Mortgage Payoff Club!!

[KBecks]

We paid down about $7k of principal this month, new balance approx $89,000.  My goal was to get under $90k.   My husband's variable paychecks are lower for the next trimester but I am thinking we might be able to knock this out in 18 months.

[Nederstash]

All of you are doing great! It's really inspiring to see. Always have a smile on my face when I visit this thread :) keep being awesome!

[SAfAmBrit]

Principal paid off so far

2012 - $3415
2013 - $3994
2014 - $8483
2015 - $38412 (yup got rid of all the debt and $10 000 windfall not expected)
2016 - $48817  so far

3/1 Remaining balance $87322. Projected pay off date 09/09/2017 - SO 51st birthday.

4/1 Remaining balance $81837

4/30 Remaining balance $76952 (I owed the tax man!)

5/29 Remaining balance $73836

6/30 Remaining balance $65388

7/29 Remaining balance $60825

8/31 Remaining balance $55728

9/30 Remaining balance $49696

Thank-you for all the encouragement - staying the course.

[pdxmonkey]

Looks like you'll be passing me up pretty soon. Congrats!

[rjbf65]

I'll join.

Started June 2014 at 71k.

It's currently $55k.  Goal is to finish it off by next June.   Have 20k in cash that would finish it off by then.  We are currently investing 15% as well.   Basically doing the Dave Ramsey plan.

Currently down to $51,500.  Hoping to get under $50K a month from today.

Down to $49660.  Was able to throw an extra $1555 at it this time.  Budgeting to be able to throw an extra $2500 next month.

$46,950 -- a $2,710 reduction this month.  October should be a little better with the magic of the 3 paychecks for me this month.  Should be under $40K by end of the year.

$41,843 -- a $5,107 reduction this month.  The 3rd paycheck was big this time.  Would love to be able to do that every month!  My goal for end of November is to get under 40K.  Once I'm at the $40K mark, I'll have about equal amounts of cash in the bank and mortgage balance.  Still also maxing out 2 Roth IRA's which speaks for $917 per month.  It is always tempting to stop the Roth or to throw a bunch of the available cash at it.  I think I'll just stay the course of throwing all the extra cash that was left over after the month at it.  Once the mortgage is gone, all towards investing.

$38,922 -- $2,921 reduction this month.  More travel and eating out this month, as well as property taxes and insurance slowed us down a bit.  But we are at the goal of being under $40K balance!  It's going down at a pretty good pace that I'm happy with!  We will have some Christmas expenses coming up this month but it shouldn't be all that bad.  My target is to hope to be under $37K at the end of December.

$35,898 -- $3,024 reduction this month.  Received a small bonus from work to more or less cancel out Christmas spending.  Also had to replace the wife's windshield.  Would love to be down to under $33K after January is up.  Have quite a few things on the horizon.  We are expecting our first child in late May.  With that we are planning on upgrading the vehicle fleet some.  While going from 3 vehicles to 2.  Just looking for more room and reliability.  Need to have the ability of hauling a child, 2 dogs, and luggage for trips to see our parents.  We have been on the mustachian side of things when it comes to vehicles.  Our 3 vehicles combined might be worth about 9 or 10K.  My goal is to have a paid for house as well as having atleast 1 newer vehicle also paid for by the time the baby arrives.  We are now at the position of having more cash than mortgage balance.  Really looking forward to knocking it out asap!  Another thing about having it paid off by the end of May is I'll finally be eligible to contribute to my 401K starting in July.  Would be wonderful to max out a 401K in just the remaining half of the year!

$32,026 -- a $3,872 reduction this month.  I always have to wait until the 5th or 6th of each month to process my extra payment.  I'm one of those weird ones that pay things as soon as I get the notice instead of holding on to the money for as long as possible.  If all goes well February and March have the potential to be good debt reduction months.  Tax refund in February hopefully and a 3 paycheck month in March.  We will be doing some vehicle upgrading with a new baby on the way but I will do everything I can to keep that cost to a minimum.

