About ffe

Let me tell you a little bit about myself and our story.

I have been married to my husband Rick for 38 years. As our kids were growing up, we were fortunate to always be able to provide for our family. However, we were living paycheck to paycheck with no back up plan if something happened to our income. We were never taught in school, or by our parents, how to manage money.

In 2002 I heard about the financial guru, Dave Ramsey, and started reading his books and listening to his radio show. I signed up for his Financial Peace University course and

I couldn’t believe how much I didn’t know!

We paid our bills on time and managed to keep our credit card debt at a minimum, but we were throwing money away by not having a plan and spending frivolously. We had enough to pay the monthly bills and SPENT THE REST WITHOUT GIVING IT ANY THOUGHT.

We were raising 3 kids with a combined annual income of $65,000. When I looked at our monthly income versus our monthly living expenses, I thought my calculation was off; I was shocked at how much we were blowing!

I was on a mission to take control of our finances

I created a spreadsheet to track our money. I picked up a second job (a paper route at age 40!) to pay off debt and my husband took a second job as well. We quickly started paying off debt. This worked for a while, but my husband wasn’t completely on board yet; our goals were not aligned. Even though he was working a second job to help pay off debt he was spending it as quickly as we were paying it off. In his mind, paying off a debt freed up our money to buy something else.

In 2009 my son’s work paid for its employees and family members to take Dave’s Financial Peace University course. My husband had a better understanding of our finances but was hesitant to take the course because he felt like a budget would be restrictive and not allow him to have fun or spend any money. I talked him into taking it and this time around we were both working towards the same goal and managing our money together.

We paid off $45,000 of debt (two vehicles and a home equity line of credit) and fully funded two weddings in eighteen months.

Working together and having a written plan for our money has been a true lifestyle change that has given us a sense of peace and freedom like no other.