Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Car Shopping with "Financial Peace"


My "sweet daughter," Maranda has been car shopping for several weeks. She is so funny. She knew the car she wanted and she wouldn't budge. She said if she was going to spend that much money that she was going to get what she loved. She wanted a Maxima. She has saved her money and did not go into debt to buy this car. She knew how much she wanted to spend and shopped until she found the perfect car. She knew not to spend all of her money because one day it will rain! (Get it...rainy day fund)! She knew the car would drive so different if it was paid for. She did not want a car that would be a curse-she wanted it to be a blessing. We tried to teach our children that debt is a burden. Some of our children listened & learned. Debt will drag you down. We ought to know because we have been there and done that and will never go back again. We taught them that the Bible says the borrower is slave to the lender. We didn't learn this on our own. One day about 11 years ago my "sweet honey" decided to buy me a Mercedes. We had owned several before and loved them all. We always had car payments and didn't know any different. Anyway, we purchased this car out of town and I got to drive this gorgeous car home. As I was driving home I left the radio on the station that it was on when I got in the car. It was classical music. I didn't even like classical music, but I was feeling pretty ritzy (is that a word?) driving my little car. When I was about 30 minutes away from home the radio changed stations and I heard some man saying things like:
Car payments are the downfall of America!
Cut up your credit cards!
Get out of debt!
Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else!
Debt Snowball!
Save Money!
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!
Get an emergency plan in place!
Save for your retirement!
Beans & Rice, & Rice & Beans!
Pay cash or don't buy it!
People will think you are weird
Don't be normal- normal is in debt!
Change your family tree!
Baby Steps!
and on and on and on.
Anyway, to make a long story short......It was
Dave Ramsey with Financial Peace! He is a Christian Financial Counsler. His ministry changed our life! We always thought that you had to have house payments, car payments, credit cards, etc. We never dreamed that you could have "paid for" cars or for sure never a "paid for' house! We used to charge our childrens Christmas on credit cards and make payments. When we started listening to Dave, we started learning and applying his baby steps to our lives. WE DID IT! We will never go back! And at this time in our economy, we sure are proud. You can do it too! If you get Fox Business Channel Dave is on t.v. now too. We both still listen to him everyday. Anyway, back to Maranda..... She shopped and looked and prayed and finally found the perfect car. She got everything she wanted. It is so nice and I am so proud of her for working hard and saving her money. The Lord has really blessed her! She, too has also been in debt before and she said she will never go back again either! Isn't her car beautiful? I snapped that picture when her and her boyfriend, Lane were out looking at the car. This is how we change our family tree! Telling people about Dave's plan and how to budget is a passion of mine. I love it. I have learned a lot through his program. If you don't know of his ministry you can go to his website and go to the archives and listen to his radio programs. I truly believe that when we bought that mercedes 11 years ago, that the Lord let me hear that radio program. I remember going in and telling my husband about it and he said there was no way!! But then he started listening to it also, we got on a budget together, we quit using credit cards, saved our money and paid cash for our cars and then worked hard and paid our house off. Baby Steps are the key. If there is ever a time that people need to be out of debt, it is now. This plan will change your life. IT DID OURS!
P.S. A special Happy Birthday to my BIL, Mike!
Proverbs 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

11 comments:

Brooke said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Alice Grace said...

Congratulations to Maranda! I am proud for her, her car is beautiful! I totally agree with you on the Dave Ramsey way! It has changed my life, too! Thank you for introducing that to me.

Anonymous said...

Like you, I am a fan of Dave Ramsey. And I encourage all to follow his advice. It works.

Anonymous said...

This is a great post. I'm so happy for Maranda and she chose a beautiful car. Good for her! Members of my family are followers of Dave Ramsey, and until they told me about him, I didn't know who he was. My son talked about "rice & beans" so I heard of that. They are well on their way to a successful end.

quiltingnana said...

sounds like your daughter has a lot of common sense...good for her

Krista said...

That car is beautiful! I'm proud that she got what she wanted and with no payments! Right now that just doesn't seem possible to me, but I know one day it will. You & Randy should do Financial Peace University at the Dalton Church. That would be an awesome ministry, and it isn't a huge investment for the church. I know several people that it would help.

QuiltedSimple said...

Congrats to your daughter! How wonderful she must be feeling!
Kris

Janene said...

What a great car and a very smart girl!
The parents have raised her well!

Needled Mom said...

Everyone should be so financially responsible. Perhaps we wouldn't be where we are now if others did the same thing.

Nice car too!!!!

Latane Barton said...

I need to listen to Dave Ramsey, not that we are in much debt but any is too much. I know Maranda will enjoy her car that much more for it being already paid for.

caknitter said...

Thank you so much for this message. It definitely hit home with me.
Maranda's new car is beautiful. Congratulations to her!