$31,609 --  a $417 reduction... I only made the normal payment this month and putting the agressive paydown on hold.  Some big possible life changes on the horizon and I want to have as much cash in the bank as possible just in case.  After the dust settles is when I'll finish it off.

$31,190 -- $419 reduction .. Another minimum payment.  Will be spending about $15K out of pocket upgrading the worn down vehicle fleet and adding room for the new baby next month.  Hope to finish off the mortgage by the end of 2016 or before.  Looking forward to getting the baby home and healthy and pressing reset on the paydown plan that we were doing so well at before.

$30,770 -- $420 reduction.  Spent about $22K to upgrade vehicles. Facepunch worthy I guess.  Now we are just waiting for the arrival of the baby!  I also switched from maxing out 2 Roth's to doing 15% in my 401K since I just became eligible.  This will give us a couple hundred more per month to throw at the mortgage.  Hopefully its paid off at the end of the year.  If not, it may be by my 33rd birthday in March.

$30,349 -- $421 reduction in May -- Minimum Payment but our baby was born and is healthy!

$26,954 --- $3,395 reduction for June -- Back on the paydown train!  Feels good to throw a good chunk at it again!

$26,523 --- $431 reduction for July -- made the minimum payment only.  Had over $2100 in hospital related expenses due to the baby born in May.  We had $4 left over for the month and it's not worth logging in to the system to move that over.  Feel blessed to be able to absorb the hospital bills in our normal cash flow.  Hoping for a good August.  Then September should be good with 3 paychecks.  Have $14K sitting in a checking account at my old bank that I plan to use to finish it off.  So about $12K away from being able to do that.

$24,566 -- $1,957 reduction for August.  My annual life insurance premium took $900+ from the paydown.  September should be a good month with it being a 3 paycheck month.

$19,617 -- $4,949 reduction for September once I'm able to move the additional principal over in a couple days.  Getting close now! 

[Eilonwy]

Heh, that would drive me crazy too! I was actually very tempted to use our renovation savings to pay ours off -- we have just the right amount -- but then things started moving, finally, with the permitting process, so it's just as well I didn't.

[Money Badger]

$9,445.44

I would pay it off today but the penalties for doing so would cost more than the interest charges I'll pay if I leave it until my renewal date. It's killing me, though, to leave a <$10k mortgage alone. I want to pick at it like a scab.

Soon!

Just think of the mortgage company and whomever reviews your renewal...   And then think of their unhappy scrunched up face when they realize the mortgage security your loan is in won't be getting the original interest "high margin period" in the loan's amortization that they want from a "young loan".    Enjoy your release from indenture!

[asauer]

Annual bonus at work helped us drop the mortgage from $47600 to $36,500!

[stashja]

Bought home in June 2014. Mortgage was $84K. Not including 20% down.
Have been overpaying principal every month, plus a few windfalls from extra pay. Trying to pay it off in 4-5 years (so, by 2018-9).
I make $49k.
Down to $48k balance left.
How am I doing?

[Nederstash]

I used to be on Team Investing all the way but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I would be much happier with a paid for home. The borrower is slave to the lender, as they say... I never liked debt and I think that's winning over my rational/mathmatical investment mind. I think I've found a good middle ground between risk and safety:
- I won't cash out my investments
- I will still keep investing 10% of my take-home pay
- 6 months EF remains untouched of course
- Keep 10k separate to replace my car in a few months
- Anything extra goes to the mortgage

Wish me luck, I estimate it'll take about 8-10 years to knock out the mortgage.

[Money Badger]

@stashja,  Doing well on pay down at that rate.   With $48K to go, there may be no tax benefit to the amortization table of that loan and the terms are important to see if there are better options to reduce interest.   What are terms of that loan and how much monthly is interest right now?

