Cottage Countdown 17 January 2019 at 4:38PM in Mortgage-free wannabe 395 replies 20K views

LeighofMar

I stumbled upon this forum a while back and was so excited to read about other people's mortgage-free journeys. Strangely enough, I haven't been able to find a similar forum based in the US no matter how much I've searched. I'm not sure if that's a sad commentary on the state of affairs of my fellow Americans, but I digress. So, I am a 41-year-old American. It's just me and my OH, my best half, living in the Southeast United States in a very low cost of living area. We bought our last house three years ago and have decided since it was so cheap, to just knock it out so we can be mortgage free by the time I'm 45 and he's 60. We have no debt. Our only child moved out last year so we are also new to the whole empty nest thing and fixing up our adorable little cottage/bungalow as we go along. It's the perfect size for us, 3 beds, 2 baths, but no garage which we may build something in the future to appease OH. Not too big, not too small. It's perfectly functional. Things that need taking care of are typical in a home built in 1945. Roof will need replacing soon. HVAC was just replaced. Carpets in the 3 bedrooms need taking up and just cosmetic paint. Kitchen could do with a redo of cabinets and countertops, but works for now. We bought it for 67K and received a mortgage of 64,655.00. I know we do things slightly differently here in the US. Our 30-year mortgage is fixed at 4.25% so with property taxes and insurance, the monthly payment comes in right under $500.00. That's absolutely crazy cheap for almost anywhere. We got really aggressive last year and paid $10,000 off principal and our balance now stands at $50,470.00. I hope to break into the 49K bracket by early February. I OP every single Thursday. I've taken inspiration from several diaries that have recommended paying to get the numbers to 0.00 so if I don't have a full P&I payment, I would make an OP of $70.00 and then my balance would be $50,400.00, etc. I really like doing it that way and marking my progress on my amortization schedule. Right now, we are 7.5 years ahead of where we're supposed to be on payment 127 out of 360 when we should be on payment 38.:beer: I'm very proud of our momentum and hope we can keep it up.
So with that said, I made an overpayment today of $79.00. Looking forward to knocking out this mortgage in the next 4 to 5 years. Thanks for reading.

Moneyfordreams

Welcome to the forum... I take inspiration from many on here... however my route is a bit choppy

LeighofMar

It's a massive undertaking for anybody, no matter how large or small their mortgage is. No route will be linear, that's for sure. I'm stoked now but have to combat overpayment fatigue once in awhile.

LeighofMar

Ugh! We had a valve broken on our side of the water meter last month of course during the Christmas holidays but got it fixed. Water bill shot up to $207.00 this month!!:mad: It's usually around $70.00 or less. So now we will have about $20.00 until payday on Thursday. Oh well, time to raid the money jar for the weekend.

LeighofMar

I was on Reddit scrolling through the usual debate of paying off the mortgage vs investing and the majority were leaning towards investing if a recession is coming because the money towards the mortgage will be "locked" in the house and not liquid. I guess I can see both sides. But I also remember the last recession when we lost 90% of our business income. A paid off house would have been such a game changer then because we could have hustled like we did to just cover our basic needs instead of the house plus expenses. And investments obviously were tanking at the time. No. I will stay the course and say recession or not, I want to pay off this house.

LeighofMar

Sent the mortgage payment today plus overpaid 110.00 for an even 600.00 payment. Now mortgage stands at 50,221.41. I am at payment 129/360. Payment 165 will mark when the principal starts outpacing the interest so I'm almost there. I use any little goal as motivation.

Of course the check engine light came on in my truck so had to replace a thermostat today for 250.00:mad:. Trying to take a small amount of money and divide it among different pots is challenging but I'm managing. I just need to finish paying off the HVAC replacement and get to some 3-paycheck months and we'll be straight again. Fingers crossed nothing else comes up. Our anniversary is next month but looks like the truck repair was my gift . We will see if we can take a weekend but looking tight right now.

LeighofMar

With the threat of snow and 15 degrees on Tuesday, I'm so glad we replaced the heater. Now I just have to finish paying for it, which I hope to do soon because the roof is starting to look a little suspicious. In fact, we were already saving for the roof when the heater went so I just need it to hold a little while longer until I can hopefully replenish the house fund after the heater is paid.
Balance of heater 2310.00
New roof estimated 2500.00
House fund 450.00
Emerg fund 1420.00

LeighofMar

Nice frugal weekend. Usual weekend budget is 30.00 for takeout but we hardly spent any of that since we had some leftovers from our Friday lunch that our company pays for. So Saturday was spent in the garden for me and OH arranging his work van. Then Netflix date night. Sunday same thing. I'm up to my eyeballs in snapdragons. I actually have no clue how to garden. We made 2 flower beds in the front and I asked OH to get me a few flowers. He comes back with 2 racks of flowers that he got for 20.00. Even after planting in the flower beds, 75% of the flowers are sitting in their carriers so I'm desperately digging and planting just trying to get stuff in the ground. If it works, I will have a sweet little snapdragon forest. At least so far, gardening is pretty frugal. I hope it works and my plants live. In the meantime, I get fresh air and serenity. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

LeighofMar

Just sent in my last OP of the month for $81.93. Balance of mortgage is now at 50,138.97. Will definitely be in the 49K bracket with my next OP. So excited. That makes a total of 656.56 OP for the month. I'm happy with that, and on the amortization schedule, we are at the payment for 9/2026 so 7 years and 8 months ahead of where we should be. I'll take it.

LeighofMar

1000.00 paid to the HVAC replacement. That leaves a balance of 1310.00. I have 850.00 left between the house fund and the emerg fund so I will have to scrounge for the rest. Taxes done but we owe federal this year 122 but get a state refund of 137 :huh: and I think this month I have an Ebates check for 92.00 coming. All this would have been for OPs but I have to get this debt paid off. Plus Feb is our anniversary so as soon as I pay off my credit card next week, I gotta turn right back around and put presents on it. Hubby wants a stair climber machine and I 'll take a chiminea for our patio so we can sit by a fire at night. Still need an oil change and my brakes looked at, but I don't drive a lot so I'm not worried about it yet.
Well, that's enough rambling. OH just brought in the groceries and I put them up. 100.00 a week is our budget for the two of us, but I have to make all my food and mostly from scratch for my medical diet so its a little spendy. But so grateful to order them online and OH picks them up every Friday morning. Its worth the 4.95 fee to not have to go shopping.
Have a great day all.

LeighofMar

Its a low spend weekend. My neighbor gave me some pots for the hundreds of flowers I still need to plant. Got in my workout and feeling strong. Today is the Superbowl so since in a few hours, I will cease to exist for OH, time to do some baking. Maybe some almond flour pizza crusts and a date cake and a little Netflix. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.