I Just Wrote a Check for $8,700

I Just Wrote a Check for $8,700 - picture of pen writing a bank check

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Yep, you read that right. I just wrote a check for $8,700….and it hurt….a little.  Luckily, it wasn’t for a used Ford Focus or a set of breast implants.  The check I wrote was toward our mortgage, and I think it is the biggest payment we have ever made.  We usually can’t pay anywhere near $8,700. However, this month was special.  We finally took a big chunk of our online income out of the bank and did something with it.  It felt weird and exciting all at the same time!

We also set up an awesome mortgage spreadsheet to track our progress to the penny (and to make sure that the mortgage company isn’t messing up any of our prepayments).

BAM! How do you like them apples?

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Have a great weekend everybody! We’ll catch you on the flip side!

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70 Comments

    1. Well, that won’t be able to happen every month unfortunately =/ Maybe a few times a year! =)

  1. Haha, “Mortgage Murder Spreadsheet”! Always good to bring a little humor into our personal finances. I love it. Very cool to actually use your online income for something. Sounds like a big step. Good work!

  2. I don’t know which is better: the post and contents or the amazing spreadsheet. The pic of the spreadsheet made me laugh out loud. I think I need to change my headings for our early house payoff!

    1. Feel free to borrow it! I will even send you my spreadsheet so that you can modify it to your needs…if you want! Just send me an email!

  3. Congrats on taking a big chunk out of your mortgage! For my online income I have been taking it out in small transfers. It’s really helped 1) keep me motivated to keep at it and keep working hard and 2) has helped with some unexpected expenses we’ve been hit with this year. Hope you guys have a great weekend!

    1. This is the first time that we have ever spent any of it. But we had to first figure out how we were going to be taxes on our earnings. We decided to change our deductions at work and pay our taxes via payroll instead of paying quarterly on online income. So, anyway, now that we know how much money is actually “ours” we felt comfortable spending some of it!

  4. Thanks for the mention guys! I’d definitely say with an $8,700 payment, that you are indeed killing it! It should be paid off in no time at that rate 🙂

    Hope you have an awesome weekend 🙂

    1. I actually do want breast implants! LOL I don’t think that Greg would go for it, though. =/

  5. Now that we’ve saved $10,000 into our emergency fund, I’ve been thinking about pulling it out and doing the same thing, or investing it, or something more productive than sitting in a .82% savings account. I know this eliminates the point of an emergency fund, but our jobs are secure (for now), we have very few things that can “break” and cause us to have to dip into it, etc.

    I can’t stand the thought of that money just sitting there barely working for us! Dilemmas…

    1. Don’t do it! An emergency fund is for the things you can’t foresee, not the things you can. It’s a big accomplishment saving $10,000, and I definitely understand the frustration with low interest rates, but sit tight. It’s like insurance. It may not be fun but you’ll be so happy you have it when you need it.

    2. I have to have an emergency fund because I would go crazy if I didn’t. Plus, we have rental properties which means we have multiple furnaces, air conditioners, etc that could go out. My emergency fund is what keeps me insane. However, it also makes me crazy that it is just sitting there not accumulating much.

      I do know that some other people don’t think an emergency fund is necessary if your income is high enough. I personally don’t subscribe to that philosophy because I really like having cash in the bank. But, do what works for you! Maybe you could use half of it and keep the rest in your fund???

  6. Wow. That is terrific. And you secured a terrific rate on your mortgage. Congratulations on everything

  7. Haha I love the title of your spreadsheet. You guys are doing awesome!

  8. Holy crap! That’s HUGE! The amount of money and the step forward. Was this for the house or one of the rental properties? And to think that all came from taking something up on the side as a hobby. By the time the girls are going to college you and Greg will have the house paid off, most likely the rentals being paid off AND have their 529’s in order and it won’t cost you a thing for their education. That is what’s awesome. