Kimberly Jarman Photography

Have you heard of Audible.com? They have become one of my favorite addictions lately.

Totally upfront and honest here… I have a hard time finding time to read. I have to force myself to relax and sit to read a book. When I was younger all I did was read. There wasn’t much else to do… no phones, computers, or technology to get in the way of reading. I would read in the car, at my grandparents house, when I got home. I LOVED a good book. But when I got older and life got crazier, and computers took and consumed life, and facebook took my freetime, I stopped reading. There was a period in my life for probably almost 10 years that I just never took the time to do it. Sad isn’t it? Reading is so good!!

A couple of years ago I was at a conference and sharing a room with someone who I didn’t know. We started talking and she told me that she reads every night and always is reading. I asked her how she found the time and she said she just made time. She then told me that when she color corrects and does mindless computer tasks instead of watching TV she listens to an audio book. I was intrigued. I am not one who can watch a movie while I edit because I want to watch it, but a book on audio… that might work!!

I decided to look into audio books. I knew that in the past they had been boring and I wasn’t interested in listening to some boring person read a book to me, but I decided to give it a try to see if things had changed. So I wandered upon Audible.com and downloaded a book. It was great because it just downloaded onto my computer (no more CD’s that I have to carry around with me). I was able to have it on my phone, which goes everywhere with me, and when I was in the car or editing I would listen. It was AMAZING. I got hooked and addicted. The people who were reading were using different voices for different characters and it was like watching the movie, but in my head.

One of my favorite books that I have listened to is “The Help”. They got 5 different people to read the different parts, so it truly was an amazing experience.

I signed up for their membership and just started downloading books that I had been recomended, always wanted to read, or just felt like listening too. I actually got through editing quicker too because I didn’t get distracted with my own mind thinking of other things to do.

The Iphone has an app that I use now to listen to my books, which tracks how long I listen and it rewards you with Badges and Levels. I know… I know… it’s kinda silly… but my husband and I now are competing to see who can get the most badges and listening stats… for awhile I was doing so much better, but since he has a 45 minute commute each way every day he’s starting to go through these books way faster than me:)

I have also started reading again since i’ve started listening to books. I’m still able to do more listening, but it’s good to cuddle up to a good book too and do nothing but sit there and read. I really hope that our kids grow up understanding how amazing books really are. I hope they never die. A book makes your imagination run and helps slow things down. It’s a good thing.

So, my question to you on this Favorite Friday is…. what are some of your favorite books?? Let’s compile a list and share the reading.

I first learned about Dave Ramsey about a year ago. Our church was having all the small groups go through something called Financial Peace University. I wasn’t really sure what the course was about and how it could help us, but a lot of people said it was amazing and our church was even willing to pay for 1/2 the class for anyone who went through the entire 13 week course without missing a class, so I figured that we should do it!  Thankfully the course was mostly a video course and was really quite interesting. It really made my husband and I think through how we were living and challenge us to fully get out of debt. The things that Dave Ramsey was saying made so much sense that it was frustrating because we were wondering why we were just now hearing all of this in our 30’s.

We decided to apply the principles that Dave talked about to our life. We created a pretty tight budget and started living on a cash based system, meaning that we don’t use our credit card and only use the cash allotted to us for the week in a certain category. Was it hard to do? A little, but it’s been a really good challenge.

Dave talks about a debt snowball meaning you pay toward one of your smaller debts and focus on that debt as much as you can, throwing as much extra money as you can toward that debt, then once it’s paid off you take what you were paying on that debt and throw it all towards the next debt. You keep going and going and going until you are totally 100% out of debt. You then take that money that you were putting toward debt and start throwing it at savings and investments. When you think about it, most people are putting over $1000 or more toward debt each month, if you count your house and your car, you could be well over $4-5000. Just think if you were investing that much money consistently throughout the years of your life how much money you would have to live off for retirement? It makes total sense!!

Jamie and I have been using the Dave Ramsey theories for the last year, and while I wish I could say we are totally debt free and throwing money at investments, we are not there yet. However, we have almost paid off all of our debts except for our house and student loans (which are a little ridiculous and might be the death of me). I am so proud of us and it feels so good to say we are almost debt free!

Dave also teaches businesses on how to lead and be a great business person. The principles he teaches are amazing and inspire me to be a better boss and business owner.

The last year has been an amazing year and a very hard year as well. It’s kind of crazy to say, but in all that i’ve gone through Dave Ramsey has kind of been there as a guidance through all his wisdom and truly helped me personally and in my business.

I told Jamie the other day, after we had just finished listening to Dave speak, that if I were to ever quit my job as a photographer, the only other thing I would want to do is move to Nashville and work for Dave Ramsey. In all honesty, I really don’t even know what the people for Dave do, but I want to work under this man and his wisdom.

So… in thinking about today’s “Favorite Friday”, I thought that I would share a little about a man who has become a major part of our lives in the Jarman household.

My question to you is how many of you are doing the same thing and what has it done for you? Has it changed your life?