Dave Ramsey would be so proud...

I found out on Monday that the Honda has been considered totaled and I had until Friday to get out of the rental. All of the paperwork stuff started stressing me out so I took today off to deal with everything and start looking for another car. Anticipating a total loss, I began searching over the weekend for "new to me" cars in a price range that would maybe give me an upgrade, yet only be $1000-2000 out of pocket once we combined the insurance money. Jonathon and I both decided we did not want to buy anything new and finance right now. We've been on the pay off debt kick and we get giddy each month when we update our debt spreadsheet to see how much closer we are to our goal.

Last night Jonathon called me with a great idea....He said we should look for a car a couple years older than my Honda and then pocket some of the insurance cash to put toward our debt goal. I was so proud of him and us for deciding to do this.

I began searching the Internet last night for good deals and I found a steal at a lot outside of Lexington. After I did the paperwork thing this morning I drove all the way out there to test drive the car. I called early this morning to see if it was still there. At the time I called I didn't think I would be able to drive there today and thought it would be sometime over the weekend. I told the guy we would see him in a couple days so he was surprised to see me come just a few hours after I spoke to him.

When I got to the lot, it was already being test-driven...oh no!! I thought it was over. The guy liked it a lot but had another car down the road he wanted to look at as well. I was in luck. I test drove it and weighed the pros and cons. I went to McDonalds to sit and think about it and to call Jonathon to get his blessing/input. I drove to the library in town to run a carfax report and then went back to the lot. I bought it!! We now have a reliable 2000 Honda Civic AND about $3000 to put toward our debt. I feel so good about our decision and I can't wait to write that check to pay or debt down...

Here's our replacement car....

I will admit there was one down side....the car smells like cat. It will have to have a detailing job. The same woman owned it from the start so I'm guessing she took her cats on occasional joy rides. :)