Podcast - Dave Ramsey

Since I got my iPod, I have thoroughly enjoyed not only being able to listen to music at work and at home, but also the podcasts that I have discovered and subscribed to. Now I get to listen to other stuff that is automatically updated to my iPod when something new has been uploaded and I don't have to do any work for it.

I listen to Dave Ramsey's 1 hour podcast almost every day at work. I was turned on to Ramsey by Lisa's uncle, who spent years working for Edward Jones and recommended DR when I was talking with him about finances. I read one of Rasmey's books and have had several friends complete his Financial Peace University course through our church.

While Ramsey can come across sometimes as being fanatical about his approach to finances, his theory behind it all is solid and I believe worth listening to. He talks frequently about his "Baby Steps" to financial freedom and I have listed them below for future reference. The idea is to step at the top of the list and work your way through it to the end, where you will be completely debt free.

If you haven't read any of Ramsey's articles or books, I would encourage you to do so. If you have an iPod, you might want to consider subscribing to his podcast. It's common sense talk about finances and it is real world examples given by callers that help you learn from other people's mistakes and how they recovered from them.

Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps
1.) $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
2.) Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3.) 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
4.) Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5.) College funding for children
6.) Pay off home early
7.) Build wealth and give!
8.) Invest in mutual funds and real estate

Weplacement Windows

Lisa and I have spent several hours over the past few weeks looking at and trying to get an estimate for a new window for our living room window. The current window was at one time a very nice, high-quality window arrnagement, with two casement windows flanking a large picture window. However, over time the blinds that are between the panes of glass in each window have ceased to function properly in one casement and in the picture window. The casement window with functional blinds had its mechanics break last summer, so we can't open and close the window relaibly or with any ease - so we don't open it. The other casement window operate just fine, but its scrolling up screen was ruined and cannot be replaced - so we can't open it or the cats will get out and the bugs will get in.

Basically, we now have three large pieces of glass that at one time had a functional purpose but now simply act as a transparent wall with a lot of broken attachments. It's not the prettiest thing and it is frustrating to not be able to use it for what it was designed and created for. So we have decided to replace it with a newer, more energy-efficient fully funcioning window. We aren't sure yet if we will have two casement windows again or two double hung windows. In the next few weeks we have two different window companies coming to take measurements and give us a more detailed estimate. We are hoping to have the installation completed before most of the plants in the flower bed that surrounds the window begin to grow this year. We shall see