It’s just $20
Think $20 doesn’t make a difference? It does, especially if you apply it to a loan. We’ve already cut 3 years off our mortgage by always making at least an additional $20 payment toward principal each month. (And we’ve saved $10,481.59 so far in the process. That’s right, ten THOUSAND dollars.) We are intending to pay significantly more toward the loan starting in January, but even sending an additional $20 now does make a difference.
It’s something to think about every time I find myself wanting to spend $20: do I want this (fast food meal, movie, etc) or would I rather have years of my life to spend doing what I really want to do instead of paying bills? Put that way, it’s an easy choice. We deserve to have a completely debt-free life. We deserve the freedom of not having to work for our debts. We deserve the freedom to pickup and travel to exotic locations without having to worry about how we can afford it. I’d rather have that than a fast food meal that’s gone in 20 minutes any day.
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October 2nd, 2006 at 7:42 pm
That sure does give me a new view of $20! I’m impressed & looking forward to one day cutting down the time it takes to pay off my own mortgage (and the few other bills I have left). :)
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:35 pm
[...] Blunt Money wisely reminds us that thinking “it’s just $20″ when we spend money can have a huge impact on debt repayment, mortgages, and so forth. [...]
October 6th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Blunt Money,
I LOVE this post. If people ever “get” the fact that even a small amount applied to a loan can have a major impact, they can begin to change their financial futures.
Keep it up,
NCN
This comment is part of my “100 Comments Series” over at No Credit Needed.
October 8th, 2006 at 5:54 am
Great post, shows how simple it can be to whittle mortgage debt down. I’ve been paying at least $200 more per month on my mortgage for months now and thought at first it might be a struggle. Turns out it hasn’t been in the least so far, making me think I can do even better now that I’m really in this mindset. It’s fun to play with the mortgage calculators to see what you might accomplish if you just stick with it. $200 extra for me will cut 9.34 years off my 20-year loan. I also plan to start putting my income tax refunds toward that end, which should reduce the total even more quickly. Should my car conk out, I may not even get another one, and I could very conceivably do this (since I’ve vowed to myself I’ll never get in hock for a car again, I work from my home and there’s a bus stop less than 100 yards from my house). This is all so cool to me. Again, thanks for your post.