We spent all day driving up to Kansas City and back and attending the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover Live Event. It was our third time to attend and we always learn something new each time. We took Jesse’s brother with us which made it even more exciting since it was his first time to attend this event.
Jon Acuff was there (of Stuff Christians Like fame) and we enjoyed chatting with him for a few minutes about blogging and how he juggles everything he does. If you’ve not read his blog, you’ll definitely want to check it out. He’s an amazingly gifted and funny writer. I’m halfway through his book Gazelles, Baby Steps and 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me Debt. It’s hilarious and so poignantly true.
As far as my shopping trips this week, here’s what all we ended up buying:
Dillon’s Shopping Trip #1: spent $13.98 — see the full details and coupon match-ups here
Health Food Store Shopping Trip: spent $5.32 — see the full details here
Target Shopping Trip: spent $0 (used a gift card) — see the full details and coupon match-ups here
Dillon’s Shopping Trip #2: spent $8.05 — see the full details and coupon match-ups here
Aldi Shopping Trip: spend $30.34 — see the full details here.
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
I was blessed to be able to take my fiance to see Dave Ramsey in KC last weekend as well. It was the first time he had really heard what this whole total money makeover thing is all about lol. He was incredibly inspired by it and I am soooo thankful that we get to start working on our “makeover” together now.
It was a pleasure to meet you (albeit quickly) before your interview with Rachel! Thanks for doing what you do, Crystal.
I was also able to meet Jon Acuff and Rachel Cruze the night before. We were blessed by the entire experience!
It was great to meet you, too, Kelsey!
We were there at the event. I was excited to see you and hear your interview. We had never been to a live event, but went through the Financial Peace University program at our church before we had our first child. It has allowed us to have a stay at home mom of two kids and to pay off our house. We are big believers in Dave Ramsey. We took two friends that were not familiar with Dave Ramsey. One really enjoyed it and the other did not really like it. Shannon
We are big Dave Ramsey fans too! I would love to go to one of his live events someday! My husband and I finished paying off just over $50,000 of debt last week (mostly student loans). It took us 11 months, last April when we started the babysteps we never dreamed that it would go as quickly as it did- God has blessed our decision to become debt free in a big way! Thanks Crystal for your posts. I acually found your blog from Dave Ramsey’s website several months ago and have found it very encouraging throughout our “total money makeover”
Way to go! That’s amazing!
We drove up from Springfield, MO and I was also one of the ones going – ‘oh my goodness, that’s Money Saving Mom, WOW!’ I watched after they interviewed you to see where you were headed hoping to at least say hello, but too hard to do with that many people there. – This was our first Live event and it was great. – Heading back home I kept thinking I would find a Dillons and stop off and grab a couple coupon deals, (I even brought my coupons along, lol) but never did see one and wasn’t sure if it was Kroger or Dillons in the KC area. Guess I should have asked someone. We actually live about an hour from Springfield so I thought it would help save gas as well if I could have just included it in the trip, guess you can tell I’m definitely on the Dave Ramsey plan! So happy to have seen you, even if I didn’t get to meet you.
Oh man, I would have loved to get to meet you!
KC doesn’t have any Dillon’s in the metro area, though there are some in the Leavenworth area, as far as I know. The Dillon’s in the KC metro area were bought out a few years ago.
I am taking the FPU class! I am starting week 4 and it is so worth the investment!!! I have completed Baby Step 1 (1K in the bank) and I have NEVER in my life had that much in savings. No wonder over 73% of people live paycheck to paycheck! I am ready with my Gazelle intensity to attack the debt snowball. Thanks for sharing. I’ve never heard of John and I’m definitely going to get the new book and read his blog. You should get him to send you a signed copy to give away on the blog…. I’m just sayin……
Great post, and I agree. Dave Ramsey is an awesome guy to learn from. I have never been to one of his live events, but I can only imagine the energy. He teaches some good financial basics, and for that, I always recommend him to people just starting out in trying to learn about their finances. Keep up the good posts!
I was hoping someone could help me with a question. When you say you used 2 coupons are you using two of the exact same coupon? Will your stores double manufacter’s coupons? Or do you have one manufacturer coupon and one store coupon? Thanks!
