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Home > How we paid off almost $7500 in 4 months

How we paid off almost $7500 in 4 months

April 19th, 2017 at 02:58 pm

Someone asked how we paid off $7500 in 4 months and I thought this would make a good post!

First of all, I have an excel spreadsheet that calculates pay down with additional principal payments. That has helped us know what we need to do to reach our goal.

Also - our regular payments are included in the $7500. The spreadsheet shows how much of our regular payment each month is interest and how much is principal (we are mostly principal now).

Here's the breakdown:

January: owe $18029
principal from regular payment - $1034
additional payments -
- 150 budgeted for principal paydown,
- 23.75 insurance refund from USAA, 70 gym payment for teaching,
- 312.05 net rental income from our Irish house (which was paid off a year ago; we pay an average of $400/month - one month 300 and the next month 500 but this is in euros, so it's a little more in dollars)

February: owe $16,400
principal from regular payment - $1039
additional payments -
- 150 budgeted for principal paydown
- 5.21 extra principal (because our escrow amount went down but we're still paying the same payment
- 57 gym payment for teaching
- 532.19 net rental income from our Irish house
- 38 consigned a coat and payment came through

March: owe $14,590
principal from regular payment - $1044
additional payments -
- 155.21 budgeted for principal paydown
- 86 gym payment for teaching
- 316.48 net rental income from our Irish house
- 67.5 D's side work

April: owe $12,910
principal from regular payment - $1044
additional payments -
- 155.21 budgeted for principal paydown
- 5.21 - my banking mistake, but I made it up in another category
- 75 gym payment for teaching
- 318.56 net rental income from our Irish house
- 75 D's birthday gift which he used part of and put this amount toward the mortgage - that was nice of him!
- 633.37 - distribution from work (long story, but I took a distribution and decided to pay down mortgage principal with it)

Now owe: $10,600

Our circumstances are very different now that our Irish house is paid off. D bought it for $100k Irish pounds (back before the euro!). We did not pay down principal since the interest rate was low; we just did regular payments until it was paid off. It is rented out to two friends. We feel ok taking $400/month out to help pay down our mortgage here. The rest of the rent money is for repairs and taxes.

If it helps, our take home pay every month is $6446. Of this, we pay $850 toward tuition and $800 toward our IRA's (we are trying for $1000). I will post our full budget soon. Not sure what other people make, but I am happy to be transparent if it helps someone!

Posted in Investing, Frugal Living | 14 Comments »

14 Responses to “How we paid off almost $7500 in 4 months”

  1. Petunia 100 Says:
    April 19th, 2017 at 03:23 pm 1492615432
    1492615432

    You're so close, Buendia! Years of hard work is about to result in no more mortgage. Congrats to you. Smile

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    April 19th, 2017 at 05:16 pm 1492622193
    1492622193

    Great post!

  3. My English Castle Says:
    April 19th, 2017 at 06:55 pm 1492628106
    1492628106

    I like all your side cash going toward the principal. It's nice to see it evaporate, isn't it?

  4. Bluebird Says:
    April 19th, 2017 at 10:48 pm 1492642096
    1492642096

    Great job!!! You're almost there! We paid off our mortgage in 2009 (had the mortgage for 5 yrs and 3 mos). I couldn't bear looking at the interest we were paying or could pay over the life of the loan. We were in super frugal mode and I applied every extra dollar, rebate, reimbursement, etc. to pay off the mortgage. It does add up. We always maxed out our retirement plans and invested a fixed amount every month while paying off the mortgage, so we didn't sacrifice retirement to do it. It's such a comforting feeling having no mortgage.

  5. PNW Mom Says:
    April 20th, 2017 at 02:08 am 1492654098
    1492654098

    Great job! You are so close! Thanks for sharing!

  6. VS_ozgirl Says:
    April 20th, 2017 at 11:39 am 1492688374
    1492688374

    Very inspiring! One of the things my mother always told me about money was to put as much as you can on your mortgage because all the payments add up - this is proof! Congratulations Smile.

  7. MonkeyMama Says:
    April 20th, 2017 at 01:25 pm 1492694727
    1492694727

    Awesome!

  8. Kiki Says:
    April 20th, 2017 at 06:58 pm 1492714727
    1492714727

    So exciting to see someone close to reaching their goal!

  9. snafu Says:
    April 20th, 2017 at 08:56 pm 1492721818
    1492721818

    Similar to Bluebird, I disliked seeing the mortgage payment allocation primarily to interest, municipal taxes and smallest to principal. We pledged to automatically contribute any extra earned income to principal. We also challenged ourselves to find small savings in budgeted categories not realizing the long term benefit. Once mortgage free, we used that principal sum to fund an investment account and that's where the biggest surprise lies.

  10. rob62521 Says:
    April 21st, 2017 at 08:09 pm 1492805363
    1492805363

    Great job! You have worked hard to get as much as you have paid off.

  11. crazyliblady Says:
    April 21st, 2017 at 10:59 pm 1492815565
    1492815565

    I wish there was a like button on this site. This is awesome!

  12. crazyliblady Says:
    April 21st, 2017 at 11:01 pm 1492815718
    1492815718

    I have been thinking about that other blog you wrote where you described the encounter with bank employee who was completely flummoxed when you said you would be paying off the mortgage. Is it really so rare these days to actually pay off such a sizeable debt that the banks don't know how to deal with it?

  13. Buendia Says:
    April 21st, 2017 at 11:05 pm 1492815912
    1492815912

    Good question, crazyliblady! I was wondering... I was in the bank again and got a person with more experience/seniority and he understood and was super helpful!

  14. Buy, Hold Long Says:
    April 25th, 2017 at 02:18 am 1493086686
    1493086686

    Very well done, you will have it all paid down in no time. Good on you.

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