So I have decided that I need to have more balance in my life. How do I achieve this? Well for one I have been listening to Dave Ramsey on his radio show about money and how we get out of debt. I have a little debt left over from seminary and I have been struggling to pay it off. Well Dave has a plan that he talks about in his book the Total Money Makeover. First you put $1,000 in the bank as your emergency fund. Next you make a list of all your debts smallest to largest. This is called the debt snowball. Start paying the on the smallest one whilst still paying the minimum on all of the others. Pay off the smallest as soon as possible and then put that money along with the minimum towards the next one, and so on until they are all gone. If you listen to the show you hear person after person calling in. The other step is to cut up the plastic you don’t need it.
After money weight and exercise is another plan. Another podcast I have been listening too has got me on the path. So first I am not on a diet I am changing the way I think of food and changing my lifestyle. So here is a typical days food:
Breakfast – Oatmeal and a yogurt
Lunch – 2 slices of 100% whole wheat bread, mustard,1 oz of turkey, 1 slice American cheese, slice of tomato and a bit of lettuce. Either an apple, yogurt or 1 oz of nuts.
Supper – a regular meal with the regular portions not the super size thing. usually a piece of chicken, rice and some veg.
Lots of water and at mid morning and mid afternoon a little snack. Either a yogurt, apple, or 1 oz of nuts. Not I use the apple cuz it’s what I like but fruit is fruit.
Food is not enough, exercise is the other part of it. I need to walk everyday. I would like to get to running again and would like to be able to run a 5k by the fall. So how do we do that? A little surfing around the net and I found a plan. Start with walking 30 mins per day and one day do 40 mins, then 40 mins the next week and so on, the start to run a little at a time. More on this as I get closer to running. Anyone know of a 5k in Massachusetts in the Fall?
So that’s it. Monday will be weigh in day and I will post all of that here or on facebook or both. Maybe you will want to join me, just let me know.
How do we get out of our debt from the bills we owe? It is a good idea to list all of one's debts — from smallest to largest — and then to pay off the smallest debts first, while taking a little off the larger debts each week.
Another idea is for one to avoid purchasing items that one does not really need. This would include almost all the items we buy, with the exception of food. Speaking of food, one can save several dollars at the supermarket each week by purchasing store-brand and generic products, instead of the popular national brands, which tend to be much more expensive.
While I think Ramsey's "debt snowball" plan has a certain psychological benefit to it (i.e., seeing a debt paid off), the math says you should pick the highest interest debt to hammer at first rather than the smallest numerical debt. (This is assuming, of course, that one's goal is to save the most money possible and pay off total debt as quickly as possible.)
Fr. Andrew,
I would suggest you read his book if you have not done so already. It is for the psychology impact as research show if you have some impact right away you stick with it. Paying off the smallest debt first gets you going and before long, using the snowball, you get them all paid off. Read the book it is amazing.
George you are correct the best way is to avoid purchases we do not need but that is not reality. The reality is the country is in debt, the people I mean as well as the government, and as a priest people come to me all the time with this problem, too late to tell them not to buy stuff already done.
I used pretty much the same principal as dave ramsey talked about and it does work.we as a country carry way to much debt and were all afraid to face our debt and lack of saving.small steps make for success. don't give up.linda
Cut the cards up – Period!
We were fortunate to be able to pay off our credit cards and are now out of CC Debt. I would have loved to have saved that money though. We should be able to start saving now, change the way you live and think. It is hard though to get used to living without credit, but it is worth it!