Mortgage Update for December 2016

The gift buying is over and I managed to pay $1,200 extra towards my mortgage principal which brings the total to $22,931.  One year and 4 months left.  Now, to be honest, I haven't paid my credit card bill yet.  I don't get the bill until January 4th and  it's going to be a big one but I don't have to pay it for 30 days.

So, how did I spend my vacation days?  It stared off with a half day last Wednesday to take my nephew to the airport.  He wanted to be left at the curb so I was at work by 9am.  This meant I only had to work 4 hours and then I would be free.  I happily left by 2 and I don't even remember what I did after I got home.  On Thursday, I had the whole day off.  I slept late, did at least 6 loads of laundry, mopped the floor, vacuumed the bedrooms, moved stuff around in a semi-organized manner.  It was great.  The weather was great.  Everything was great until I made myself dinner and noticed liquid on the floor.  

I thought one of the dogs was angry at me for mopping but when I threw some paper towels down, it was clear that this was no dog puddle.  This was a major leak.  I threw a towel down and the water just laughed.  I thought the water might be coming from the closest appliance which was the dish washer so I got a wrench and tried to shut off the water valve under the sink.  

While I was trying to do that, my elbow went through the water soaked particle board, which is what my 70's cabinets are made of.  Curious, I easily broke off hunks of particle board to reveal a half inch of water under the sink cabinet.  Then, looking to my left, I noticed water around the gap between the tile and cabinet next to the fridge.  

Orange electrical cord for the Tiny House people.

Pondering that for a moment, I decided to check the bathroom pipes located on the other side of the wall.  They looked ok but the grout was a little damp.  Not wanting to break into the walls at that moment, I decided that it was probably a leak from the laundry drain pipe.

My laundry was mostly finished for the day and I wanted to eat dinner so I stopped the investigation and finished eating.  Then I remembered that I had a ShopVac in the other room.  Perfect for sucking up wet messes.  I dragged all the wet, dirty towels into a trash bag and out to the back porch and quickly sucked up all of the water and mess.  What a handy little machine.

I left everything to dry out and went to bed.  The next day was Friday and I picked up my aunt from the airport and had a nice dinner with my mother and sister.  Saturday was another cleaning day but I did not pursue the laundry leak mystery and that is where I will stop for today because I should just post this or else it will get too long.

Mortgage Update for November

$25, 405.  1 year and 5 months to go.  I waited until the last day of the month to make my extra payment because I couldn't decide if I was going to do $1,000 or $600 this month.  Jimmy-dog's vet bill was $450.  I also had the opportunity to get the timing belt and water pump replaced in my PT Cruiser for $650, less than half the amount it was quoted to me.  Since the car was 10k miles over the recommended maintenance time and I had heard that a broken belt usually kills the engine permanently, I decided to get it done even though the financial timing isn't the best.  So, that's negative $1,100 for November.  I have $600/month budgeted for these kinds of expenses.  Then, I had the opportunity to host a tiny house in my yard for one month.  (Details to come later) That's a positive $300 for rent.  To make up the difference between -$1,100 and +$900, I only paid an extra $1,000 instead of my usual $1,200 for the mortgage.  Now I can move on to trying to balance December.       

Mortgage Update for October 2016

Another $1,200 extra payment for the mortgage.  The total is now $26, 674.  Only one year and 6 months to go!  Then I will sell the house, or rent it out, and move back to my property .  I was out at my property yesterday.  Although, I miss it, I do not want to go back without enough money to make life easier out there.  I have dreams of a 20'x20' metal carport going in where the old garage used to be and some nice big water tanks for rainwater collection.  Also, some block walls, field fence for the perimeter, covered porches, and finish the inside of the barn-shed. 

I called the building department and scheduled my inspection for the barn-shed, again.  If you remember, the inspector said he couldn't find the address last June when I scheduled it the first time.  I added another address sign and wrote down the miles from the main road and left more explicit instructions on the voicemail.  I hope he just finds it and passes the inspection.  There isn't much to inspect.  The grading inspection and the tie-downs were already approved.  I just want to close this permit so that I don't waste $300 in fees and have to do it all again. 

