I would never pay somebody 200 a month to fix my roof. Nor would I buy a 30k car if I couldn't afford it. Those are abuses of credit. And people like that need a Dave Ramsey in their lives.
I remember the roofing supplies on credit particularly well. Several of my kids were teens and had jobs at that point and they could've given us the money. The roof was damaged during the same time frame several large unforeseen expenses had come up. My wife wanted us to get the money from our kids. I didn't feel it was their job as minors in my household to put a roof over their own heads - although I had no qualms about making them get up there and help me fix it. ;)
There are a lot of things that can be purchased used very cheaply - like clothes, appliances, and furniture. There's no excuse for putting most things on credit. But when you have kids things come up that you need cash for. And an emergency savings can disappear over night in broken arms, athletic supplies, car repairs and school fees.
I know a Ramsey true believer would say the kids can't compete in sports or school activities if you need your savings to fix a busted hot water heater, but this is where we would need to agree to disagree. I see all of them as essential.
You missed the point. As a general rule, if you can find the money to make the debt payments, theoretically you could have been paying that money into a savings account in the past. That would give you the money to pay for the roof.
For instance, we need some house repairs. We have been putting $x into a savings account over the last few years in order to pay for things that pop up. Instead of paying $x a month towards a debt account, we have been paying into a savings account. It’s the same payment, just a different destination. Instead of paying someone 6% for that money, they are paying me 2% for that money.
A lot of people do say “I can adjust my financial life to pay to service debt but not to pay into savings”. It’s not logical. Same money, different destination.