It is a little odd that I don't think of our mortgage as debt in the same way I do our credit cards, or loans when we had those. I definitely don't like having a mortgage or paying interest on it, but I do just accept it as a fact of life in some regards.
As you know, we are paying extra on our mortgage debt this year. It feels good, even though I know we will not pay it off before we move. I think of the principal payments as savings in a way. Theoretically, we will get that cash back when we move and sell the house. Of course, if use a realtor, they will get a cut. And if the house were to decline in value, that would cut into that profit as well. This time around the housing market seems to be going in our favor. We likely will make a little money when we sell. 
So we have made progress on the mortgage this year. We have $3,758.59 less mortgage debt than we did at the beginning of the year. We are ahead of our goal by over $260! We are definitely on track to pay off over $14K this year.
It is so fun to see the progress and actually see the steps I planned work to make the goal come to reality. It's not so hard when you have a plan!
Have you made any new goals for your money this year? How are the ones you made coming along? Are you behind, ahead or right on track?
I had to edit this post as I realized I missed our January regular principal payment of over $400 in my year to date total. Instead of being slightly behind we are ahead. Glad I caught the error. I feel even better about where we are!
Debt Paid:YTD
March 15th, 2014 at 04:12 pm
March 15th, 2014 at 04:49 pm 1394902151
And the realtor will make the same commission whether you own your home outright or have a mortgage. Is yours a state where you have to pay sales tax when you sell a home?
March 15th, 2014 at 05:45 pm 1394905528
March 16th, 2014 at 03:20 pm 1394983200
Most people make their regular monthly 'mortgage' payment blissfully unaware that most of the sum paid is parcelled out to interest, property tax and PMI if applicable with only a couple of bucks actually applied to the principal, the sum initially borrowed. While interest rates are lower, I recall reading most mortgages cost three times the sum borrowed. A $ 3000. K mortgage costs $ 9000. K if it were to be paid out over 30 years.
March 16th, 2014 at 07:17 pm 1394997467
Until i started reading these blogs i was cruising along paying the minimum and never feeling i had spare money to throw at it. Now it gets paid first and we live (well) on the leftovers. 4585 to principle so far this year (offset helps with this too).
March 16th, 2014 at 07:57 pm 1394999859
March 17th, 2014 at 04:09 pm 1395072590