The Daves

As what has proven to be my monastic poverty summer inspires me to use the library for diversion, I have discovered first on the web and then through their books, the two Daves who, if followed, could improve my life substantially. They are Dave Ramsey, author of Financial Peace and other titles, and David Allen, of Getting Things Done.  I heard about Allen from heathervescent whose youtube post demonstrating how to create a GTD (getting things done) notebook put me on to the existence of Allen's system. I then checked out his audio book (the only format available at the time) from the library, and put a hold on the paper copy. At around the same time (2 weeks ago, possibly), I watched another video by the compelling antishay who mentioned the snowballing method of eliminating credit card--and other forms of--debt popularized by Dave Ramsey. Although Financial Peace was checked out of my local library,  I was able to order from the main branch another of his titles, The Total Money Makeover which, supplemented by reading his website, explains the plan that he has created for getting out of debt and building financial security.

So, I created the GTD notebook, and am implementing Ramsey's plan. GTD helps me as its name suggests get things done and be more productive, reducing stress and clutter, which I have also tried to tame with the help of Peter Walsh's book It's All Too Much, which I also checked out from the library. I have made many trips to the Haven Thrift store here in Delray Beach, with donations of books, clothes and other items that I had purged to make room for clarifying space.  I have plowed through boxes of files and papers, and filled at least two trash bags with irrelevant stuff that I was saving for what purpose I don't know. I also took three identical bookshelves that I had bought at the Haven last summer, cannabalized shelves from the most damaged one, inserted those shelves into the other two so that they could hold more books, and asked my friend to make the third shelf into a a low-standing shelf where my son could drop his book bag and other stuff on returning from school each day. It looks great and now stands where the banged up shelf once stood, crammed with all sorts of children's books he'd outgrown and other junk.  On the wall above the shelf hangs his long board on two hooks, and this weekend's project is the construction and installation of a pegboard from which I hope to hang from hooks a lot of other items that now clutter my kid's room.  

The rest of the house is looking better too, but there is more work to go.  The GTD book helps to capture all of the plans, projects and tasks that need doing, both short and long term, as a cornerstone of Allen's thesis is that the human mind is not ideal for remembering things that need to be done and reminding us to do them at the right time. He is right at least for me that I remember that I need to do something not at the ideal time for doing it, such as at 3 in the morning when I can't sleep. By checking the GTD notebook frequently, and writing in every little thing that I need to do, I get more things done with less worry, and forgetfulness.

As to the other Dave, I am creating a zero-dollar budget, and am not spending any money that I don't need to spend. I'm accepting dinner invitations from friends, two this week alone, and am eating what food I have in the house even though it's not what I would choose to eat necessarily. I've reorganized the pantry so that I can see what I have, and now need to do a fridge cleanout and do the same. I'm not buying any clothes (which I rarely buy anyway), or books (using the library), renting movies (library again), and have collected all binders, folders, loose-leaf paper, pens and other school supplies from which my son can shop when he returns so that we don't have to buy supplies this year.  He can take the bare necessities until he gets syallabi and then we will shop the supply box before the store.  Of course the sad thing is that tax-free weekend falls before he will get his actual supply lists from the teachers. Oh well.

Although I was already making good progress on getting out of debt before I heard of Dave Ramsey (I have already paid off two credit cards this year), I really believe that I will make even more progress now with his zero-dollar budget and envelope plans.  I feel very hopeful right now, and encouraged about my progress in this area.  When my raise at work goes into effect next month, I will take that increase and use it to retire debt rather than increase my living standard, as I've done in the past.

I feel very hopeful now, thanks to the Daves.