Days after this week's class, I can still feel the momentum - and we dumped our debt years ago. If this doesn't get you psyched up about getting out of debt and getting control of your finances then nothing will.

Best. Class. Evar.

This Financial Peace University class is epic - the video is 30 minutes longer than the others, and we tend to play this one up a bit too.


So the video is 90 minutes long in itself. Knowing that with free-spirits, you have about 17 minutes before the eyes glaze over, we have to do something to keep everyone awake, alert, and attentive. We started class 30 minutes early and had folks sign up for a pot-luck meal. We had an incredible spread of food and no one went away hungry. Later, people were telling us what a great idea that was.

Then the video. Wow. When we last taught the class, it was before they had refreshed the class materials - same great information, but the presentation is up a notch and more current. There's been times that I wondered which lessons were better - old or new. No question here. At times, people were laughing so hard, they might have been 'lizzing'. At other times, the myth-busting was totally hitting home and you could have heard a pin drop.

Then came the gazelle story. Dave was so good, that I'm still pumped about it - and we've been debt-free for almost 3 years! This is truly the line in the sand between Dave Ramsey and all the know-it-all math nerds with an opinion. Dave gets it. He's grasped the emotional and psychological part of personal finance so well that you can't not succeed if you do this stuff. Get mad. Get intense. Get it in gear! I don't care about your social life. I don't care about what you think is a priority. This is a priority, and until you rank it first, you will struggle and you will not see the same success as those who do.

Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.

Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

-Proverbs 6:4-5

I saved the best part for last - just as we did in the class. Finally, it was shredder time! We had sent the notice out beforehand: Bring your credit cards if you are ready to shred them. They did not disappoint! All in all, we shredded over 90 credit cards. Ninety! We were floored. Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, Lowes, Target, JC Penny's, Cabela's, Craftsman, Chase, Citi and Bank of America. None were spared. We're told that there's more on the way too!