[pdxmonkey]

Jan. 2015 - ~100k
Oct. 2015 - ~$67500
Dec.3, 2015 - ~$60k
Feb. 5, 2016 - $52,108.53
March 7, 2016 - 49,774.21
April 11, 2016 - 48,700 to go. Had to pay taxes this month.
May - failed to report in
June - $42,853.69 to go.
July - $41,597.20

Lower payment month, but still above the minimum. Reeled in the final payoff @minimum payments date by 1 more month. November 2020 at the absolute latest now and in reality any date that I choose to drain money from my taxable investments. At present the rule is still early paydown can only be done with income earned that month.

After paying everything else I put another $475 towards things in early July. Today I made my August payment and its a pretty decent one.

August 2016 - $39,000 Revised -> 38,000. I put another $1000 to it later in the month.

September 2016 - $36,230.88

October 2016 - $34,250. Now down to April 2020 at minimum payments.

[KBecks]

We paid down about $7k of principal this month, new balance approx $89,000.  My goal was to get under $90k.   My husband's variable paychecks are lower for the next trimester but I am thinking we might be able to knock this out in 18 months.

$89,951
$ 3,750 extra principal paid (November)
======
$86,201 left to go

I'm anxious to go faster on this, but want to keep some reserve cash on hand going into the holidays.  If we pay $3,750 extra every time, our mortgage will be done in 24 months, so that is October 2018.   I was hoping to put an extra $5k a month and kill it in 18  months, but...  we'll see how it plays out over time.   

I was tempted to pull out extra money from investment accounts but for now I'm keeping the payments coming out of checking/savings cash flow.

[KBecks]

I used to be on Team Investing all the way but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I would be much happier with a paid for home. The borrower is slave to the lender, as they say... I never liked debt and I think that's winning over my rational/mathmatical investment mind. I think I've found a good middle ground between risk and safety:
- I won't cash out my investments
- I will still keep investing 10% of my take-home pay
- 6 months EF remains untouched of course
- Keep 10k separate to replace my car in a few months
- Anything extra goes to the mortgage

Wish me luck, I estimate it'll take about 8-10 years to knock out the mortgage.

Good plan Nederstash, keep investing and an emergency fund alongside your paydown.  Good luck with it!

[SAfAmBrit]

Annual bonus at work helped us drop the mortgage from $47600 to $36,500!

Awesome - we had a surprise from hubbies pension this month too so our balance went down a bit extra. Still behind you, but hope you don't mind, still using your progress to keep me on track. Today we have $42,100 to go! Do you have a goal payoff month?

[rjbf65]

I used to be on Team Investing all the way but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I would be much happier with a paid for home. The borrower is slave to the lender, as they say... I never liked debt and I think that's winning over my rational/mathmatical investment mind. I think I've found a good middle ground between risk and safety:
- I won't cash out my investments
- I will still keep investing 10% of my take-home pay
- 6 months EF remains untouched of course
- Keep 10k separate to replace my car in a few months
- Anything extra goes to the mortgage


Wish me luck, I estimate it'll take about 8-10 years to knock out the mortgage.

Good plan Nederstash, keep investing and an emergency fund alongside your paydown.  Good luck with it!

My paydown journey/plan has been very similar to Nederstash.  I've been doing 15% into 401K and my wife is a public school teacher so she has about the same percentage taken out as well.  All extra dollars after the month is over gets moved to the principal reduction.  Not sure what I'll do exactly after the house is paid off.  Plans are to max out my 401K and our Roth IRA's and then save the the rest for an upgrade in house or possible buy some land down the road.  I'd be interested to hear what others are going to do with the extra cash flow after the home mortgage is gone.   

[Debts_of_Despair]

My paydown journey/plan has been very similar to Nederstash.  I've been doing 15% into 401K and my wife is a public school teacher so she has about the same percentage taken out as well.  All extra dollars after the month is over gets moved to the principal reduction.  Not sure what I'll do exactly after the house is paid off.  Plans are to max out my 401K and our Roth IRA's and then save the the rest for an upgrade in house or possible buy some land down the road.  I'd be interested to hear what others are going to do with the extra cash flow after the home mortgage is gone.   

