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You are here: Home / Fundamentals / This is How We Do It – Part Six

by Stacy  8 Comments

This is How We Do It – Part Six

Hey guys, I’m winding up my part of this series today. Thanks so much for submitting your questions and sticking around while I answered them! I hope you learned some things – I did! Tomorrow Barry will wrap things up by answering the last question. Today is the last day to enter the giveaway at the bottom! For the other parts in this series see: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.

  • What tips do you have for new homeowners and paying off a 30 year mortgage early? Also do you have any frugal ways to buy new furniture for our new house?
Image by St_A_Sh

Congrats on being a new homeowner! It’s fun, huh? 🙂  I know there are plans out there that you can purchase that help you pay your home off early….but, I gotta tell you, that’s dumb. I’m blunt. Don’t buy something like that unless you just like burning your money. I’ll tell you how to pay off your house early – pay extra on the principal each month. You don’t need a plan to tell you that! Each month you’re paying some interest (a LOT at the beginning) and some on the principal……when you can add more money onto your principal payment, the total is going to go down – also helping you pay less in interest. Anytime you have extra money (a bonus, a yard sale, a raise, etc.) put that money directly on your principal….you’ll easily pay your 30 year mortgage off early. Make sure that your mortgage doesn’t have a penalty for paying it off early – some do.  This will be referred to as a prepayment penalty.

I love buying frugal furniture. In fact, only three pieces of modern furniture in our home were purchased new, but they were on sale (that’s for YOU, Brandy Nichols). The rest we purchased used. For more info on how I save money on furniture, check out my post about that.

  • We have been trying to live debt free for years, after thoroughly trashing our credit rating, history, everything, the works.  We finally swam out of that mess, and have been debt free for/or almost for over 12 years.  We had 2 small ones in that time, but paid them back way early, no mortgage, don’t own cards, they don’t own us, haven’t had cable tv of any kind for over 15 yr.  Vehicles are old, but paid for.  But even after all the work, studying, and working hard, we still can’t save any for the rainy day expenses that come.  Still too much living month to month.  Doing most of the right stuff, still need help saving.  Any thoughts, and yes, we pay our tithes.  Thanks.
Image by Alancleaver_2000

Barry –> If your monthly expenses match up with your monthly income even after you’ve cut your expenses (as it seems you have), then that leaves no room for something to go wrong.  That’s a dangerous place to be.  It sounds like most of the things I would suggest you’ve already done, but I wonder what happened to your income?  If you’ve been able to pay off a mess of debt including a mortgage, cars, etc. your income has had to shrink a great deal or the money is going to something else that you’re not keeping track of.  What happened to the income you used to pay off that debt?  I suspect now that the debt is gone you should have the extra to save.  Are you doing a budget?  If not, that would be the biggest step in the right direction you could make.  Even if you’re debt free, you still need a budget.  If you don’t have one, start NOW!  Sign up for Stacy’s daily email to get a free copy of my guide on how to do a budget and that should help get you started.

  • We have about $21,000 in debt (not including the mortgage) & we are a two income household. We’ve gotten rid of 4 cards so far but it seems like it’s taking forever to get rid of the next card. How do you stay patient without making more debt? We are using the snowball technique by Dave Ramsey.
Image by Hakan Dahlstrom

Woot for getting rid of four cards!!!!!!!!!!! That’s GREAT! 😀  First off, I’ll tell you – never pray for patience. Because if you do, God will send things into your path to test your patience. I learned the hard way. Ha!

How do you stay on the path when it’s taking a long time? Look back at where you used to be. On a regular basis, look at those old credit card bills. How much better do you feel knowing that they’re gone? Do you really want to add something like that back into your life just because you’re tired of waiting? No, of course not. The bondage is starting to fall off – don’t pick those chains back up. Just think about how much better you’re going to feel when the next one is gone…..attack it with that same force that you attacked the first four – do not let it overcome you. You are stronger than Visa. And if you need a cheerleader, I’m the girl for the job! Email me whenever you’re discouraged and I’ll give you a kick in the pants. 😉  As Annie says “that’s my job.”

For all the posts in this series, see links below:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

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About Stacy

Stacy is a Homemaking and Business Mom Mentor, the author of two cookbooks, creator of multiple e-courses, seasoned life coach, and comedian extraordinaire. Her first priority is her husband and her children - family first. She presses on each day because her calling is to teach, train, and mentor other ladies to have their dreams. She believes if it’s not easy, you won’t do it – because she’s lived it. She’ll bring YOU the awesome so that you can get your home back into control and watch your business soar. For tips and easy strategies, you can follow her on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the content above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Comment Policy: I love reading your thoughts and input on what you read here. I'm sure we'll disagree sometimes and that's okay! In those cases, do what's right for you and yours. As with any form of communication, only post comments that move the discussion in a positive direction.

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Comments

  1. Stacy says

    January 15, 2012 at 7:58 am

    I hope you get to live there a long time! It looks AWESOME!!!

    Reply
  2. Deborah Jones says

    January 14, 2012 at 8:56 am

    Loving the advice about paying extra on the principle. That’s what we are trying to do at the moment. It’s not a whole lot more but it is something!!

    Reply
    • Stacy says

      January 14, 2012 at 10:28 am

      Hey, every little bit adds up sister! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy says

    January 14, 2012 at 8:49 am

    This has been a great series!

    Reply
    • Stacy says

      January 14, 2012 at 10:28 am

      Thanks Anne! I enjoyed it too. 🙂

      Reply
    • Sherree says

      January 14, 2012 at 7:06 pm

      Thank you very much for this series! It has been extremely enlightening.
      I would like to know if there are any thoughts you have on dehydrated food companies versus doing it yourself etc..trying to learn about this…
      Thank you again.

      Reply
      • Stacy says

        January 14, 2012 at 9:19 pm

        Sherree, I’m not an expert on dried foods….but I have been looking into it. I know that dried foods are pretty expensive – but so are dehydrators. However, I’ve noted that if you plan on eating lots of dried foods, a dehydrator would pay for itself pretty quickly. I purchased a used one this fall and I’m very excited to learn how to use it – it’s great for preserving foods if you don’t have a deep freeze. 🙂 Oh, and I purchased an Excalibur brand.

        Reply
      • Stacy says

        January 15, 2012 at 7:59 am

        Thanks for chiming in Nikki! I look forward to using mine!

        Reply


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