October Mortgage Update

If you remember, we had to put off saving for a water heater because our water softener went out. We are back on track of saving for the water heater. I made a deal with Scott that the extra money that I made, half would go towards the mortgage and half would go towards the water heater.

Here is half of the extra money that came in this month. I feel like it has been a little quicker progress this month with the mortgage. 

Here's to hoping that we can get enough for the water heater soon, and that the water heater will ultimately cut down our electric bill. 

Breakdown of Extra Money

Selling books- $9

Selling on amazon- $46.77

Selling on fb- $80.90
Selling on eBay- $9.80

Totals

Since our update in September, we have been able to pay $433 from our principle. Giving us a total of $944 for our year. Leaving us with $5,006 in order to reach our 6k for the year. 

September Mortgage Update

Is it really already September? We have had some weather here that has made me want to curl up in a sweatshirt with a cup of coffee. I know coffee is not the best for baby in excess, so thinking it is time to make some chai tea! We have all the ingredients in our cupboard that we bought this summer, but haven't had any desire for hot tea.

If you remember, last month we were talking about saving up for a water heater. Still haven't bought one, and glad we didn't. We had been doing some asking around and thinking about what we wanted to die, only to have our water softener die on us. Bigger expense than a water heater! So, guess what we will be buying instead. So, not throwing any extra money yet on the house.  

Breakdown of Extra Money

Once again, just plugging away with what we have budgeted. 

Totals

Since our update in August, we have been able to pay $268 from our principle. Giving us a total of $511 for our year. Leaving us with $5,489 in order to reach our 6k for the year. 

August Mortgage Update

We have put paying off extra on the mortgage this month. Two reasons.

1. We bought part of a cow. I am excited to have our freezer full of meat that I have some sort of an idea where it came from. This meat will also come in handy this winter after baby comes and I don't want to go grocery shopping. Two little ones in the dead of winter? Thinking the freezer will be calling my name instead!

2. We are going to buy a new water heater. Our electric bill has been killing us. We have talked to two of our neighbors and our bill is a lot higher than theirs. Not sure what is up with that. 

I checked out a kill-a-watt from the library, ya who would have guessed that the library had one of those, and nothing that had a regular plug was sucking our electric. We are going to give the water heater a shot and see if that makes a difference. So, we are saving money up for that.

Water heaters make me curious. What size of water heater do you have for your family? How many of you are there? Would you trade the size?

Breakdown of Extra Money

Big fat zero this month. Scott's Aunt got Esther the book The Tortoise and the Hare for her baby shower. We have read this book a few times before nap this month. Slow and steady, just need to keep chuggin'!

Totals

Since our update in July, we have been able to pay $248 from our principle. Giving us a total of $248 for our year.

We have rewarded ourselves with every 10K that we pay off our house, we can go away for an night out. We have reached that goal, so we need to get planning. 

July Mortgage Update- 2 Years in to Pay Off

I can hardly believe that we have been in our house for two years already. Time flies! 

We did get a 30 year mortgage, but over the last two years have been able to get down to 22 years! I found this pay off calculator and had some fun plugging in numbers. 

Another cool thing is that we are now paying $40 less in interest and more in principle each month. Thankful for the extra help in paying off our mortgage! 

Breakdown of Extra Money

• $14.90- selling books
• $3- pattern sales on craftsy
• $75- selling on ebay
• $25.60- selling on etsy
• $15- selling on facebook

Totals

Since our update in June, we have been able to pay $619 from our principle. Giving us a total of $6,791 for our year.

I have found some podcasts this month that have been encouraging. If you enjoy podcasts, I encourage you to check them out over at hisandhermoney.com. Debt free stories are encouraging to me!

God Blesses Even When We Don't Deserve It

I have to be honest, I have really been struggling with my attitude recently about a certain situation. I know I need to give up some things to fix the problem, but do you know how hard that is when you really want to remain in your bad mood? Have you even been there?

God and I were having a talk the other day while I was doing things around the house, and I was telling God that I could really use some encouragement. I was thinking, I would love to get a letter in the mail that was encouraging. Just a few days later, God worked in a way that I never would have imagined. I do love when that happens.

I went to the mailbox and saw a letter from a friend from back in my high school days. Inside was a letter saying that she remembers the struggle of trying to get debt free and wanted to do something to bless us in the middle of us trying to get debt free. Encouragement in my mailbox? God is good!

Then on top of that, there was another envelope inside. I saw a gift card to one of my favorite coffee shops where I would love to get fresh roasted coffee, but we have chosen not to in order to try to pay off our mortgage. I glanced at the gift card and saw $10. I thought, awesome! Free coffee! I looked at the gift card again and realized that I missed a zero. $100 worth a free coffee. Needless to say, I was a little in awe.

I could not help but stop and think what a great God that I serve. He laid it on my friend's heart to bless, and she was obedient to what God was calling her to do. I have to admit, God used this to help change my attitude. I know I will need to keep working on my attitude...may even have to today! When I struggle, I will have to drink a cup of coffee and realize that God really does care about me.

Things I learned through this blessing:

1. God blesses us even when do not deserve to be blessed.

2. I want to be debt free so that I can more easily bless others, just like this friend was to me.

3. I am super thankful for friends who listen to what God is calling them to do. Without obedience, I wouldn't be blessed.

I now have this card hanging next to our visual of how far we need to go to paying off our mortgage on our fridge.

