View Full Version : The Mortgage is Paid Off.
Hello Everyone,
This seems more like a family issue than a personal finance issue, though it could go in either.
On May 29th, we made the final payment on the mortgage. It's done. Gone. Finally.
Right now it doesn't feel any different. We need to build our emergency fund back up. We'd like to shop at the farmer's market a little bit more.
Mostly, we just want to make sure we're not put in a position of having either us, or our children, have to borrow money for their college. I'm still not really clear on how to do that - it seems like both students and parents are expected to take out loans - but I think it will all work out. Once the emergency fund hits a decent limit, we'll start saving money in the state education savings account.
Right now, I'm just tired of the focus it took to pay the mortgage off. I'm not so much relieved as exhausted. I think the relief will come with the second paycheck this month, when we realize that it doesn't have to all go to the mortgage.
We paid it off in 16 years instead of 30. I guess that's not so bad for a family living off one income most of the time, and one and a half incomes for the past three years. (Plus my beekeeping income, and all the odd jobs I did while being an at-home-dad).
Congratulations, Paul! I know this was an important goal for you, so I'm glad you were able to achieve it! We paid our house off a couple of years ago (I believe we're a bit older, so it wasn't terribly early), but it is a wonderful feeling to know you own your home outright!
gimmethesimplelife
6-5-14, 7:43pm
Way to go! I think that is just wonderful. I bet that's a load off your shoulders now.....Rob
A big milestone - good for you. Makes planning for everything else for you and your family so much easier. Hope your budget includes a little extra to celebrate!
Congratulations! I remember a little while back you had some financial situation that you knew was going to set you back just a couple of months in your mortgage payoff. See how quickly that went! And now you're debt-free! I'm so jealous!
So happy for you!!!!! Congrats!
iris lilies
6-5-14, 10:50pm
Great accomplishment! Mr. Money Mustache has an entire thread on this topic, you should go over there and tell 'em.
I haven't had a mortgage since I was about 35 years old. The idea gives me the creeps.
Oddly, the idea of paying rent doesn't bother me. I guess it's the enormity of the debt load of a mortgage that scares me.
flowerseverywhere
6-5-14, 10:55pm
You should be ecstatic. What a great accomplishment that has saved your family tens of thousands of dollars.
The day we paid our mortgage off (we were 13 years in) we went to the bank and made the payment. DH and I got back in the car and he just started to cry, he felt such relief knowing that our yearly expenses had been lowered by so much.
You are aware so far ahead of time about college costs you have lots of time to work on the issue. Good for you. A great day for the Pcooley family.
That is a great achievement. Well done!
Congrats on reaching a MAJOR goal!
fidgiegirl
6-5-14, 11:31pm
So fantastic! Your hard work really paid off. Think how fast you will meet your other goals now that you are free of the money used for the mortgage. Inspiring!!
Congrats! On doing it right - from someone who owes more than double the original asking price 22 years ago :(
ToomuchStuff
6-6-14, 9:30am
Congratulations. It took me a couple of days, before the actual realization set in. About six months later, the "are you going to move/buy a new house" started from lots of people. (forewarning)
When we paid off our mortgage, I asked DH is he wanted to have a mortgage burning party. He declined as he felt that those who would know would be envious or criticize our frugal efforts - we had older cars and lived very simply. That was a wise decision that I never regretted. You know it really didn't matter at the end of the day as we were saving up funds for the next big expense.
No one knew and no one cared about our mortgage situation except us and keeping quiet made good sense. Of course, there was no simple living forum to share the news with at that time.:)
Congratulations! You will not regret doing this - it's a great feeling to know that you own your house outright.
Woooo! Congrats!
I'm coming up on a year of being mortgage-free, and I can tell you it takes a couple months before the reality of the extra cash flow is apparent. You deserve some time to relax and take some deep breaths :)
Thank you everyone. Today is the first day I've really had to catch up on things since paying the mortgage off. Last weekend I spent removing a colony of bees from the wall of a college dorm. It's slowly sinking in. For most of the past two years, I've been paying an extra $700 a month on the principle, for a total payment of $1600 a month. That was a BIG stretch for our income, and it all broke down the past three or four months, and I had to fall back on paying near the minimum. (Summer camp, my daugther's Germany trip, the car needing a new fuel pump, the Vespa accident and the $500 deductible to repair the front fender and light - life happens). It's so nice to know that I'm not faced with that big payment at the end of the month.
Thanks for telling us how you did it--the $700 extra. We're hunkered down to pay ours off in 3 years from now, and it's nice to know someone who just accomplished it!
Blackdog Lin
6-6-14, 8:32pm
I truly believe that the whole and entire course of your future life(lives) will be different and better and more financially successful because of this one accomplishment. It was for us. (basically that one thing enabled me to retire - and be super happy - at 55.) Congratulations!
