Cottage Countdown

LeighofMar

Yay! Made it to the 42k bracket on Friday. If my calculations are correct we will make it to the 41s by the end of December. I would have preferred to have been at 40k but I will take what I can get.
We've decided for now to keep our client into the new year. DH will renegotiate terms and get his stress levels down 90% which is great. This will allow him to focus on our real estate side projects and hopefully get that going full force in 2020.
New goal for 2020 is the same. Try to pay off 10,000.00 for the year. If there is any kind of economic slump, it would feel so good to have the mortgage gone or close to it.
Now to pick out some paint colors for the fence for next weekend's project. Gotta keep DH busy or he'll drive me crazy

LeighofMar

Baby OP of 27.00 today but that got us to the next payment on the amortization schedule. If all goes well, by payday next week will see us at payment 180, the official halfway point of the mortgage. That means I will have paid 15 years in 4 years time. So excited. Maybe we will take a weekend or just do projects around the house but we will definitely have to celebrate.

LeighofMar

We are officially halfway through paying our mortgage.:T Paying 15 years in 4 years has made me hopeful that we can get the rest done in 4 or less. So excited. In the meantime, still adding to our savings. And we received our CC bonus checks that we always save for the end of the year. I only got $90.00 but OH received over $500.00 from the business CCs. Cheater .

Either way, it's nice to have a little mad money and we will see how we celebrate this milestone.

MrsLovely

Well done on the little extra money this month. 4 years and counting then!!

LeighofMar

Thanks so much Mrs. Lovely. I felt a little overwhelmed at the thought of another 4 years but I am determined now. DH is impressed too and so supportive. Of course we just discovered an oil leak in my car though:mad: We took it to the mechanic right away and it will cost 400.00 to fix it which hurts but has to be done. I will just have to tighten the budget for the rest of the month but oh, so annoying.

LeighofMar

Oil leak taken care of and $100.00 OP to the mortgage today bringing us to $42,249.46. The last payment for the year will be made next week and should bring us into the high 41K bracket. Then I will have to come up with a strategy for the new year.

The side run of the fence is done and looks so lovely. It's already making the garden smaller and more intimate to where you just want to sit out there. I can't wait to do the last run, but we need to put in a driveway on that side first, which is fine. Hopefully, in a couple of months, it will be finished. Now to replace the old worn-out mailbox, put on some solar cap lights on the fence so it gives a nice glow at night. I finally figured out the adult version of our glow-in-the-dark playthings when we were younger. Solar lights and figurines:D. It's so true. I used to love my different dolls that would glow or light up when you squeezed them. And now my house will have the same comforting glow, grown-up style, hee hee. I just have to try not to get carried away so it always looks warm and cozy, not loud and tacky.

I am so ready to be able to turn off the phones for all next week since the holiday falls on Wednesday. Who knows? Maybe if there is a campsite open at one of our favorite places, we may sneak away for the week, although we've never done winter camping. I better bring the space heater for sure.

Enjoy the break!

LeighofMar

Last OP of the year of $97.59 along with regular mortgage payment of $502.00 brings us to $41,983.85. Hooray for the 41K bracket but boo because I wanted to be at $40,000 even. It looks like I won't hit that until the end of February but the goal is still the same. To pay 10K off a year and be done in the next 3.5 to 4 years now.

DH had to rent a pump from Home Depot because the sump pump in our crawlspace stopped working so now it's full of cold standing water. Yuck. So he'll pump that out and hopefully put in the new pump today. Homeownership

Savings pot received 86.00 today. The house fund will receive $25.00 but will pay $37 for the pump rental. It is what it is. E-fund received $250.00. Our healthcare premiums are different this year. Last year it was almost $400.00 a month but no deductible. This year it is $145.00 a month but with $4600.00 deductibles for us for the year. So DH said we should put the $250.00 left over that we were already paying last year and stash in the E-fund so that we can pay for any healthcare costs that we need to without being surprised. Makes sense. If we need it, it's there. If we don't, then we will have a few extra dollars to throw on the mortgage at the end of next year :T

Now to get cracking on my bills. I still owe $300.00 on my line of credit for my car repair. $218.00 on my cc for the rest of the fence run that we did and miscellaneous items on the other cc for $110.00, but that money I already have in the pot. Just waiting for my items to arrive, and then I'll pay them. I earned $270.00 in transcription so far this month and decided to cash in now and will also cash in next week with whatever I earn from here to then. I will just take a little cash out and the rest will stay in the company. Last contribution to our retirement accounts for the year is complete. We met our goal for that :beer:

My goal is to keep up the momentum. Have a wonderful weekend all!

savingholmes

Wow you've been achieving a lot. Hope you have a good new year period.

LeighofMar

Thanks, SavingHolmes. I appreciate it.

First OP of the new year of $82.90 today so I can have an even balance of $41,900.00. I'm already excited for the new year as we are on payment 182 with a date of 2/2031. So 11 years and 2 months ahead of where we should be. That will be my motivation for this year is to see if I can knock out another year off the mortgage as a minimum.

Now to try to get back into the swing of things after having the holidays in the middle of the week. I'm so lost and behind on what day it is, it's not even funny.:shocked:

But the nice news is I finally reordered my candle lanterns and this time they came unbroken and beautiful. They give such a nice glow in the evening. I'm ready to put the remainder of the front fence up but it will rain for the next three to four days, so no finishing it this weekend I still need to get tires but car insurance is due so that will come first with a 6-month payment:eek: Then hopefully, I'll pay that off, get my new tires and eventually I have to get my eyes examined and new glasses. Definitely not looking forward to that but it has to be done since it's been 4-5 years since I've gotten new glasses. Off to sneak a brownie with my morning coffee.

savingholmes

Glad your lanterns arrived - they sound lovely