Official Number for 2017

BLUE is what we paid off in 2017

Last January, after evaluating our finances and goals, we decided we were in a good place to pay down our mortgage principal.  I blogged about the proposition of that goal for 2017 here: 
I've Got A Dream.  So this year, we've been living by a pretty tight budget and we've been doing great with it.  It is so FREEING to live by a budget and know exactly how much you have to spend in all areas of life for each month.  And the reward of beating the budget each month, is adding a little extra towards paying down the principal.  Yep- most people would reward themselves with a Starbucks or something else extra ... I guess I am of a different breed- I consider it a win to pay a little more down on the mortgage;)  We've moved from "tracking our finances" with a budget, into a land of "living within our budget".  And looking back throughout the year, and doing the math-- it has paid off.
paying down or mortgage principal.  I blogged about the proposition of that goal for 2017 here: 

STATS:
From Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2018 we PAID OFF $31,276.55 of our mortgage balance!!
From 2013- we have now paid off 36.5% of our initial mortgage

Initially we started with about $127,000.  My initial hope was to get down to $110,000 on our mortgage balance.  But once we started, that hope became an daily awareness.  With every purchase, I considered how that affected our goal.  And let's just say, I refrained from purchasing A LOT this year.  That's the only way a 1 income family could make that large of a dent in paying off debt.  We cut back spending in a huge way.  Basically every dollar that came in each month was accounted for, and spent on something.  Dave Ramsey refers to this as "Zero  Based Budgeting".  So all the money is spent on something- and in our c

ase, a lot of that money was spent on "Mortgage principal".  A lot meaning, $31,000!  Yay!  That initial goal of getting the mortgage principal balance down to $110,000 then turned into breaking $100,000.  And we did it!  We're heading into 2018 at $95,276 to go.  So in 12 months we were able to trim down $31,000 of our home debt.

So if that isn't inspiring and motivating in a personal finance realm- I don't know what would be.  If you give yourself a financial goal, and you have a plan of how to reach that goal- then your money won't keep magically disappearing on you.  Because let's face it, that is exactly what happens every month when you don't have a plan.

We are still on an early pay off plan for our mortgage, however our goal for 2018 is to redirect a majority of our excess money towards a sinking fund for an exciting change in 2019!  Sadly we won't be bringing that mortgage balance down as drastically as we did this year, but we have a plan for something great in the near future.  And in the mean time, we will keep chipping away at our $95,000.

Here's to a NEW YEAR of making and achieving NEW GOALS! Happy New Year!