Yep, I’m nerdy enough to read Dave Ramsey’s book Financial Peace for fun.  I’m that girl.  In my defense, I never really had a chance of escaping Dave’s influence, after all my mom forced me to listen to him every day, on our way home from school.  In my tweener years, I seriously despised getting picked up and listening to all of his financial wisdom.  Talk radio, especially the Dave Ramsey show, was totally boring and lame…sound like any twelve-year-olds in your life?

Now that I’ve had a taste of the real world, I must say that the very practical, common-sense Dave Ramsey plan is quite comforting to read.  Mr. Rancher and I are working very hard to build a successful ranch, and that is no small nor easy feat to accomplish.  We try very, very hard to live within a very small budget for personal expenses and channel as much money as possible into our business.  This means having patience, saying “no” to ourselves…a lot, and prioritizing our actual needs over our wants.  Reading an entire book devoted to singing praises  to this kind of lifestyle is oh so validating for me.  I can honestly say that I love reading Dave’s plan for building financial wealth.

I recommend all of the Dave Ramsey materials–books, classes, and radio show–to anyone and everyone.  We live in a spend-happy society and thrive off of the instant gratification that comes with swiping our credit cards anytime we want something.  And that is why debt and financial ruin are so common in our society.  Money management, saving, and sticking to a budget may seem like old-time concepts, even so, these really are the keys to making your finances work for you.  I could go on and on about how our money habits are a great reflection of our character and the importance of teaching kids how to handle money–obviously I would be speaking from the child’s perspective since Henley is way too little to be learning about finances–and yadda yadda yadda.  I’m not going to because I’m not an expert and the whole point of this post is to review a book which covers these subjects in detail.  Read the book.  It’s awesome and it’s encouraging, especially if you are living on a tight budget and need some affirmation.