Anyway, I will be nervously checking online tomorrow to see if I pass or not.  There is no phone number for the inspector and no time frame for him to show up other than between 8 and 5. 

*Update* I blissfully forgot all about the inspection until noon and then nervously checked online.  FAILED, again.

This time, it was a woman inspector who couldn't find the place.  She didn't leave a contact number in the comments so I called the general number and got sent to one guy who sent me over to the Addressing department who gave me the cell phone number of the inspector.  Finally, some useful information.  I called her and she said that she drove up and down the main road but didn't see the address and didn't receive the detailed voicemail that I left on the automated system.  Sigh.  I asked her if she would be the one to go out tomorrow if I scheduled it again and she said probably and to call her at 7am.  I signed up for the inspection tomorrow and will call her with directions.  I hope, after all of this, that I pass the inspection.  I think I will change my address with the addressing department to get a more accurate address before I attempt the electrical permit.  I've been waiting for the closest dirt road to get an official name but now I think it will have the same name as the other dirt road before the turn.  That's fine.  If I get an address that an inspector can find, I will be happy with it.

Mortgage Update for September 2016

Since I have had some large vet bills and last month's $1,000 A/C repair bill for on my rental property, I decided to reduce my monthly extra mortgage payment from $1,200 to $800 this month.  I need to make my maintenance/dog/auto fund grow back to a more comfortable $3K level.   It shouldn't be too hard unless I can't resist going ahead with all of the projects that are floating around in my head for my property. 

Extra payment:  $800

New mortgage total:  $28,138

Pay-off time at $1,200 extra/m:  1 year and 7 months

The weather is a little cooler now and I could be painting and building steps and putting up gutters and buying more water collection tanks, and....  No.  I don't need it yet.  But every time I get a $10 off $100 coupon from Home Depot, I want to BUY more stuff!  The only things I should do out there don't involve money.  I already bought the paint so I could do that.  I also need to put up address signs so that the building inspector can find the place for my final inspection.  If you remember, the last time I called for the final inspection (I think it was last May or June), the inspector said he couldn't find it.  I guess he doesn't know how to use Google maps.  I will try to make it as easy as possible for him this time since I want to pass the inspection and close the permit until I am ready to add electric to my barn-shed later on. 

My nephew is visiting my sister in California for the next week and a half.  Last weekend I took him to get a free haircut from the high school hair cutting class.  It turned out pretty good.  Then to test out Allegra allergy medicine with the cats at the shelter.  It worked!  After an hour, there was no reaction.  Then to the thrift store to buy two dress shirts because he grew out of his except for his white one and I want him to have other color choices, plus, I am hoping my sister will take some senior photos of him while he is there so that we can include them in his graduation announcements. 

His Monday flight was delayed an hour and then 10 more minutes, and then 10 more, prompting me to call Southwest to make sure he wouldn't be stuck in Denver overnight if he missed his connection.  The airline replaced the plane for his flight which improved the time to only 1 hour late and he was able to make his connection without incident.  My brain is decompressing while I have this break from being guardian of a human being.  I'm not totally off-duty though.  I added minutes to his Tracfone, scheduled a windshield replacement on the truck that he drives, just sent in his college registration fee and we will be filling out his Federal financial aid form by Skype this weekend.  We keep moving towards the college goal little by little. 

Mortgage Update for August 2016

Well, my emergency fund is low but I made another $1,200 extra mortgage payment anyway.  I mean, how could I pass up this month when I was so close to breaking into the $20,000's?  The total is now $29, 197.  Estimated payoff in one year and 8 months but I am pretty sure I am going to have to skip next month's extra payment or just make a small one.  The A/C unit at my rental house has been acting up.  It is only 3 years old so I was hopeful that the warranty would pay for repairs but the repairman said it is the main control board that needed to be replaced and that isn't covered by warranty.  I don't have the final bill yet but it is at least $650.  That means the $850 that I get in rent will go to pay that bill instead of going towards my extra mortgage payment.  I do have a maintenance fund but with this month's vet bills, I raided it with the intention of paying it back over the next few months.  A small set-back but nothing major.   

