Casting off the chains of bondage…
Celebrations April 30th, 2007
This weekend my family and I attended a party at the home of our friends David and Tia Graham. It was their celebration of becoming debt free. The Grahams, avid supporters of Dave Ramsey and his Total Money Makeover plan, moved to East Tennessee from Jacksonville, Florida without ever even stepping foot in the county. It’s an amazing story.
When we arrived at their house, they had a banner announcing, “Live Like No One Else So LATER, You Can Live Like No One Else”…..and signs with quotes taped on the walls with messages from authors, celebrities, leaders, etc. Beverly Sills’s, “There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going”; and Joe Montana’s, “It’s not about falling down…it’s about getting up.” were two.
After lunch, the Grahams had us move outside. We were instructed to pick one piece of paper which listed an “excuse†for not managing money well. Each piece of paper had a bulls eye on it. The excuses included “… but I love to shopâ€, “I get frequent flyer milesâ€, and, “but I don’t LIKE beans and rice!” Then, taking turns, we were given a sling shot and a small rock to try to hit the paper to conquer our excuse (I think my rock ended up in the next county!)
Then we were inviting to take part in a Plasectomy. The Grahams, and at least one other couple there, among them, The Monkey parade, had long ago cut up their credit cards refusing to give in to the “I need it now mentalityâ€. Like a fan at a rock concert, Tia cheered as others at the party cut up their American Express, Visa, Discover and other credit cards. I got so caught up in the moment I cut up my Delta Platinum Card travel card and nearly cut up my library card and driver’s license too!
It’s been proven that people spend more money with they pay for things with plastic. So in support the Grahams and to reduce some of the frivolous spending we do, we are going plastic free. I think we’ll be richer as a result.
Are you taking the challenge too? If so, leave a comment or link to your own blog post about it!
Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com
It was a wonderful party. Seeing those cards glistening in the sun makes me smile. I am so happy for you all. Using cash makes an amazing difference. The months that we buy groceries and gas with cash we spend 200-300 less than when we use our debit cards.
We do have one credit card account that we haven’t (as of yet) closed. My excuse? I am not comfortable giving my debit card number to the hole-in-the-wall long distance company we use. Our long distance bill only averages $1-2 a month (their rates are super cheap), and they don’t charge it to our card, they just have to have a number on file. (Fit that on a bullseye!)
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It was a great party, fabulous to connect with others who are striving for the good life, debt free. I have more photos on my blog of the event: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/smallworld. I look forward to the day when we can host our OWN debt-free party!
Someone tell me: is it wrong to use your credit cards to pay for stuff when you absolutely pay the bill off each and every month? I really hate a.) stopping by the ATM every time I leave the house and b.) not having a paper trail of where I spent all that cash.
Am I being suckered by the convenience factor?
I’m soooooo impressed with Sixredheads’ commitment, as well as the rest of the gang following Dave Ramsey.
Queen, Dave would recommend you change to a debit card. You get your convenience and paper trail but it’s “realer” money so you spend less (it’s proven people spend more using credit than they do with other methods). And to go more cash, you could set certain categories for cash-only, like eating out or clothing, go the bank one time and put the cash in the envelope, and have it for a set period of time (this is all I can spend on this category for the month). That is also another paper trail. Here we use a cash system when we are resetting our budget or need to be very tight but I use a debit card otherwise because it’s easier with the kids in tow. It’s that whole “it’s only temporary” aspect of these disciplines. You aren’t doing it just because you like to do things the harder/longer way…you’re doing them with a goal to meet, an end in sight. Just about anything is doable in the short run.
[…] months ago, my family and I were attending a “debt free†party at the home of our friends David and Tia Graham. We were sitting around in the afternoon enjoying a […]
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