Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball

We've been following Dave Ramsey's plan to pay off our debts for over a year now.  The "big" test of his theories came this month - the month that I had set aside to be our "No Spenduary" month.  The goal was to pay off a big bill that's been hovering over our heads for a while now.  We're so close to the end, it's not even funny.  But, this has been a month of unexpected expenses for us that has hit us hard. 

As part of Dave Ramsey's method of paying off debt, he advises readers to have an emergency fund, and that this fund should be used only in the case of emergencies.  Credit Cards are to be used as a last resort.  Once you have that safety net built up, you then concentrate your energies into paying off your bills.  You pay the lowest balance first, while making minimum payments on the others, and then once the first is paid off, you put ALL of the money that was going into the first debt into the second debt.

We had paid off one credit card, and were plugging away on the second debt when we got bamboozzled by an unexpected car repair and unexpected dental work.  Actually, this has all happened since our last paycheck.

Two years ago, we would have charged everything to a credit card and not looked back.  But, we've come so far, I really didn't want to put a charge on the credit card.  REALLY don't want to.

Thanks to the savings accounts, we were able to pay mostly cash for everything.  We ended up charging $270.  Yes, we had to charge, but it was ONLY $270, which we will be able to pay off next month without a problem.

We don't have a lot left in any account at the moment.  We've got enough cash left to put gas into the cars to get back and forth to work this week.  We're going to go sparingly on the use of the grocery money this week.  It's time for some creative cooking!  Fortunately, both husband and I are very good at cooking from scratch, and we have a decent collection of raw ingredients on hand at any given time.  No doubt about it, we're going to be eating an eclectic set of meals this week as we work our way through the freezer and pantry.  But hey!  That's what the freezer and pantry are for!

It looks as if March is also going to be a spend as little as possible month while we work to build our emergency savings back up again. 

In the meantime, I'm crossing my fingers that nothing else breaks this month! (Less than a week left!)

Dave Ramsey, thank you for your most excellent advice.  Being able to get through a major financial challenge without hitting up the credit cards was a very warm and cozy feeling.