Last weekend, we stayed home and enjoyed not having to go anywhere.  I made waffles and chocolate chip cookies.  I really like having a full stove/oven instead of the little 2-burner stove that I had to use at the mobile home.   When I get electrical wiring for my tiny house it will definitely be able to connect a normal size stove/oven.  It is still too hot to actually use the oven so I cooked my cookies in the toaster oven.  The results were the same, yummy cookies.  The lack of rain and hot weather has made the weeds die off.  Something is blooming that I am allergic to because every time I go in the backyard to water the garden, my nose starts to run.  I think it's the grass that is going to seed.  I finally cleared off the side table where I put my mail.  That made me feel like I accomplished something.  And I cleaned off the items that I brought from the mobile home but that made me nostalgic and I started digging around in the boxes in my back room.  Total allergy attack time.  I didn't find the book from my childhood either.  I did find the storybook records from my childhood and my mixed tapes from 1989-90.

Ahh, nostalgia!

   I don't have a record player and I haven't tried to play the tapes.

I am not in the mood to make the kind of tough decisions to keep, sell or toss.  My plan is to deal with all of that after my nephew has gone to college.  80% of this stuff should not move to my tiny house.  I would have to buy another tiny house just for my stuff.

Anyway, three day weekend coming up!  Yeehaw.  We are going to visit my mother on Sunday and my nephew will be working on his research paper on Monday.  Other than that, I have no plans yet. I will just enjoy my time off. 

Mortgage Update for June 2016

Another $1,200 contribution to the principle of my mortgage for a total of $32,099.  1 year 10 months to go.  It is great to have this break from thinking about my nephew's school progress, but, with the extra room in my brain, I have started thinking about how I can speed up my plan.  Nothing has worked out so far.  When I have to consider another person in my plans, it is best to just continue as I am doing.

Here are some of the things I thought:

Get a cash-out refinance because my current interest rate is 4.5% and the 15 year interest rate is 2.8%.  Take out $20K, fix up the kitchen and master bath in my house and be ready to sell (or rent it out) as soon as he leaves for college next year.

Or, the super-fast forward version:  Take out $50K, pay back my mother for the barn-shed, fix up the house to sell, finish off the barn-shed interior.  Everything finished by the time he goes to college.

But, from what I read, cash-out refinances are not a good choice because of the high closing costs.  Home equity lines of credit are a better choice because there are no closing costs.

Ok, so a home equity line of credit would work for the kitchen and bath remodel.  But then I went out to the property to get the mail and check on the cat food/water.  In the mail was a big packet for BACK TO SCHOOL.  Medical forms, open house, meetings, deadlines, fundraisers, senior, choir and youth group activities, yearbooks, cap and gowns, HOMEWORK!  My brain suddenly froze up and those lofty ideas of doing remodeling while having a full time job and parenting a senior in high school flew away.  I should stick to my plan of paying off my mortgage and downsizing until he is 18 years old and securely planted in college.  One more year and then I can revisit my options for accelerating semi-retirement.   We can do this!

Mortgage Update for May 2016

Mortgage update and last day of junior year for my nephew!  (I wrote this on Thursday) He wanted to know when he is considered a senior, after the last day of school or on the first day of senior year?  I said after the last day of school assuming he passed all of his classes.  Next school year is going to be a very busy, fun and scary year for him as he makes his way towards college and independence. 

I put another extra $1,200 towards the principle of my mortgage.  New total is $33,542.  1 year and 11 months left at this rate.  It is very tempting to stop the extra mortgage repayment and work on new projects instead but the heat will probably deter me for a few months, at least.  I find myself often watching youtube videos on installing a metal roof on a mobile home and dreaming of block walls for a secure yard and garden.  All in good time.

Mortgage Update for April 2016

April mortgage update.  Another extra $1,200 went towards the principle for a total of $34,980 left.  2 more years to go at this rate. 