Very similar situation here except I paid off last December.  I have considerable money going into retirement accounts but I also have quite a bit going into a plain old Ally savings account.  I frequently look for my "forever" house but I never see anything to get really excited about.  If and when the perfect house does come up, I hope to to put a huge down payment on it with savings from said account.  I really don't want to get into another mortgage that I can't knock down in ~5 years.

[asauer]

Annual bonus at work helped us drop the mortgage from $47600 to $36,500!

Awesome - we had a surprise from hubbies pension this month too so our balance went down a bit extra. Still behind you, but hope you don't mind, still using your progress to keep me on track. Today we have $42,100 to go! Do you have a goal payoff month?

Great job!  Those surprises are definitely handy.  Yes, we hope to pay it off in Feb 2017 barring any catastrophes.  You?

[rjbf65]

My paydown journey/plan has been very similar to Nederstash.  I've been doing 15% into 401K and my wife is a public school teacher so she has about the same percentage taken out as well.  All extra dollars after the month is over gets moved to the principal reduction.  Not sure what I'll do exactly after the house is paid off.  Plans are to max out my 401K and our Roth IRA's and then save the the rest for an upgrade in house or possible buy some land down the road.  I'd be interested to hear what others are going to do with the extra cash flow after the home mortgage is gone.   

Very similar situation here except I paid off last December.  I have considerable money going into retirement accounts but I also have quite a bit going into a plain old Ally savings account.  I frequently look for my "forever" house but I never see anything to get really excited about.  If and when the perfect house does come up, I hope to to put a huge down payment on it with savings from said account.  I really don't want to get into another mortgage that I can't knock down in ~5 years.

I'm in my first home.  A 2 bed 1 bath.  Perfect home to start with but not our forever home.  It does fit our needs for now.  The forever home will probably cost over twice what our current one is.  My thoughts are if I'm going to drop that kind of money on a home then I better love every single thing about it.  So I plan to be very picky.  It's a good feeling to know that we are currently turning a 15 year mortgage into 3 or less.  I feel the same way as you about the next one, take a 15 yr loan out and hopefully knock it out in 5 or so.   

[SAfAmBrit]

Annual bonus at work helped us drop the mortgage from $47600 to $36,500!

Awesome - we had a surprise from hubbies pension this month too so our balance went down a bit extra. Still behind you, but hope you don't mind, still using your progress to keep me on track. Today we have $42,100 to go! Do you have a goal payoff month?

Great job!  Those surprises are definitely handy.  Yes, we hope to pay it off in Feb 2017 barring any catastrophes.  You?

We are aiming for June 2017 so long as the earth keeps spinning evenly - a little ways behind you, but that means we will have to raise a glass twice to toast!

[mlbfan07]

Evening all!
Joining in on the mortgage payoff club!
Have been back and forth on the mortgage/invest battle and over the last few weeks I decided to go the route of the mortgage payoff.

Started 2016 at $149,900.
At this point I am at $113,374.
I have a few nice year end checks coming that should hopefully get me under $100k to end the year. to $99k to end the year. (that sounds so much better!)

Thank you all for the motivation!

[Nederstash]

Since my plan is going to take 8-10 years, I've developed some visual aid to help me stay motivated. I've divided my mortgage by the square meters (excuse the metric) of my house, so that I know what my house per square meter costs. I've taken the floor plan to my house and colored in the amount of space I've already paid for. At this point, I own half a kitchen :) looking forward to color more!

Anyone else using this kind of visual aid? Please share it, I'd love to see it!

[Faraday]

Since my plan is going to take 8-10 years, I've developed some visual aid to help me stay motivated. I've divided my mortgage by the square meters (excuse the metric) of my house, so that I know what my house per square meter costs. I've taken the floor plan to my house and colored in the amount of space I've already paid for. At this point, I own half a kitchen :) looking forward to color more!

Anyone else using this kind of visual aid? Please share it, I'd love to see it!

