How's your credit IQ?  I think we're heading in the right direction, finally. We've paid off one car this year, and have under $500 in credit card debt left. We were, at one time, over $5,000, so I think that's pretty huge. We have a nice home (the home of our dreams), three vehicles (including Darren's hobby car), a camper which means we'll never be homeless. Right?

There is a debt quiz over at Bills.com that opened my eyes. I scored an A on the quiz, but I found some open cracks where we could definitely be making improvements. Head over there and take the quiz to find out how your bill IQ fares. This site also has information on Debt consolidation,  Debt help, and Debt relief for those those who need it.

We've worked hard to get our debt under control, and the relief we experience every month when the bills come around was well worth the early sacrifices we made. I remember telling Mom, "I just want to be able to pay bills when they come, not wait until the second check of the month hits, hoping that we can afford the bills, and food as well." Granted, with my medical issues, we had a few more debts to incur during the lean years, but we've worked hard to get to this point. We made a financial plan, and have stuck to it. These days, when we get a bill, we immediately pay it. We have accomplished our goal.

Here's a Haiku reminiscent of those early years, though:

Oh! The debt we had,
Bills, food, card and expenses.
Student loans and meds.