February Mortgage Update

Breakdown of Extra Money

• $20- anniversary money
• $21.92- selling books
• $27- selling on facebook
• $5- selling on ebay
• $10.50- change

Totals

Since our update in January, we have been able to pay $354 from our principle. Giving us a total of $4,297 for our year so far. $1,703 to go before next July in order to hit our goal of 6 grand this year. 

This last month was a little slower for us on what we were able to pay off, but we are still getting there. We were able to mark off another 1k on our visual chart!!

January Mortgage Update

Breakdown of Extra Money

• Selling $136
• Rebate $5.29
• Sell Books- $41.64
• Selling cds- $18.43 I used decluttr
• Change- $15

Totals

Since our update in December, we have been able to pay $640 from our principle. Giving us a total of $3,943 for our 2nd year so far. $2,957 to go before next July in order to hit our goal of 6 grand this year. 

I stocked up a decent amount in December as far as groceries go, so I am hoping to buy just the essentials at the grocery store this month and use what I save to help with the mortgage. 

We are $57 away from our next $1,000 mark. I really wanted to walk back into the bank and just pay that amount so that we could mark off the next block on our visual countdown. I didn't, but we will get to that soon! 

December Mortgage Update

Breakdown of Extra Money

I know you are probably thinking, you are missing some money somewhere. This money is just over and above our normal payment. 

• Change $10.50

• Ebates $8.29- pays to shop online!

Totals

Since our update in November, we have been able to pay off $492 from our principle. Giving us a total of $3,303 for our 2nd year so far. $2,697 to go before next July in order to hit our goal of 6 grand this year. This month was a little slower on the pay off. Part of me has this secret goal to pay off way more than that. That just means, that I need to proactive in making extra money!

November Mortgage Update

Pretty sure this is by far my favorite debt free scream. If you haven't listened to any of the others, I encourage you to listen to this one. Great story of redemption!

My husband and I were just talking the other day about paying off our house and how we would like to get the mortgage paid off completely in 10 years. I love watching our mortgage chart on our fridge get lower. Super close to marking off the next $1,000!
Breakdown of Extra Money

• Gift Cards- $76

                   My mom used some of my gift cards at a store I don't go to very often. Trade off for cash!

• Selling on eBay- $100

                   I am excited for a new month in order to get more free listings on ebay. Ready to list more!

• Selling books to Powells $6.00
• Rebate from computer purchase- $40

                  my husband needed to get a new computer and it came with a rebate. 

• Huntington offer- $270

                 Offer of opening a checking account doing 10 transactions and then getting paid. Not bad money for a little bit of my time!

Totals

Since our update in October, we have been able to pay off $733 from our principle. Giving us a total of $2,810 for our 2nd year so far. $2,804 to go before next July in order to hit our goal of 6 grand this year. Half way there! Promising that we will be able to make our goal.

October Mortgage Update

Want an idea for a Christmas gift? Check out this debt free scream. Life changing Christmas gift!

My Mistake

I was just talking to my dad the other day about making sure that we are paying down the principle. I have been paying our mortgage online and just realized that we were paying our payment and not the principle when we were paying early. My dad and I had a discussion about this idea of paying the principle. Hopefully this concept will help us pay things down sooner!

Now, I need to be making trips to the bank I think. Will have to talk to the bank the next time I go in to see about how paying online works.

Breakdown of Extra Money

Here is a breakdown of some areas where we were able to get extra money from to add to our mortgage. I hope this gives you some ideas of where you could get some extra money from to help pay off debt.

• Refund on Esther $420

Didn't know we could make money on our child. :) Apparently my husband has a decent HRA that helps to pay our deductible. Didn't know that before, but know we do!

• Change $6

We throw our change in a jar. Every so often I roll the change and this goes on our mortgage.

• Selling books to Powells $10.75

• Ibotta $11.00

• Backdated raise my husband got at work $240.19

Totals

Since our update in September, we have been able to pay off $897 from our principle. Giving us a total of $2.077 for our 2nd year so far. $3,923 to go before next July in order to hit our goal of 6 grand this year.

September Mortgage Update

Is it really September already? If you remember, I talked about how I was going to give you an update of how our mortgage pay off is going.

Last year, we paid off $6,000. So far this year, since July, we have been able to pay off $1,180 of our principal. On track to meet our goal. Now to try to beat that goal!

The couple in this video are some great inspiration!

Paying Down the Mortgage

I have this dream. I want to be able to go to Martha's Vineyard at Dave Ramsey's office and yell that we are debt free. 

Thankfully, God has allowed us to be debt free other than our mortgage. I know some people say your mortgage is an ok debt to have. I just can't help but think what we would be able to do without a mortgage. Oh that would be bliss. 

We bought our house a year ago July. I knew that the quicker we could get on paying down the mortgage, the less we would have to pay in interest. 

I found this mortgage pay off tracker on Mrs. Debtfire and this simple chart has been a good visual for me. A similar chart is hanging on our fridge. We mark off every time we get under another $1,000 on our mortgage. I like having a visual reminder. 

Our first year of owning our house, we were able to pay $6,000 off of our mortgage. 

My goal for this year is to beat that amount of pay off. At this rate, we need to pay $500 a month off the principal. This year will be a little harder as I don't have an income coming in like last year. 

I will update you occasionally throughout the year to let you know how we are doing.