“Blank the Joneses” she says.
Rachel Cruze got on the stage. And all I could think of was “How does she look soooo good after having a baby 6 months ago?!” My shock and amazement vanished as I listened to the funny, informative, and motivational message she shared about money. Has she ever been in debt? Nope! But she easily could be. Just like any of us can. And for that reason, I listened. I listened even more closely when she talked about “Blanking the Joneses”. Ha! What a character she was! Her call to “blank” the Joneses was soon directed into teaching us that we need to fill in that blank with “forget” the Joneses! We can all compare less, right??!!
Problem: We have problems with debt and we have problems with money. 70% of homes are living paycheck to paycheck. The problem is obvious. But what does Rachel say the fix is?
Read below!
Who is she? “Rachel Cruze is a seasoned communicator and presenter who has been speaking to groups as large as 10,000 for more than a decade. The daughter of Dave Ramsey, she uses the knowledge and experiences from growing up in the Ramsey household to educate America’s students and young adults on the proper ways to handle money and stay out of debt. Her book Smart Money Smart Kids, co-authored with her dad, released in April 2014 and debuted at #1 on the New York Times best-sellers list.”
What did I learn? I learned 7 Money Habits to love your life and not theirs! But habit #7 was my favorite.
Talk about money (even when it’s hard).
Why did this message stick? This message stuck because I find that people aren’t talking about money! To be honest, I don’t really know who is in debt and who’s not. All I know is that their cars are nice, they look good, and they have homes. I don’t know if they leased it, rented it, borrowed it, stole it, or paid cash. And to be honest, I want to know! Ha! Not because I’m nosey but because I want to connect with them in getting out of debt!
Why does this message mean something to me? This means something to me because for over seven years, Robert and I were married but didn’t talk about our finances in specficis to other people. It wasn’t until recently that I have shared that we were $184,400 in debt three years ago. We have paid off $139,000 and for that, I want the message out! We aren’t done but we are on our way… charging in the right direction!
The day I researched and found that our largest student loan {over $80,000} had a payment of $400 but we were only making $10 payments to our principal, I was LIVID!
$400 payment = $390 wasted to interest! + $10 to principal.
We were doomed to be in debt for years! And we were wasting money that could’ve been spent blessing missionaries, hungry children, the Church, the homeless, the sick, and much much more!
I am passionate about this message and I am glad that Rachel Cruze is too. Go Rachel Cruze! One day, I would love to speak with her and get this issue resolved! 😉 {Let that seed be planted and God do what He needs to do.}
Resources
Visit Rachel at her site here.
Grab a copy of her book here!
Living Intentionally Focused Everyday!
Jamye
Jamye Sack 
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