Aww! So jealous you got to see Dave Ramsey! We are working on getting out of debt and thanks to your blog we are doing that! I used to live in Overland Park and Olathe. : )
That is so cool, I’m rather envious! I wold love to go to one of his LIVE events, but it wasn’t in our budget this time not to mention, not a good day for us to be out of town!
Thanks for allowing to share. Glad you had a great time. I really like Mary Hunt of Debt Proof Living. Wonderful and humble Christian lady who talks about many of the same things Dave Ramsey does.
We love Dave Ramsey here too and have been gazelle intense about selling things to pay off medical debt!!!
Love your idea of linking all your savings post throughout the week into one SuperSavings Saturday post! I usually make a few runs during the week and I like the idea of having one review post at the end of the week to link back to all those savings trips.
Crystal,
Just wanted to say again how good it was to meet you yesterday at the live event! My husband and I did the Backstage Experience with Dave and got to get an autograph and meet him. But, I told my husband later I was actually more thrilled to have met you! 🙂 Thank you for all your inspiration and practical advice of how to put Dave’s teaching into practice!
Jamie
It was so great to meet you, too, Jamie! Thank you for coming over and introducing yourself!
And your story of adoption was such a blessing to me. I’ll pray for you as you near the last few weeks of your pregnancy!
We LOVE Jon Acuff and stuff Christians like. We also have his book and have read it. It’s great.
I was the crazy girl on the second row who screamed when Rachel introduced you. My husband joked I was more excited to see you than Dave Ramsey, which I probably was! Awesome seeing two of my favorite money-savvy celebrities in one day 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the event, it was definitely inspiring!
That is so hilarious! 🙂 I wish I could have had the privilege of meeting you!
It sounds like your Dave Ramsey event was inspiring! I’ve been inspired by all the hard work and love that all these moms do to save money for the more important things in life. Thanks for the linky. 🙂
My dad is a huge Dave Ramsey Fan! He helps out with a class in our area several times per year. It’s great that you’ve been able to go to 3 live events! You got some great deals this week, too. I especially enjoy seeing your “health food store” posts. Great deal on the grapes! 🙂
I saw you on the jumbotroon yesterday and told my boyfriend–I read her blog. Yesterday was my first Dave Ramsey event that I have attended and would go again in a heartbeat.
It sounds like an awesome event for all of you, and I sure am glad that you were featured, you sure deserve the feature.
You managed to do a lot of shopping this week, and you found some great deals. I shop the same way, get the deals at a couple of different stores, and I end up with a lot of food for very little in the end. I found some fantastic Target meat coupons this weeks, but I only used two at Target. The rest I used at Publix, because they had better deals on meat and they accept Target as competitor coupons, which meant I got some great Meat deals. I also shared a bunch of coupons with my neighbors and some girlfriends….meat coupons are rare to come by, and when they are here they are very popular.
Very jealous you met John Acuff and John Acuff met you. Two of my favorite bloggers!
He was so down-to-earth and inspiring!
We were there too! Istarted screaming for you when you came up on the screen! The people around me thought I was a little nuts, but who cares! So glad you got a little plug!!
Too funny! 🙂
We were there, too! I wasn’t paying attention when they started interviewing you and DH started poking me and he goes “Hey, isn’t that the blog lady you love so much?” I think it’s funny that he remembers things like that. Of course, everyone around us heard him and started asking all sorts of questions about you and your blog. Mostly they asked (with a look of astonishment or disbelief) “Did she REALLY pay for their house with CASH?!”
Glad you enjoyed the event, we sure did!
That’s hilarious. I’m so impressed with your husband to remember and put two and two together!
I LOVE Jon Acuff! His blog is so wonderful; he mentioned on Twitter that he had the opportunity to meet you. How exciting.
I’m glad you had a great time at the Dave Ramsey Event.
I’m a big Jon Acuff fan, so I was thrilled to be able to have the chance to meet him!
The photo from the Dave Ramsay event looks like a worship service at a megachurch! Do you know roughly how many people were in attendance?
They said at the beginning about 10,000 people and that it was sold out.