[Thorliveshere]

If you could do all that with 26K either you owe virtually nothing on your house or you don’t owe very much and your car is in worse shape than mine.

Don't have a high payment on the house (I'll have it paid off in less than four years). My car has plenty-o-problems, but it still gets me from point A to B, and I mostly walk and ride bike to places anyway. Don't have credit cards. Don't owe much money to anyone anymore. It's nice.

[Hieronymus]

Sounds quite nice. While I try to avoid debt like the plague, 26k would only make a sizable dent in the mortgage, and with five young kids, upgrading our van would take a good chunk of 26k.