Wow, Paul, congratulations!!!! I know you and your family have been working really hard on this for a long time! When we paid ours off it was muted, as well, which is fine. I'm guessing some people shout it from the rooftops but I've just shared with a few people. It's you and your family's to share or keep, and get used to over time. Enjoy! :-)
rodeosweetheart
6-7-14, 5:39am
Congratulations, Paul, that is wonderful. You must feel a great sense of relief, and as each month goes by, that relief will get bigger, trust me.
Congratulations, Paul. Know how long/hard you have been working on this. Hope this will help you feel like you have a bit more wiggle room to do/spend on the things that your family members value while still being able to save for the future.
Awesome accomplishment, Paul. It's a long stretch of discipline and devotion. You have changed your life and your children's lives for the better.
We have been mortgage free for several years and it is a great feeling. One suggestion though: Total up how much your property taxes, homeowners insurance, and homeowners association fees are for the year, divide by twelve, and pay that amount into a savings account each month so that when these come due, the money is there. We do this and it has worked well for us. Congratulations!!
Luckily, we don't have a homeowner's association. I like the fact that the neighborhood covenants allow for "livestock as long as it is not for commercial purposes" given all the kerfuffle and lawsuits over owning chickens just outside of Santa Fe in Eldorado. (We love our chickens).
The neighborhood sometimes seems to be moving in the opposite direction from us. When we bought the house, our front yard was gravel. We set out to create a wild, edible landscape. We have dwarf weeping mulberry, a large currant bush, day lilies, mint, strawberries, apricot trees, plum trees, cherry trees, tarragon. We also have non-edible plantings - a small scrub oak grove, some honeysuckle, a fern bush hedge, some volunteer chamisa, three patches of native grass and wildflowers, and a native plum that is spreading underground to take up about a third of our front yard. We love our yard, and the birds love our yard, and the crickets and the earthworms, and after a rain some of the biggest snails you ever saw come out. (Surprising given that we're in a semi-arid area).
A couple of years ago, we put the whole thing on drip, and everything has begun to run rampant. It's a joy. We like to sit on our front porch in the summer evenings.
Meanwhile, our neighbor across the street completely paved his front yard. Another neighbor cut down all his trees, (for no reason at all that we could see. They were living things!). We have a constant fight with our next door neighbor because she has her fruit trees sprayed in the spring, and I get angry because I think it's bad for my honeybees. (The tree service comes to our door to tell us we should keep our pets inside for the morning. Seriously?! How is that even legal!?) I've tried to have civil conversations with her. (She's really the only person I personally know that still poisons her yard). But she says she won't stop having her trees sprayed, and she doesn't like my honeybees because they get on her flowers.
So, if there was a homeowner's association, I'm not sure we would come down on the right side of it.
We do live in a place where you can hear roosters crowing throughout the neighborhood in the morning, so we know we're not all that out there with our bees, chickens, and wild landscaping.
She doesn't want bees on her flowers? What a moron.
gimmethesimplelife
6-9-14, 9:10pm
She doesn't want bees on her flowers? What a moron.Ummmm.....yeah. Isn't that the whole point of honeybees? To get on flowers and spread pollen? People.....I'll never ceased to be entertained and/or amazed at some of things people say/believe. Rob
Swarms of bees are rightfully scary to a lot of people. There was a conflict in our community garden with those who wanted to start a bee colony there. that was nixed. Then there was a chicken contingent, and that was nixed as well.
I am all in favor of people having bees and chicken on their own properties. Having them in our community garden is too much of the "community is in charge of them" which mean, to me, no one person is in charge of them. That's why our neighborhood's swan was killed by dogs: the people who took care of him for years became frail, and then it fell to no one person but a group, and then no one was really looking out for him when the lake was drained by the ($%$%&%$&($&**!!! city.
So now we have 4 more swans on the lake and a dedicated coupe of people I know take care of them, but I fear for lives of the swan when they stop.
But back to bees: I offered a beekeeper a place at our hobby house to keep a swarm because I like having people in and out of there (the more activity there is, the less likely of a house breakin) and of course the bees would be happy because it's the biggest flower garden within a couple of miles. And I like bees. And I suspect that a swarm would be very frightening to the ghetto dwellers who like to vandalize property; they would be watchdog bees! Sounds like a win/win. But I've had no takers.
they would be watchdog bees!
*giggle*
Ok, back to the topic - congrats pcooley! I know it was a struggle for you to get to this point, and you often felt undermined, but you have arrived! Be sure to celebrate, not just for you, but for your children - they will remember this.
Another tidbit - have another goal in mind with that money, else the funds just seem to evaporate.... ask me how I know, sigh....Now we have a goal with our surplus mortgage money (after having paid it off four years ago and savings is only one year's worth), I know we can sock it away.
Teacher Terry
6-12-14, 7:57pm
Having a paid for house is one of the best feelings in the world!! Congratulations on all your hard work:cool:.
Congrats! :+1:
I personally sleep much better these days knowing I don't have a mortgage to pay any longer! :D
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