What an amazing feeling!

I just logged in to my bank's website to check our finances and noticed our second mortgage is GONE GONE GONE! Yeehaw!

 So, just how much money did we save by paying off this second mortgage in 4 months instead of 15 years?

• Without paying extra, we would have paid $9,963.29 in interest alone!
• With extra payments, we paid only $236.99 in interest.
• All said and done, we saved $9726.30! That's a couple of cars!

I am all for paying off mortgages as fast as responsibly possible. Here's why:

• Peace. I've already said in my financial philosophy that my ultimate goal is to not have to think about money, and with no mortgage, you remove a lot of risk.
• Freedom. If you decide to keep a mortgage for full term, you lock yourself into a house. A couple of friends of ours wanted to move out to the east coast and go to seminary. Since the housing market isn't in tip top shape, they weren't able to sell their house and they are still in Texas for another year. I'm not saying that I'm unhappy that they're still here, but just making an example. :) With no mortgage, you can afford to leave the house on the market, maintain taxes and insurance and go follow some dream of yours. Heck, you could even rent it out to friends and have them cover the expenses. Beats a mortgage, right?
• It's fun! Maybe Natalie doesn't agree with me on this one but I really get a kick out of seeing the balance shrink. It's almost like a game.

 With our remaining mortgage, if we stay close to our original pace, we stand to save $93,573.87 in the next 30 years. I like that.