I spent this weekend helping my sister to move out of one house into another home.  My whole body is tired and aching after having to carry several boxes and heavy items.    However, I will feel better after much needed sleep and relaxation.  While we were packing up her items, she handed me back “The Total Money Makeover” book that I lent her about two years ago.  I had almost forgot that she had my copy.  I gave it to her as she had just graduated from college and I knew that she would be leaving with much debt from student loans and other personal debt that she had.

At this point, I have no idea if she even read the book or applied any of the principles in it.  I really hoped that she did use it as the book it life changing.  I wish someone would have given me this book right out of college, then I may would have not feel into some of the traps that presented themselves along the way.

If you are not familiar with the “Total Money Makeover”, this is a book written by Dave Ramsey that goes through his step by step plan to create financial peace.  These steps are called his baby steps.  There are seven of these that begin with creating a $1000 emergency fund and then using every cent after that to apply to your debt, paying the smallest bill first until you work your way to only having your mortgage.  After this point, there are other steps along the way until you get to the point where you are building future wealth.  See below:

Since I just got this book back from my sister, I have decided to read it again just for a nice refresher.  Every now and then we need to keep motivated along the way as things can get us to point where we are sidetracked.  You may wonder which Baby Step I am on, well I can tell you that it is Baby Step #6.  It has been a very long journey and this baby step seems to be the longest ever.  However, I know that this step is so important to getting where my family and I need to be.  It just takes much motivation and hard work!

This week I was browsing the Internet when I came across a house that is not far from my houe (within 1 miles distance) that was up for sale. What struck me about the house was that it’s listed sales price was about 30% the amount that the house sold for back in 2006. I contacted the realtor selling the home because I wanted to know what was going on with it.

Well, I learned that the home was a short sale that has not necessarily been approved, but this is the price that is listed to expedite the process. I additionally learned that there was already an offer on the table for a little more than the asking price. However, the offer was a CASH offer.

I am saying all of this to say that having cash on hand when you need it is such an empowering thing. In this case, the person who made the cash offer will likely have the ability to obtain a piece of property that has the potential of reaching its original value in the matter of years. Why? Because he has the cash to do so. When you have cash, there are opportunities and doors that can open for you that other people will not be able to take advantage.

In this case, I was personally not interested in tying my money into this home for the time being. However, it opened my eyes to even more potential opportunities for the future. You may be reading this and thinking to yourself “I know how important it is to have money saved, but how can I do that given all of the bills I have. I am completely drowning in debt.” You are not alone. However, one of the most important things to do is to change your mindset and realize that this is just a temporary setback and that there is more in store for you. You deserve to be completely debt free. You deserve to have the ability to pay for that house, that car, or that whatever and not have to get in debt to do it.

You can get over any obstacle that comes your way. However, first you must change your thinking which will help you begin to take action to do the things that will help get you to this level like reducing your necessities and applying any extra money that you have left over to your debt. It does not take a magic wand to gain financial independence. However, it takes a willingness and determination to know that you deserve financial freedom and with hard work you can obtain it regardless of what the news says or what the latest economist thinks. Yes, you can begin your journey to stop drowning in debt!