If you’re like other homeowners, then your loan payment probably takes up the majority of your paycheck—but think of all the things you could pay for if you were mortgage-free.
In this article, we’re going to give you some budgeting tips that will let you pay off your mortgage sooner with the extra money you’ll be saving.
Make Your Own Lunch
Making and taking your own lunch to work every day might not sound like the best idea, especially if there’s a new restaurant down the street or a food truck park outside, but what if we told you it could save you thousands of dollars years from now?
Consider this: If you trade that $10 lunch out for a sandwich from home, you could be mortgage-free years ahead of schedule because you’ll be saving $3,650 a year—that’s over $3k you could be contributing EXTRA to your mortgage every year.
You could use that money to help make an extra mortgage payment every quarter and potentially shave off 10+ years off a 30-year mortgage.
Switch Up Your “Extras” Budget
Let’s pretend you pay away extra money for clothes, entertainment, and coffee every month. How about this: pick two of those categories each month to spend on—we don’t expect you to cut out all happiness from your life—and then use the extra money from your third category into a “pay off my mortgage early” fund.
Use Leftover Money
Of course, times are hard, but if you do have extra money leftover from each paycheck, you could put that away to make your extra quarterly payments. You could take that money from your varied bills (electric, gas, or water) whenever your payment is lower than normal. That way, you’ve already budgeted to not have that money in your pockets, so it won’t feel like you’re missing out on that cash.
Of course, this won’t be consistent, but it’s still more than the $0 you might be putting away otherwise.
Trim the Fat
We’re not talking about the fat on a steak. We’re talking about canceling the products you don’t use anymore. Do you only watch one or two shows on Netflix? Cancel it. If you absolutely need to have it when your favorite show comes out with its new season, that’s when we recommend you pay for streaming. Otherwise, you’re paying for 10 different streaming platforms and they’re making a fortune off you while you’re only streaming 10% of what’s available.
Refinance Your Loan
One way you can help pay off your loan faster is by refinancing it. Yes, it can be tempting to stick with your low-interest rate mortgage, but sometimes it’s better to convert a 30-year mortgage into a 15-year home loan if you can afford it. Not only will it cut your loan time in half, but you’ll also pay much less interest.
Are you considering refinancing your mortgage? Contact the professionals at HQM Loans for more information!