April is almost over which means I will do my usual denial through May that summer is here.  Then 4 months of 'too hot to do anything' followed by pretending that the weather cools down in October but usually it doesn't cool down until November.  I have shade cloth up at the house for my bedroom sliding door and for the little patch of garden that is growing very well since we had an early spring.  I have tomatoes, pole beans, and sweet potatoes growing together with sunflowers for shade.  Most of them are volunteers from last year.  I love low maintenance gardening.

The mobile home still needs some weather protection around the front door and window.  Maybe just more caulk and a drip edge above the door will do it.  I had better plan a Saturday soon for those chores or else it will be 110F before I know it.  I hope to employ my nephew to help me with some improvements on the property next year.  I would love a little porch on the mobile home for shade.  I have pictured it in my head a thousand times but I have never built a porch and it seems like a daunting task.  Maybe with his help I can get it done. 

My projects always outnumber my available weekends and energy.  I still haven't finished the tie-downs for the barn-shed and had the final inspection yet.  Plus, I haven't finished painting.  I have plenty to do and in the meantime I am chipping away at the mortgage so that very soon I will have the time and money to do all of these things I've been dreaming about.

Mortgage Update for March 2016

March was a big month for extra bills since my nephew and I took a trip and I had my dog's teeth cleaned (cleaning was the cheapest part.  10 extractions and 2 growths removed were the expensive part).  Yet, I still made an extra $1,200 payment on my mortgage for this month.  I could have skipped a month and paid the bill all at once but I would rather borrow from my emergency fund and pay myself back over 3 month's time. 

The new mortgage total is $36,412.  If I can continue at this rate, I will have my mortgage paid off in 2 years and 1 month. 

At the vet's office last week, I asked if I could receive the "dental awareness" discount which is for the month of February but since my vet had the flu and had to reschedule to March, they gave me the discount.  Then, while waiting for them to bring me my dog, I reviewed the itemized bill and saw that they had charged me $14 for a cone collar even though I declined it, and $10 for pill pockets which my dog hates and they didn't give any to me anyway.  They gave me a refund.   

On Saturday I stopped by the hardware store and bought paint for my barn-shed.  Usually I go to the store close to my house but they don't carry paint in the 5 gallon buckets.  I checked my credit card statement just for fun today and noticed that I had been charged twice for the paint.  The computers were offline when I made the purchase and it looks like I got charged again when they came back online.  I called the store and was told to call the corporate office.  The corporate office said the store should have handled it so corporate called the store and straightened it out.  I still have to return to the store to get the credit put back on my card.  So many little things that need to be monitored.

And there were two other instances of being over-charged this month.  One was for Tracfone minutes.  I tried to buy minutes for my nephew's phone online and I got a message that said the transaction could not be completed and I needed to call Tracfone.  I called them and the customer service person completed the transaction over the phone.  When I checked my credit card later, I was double billed.  It took an online chat and another phone call to get it straightened out.  Then, my internet provider, CenturyLink, sent me a card that said my credit card was declined.  Called them and got it fixed but I still don't know why it was declined.  The agent told me I could increase my internet speed for only $5 more so I agreed.  Two days later a new router/modem showed up at my door.  Another phone call got me a return number and I sent it back but I still have to call to make sure I am not being charged for a leased router/modem.

Anyway, it was a lovely spring break at the house but now we are back to the school schedule, the mobile home during the week and the house in town on weekends.  9 more weeks until summer break!  I'm looking forward to it, except for the up-coming heat.

Mortgage Update for February 2016

Another $1,200 extra for the mortgage.  Just to recap, I'm talking about the house that we go to on the weekends and holidays and that we are planning to live in next school year and that I am planning to sell in 2 or so years.

My rental house is paid off and rented at the moment.

My mobile home is where we live during the week on school days when my nephew needs to catch the school bus.  The mobile home and the weekend house are in 2 different school districts, the mobile home being in the far better school district which is why we go through this trouble.

So, back to the mortgage.  If I keep paying an extra $1,200 a month, I will have the house paid off in 2 years and 2 months.  Seems like it never gets closer but I know it is...slowly.  The new total is $37,839.

