How do you stay motivated to pay off the mortgage???

**TheRootedNomad** · 10-31-2007, 07:24 AM

The months drone on in our attempt to be debt free including the mortgage. When we we're getting rid of all our other debt money was tighter and we stayed intense following DR's snowballing. Our motivation stayed renewed by watching those debts go away. We've now focused on the mortgage for over a year and a half and I'm finding it very hard to stay motivated because the end seems so very far away.
~Refinancing to a 15 year fixed from a 30 year fixed helped for awhile since I could see several years cut off.
~Crossing off the intrest payments for the extra months I've paid helps some

but then Ilook at how much longer I have to go and I get very frustrated.

So for anyone that's been down or is currently traveling down the "payoff the mortgage early road" How do you stay motivated to keep plugging away at the extra and try tostay intense????

**LexTysMommy** · 10-31-2007, 08:21 AM

I have no advice for you. I am just now refinancing my 30 year ARM to a 15 year fixed. Even if I make double payments it will be at least 6 or 7 years before I pay it off. Wonder how to stay motivated for that long. Good luck!

**Dancing Lotus** · 10-31-2007, 08:29 AM

I still have a few very small things to take care of first then I hope to focus on the morgage. I think that the morgage would be the hardest one to stay on track with.

I dont have any good advice for you but I wanted to say that I am rooting for you. Keep up the good work.

**frugal-fannie** · 10-31-2007, 11:51 AM

I would tell you to get a bi-weekly mortgage. If they do not offer it you can set it up on your own. We paid $300 to set it up on our own but it more than pays for itself. I also made up a chart for myself to track down my paydown. How much goes to principle and interest. About every4 months I get an extra payment from setting up the biweekly. My payment is about 2k and when I topped the more going to principle than interest I was excited. Mine is now snowballing the paydown. I also look at the interest and when I figure the tax break in , that also gives me an incentive my house costs me less than 400 per month the rest is tax savings and principle pay down a forced savings plan. We set up a 15 year loan and the bi-weekly knocks 3 years off the term. If you can pay more than that even better. Just make sure you have a good emergency fund.

**frugalfarmwife** · 10-31-2007, 12:04 PM

I actually was joking with a friend the other day that it's almost tempting to run up a small debt just to have something to snowball NOW

Wouldn't do that but this long slow death of our mortgage does drag on!

What I do is make extra payments often, even if it's only $50.00 extra on the principle that takes a penny off the daily interest payment, not much but hey, it's $3.65 a year

This is what motivates me.

And with our loan there is no penalty of any type for extra/additional payments.

kj

**staceyy** · 10-31-2007, 12:26 PM

My motivation....I think of myself sitting out on the street.Seriously, dh needs to retire sometime within the next 10 years and we will not be able to afford a mortgage payment, so we have no choice but to pay it off.

**frugal-fannie** · 10-31-2007, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by frugalfarmwife

I actually was joking with a friend the other day that it's almost tempting to run up a small debt just to have something to snowball NOW

Wouldn't do that but this long slow death of our mortgage does drag on!

What I do is make extra payments often, even if it's only $50.00 extra on the principle that takes a penny off the daily interest payment, not much but hey, it's $3.65 a year

This is what motivates me.

And with our loan there is no penalty of any type for extra/additional payments.

kj

I might not have made myself clear on the bi-weekly you make the same monthly payment. they just apply it sooner and that is how it pays down quicker.

**TheRootedNomad** · 10-31-2007, 02:07 PM

I don't know how much bi-monthly payments would work for us as we are already throwing an additional 300% of the actual prinipal due on the payment almost every month. My problem is staying motivated to keep doing this for another 5 or 6 years, even if we up the intensity, another 3 years.

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 10-31-2007, 02:13 PM

I'm with staceyy. DH and I want to retire or at least cut back on the jobs we do. The only way to do this is plugging away at the mortage. I also find great relief when I mail that bill off and look at the folks moving out of my town because they can no longer afford to live here. Each month this year another family has moved out of our neighborhood because its just too expensive. We currently have 4 vacant home in our neghborhood where the families have just left. Then another 10 up for sale and 4 more up for rent. The vision of moving back in with my folks after 20 plus years is enought to keep me on the payoff track.

