Google Doc spreadsheet showing all 250 levels of the Money Game
When my husband and I were working Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps together, I hung out on the Total Money Makeover forums. I was there for several years having fun while we slammed our mortgage paying it off. A year or two later, Dave’s company took the forums down.
During that time, I saw person after person join and some of them were pretty desperate about their situations. They’d get organized, set up a budget and put every extra dollar they could find towards getting out of debt. The ones who held themselves accountable and kept posting would check in saying that they “kept finding money”. Since Dave described his debt reduction plan as the “debt snowball”, forum members named those extra dollars “snowflakes”.
It worked. It worked for credit cards, student loans, car loans and mortgages. There was a dedicated thread just to paying off mortgages and it was so much fun to watch people leapfrog each other in their race to a zero balance.
I missed that thrill after we paid off the house. That’s why I came up with the Money Game – I wanted something with frequent milestones that could be hit along with a fun way to measure progress.
The Money Game has one more component though. As you run around grabbing snowflakes (they are always there; a great budget system gives you the tools to see them) they don’t pay down debt. They line up to work for you. The sooner they can go to work, the sooner you can accelerate leveling up.
Level Completed: 135 out of 251
Amount Deposited this month: $601.47
Total Balance: $3,748.97
Our Money Game fund has increased 19.1% so far this month.
$59.19 is needed to reach the next level.
Have fun, grow money and level up!
The Money Game 
I wonder why they took the forums down. Sound like they were helping people.
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We all wondered. It was abrupt with no warning. We still don’t know why. It was a paid service so you’d think they were making money from the subscription fees we paid.
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I wish the forums were still a thing. I could use that in my life. O,O
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There’s actually a TMMO refugee forum (with old and new members) at http://www.debtfreefanatics.com. If you used to post on DR’s forums, you’ll recognize some of the posters.
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Thanks for the tip! I’m adding checking that out to me to do list today. 🙂
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