That's a beautiful idea, I hope you are flattered by my intent to copy it. :-) :-) :-)

I track the mortgage paydown and graph it - simple and quick in an excel spreadsheet. However, I make the numbers more interesting by correlating each mortgage debt milestone to an item that I DID NOT buy. Examples:

$200k point - house debt < modest yacht
$100k point - house debt < Tesla (approximately)
$80k point - house debt < Base Porsche Panamera
$70k point - house debt < Well Equipped BMW 5 series
$65k: At this point, my house debt is less than a new, modestly-equipped double-wide modular home

Full disclosure:
This is just a thought exercise to express debt in terms of things I can happily and easily do without.
I don't worry about comparing taxes and insurance between the house and the alternative imagined items.
And although the mortgage principal and interest goes to zero at payoff, I'm not naive enough to say the house is "free" at that point.
Maybe I'm off on the values of the items, but you get the drift.

[flowrider]

Dec 2015 $30,237
May 2016  $20,777
Planning to pay off around July next year:)

Under $20k now $19,617

$14,400 to go now, looking at August 2017 now as target payoff date all going to plan.

[Decoy1]

Longtime lurker here but decided to jump in on this thread for motivation

Original mortgage acquired in April 2013...375k at 3.9%. Paid the minimum for the first year but after seeing how little was going toward the principle my wife and decided we'd had it. As of October 1 the balance is 147k! Can't  wait to get under 100k.

[motiv8ed]

Wow, after reading these posts, I had to join. Current Balance is: $119,781 Hopefully I will be able to stay motivated and join the club.

Still chucking along. Decided to go with a mixed approach to paying off the mortgage. Mainly because I'm not sure if we will be moving in the near future. Not sure if it's the best way to go, but it's what we are going with now.
1. Pretty much the plan is pay off the 30 yr mortgage like its a 15 yr.
2. Start a mortgage payoff fund in a brokerage account.

Current Mortgage Balance is: $116,828.23
Current Mortgage Payoff Fund Balance: $11,881.76
Balance Left: $104,946.47

Approaching the 5 figure mark, hopefully this provides some extra motivation.

Mortgage Balance:$115,225.42
Payoff Fund:$15,769.88
What's Left:$99,455.54

Finally joining the 5 figure club also. I'm very excited to enter this part of the journey. Im shooting for a balance of $85k at the end of the year, $80k would be even better.

[Rounded Numbers]
Mortgage Balance:$108,000
Payoff Fund:$32,000
What's Left:$76,000

Robbed some savings to help with the progress. Would be nice to get under $65k by 12/31.

[tightwaddy]

I joined this thread this year and haven't posted in a few months.  DH and I decided to pay off the whole thing tomorrow (~$25K) with much of our emergency savings fund.  We were at $100K last summer and having been paying $5K in principal each month.  It's going to bring us to just over $10K cash on hand, but without that mortgage payment we'll be able to get back to where we were quickly, if we decide that's what we want.

I can't tell anyone I know ... so I'm telling MMM strangers :)

[Decoy1]

I can't tell anyone I know ... so I'm telling MMM strangers :)

That's funny! Just told my wife the other day that once we get it paid off I'll only be able celebrate with complete strangers on the Internet!

[KBecks]

Whatever happened to mortgage burning parties?  This used to be a thing in generations past but now I worry that it would come across badly or make people jealous.  Doh.

[Decoy1]

Whatever happened to mortgage burning parties?  This used to be a thing in generations past but now I worry that it would come across badly or make people jealous.  Doh.

It's sad that we have to keep it a secret! Part of the reason we decided to pay ours off was because friends of ours told us they paid theirs off in 5 years. I didn't even know people really did that until they told us!

[Lmoot]

 I think it is because there are so many people in debt today, and paying the house off early is no longer an attainable goal for many, even if at their own fault. It's fun to  celebrate with people in similar positions, or even higher positions. But it's not so fun for you or the other party when celebrating with someone who can't even conceive of where you are.

I plan on paying my mortgage off early, and sadly the only people I plan on telling are  folks here, and my parents.

