.

    I just posted my WFMW about tithing–great minds. 🙂 I haven’t done Financial Peace yet, but my dad and father-in-law are both finance guys so we have a great background. I’d still love to take the course sometime soon!

  6. Yay! I’m so glad you’re here! Skipping over to your blog now. For a long time I thought we didn’t need to take the class because we have solid backgrounds in personal finance, but I LOVE it and we are definitely benefiting from it. It’s not a bad way to spend a Tuesday night once a week.

  7. Yay! I’m so glad you’re here! Skipping over to your blog now. For a long time I thought we didn’t need to take the class because we have solid backgrounds in personal finance, but I LOVE it and we are definitely benefiting from it. It’s not a bad way to spend a Tuesday night once a week.

  16. I haven’t read Dave Ramsey’s books yet, but I have heard of his classes so many times recently! Even at today’s DiscoveryU at KatyISD, a lady who is a Dave Ramsey Certified Financial Planner(!!) gave a workshop! And I did learn some great tips!

  17. I haven’t read Dave Ramsey’s books yet, but I have heard of his classes so many times recently! Even at today’s DiscoveryU at KatyISD, a lady who is a Dave Ramsey Certified Financial Planner(!!) gave a workshop! And I did learn some great tips!

  18. I haven’t read Dave Ramsey’s books yet, but I have heard of his classes so many times recently! Even at today’s DiscoveryU at KatyISD, a lady who is a Dave Ramsey Certified Financial Planner(!!) gave a workshop! And I did learn some great tips!

  25. Oh yeah?! I wish I could’ve attended DiscoveryU today, it’s always so well done. But I was swamped. If you’re really interested in his program, the class runs at my church ever semester, and it’s wide open to the community, not just church people. So it will start again in the spring if you want info.

  26. Oh yeah?! I wish I could’ve attended DiscoveryU today, it’s always so well done. But I was swamped. If you’re really interested in his program, the class runs at my church ever semester, and it’s wide open to the community, not just church people. So it will start again in the spring if you want info.

Comments are closed.