Back in January, my dear wife and I were talking about our finances and the amount of debt we were in. She asked me what I thought about Dave Ramsey.

Um, who?

Dave is a personal finance guru with his own radio show that is syndicated across the country and his own show on the Fox Business Network. He’s also the author of a few books on personal finance that possess the potential to change your life like they changed ours.

In The Total Money Makeover, Dave thoroughly introduces the reader to his Baby Steps:

1. Baby Emergency Fund
2. Debt Snowball
3. Fully-Funded Emergency Fund
4. Invest 15% of income
5. Kids’ College
6. Pay off home
7. Build wealth and give!

At first, I was hesitant about Dave and what a book full of common sense ideas could do for us and our $125k worth of debt. I mean, seriously! I know that we need to stop incurring debt and put more money toward paying off debt in order to fill this hole we had dug.

Well, let me tell you, this book got through to us in ways that common sense and basic math knowledge just couldn’t. We have a plan and hope now.