Question: Jeff's company overpaid him by $14,000 a few months ago. He used the money and paid some old bills, and now they are taking it out of his paycheck gradually, totaling $1,250 a month. As a result, his bills are piling up. How can he tackle them? Dave settles him down and walks him through the Baby Steps.

Dave Ramsey's advice: This is what happens when you don't pay attention to what's going on. The first thing to do is make sure you're current with everything. Then get $1,000 saved in the bank, and then focus on killing off your debts, smallest to largest. If the $1,250 payback rate is killing you, you can sit down with your bosses and tell them that. Tell them that you need this repayment to be less money taken out over a longer period of time.

Another note here, Jeff. When you're getting overpaid, don't spend the money! Go and have it fixed immediately, because it's going to cause a problem for you later if you don't.

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Question: Maurine has 3 kids enrolled in an expensive Christian school. The tuition has caused them to dip into their savings. Should they keep their kids enrolled or take them to a public school?

Dave Ramsey's advice: If you can't cash flow it, you can't do it. It doesn't fit in your budget. Being in a private school can have academic and spiritual advantages, but my kids didn't go to Christian schools, and they turned out just fine. You'll find ugly things in any school that you go into, so don't be under the delusion that everything is hunky-dory in a private school.

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Question: Irma and her husband have $300,000 in debt, not including the house. They have student loan debt for $175,000, the rest being credit lines and credit cards. He makes $200,000 a year but they are broke. He was relieved to hear that she had Dave's plan, because he was relying on her to clean up this mess for them.

Dave Ramsey's advice: He has to handle this. You're his wife, not his mother. Get rid of your van lease by calling and asking what the early buyout is. Then get yourself a very cheap van. You guys have absolutely no lifestyle for the next 2 or 3 years. You have to make $200,000 and live off $40,000 or so in order to put serious money on this debt and get rid of it.

You guys have to get your budget out together and work it out together. Pour over that budget every month for the next 3 years. You'll live on nothing and you can begin to whittle this away. You've got ridiculous debt but a great income. You have a huge mess that you'll spend a decade cleaning it up unless you get gazelle intense.

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