I got a letter from the bank today advertising their home equity lines of credit.  Hmm...I would like a new kitchen...but no.  If I do any improvements, I want them to be done right before I put the house on the market so that nothing can break or get ruined.  My kitchen works fine, well, except for the garbage disposal and the dishwasher which can't work now since the garbage disposal is dead.  But I don't use either of those anyway.

Today I am alone at home and it is a nice break.  My nephew is off to a school Disneyland trip and won't be back until Saturday night so I can do whatever I like and I don't have to think about homework or dinner or computer time limits or getting to school on time.  Ahhh... I like it.

Mortgage Update for January 2016

January was a medium spending month.  I bought the light for the kitchen, new sneakers for me and my nephew, and paid for driving lessons for my nephew.  I was still able to put $1,200 extra towards my house mortgage which brought the total to $39,261.  Under $40K at last!  At $1,200 extra a month it will take me another 2 years 3 months to pay it off in full.

This has been a busy week.  Last week I left work early to pick my nephew up from school and take him for his driver's permit test.  The second time was the charm.  He passed! (one of the few kids there that did)  Now our plan to move back to the house for his senior year has begun.  His first behind the wheel training was this week and the instructor said he did well for his first time.  In 6 months he will be able to get his license and then a parking permit for school.  Since we won't have to rely on the school bus for transportation, we can stay at the house.  This means that I can finish draining the above ground pool (for water storage) and put it away until I sell the house and move out to the property for good after my nephew graduates from high school.

I haven't had a free Saturday to do chores out at the property.  Last week I stayed home from work on Friday with a miserable cold and was sick all weekend.  I still had to take my nephew to a choir audition for school on Saturday.  Soon he will be able to drive himself to such things.  

This week I had the feeling I was forgetting something but I couldn't figure out what.  Finally, on Tuesday, I remembered that I was supposed to submit the annual guardian report to the courts for my nephew.  Luckily, it wasn't due until February 11 but I need a medical report to go with it and I forgot to make a copy of his sport's physical last fall.  I thought I was going to have to take another half day off work to get him another physical but I called the school and fortuitously, they had the report on file and gave it to my nephew to bring home.  I ran over to the post office at lunch and got it mailed.  Only one more report to go until he is 18 and guardianship is over. 

My mother is returning to Arizona tomorrow.  We will pick her up late tomorrow night and take her to her house later in the weekend.  This will be her first time back since breaking her hip on her Florida vacation.  Her house is like a time capsule.  Everything is frozen in time from right after my father's funeral.  My sister and I will help her sort through it.  I hope she likes being back but she might want to go back to Washington state when the temperatures creep up in to the 100's.  She did always want to be a snowbird. 

Mortgage Update for December 2015

I know I said that I wasn't going to pay any additional principle this month because I spent it all on presents but, then I thought, I didn't really spend THAT much money on presents.  So, I looked at my credit card bill and added the checks I wrote to nieces and nephews and subtracted it from my extra mortgage budget.  I was happy to see that I had $500 left.  At least it is something.  Skipping a whole month is discouraging.  Of course, after I paid the $500 in extra principle, more expenses came up like dog medicine for Sassy (3 month supply to get the discount) and stocking up on toilet paper and paper towels with my 20% off coupon.  Not necessary but I have plenty of paper products now.  Perhaps I can consider that as pre-spending for January.

New mortgage balance:  $40,677
Time left at $1,200 extra per month:  2 years 4 months

So close to the 30's.  Next month will definitely push it over.  I have some big expenses coming up like a teeth cleaning for one of my dogs and a trip for my nephew to visit the college I attended to see if he would like to go there.  I think there is a wedding trip this summer and there are extra expenses for driver's training and insurance coming soon.  Ugh.  I don't want to think about all of the money that I will spend.  I'll just take it one day, week, month at a time and make it through.

Mortgage Update for November

Last day of November!  I got this mortgage update posted just in time.  I managed to add another $1,200 to the principle which brings the total down to $41,391.  At this rate it will take me 2 years and 4 months to pay it off.  That is much too long.  As soon as my nephew goes off to college or where ever he plans to go in a year and a half when he is 18, I won't be able to hold back my plan to sell my house any longer.  Of course, I will need to do some major downsizing which will take time.

