Just deposited my paycheck and paid the mortgage.

Mortgage Balance? $200,874!


What I have so far to apply to the balance on 12/31 is:

$311 regular payment (principal portion)
$150 payroll tax holiday
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$461 Total

Leaves about $415 to come up with. I am just crossing my fingers for Christmas money. If I don't get enough, will transfer from savings.

Ending balance should be $199,998

Wahoo!

I will probably wait until Christmas so that I can use Christmas money to pay it down. Merry Christmas to me!

Anyway, most extra payments made were from credit card rewards this year. Here are the extra principal payments made this year. I haven't had to touch savings for any of these, so crossing my fingers that I can say the same for December:

JAN - 72.79
FEB - 132.79
MAR - 156.00
APR - 177.79
MAY - 65.00
JUN - 552.79
JUL - 50.00
AUG - 300.00
SEP - 450.00
OCT - 150.00
NOV - 150.00
DEC - 876.00
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TOTAL $3133.16
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Boy do those mortgage chips add up fast!

I did mention none of these payments came from regular income? & just a place to park the payroll tax holiday, so I don't get used to it.

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I also wouldn't be surprised if we refinance AGAIN. The refinancing never ends. I am holding off and attacking the mortgage a bit in the hopes of getting 3%-ish for a 15-year loan. The 30-year isn't quite worth it, but getting close. I could never regret our last refinance - it freed up $200/month and locked in a GREAT rate. I wasn't sure if the value of our home would hold, and I am not one to wait for better rates when they are ROCK BOTTOM. But I knew there was a chance that rates would go even lower. So, we just refinance again. Every time I tell my hubby, "This is the last time ever - I swear!" He just hated those loan people, and the whole process. He knows I wouldn't bring it up unless we could save a ton of money! Our home value has held, and I just saw my FICO was 800, credit card dealings and all. So, now I just wait for the right time. (& if I miss the boat - oh well - I can't complain about 4.875%!) One thing that is interesting is that our rate is so low as is, that a small interest rate drop is rather significant. Also, the many times we have refinanced, 15-year rates were generally close to 30-year rates. So I am in awe of these low low low 15-year rates and trying to figure out how to snag one of those without regretting the bigger mortgage payment. All I can do is pay down the principal as much as possible, and hope these rates hold a while longer.