Time-Out Tuesday
Each Tuesday we will take time out of the classroom to learn about each other.
So last week I talked about how I used Dave Ramsey’s plan to become debt free. I have so many people ask me “ok, that’s great that you used his plan….. but what did you do to pay it off?”
There were several major changes we made. The first one was to sell any and every thing we didn’t need. If you listen to anything Dave you will eventually hear him say to sell things until the kids think they’re next. While I don’t have any kids I did have my husband ask if I was going to sell him. I responded that I wouldn’t sell him, but I wasn’t opposed to renting him out for short periods of time.
Another thing we did was to work as many extra hours as possible. The hubby was in a position at work where he couldn’t work extra hours there very often, but he volunteered whenever he could. He also supported me (by cleaning the house, etc.) as I worked my bum off. I babysat nearly every weekend, sometimes multiple times within the weekend. I also tutored a few children. I looked for more part time jobs. This is where I landed the gig at a local community college and built partnerships to teach for a local nonprofit. Each weekend when I wasn’t babysitting I was teaching teachers.
The other major change was our shopping habits. While I’ve never been a spender (like ever. My money. I wanna keep it!), we were able to tighten our belts a little more. I limited my hubby’s work lunch dates (and if you do this enough people take pity and will start buying your poor emaciated husband food. Too bad they don’t realize he eats a full meal every other hour).
To curb the shopping budget even further I began couponing with a vengeance. Occasionally couponing gets a bad rap. We don’t eat junk all the time (I’ve lost 80 pounds since we married and I intend to keep it off, thank you). I don’t clear shelves. We aren’t like the people on that show. You know the one.
After you get into a rhythm and build a stockpile you can save tons of cash. My normal shopping trip shows a savings of 70%. While it won’t start that way for most people it is possible to save that much EVERY time. You can do it!
Here are a few of my favorite resources to get you started:
Ruth has a ton of videos on couponing for normal people found here. She also has two websites now. The first one, http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/ focuses more on lifestyle, and the other one http://www.savingwellspendingless.com/ contains coupon match ups.
For those of you who have a Harris Teeter nearby or want to learn to coupon at drugstores, Jenny is awesome her site, Southern Savers, even has the coupon policies for each store so you can easily find them.
Over at Living Rich with Coupons you can find tons of freebies. Cindy and her team have even started doing videos recently.
There are so many other tips but clearly that would be a site unto itself. Feel free to leave any questions you have and I’ll direct you the best I can!