2 1/2 weeks until winter break.  My nephew is going to visit his relatives out of state and I am super excited to have 2 weeks off from being homework monitor, chauffeur, cook, and all-around responsible adult.  I don't have any projects planned at the moment but there are plenty of things that need attention.

fix plumbing in my shower
finally finish counter top next to sink
cover outdoor water pipes
hang gutter
trim door and window outside
finish indoor trim and touch up paint
skirting for barn-shed and extend fence
work on snake-proofing fence

I still have to go to my job so probably only one or two of those things will get done.  I want to save my vacation days for later in the year just in case I need to travel to visit family now that my parents aren't living close by.  So much has changed since last year at this time.  Dad is gone, Mom moved away, nephew is back with me.  I was expecting a rather uneventful year but it didn't cooperate. I hope next year is a little more predictable.

Mortgage Progress for October 2015

I did it!  After 6 months of pausing my extra mortgage payments in order to help my niece with college money, fix up my mobile home, and pay car bills, I finally had money to put towards the mortgage this month.

I paid an extra $1,200 which gives me a balance of $42.799 left on my mortgage.  At this $1,200 rate, I will have it paid off in 2 years and 5 months.  That's a bit disappointing because I want my mortgage payoff to coincide with my nephew's going off to college (hopefully going off to college).  I will have to try harder and speed things up.

It feels great to be paying down the mortgage again.  I know many people would rather invest the money but with my goal of retiring early, I am not in a position to take risks with my savings.  Plus, I find paying off the mortgage to be the most motivating.  I tried saving instead and it didn't work out.  There were so many other things that I wanted to spend the money on.  Locking my money up in my house keeps me from spending all of my early retirement money before I even retire early.

The plan right now is to sell the house in 3 years and use the money to live on for the next 15 years when I will be able to tap in to my 401K.  I hope it works out.  My retire date seems to be forever moving backwards.  I'm back on track for now.  Only $42,799 to go.

Mortgage Update for March 2015

I better write this before March is over.  It has been a rough month and I thought about skipping my extra mortgage payment but I don't want to get out of the habit so I contributed $1,200 extra to the mortgage for March.  I was hoping to have $1,600 but I needed a new battery for the truck and I gave my niece $300 for her plane ticket which was well worth it.  It has been so great having her here to help out.  I am already behind at work and I missed some time last week because my father broke his hip.  I've had extra expenses for gas, meals at the hospital and groceries and that will continue for another 3 weeks while my father is in a rehabilitation facility near my house and my mother and niece are staying at my house.  I'm also missing work for my mobile home remodel project.  Next Tuesday the excavator is coming out to fix the drainage on the property and to level a site for the big shed.  I'll need to take a half day off to supervise.  The following week my shed should be delivered and I definitely want to be there for that.  They don't deliver on the weekend so that means more time off work.

Anyway, back to the mortgage.  The new balance is $45,405.  If I keep paying $1,200 a month, I will have it paid off in 2 years and 8 months.  Slowly but surely, I am whittling it away.

Mortgage Update for February 2015

Whew!  It was a wild weekend.  My sister came to visit with her seven kids and they all stayed at my house.

 It is great to have a house big enough to accommodate them all.  I told her that in a few years I would be moving out to my property and they could all camp there but she wasn't very enthusiastic about that idea.  Something about snakes and scorpions...  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I took Monday and Tuesday off so that I could hang out with them.  It was not fun to go to work today and face my long list of urgent email.

Since it is the end of the month, I made my February extra mortgage payment.  $1,200 extra brings the total to $46,798.  2 years and 8 months to go.  Only 2 years to go if I can start paying $1,600 extra but everything has to go perfectly.  And speaking of not going perfectly, I received an email tonight from my property management company.  My tenants are leaving in May and the management company is going to start showing the house to new tenants.  My current tenants were great.  They always paid on time.  I hope my next tenants are just as responsible and stay for many years.  And I hope I don't have a dreaded VACANCY for months.  That would be terrible.  