[BlueHouse]

I joined this thread this year and haven't posted in a few months.  DH and I decided to pay off the whole thing tomorrow (~$25K) with much of our emergency savings fund.  We were at $100K last summer and having been paying $5K in principal each month.  It's going to bring us to just over $10K cash on hand, but without that mortgage payment we'll be able to get back to where we were quickly, if we decide that's what we want.

I can't tell anyone I know ... so I'm telling MMM strangers :)

This makes me so excited for you. Congratulations!  Great job.

ETA :  and with no mortgage payment, you can reduce your emergency fund so it won't take long to replenish before you start killing the investments. Awesome! 

[tightwaddy]

Yes, great point!  With mortgage gone, 6 months living expenses is greatly reduced :) 

Thanks for the cheer for an internet stranger--we're grinning stupidly this morning as we prepare to head for the Credit Union!

[Decoy1]

Yes, great point!  With mortgage gone, 6 months living expenses is greatly reduced :) 

Thanks for the cheer for an internet stranger--we're grinning stupidly this morning as we prepare to head for the Credit Union!

Congrats! Savor the feeling.

I'd never thought about the benefit of a smaller emergency fund once the mortgage is gone. Sweet!

[Neustache]

Whatever happened to mortgage burning parties?  This used to be a thing in generations past but now I worry that it would come across badly or make people jealous.  Doh.

I'm still having one, just inviting parents, though, as 1. they are the only ones who will be proud of us IRL, and 2. It will also be a 'thanks for the good start in life' party in honor of them, so I think that will make it more special, less braggy.    The only one in the group who MIGHT be a little jealous will be my husband's dad.  He has a weird competition thing going on with his son.  But the other three will be proud, I think. 

But I'm not posting on social media or anything. 

[Neustache]

I joined this thread this year and haven't posted in a few months.  DH and I decided to pay off the whole thing tomorrow (~$25K) with much of our emergency savings fund.  We were at $100K last summer and having been paying $5K in principal each month.  It's going to bring us to just over $10K cash on hand, but without that mortgage payment we'll be able to get back to where we were quickly, if we decide that's what we want.

I can't tell anyone I know ... so I'm telling MMM strangers :)

Congrats!! Can't wait to join you!

[SAfAmBrit]

Principal paid off so far

2012 - $3415
2013 - $3994
2014 - $8483
2015 - $38412 (yup got rid of all the debt and $10 000 windfall not expected)
2016 - $63440  so far

3/1 Remaining balance $87322. Projected pay off date 09/09/2017 - SO 51st birthday.

4/1 Remaining balance $81837

4/30 Remaining balance $76952 (I owed the tax man!)

5/29 Remaining balance $73836

6/30 Remaining balance $65388

7/29 Remaining balance $60825

8/31 Remaining balance $55728

9/30 Remaining balance $49696

10/31 Remaining balance $39920

Good month due to an unexpected error by military pension people - thank-you. Paid some extra so I could get it in the 30's. Will not be putting much on it this month, cest la vie. Are we there yet..........

[freeatlast]

Since my plan is going to take 8-10 years, I've developed some visual aid to help me stay motivated. I've divided my mortgage by the square meters (excuse the metric) of my house, so that I know what my house per square meter costs. I've taken the floor plan to my house and colored in the amount of space I've already paid for. At this point, I own half a kitchen :) looking forward to color more!

Anyone else using this kind of visual aid? Please share it, I'd love to see it!

Hi - I have created a large graph so that I can visually see my progress.  I made a goal for 2016 and the bottom right of the chart is my goal number.  The top left is where I started. It keeps me motivated seeing the line going down towards that goal.  Some days that chart is the only thing getting me to work! It is so hard because it is a long term goal - but the chart keeps me going.

[BlueHouse]

Good month due to an unexpected error by military pension people - thank-you. Paid some extra so I could get it in the 30's. Will not be putting much on it this month, cest la vie. Are we there yet..........

Haven't we seen this in the news lately?  Some vets had the error amounts clawed back before sec carter put an end to the claw backs. But if this error just happened now, you know the consequences and should set that money aside in case they come for it later.   
(I'll leave the moral aspect of whether you should capitalize on an error on your shoulders).

