Dave Ramsey is a nationally syndicated radio host, New York Times best-selling author, and financial guru. Part of what has made him so famous is his “7 Baby Steps.” These are actions he suggests to take to experience financial peace. Millions of people have followed these baby steps to get out of debt and change their overall financial picture.
The first baby step is Save $1,000 to start an emergency fund.
There are two reasons why this is the first baby step:
- It’s fairly easy to accomplish and can provide encouraging momentum to keep on going!
- Having $1000 saved prevents you from using credit cards for “emergencies.”
Dave suggests attacking this first baby step with exuberance and speed. Do anything and everything you can to complete this step as soon as possible. In our society, there is no shortage of items you have that you can sell or small tasks to complete for others. What’s more—the technology available makes selling items and completing tasks-for-hire easy.
Here are some ways you can complete step one:
- Garage Sale
- Sell unused furniture on Craigslist or Offer Up
- Drive for Uber or Lyft for a few weekends
- Complete odd jobs for people on Takle
If you haven’t completed Baby Step 1 yet, we strongly suggest you do so. This will provide you a “win” that will help encourage you to move on to the next Baby Step. Additionally, the next time you have an inconvenient emergency, you can pay cash for it instead of going into debt.
These Baby Steps are great, but your financial situation may require more than following Dave Ramsey’s seven suggestions. If you’re interested in one-on-one financial coaching to help you experience financial peace, we can help! Schedule an appointment with our Dave Ramsey Certified Financial Coach, Ryan Delviken below.
