Two years and two months ago my wife and I purchased our very first home.  We love our new home – and we are working hard to pay off our mortgage.

We have a conventional, fixed-rate 15-year mortgage. Our goal is to pay it off our mortgage in less than ten years.

As of May 9, 2012, we have made 26 regular monthly mortgage payments. We have also made several additional principal-only payments.

Our mortgage payment is drafted from our primary checking on the first day of each month. Additional principal-only payments are made throughout each month, as we earn additional income and find ways to decrease budgeted-for expenses.

Here is our most recent chart -

The chart shows two percentages.

The blue percentage is how much I still owe – the balance.

The red percentage is how much I have reduced – the paid.

Each month, a little bit more of our regular monthly payment goes towards principal and a little less goes towards interest. Right now, the split is roughly 55/45. Seeing 45% of our payment going towards interest really stinks. That’s why we are so committed to sending extra, principal-only micro-payments.  (Unlike credit card companies, our mortgage provider does not apply micro-payments throughout the month.  Instead, all payments are processed on a single day.  However, we send them in, throughout the month, because we like a “hands-on” approach to debt reduction.  Being mindful, daily, helps to keep us motivated and focused.)

This chart does not represent how much of my house I actually own. It simply reflects how much of our mortgage balance we have paid.

We have made 26 regular payments and have lived in the house for a little more than two years. Our contractual remaining term is 12 years and 10 months, but our actual remaining term is 12 years and 5 months. We have reduced the length of our mortgage by 5 months!

View all post related to our mortgage payoff progress.

After several weeks of limited posting, I thought it would be nice to catch up with all of you guys.  First off, I hope that you are all doing well!  Here in Georgia, we had a very mild winter – and it already feels like summer.  I think it hit 92 degrees today!

My kids and I planted a “garden” this year.  I use the quotes, because we only managed to plant some onions, some strawberries, and some butter beans.  I had plans for much more planting – but then baseball and softball seasons rolled around – the kids were busy with practice – so we just decided to stick with what we had already planted.  I have three kids, so each kid gets his / her own vegetable to manage.  Watching my four year old pick fresh strawberries is pretty rad.

On the financial front, we have been clicking along.  I am still working to pay off our mortgage debt – Slowly, but surely, those extra, principal-only payments are starting to add up.  It’s been awesome, having our own house, and it’s a nice feeling, building equity.  One of these days, we’ll own it, outright, and that will be super-awesome.

It feels great to write again.  I’ve missed the daily interactions with you all.  I really want to thank those of you who have taken the time to follow via twitter.com/NCN – you guys rock!  Even while I was away (from writing, busy with life-stuff), my number of followers continued to go up.  That’s pretty cool.

Thanks for reading No Credit Needed.  I hope you are doing well, paying off those debts, and saving for the future.  Rock on!

Two years ago my wife and I purchased our very first home.

We have a conventional, fixed-rate 15-year mortgage. Our goal is to pay it off our mortgage in less than ten years.

As of April 9, 2012, we have made 25 regular monthly mortgage payments. We have also made several additional principal-only payments.

Our mortgage payment is drafted from our primary checking on the first day of each month. Additional principal-only payments are made throughout each month, as we earn additional income and find ways to decrease budgeted-for expenses.

Here is our most recent chart -

The chart shows two percentages.

The blue percentage is how much I still owe – the balance.

The red percentage is how much I have reduced – the paid.

Each month, a little bit more of our regular monthly payment goes towards principal and a little less goes towards interest. Right now, the split is roughly 55/45. Seeing 45% of our payment going towards interest really stinks. That’s why we are so committed to sending extra, principal-only micro-payments. Our mortgage is reduced, dollar-for-dollar.

This chart does not represent how much of my house I actually own. It simply reflects how much of our mortgage balance we have paid.

We have made 25 regular payments and have lived in the house for almost two years. Our contractual remaining term is 12 years and 11 months, but our actual remaining term is 12 years and 6 months. We have reduced the length of our mortgage by 5 months!

Now that I have a new job, we’re still ironing out the wrinkles in our monthly budget. We’re unsure as to the exact amount we’ll have, each month, for debt reduction. We know that we can’t be as aggressive this year as we were last year, but we are still focused on our goal. Our steps may be smaller, but we’re still headed in the same direction.

View all post related to our mortgage payoff progress.

I have just finished filing my 2011 income taxes.  I used H&R Block at Home Online (now offering a 15% discount).

Due to the fact that I changed jobs mid-year, my annual income was a little lower in 2011 than it was in 2010.  Couple that with the fact that we now have a mortgage (and mortgage interest) – and we received a little-bit-bigger-than-anticipated refund.

I am not a big fan of “loaning” the government my money (interest free, at that), but I knew that the job-change might result in the refund.  We’ll count it as a blessing – and use the money – but we have already adjusted our withholding for 2012.  Our refund will be less, but our monthly take-home will be more.

As for what we’ll do with the refund, we have three ideas.  We’ll us some of the money to reduce our mortgage principal, some of it to pad our savings, and some of it to take a long-weekend vacation.

Side note – I rarely write about politics (not because I don’t have opinions on the subject, but because that’s not really the purpose of this site) – but it would be cool if we could simplify the tax code / tax collection / tax payment system.  I’m not sure what the answer is, but it is difficult to believe that the current system is the best we can devise.

Two years ago my wife and I purchased our very first home.

We have a conventional, fixed-rate 15-year mortgage.  Our goal is to pay it off our mortgage in less than ten years.

As of January 13, 2011, we have made 22 regular monthly mortgage payments.  We have also made several additional principal-only payments.

Our mortgage payment is drafted from our primary checking on the first day of each month.  Additional principal-only payments are made throughout each month, as we earn additional income and find ways to decrease budgeted-for expenses.

Here is our most recent chart -

The chart shows two percentages.

The blue percentage is how much I still owe – the balance.

The red percentage is how much I have reduced – the paid.

Each month, a little bit more of our regular monthly payment goes towards principal and a little less goes towards interest.  Right now, the split is roughly 55/45.  Seeing 45% of our payment going towards interest really stinks.  That’s why we are so committed to sending extra, principal-only micro-payments.  Our mortgage is reduced, dollar-for-dollar.

This chart does not represent how much of my house I actually own. It simply reflects how much of our mortgage balance we have paid.  We actually “own” much more than 10.38% of the house, based on appraised value and initial down payment.

We have made 22 regular payments and have lived in the house for almost two years.  Our contractual remaining term is 13 years and 2 months, but our actual remaining term is 12 years and 10 months.  We have reduced the length of our mortgage by 4 months!

Now that I have a new job, we’re still ironing out the wrinkles in our monthly budget.  We’re unsure as to the exact amount we’ll have, each month, for debt reduction.  We know that we can’t be as aggressive this year as we were last year, but we are still focused on our goal.  Our steps may be smaller, but we’re still headed in the same direction.

View all post related to our mortgage payoff progress.