[Lmoot]

Hopefully they meant that the error was they didn't get paid enough originally.

[SAfAmBrit]

Hopefully they meant that the error was they didn't get paid enough originally.

The error was they forgot the dependent aspect - so it was paid. We waited 2 1/2 years for them to even start paying - despite a 24 year long active duty service. If they come back for it we have it - however after 9 of the 24 years in the desert - morally I think it was earned!

[BlueHouse]

Hopefully they meant that the error was they didn't get paid enough originally.

The error was they forgot the dependent aspect - so it was paid. We waited 2 1/2 years for them to even start paying - despite a 24 year long active duty service. If they come back for it we have it - however after 9 of the 24 years in the desert - morally I think it was earned!

Good to hear it!  And thank you for your service! 

[Decoy1]

Longtime lurker here but decided to jump in on this thread for motivation

Original mortgage acquired in April 2013...375k at 3.9%. Paid the minimum for the first year but after seeing how little was going toward the principle my wife and decided we'd had it. As of October 1 the balance is 147k! Can't  wait to get under 100k.

october 2016 147k

November 2016 142k

[BlueHouse]

HCOL city in a big house.  I'll show progress in terms of % paid off against initial home value (equity against initial sale price).

Progress (%equity against initial sale price)

• 06/2012 - 25%  (downpayment & first monthly payment)
• 06/2013 - 27%  (now paying a few hundred extra monthly)
• 06/2014 - 30%  (now paying 1000 extra each month)
• 06/2015 - 33%  (still paying 1000 extra each month)
• 08/2015 - 46%  (big fat payment in preparation for a requested recast next quarter)
• 03/2016 - 48%  (now paying 1400 extra each month)
• 08/2016 - 53%  (now paying 6400 extra each month)
• 11/2016 - 54%  (Finally completed a recast - the bank reamortized and my P&I is now $1000 less per month!) 

I finally completed the recast!   The bank reamortized for free, and with previous additional principal payments made over the last 2 years, my P+I is reduced by $1000/month.  This gives me a feeling of relief because I definitely felt that I was "over-leveraged" before and I had a mortgage payment that was very scary to me.  What a weight off my shoulders. 

I doubt I'll stop though.  I really love the idea of being mortgage-free.  Love this thread and the inspiration I get from seeing others pay off their mortgages. 

[Neustache]

Whoa!  Blue House - what a huge reduction with the recast!  That's great!  When we recast it won't be nearly as drastic - just like $300 lower than our current payment but it will make it so if I get a teaching job I can pay all of our bills on my salary alone.  Congrats!!

[BlueHouse]

but it will make it so if I get a teaching job I can pay all of our bills on my salary alone. 

Yeah, there's definitely something to be said about freeing up cash flow and having a monthly payment you can stomach. Awesome news all around!

[mlbfan07]

Evening all!
Joining in on the mortgage payoff club!
Have been back and forth on the mortgage/invest battle and over the last few weeks I decided to go the route of the mortgage payoff.

Started 2016 at $149,900.
At this point I am at $113,374.
I have a few nice year end checks coming that should hopefully get me under $100k to end the year. to $99k to end the year. (that sounds so much better!)

Thank you all for the motivation!

Updated for end of October:
New Balance is $107,992.00.
Almost $6k paid off for first month of new focus.
Thanks all!

[bzzzt]

Well, it hasn't been quite a year since my payoff, but it's still awesome.

I'm on pace to make $30k/year less this year (joys of construction!..) than last year. Other than my savings rate not being what I had hoped and some pretty crappy investment returns, I haven't cared much.

[pdxmonkey]

Well, it hasn't been quite a year since my payoff, but it's still awesome.

I'm on pace to make $30k/year less this year (joys of construction!..) than last year. Other than my savings rate not being what I had hoped and some pretty crappy investment returns, I haven't cared much.

Sounds pretty awesome being able to have high variability in your income and no longer care about it much.

[rjbf65]

October beg balance$19,617

November beg balance $17,803 -- $1,814 reduction for the month.