The Dave Ramsey Haircut

Today was a flashback to 2011. Back then, my wife and I decided it was time to get out of debt. We had no kids (although that was about to change) and there was no time like the present. Well, that and Dave Ramsey told us to get out of debt in The Total Money Makeover. I started a blog called “50K, Go Away!” as a symbol of how much credit card debt we had and what the goal was.

Over the course of the next few years, we sacrificed a lot and got rid of our credit card debt bit by bit until there was no more. It was quite a journey, and one that I look back at fondly. Even though we have credit card debt again and have some new messes that need cleaned up, we learned a lot during those few years and shared some good times and laughs. Maybe that was why I found it so funny when I went out back today.

“Can you get me your trimmer?”

That trimmer my wife was asking for is the beautiful $20 Wahl hair cutter I bought from Walmart back in 2011 when we were trying to save a few bucks. Instead of going somewhere to get a haircut, I would just go out back, put on the #4 plastic piece, and run it through my hair for ten minutes. It was time to do the same with my son. Like father, like son. Those are tears of joy.

Anyway, we plugged it in and there was basically just a lot of yelling and screaming. She decided it wasn’t cutting, and he decided it was pulling his hair. I explained that I use it on my beard sometimes, and it still works just fine. It clearly must be someone else’s fault (and not just a nine-year-old trimmer that hasn’t been used on someone’s scalp in a very long time). My wife’s response was that I should use it on myself instead.

Challenge accepted.

In the end, I can confidently say that all three of us were right. It works. It doesn’t cut hair like it used to. It does tug just a little bit. It felt like Dave Ramsey was telling me to “live like no one else” all over again, even though this time it was the lack of open businesses that forced our hand instead of budgets.

I actually sort of like my new haircut. It felt really good to get my hair cleaned up a little bit, and it wasn’t too short. It was that good old #4 piece-the same one I used to use back in the day. Meanwhile, my son ended up getting his hair scissor cut by my wife, and it actually turned out pretty good too.

To me, this pandemic time actually feels a lot more like 2011 than it does any other time in our life since. We don’t go out to eat much, and we are saving money by not participating in activities like going to the gym. I guess blogging every day is another similarity, but the topics are different in 2020. Like I said though, I really enjoyed 2011. As always, I think it’s good to look for silver linings to the extent that you can.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go look at my old blog posts to see if my writing actually got better!