How to adapt Dave Ramsey?

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2019, 9:34 am

We have a bunch of debt and want to attack it. I've been listening to Dave Ramsey but feel like it may not work with all the expenses of Jewish life. Tuition is a huge expense. So are tznius clothes for teens, kosher cheese and meat, sleepaway camp (I know camp is a luxury but it's done so much for my kids since we live oot and I think it's really important for my kids to have friends and connections in other communities since we're bt and don't have frum family). My oldest daughter is 1.5 years away from seminary, and we have no idea how to pay for it, then we have to think about how we'd pay for a chasuna. My oldest son is going to be going to mesivta in 1.5 years, again we have no idea how to pay for it. Some of my kids need tutors and that's a fortune too.

We have lots of student loans and credit card debt. We're both working but we need to cut down our expenses significantly. But I feel like a big part of the Dave Ramsey approach is that your kids are basically on their own financially after they finish high school, but the Jewish approach is so different, and we have so many expenses to budget for post-high school for our kids.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

jkw

Tue, Oct 29 2019, 10:16 am

Start using the snowball effect on your cc's. The feeling you get after paying one off and working on the next one is great. It really works! Then freeze your unused ccs's to be used in an emergency only. Really.

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2019, 12:43 pm

Quote:

dave Ramsey has you save for a college fund, which is also a post high school expense. Your sending to seminary/mesivta instead of college. Maybe weddings could be babystep 5b.

But to get to Step 5 (saving for college), we first have to do steps 1-4, which include paying off all debt except for our house, and saving 3-6 months of income! How are we supposed to get there AND save significantly for mesivta/seminary, in 1.5 years??

Quote:

Yes I'm excited to start on Step 2 (we're not there yet). But I feel like we're already working hard to bring in income, and we have so many expenses because we're Jewish. It's going to take a long while. I can't wait for the feeling of paying off the first cc though!