We have been using rags instead of paper towel, and cloth napkins nearly forever. I used cloth diapers (not the flat-fold ones) until I discovered that our new, super efficient washer just wouldn’t get them clean. Fortunately, that was with our last child!

I wouldn’t do handkerchiefs, unless you are one who hands on to a tissue until it’s well used (like I am!). I don’t think carrying a used handkerchief around is sanitary. Of course neither is carrying a used tissue.

Jon
WanderingWwoof.com

I’ve looked into Dave Ramsey’s plan, but disagree with some of it.

First off, he wants people to pay their smallest debts of first, even though they might lose a lot of money on interest doing that if their larger debts have higher interest. I understand the psychology of it — since you feel like you’re making more progress — but I’d still recommend that everyone try to tackle higher interest debts first. If they can’t stay motivated enough, then they can try paying off a smaller debt here and there.

Also, while I’m glad he does recommend starting with an emergency fund, even the first one should be larger than $1000, imho. A bare minimum emergency fund should be enough to fund: repairing major problems with your car like replacing the engine (or buying a cheap used one if need be), paying the deductible on insurances (health, home, car, etc.), and/or paying your largest bill (even just in case you get double billed for your mortgage one month like happened to us!).

Also, the larger emergency fund should be larger for most people. A 3-6 month emergency fund is nothing these days when it’s taking many people much longer to find a job. Even 6-8 isn’t always cutting it — and remember, your expenses may be higher if you lose your job because you’ll have Cobra and perhaps other expenses your job covered. One rule of thumb I’ve heard is to take the unemployment rate in your area and convert it to months. 12% unemployment = 12 month emergency fund. Of course, it’ll also depend on the availability of your job in the area, your flexibility in taking other jobs, the minimum salary you could settle for, etc.

Also, I would not wait to pay off all debt before building the larger emergency fund if you’re more than a few months away from off all your debt. What if you lose your job? You miss a payment on one thing and all your interest rates will go through the roof! Plus, you cannot depend on credit cards in an emergency because they’ve been cutting limits and closing accounts — even if your credit scores are fabulous and you’ve never missed a payment on anything, ever! Trust me, I know! And you can’t depend on unemployment, either. Not only is it a pitiful amount, but more companies are fighting it by saying people were fired instead of laid off. And even without companies causing trouble, the unemployment offices are backed up! It took a friend of mine months to see her first check!

On the other hand, I don’t want to see anyone paying tons of interest. So, try to get those interest rates down any way you can, pay off the highest interest rate cards first, but also keep throwing some money into the EF. And the lower your interest rates get, the more you throw in the EF.

And finally, in some cases it might make more sense to pay off your home before saving for your kids’ college (if you even have or plan on kids!). If you have time to save later, if your interest rate isn’t super low, if you can pay your home off years before you have college age kids, go ahead and pay off the home. You’ll be able to save easier when you don’t have a mortgage, imho. And I wouldn’t ever put money into anything that is strictly for college and can’t be taken back out without huge penalties because you never know if kids will even go to college.
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