Mortgage Update for January 2015

It's mortgage update time already.  I'm still making up for prior expenditures so I only contributed $1,200 extra to my mortgage this month.    New balance:  $48,187.  If I have a really low spend month I can contribute up to $1,600 but that hasn't happened yet.  $1,200 a month extra is what I based my plan A spreadsheet on.  With plan A I will have it paid off in 2 years and 9 months.  Plan B is the accelerated plan where everything goes well and I never have any unexpected bills to pay (haha) and I add an extra $3,000 from savings at the end.  Plan B will take 2 years.  If I went back to paying just my mortgage payment I would have it paid off in 15 years.  That is way too long.

I finally heard back from my handyman.  I have been eagerly awaiting his call so that I can meet him at my property and show him what I want done.  He sent me a text today and said he spent the weekend in the hospital having his appendix removed and it will be 2 weeks before he can go back to work.  Well, I'm glad he is alright but that's a bummer.  I should call the earth-mover guy and get him scheduled so that I keep my plan going.  The people that made the site plan for me called today and wanted to know if they could do anything else for me.  I am glad they are eager to help.  It is frustrating to have to work everyday because I would much rather be working on my property but I need the money so I have to keep my job...for now.

Mortgage Update for December 2014

Last post for 2014.  I can't believe it.  Once the weather started cooling off, the time just flew by.  October through December went at warp speed.  Spring always goes slowly.  I think it is because my first holiday after New Year's isn't until April.

Well, now for some good news.  I was able to make an extra $1,200 payment towards my mortgage even with all the wild Christmas spending I did.  That brings the total down to $49,570. I am below $50k!  That is very exciting.  If I am able to keep up my $1,200 extra payments, then I will have it paid off in 2 years and 10 months.  I have another scenario where I put $1,600 a month towards the mortgage plus my $3,000 emergency fund and that would let me pay off the mortgage in 2 years and 1 month.  Who knows, it could happen.  With my nephew coming back to live with me, my expenses will be a little more unpredictable but I will try to keep them on track.

It has been cold and rainy all day today.  I had a nice lunch with my sister and the rest of the night is ear-marked for movies and ice cream with the dogs.  They are already sleeping so I can tell they aren't too concerned about the beginning of another year.  I hope it is a good year for everyone.  It is definitely looking like many changes are in store for me.  Hopefully, good changes.

Mortgage Update for November 2014

Woo-Hoo!  It's my favorite day of the month.  Mortgage update day!  This month I put an extra $1,100 towards the principal which brings the grand total of my mortgage down to $50,947.  So close to the 40's!  Just one more month.  $1,100 is less than I was previously paying because I took $400 to pay my savings account back for buying the car.  Next month I should be back to putting $1,500 towards the mortgage if I don't go too crazy with buying Christmas gifts.

My mortgage should be paid off in 2 years and 11 months, or faster if I don't have more expensive emergencies or buy big ticket items.  And, for some more good news, I got a 4% raise this year!  That's around $100 a month after taxes and subtracting the increased charge for health insurance.  If I put that extra $100 towards my mortgage, I could take another 2 months or so off of my timeline.

Tomorrow I'm taking a half day to go have Thanksgiving lunch at the nursing home with my dad.  Unfortunately, he fell this morning and broke his arm.  I don't know if he will be able to enjoy his lunch or not.  On Friday I hope to go out to my property to finish rat proofing the place, after I have a leisurely morning at home, of course.  Those are my big plans for my vacation time and I am perfectly fine with that.

Mortgage Update for October 2014

After skipping last month's extra mortgage payment because of my un-planned trip to Minnesota, I am back on schedule, sort of.  The trip cost $1,000 which left $500 of my scheduled payment remaining.  Then I went and bought the car for $2,800.  I decided to pay for the car with $500 from September, $400 from October and November, and $1,500 will come from my truck when I sell it.  So, I paid $1,100 extra to my mortgage this month which brings my mortgage total to $52,220.  If I keep up these extra payments I will have it paid off in 3 years or sooner.  Of course, if I keep taking trips and buying cars it will take a little longer.  I am very glad that I had the money available so that I could go visit my nephew when his grandma died.  Some things are worth more than paying off my mortgage and that was one of them.