I cannot completely disagree with the people who have given this book 2, 3, and 4 stars. This book truly does state the obvious. I started from the introduction and Mr. Ramsey definitely highlights that a lot of what is in this book has already been preached by other "experts" and the vast majority of what he puts out there is common sense for a great many people. These are all points that have been argued by those who are not so pleased with the book. I figured it behooved me to point that out just in case anyone read my review anticipating the reasoning behind my giving this book five stars had to do with some amazing new revelation of how to save money.You could probably place me in the category of the people who know what to do and how to go about doing it, but never ACTUALLY do it. Am I uncormfortable? Not at all. I have a respectable job with very fair compensation, and my wife does well too. However, we have also done well to accumulate debts over time: many of the debts are as old as our relationship (which is pretty young...six years). It wasn't until recently that I realized something. While we have money saved aside for the imminent rainy day, we could be doing so much better if we were saving without the concern of applying those savings to our debt. Like I said, for many of you this is obvious.I was in denial for quite some time. I didn't want to admit that I was horrible with money because I didn't want to sacrifice control of my own money. When I came across this book, I did research on the author, and determined that this would be a solid investment. Upon reading the first few pages, I was immediately hooked! The part that got to me the most was looking in the mirror and realizing where our financial woes were originating from. I know, it sounds like a 12 step program: it kind of is! It's a program for binge spenders! I realized that I was financially intoxicated, or financially overweight (Mr. Ramsey correlates the Total Money Makeover with working out...pretty good tie-in considering that I need to get in shape too!).I probably could have finished this book in a day if it wasn't for my obligations to work and family. Instead it took two whole days to get this book finished! Since then (four days ago) I have already created an Excel sheet listing all our debts from smallest to largest, and have created an allocated spending plan for our upcoming paychecks in two weeks. The first step is to come up with $1,000 dollars, but we already have that covered, and are prepared to get a head start on our debt snowball by depleting our savings accounts. I have even set a target date for us to be debt free.While I read the whole book, I sometimes think I should have stopped reading at baby step 2, which deals with clearing your debt. I don't necessarily want to get ahead of myself.Anyway, the point of this review is simple: it is not so much knowing what it takes to clear your debts and live a life of financial freedom; it is about DOING what it takes with a "gazelle like intensity". Again, there are no crazy new revelations or revolutionary ideas. Mr. Ramsey makes no claims to being an expert. He simply puts out what everyone already knows. Besides, it's also good to know that he was in a position - becoming rich, filing for bankruptcy, only to become wealthy again - to employ these methods.As with any other review, take mine with a grain of salt. Determination and sacrifice will ultimately lead to true freedom in the future. "If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else." Awesome and uplifting read.