A Little Dave on Debt Quote Tuesday

Day 165 of $12 a day. We've paid off $2170 of credit card debt this year.

Act your wage!
-Dave Ramsey

I love this one. When I was a kid I remember seeing someone with a crazy nice car. I exclaimed to my mother, "WOW, he must be really rich!!!" Her response has stuck with me all my life. My mom replied, "he's probably quite poor." For a moment I figured she was confused. Then I was confused. Of course I corrected her foolishness. "Mom, that's such a nice car... that guy's got to be rich." I imagine I was 5 or 6. (I grew up with a next door neighbor named Rich. I was certain that since people called him "Rich" then he must have been loaded. My brothers and I always tried to discover his hidden treasures. I was always sort of fascinated by riches when I was a kid.) My mother explained to me that most people with really nice cars and really nice houses don't actually own them; they didn't actually pay for them but in fact they owe a bunch of money they don't have; they're in debt and most likely all of their paychecks go to that car (or house). I never knew such a thing was possible before this conversation. I was amazed at her profound insight and the fact that my mom could see through that guy and his nice car. It was awesome that he wasn't fooling her (like he'd fooled me.) She knew that he was actually poor. Way to go mom!

Funny how this childhood revelation eluded me as I grew up (and walk the talk certainly didn't happen for my mom either.) We're quite good at driving the nice car we don't actually own though aren't we? I really like Dave Ramsey's "Act your wage." Such simple wisdom. Such relevant advice. Spend what you make.

I spent $10.71 today ($2.80 was from a video we rented last night... what a waste of money. Actually the movie was quite good though). I've $25.81 left for the next three days in order to meet my $68.09 goal for the week. So far so good.