I Heart Dave Ramsey

When I’m in the car with the radio on around lunch time, I make a concerted effort to listen as Dave Ramsey (102.5 in Nashville) dishes out advice on how to live with money. It started years ago for me, because, well, first of all, I’m financially conservative (In college, I called it being cheap. In my 20s, I called it being frugal. Now I’m acting like an adult by calling it financially conservative). For the longest time, I felt guilty when it came to spending money. I didn’t like to do it. It wasn’t because I didn’t have it. It wasn’t because I had gigantic student loans, I guess I was sort of a hoarder. But wanting to save money felt wrong. So when I first heard Dave advising on being wise with money, not spending more than you have, and “living like no one else so that one day you can live like no one else,” it was so completely refreshing. It’s as if I finally had someone in my corner saying it’s OK to be thrifty. A weight was lifted off my shoulders and now I’m actually more proud of my conservative behavior. And surprisingly, I spend more, too. It’s awesome (and sometimes odd) what the feeling of freedom will do for a person.

Today, though, he said something that struck my pride; Always value relationships more than money. That’s something I can do better because many times I sacrifice an experience with a friend for the sake of saving money. That’s not a good way to be. I don’t like that about myself, so I’ll be working on it. But anyway, it’s nice to hear a wise financial guy like Dave Ramsey recommending ways of living within your means and knowing that I’m already there, and then some.