Laurie in Bradenton

**frugal-fannie** · 10-31-2007, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by TheRootedNomad

I don't know how much bi-monthly payments would work for us as we are already throwing an additional 300% of the actual prinipal due on the payment almost every month. My problem is staying motivated to keep doing this for another 5 or 6 years, even if we up the intensity, another 3 years.

It might not save you much since you are already making over a double payment.

**frugalfarmwife** · 10-31-2007, 02:19 PM

Originally Posted by frugal-fannie

I might not have made myself clear on the bi-weekly you make the same monthly payment. they just apply it sooner and that is how it pays down quicker.

I wasn't alluding to your method of payment

Just commenting on how I do it here. And actually with bi-weekly payments you are paying more a year, some months have 5 weeks and with the bi-weekly you actually make, I believe an extra house payment a year.

My method is just what works for me, if I'm heading to town and have an extra $50-$100 in our checking I just stop and apply it toward the debt. Makes me smile and makes my day

kj

**sdrjeolsen** · 10-31-2007, 03:22 PM

For me, doing the math is what motivates me. If I stop and think of the interest I will have to pay out over the life of my loan with no prepays, I would faint...over 675K in just interest. I like to pay whatever I can at every opportunity and then take a few minutes every couple of weeks...just did this last night, and see how much I have saved myself.

Example. We've just been in our mtg for 3 months, but I've already made 12 principle pmts so in effect I've cut 9 months off my loan and saved well over 30K worth of pmts just by putting all I can toward it in the last 3 months. So I'm paying myself 10+K a month by being frugal. I realize I'm on the easy side where so little goes to principle, that small additions take off whole payments, but still, it's my motivation. I can spend $4 on starbucks, but when I realize if I apply that to my payment it saves me 12 in interest, then in effect, my cup o joe is costing me $16. Now if I really want to buy a $16 cup of coffee I will, but when I think of it that way, its kinda not so much of a desire.

Also, I have a piece of grid paper that I drew an outline of the land on and I put pmts as x's and extra pmts as a yellow highlight, so I can see at a glace what payments I've made and what pmts I will never have to make.

Bankrate.com has a place to make and print your own amortization schedule. I use that. You can put in extra payments, one time and annual. It's fun to see what a small principle addition can do down the road.

Good luck, stay motivated, it is soooo worth it. Just think of what you are paying yourself by being diligent.

**Triskasue** · 10-31-2007, 03:47 PM

I paid mine off early by paying extra to the principal each month. Started with small monthly amounts and then kept increasing as I could. I had a 20 year mortgage and paid it off in 10 years, 8 months. My goal had been ten years.

My motivation was getting the house paid off by the time my daugher started college - so we could help her in college where she wouldn't have to work. Her GPA got her scholarships for tuition, fees, and grocery money. We pay her rent. We are extremly lucky that she is self motivated and pushes her self way harder than we would.

I can't stress enough that a little extra on the principal really helps. There are several free amortization tables on the internet that you can plug in your numbers and it will show the potential savings. I made myself a chart in excel and watched the "owed" amount drop each month.

Also - it is hard - but those of you with kids planning on going to college, it is never too early to start saving. I started my savings years ago with $10 taken out of each paycheck.

**Triskasue** · 10-31-2007, 03:49 PM

Here is a good link to a free amortization table

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/amortization-calculator.asp

once you enter the information about your mortgage
you can click extra mortgage payments on your loan
and it will show you if you pay extra each month or once a year – etc
how much sooner it will pay off your mortgage

**frugalfarmwife** · 10-31-2007, 04:25 PM

Sdrjeolson I have a graph too! And mine's broken down into $100 dollar increments on the principle. I've even gotten hubby into helping with marking off amounts, we've paid off close to 1/10th of the principle in just 20 months, cutting years off the end of the loan

kj