Did we mention we went through Financial Peace at church last fall? You may have heard us talk about Dave Ramsey several times in the past several months, but I don't think we've written a blog about it yet. We started the class with car debt and studnet loan debt. Here are some things we've learned/decided through taking this class.

1. We will never take out a loan again for anything other than a mortgage.

2. We learned to put our money together and tackle the smallest debt first.

3. We paid off both vehicles in 8 months. Boy, it feels awesome to own our cars!

4. We learned how to live on a monthly budget. Every month we make a written plan and we do pretty good at sticking to it. Any leftover goes to our debt snowball.

5. Student loans suck and we can't wait to get these out of our life! If we stick to our plan, we should be debt free in 29 months!

We could be even more "gazelle" intense, but...well, we're just not there yet. For instance, we went on vacation. We don't eat "beans and rice", instead choosing organic whenever possible. Also, Dave recommends using cash for many purchases because you tend to spend less. I am sure he is right, but I am often to lazy to go to the bank to get money for groceries. Hmmm...maybe I should really stick to the plan and we could get out of debt faster?! My advice to anyone out there who is in debt (and if you aren't, I'd like to hear how you did it) would be to go to the library and check out Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" book. Read it and let me know when you are on board!

We had the pleasure of spending time with the Smith family yesterday evening (sans Isaiah, who was working). I have to pass along two things Cedric said:

1. Cedric: "I think I know what the tooth fairy does with teeth".

Me: "What?"

Cedric: "She puts them in babies' mouths".

Ya know, I never thought about it...maybe he is right!

2. Cedric asked how old I was when I moved out of my parents' house. We started talking about the house I grew up in and I asked him if he remembered that he lived there too when he was younger. I said "You lived in the same room your Daddy lived in when he was a little boy". "Wow, how old is that house?" "It is over one hundred years old". "So, that house was built before my daddy was a little boy?" he asked. I replied, "That house was built before Grandpa Perry was a little boy". "WOW! That house is over a thousand years old?!!" Cedric exclaimed!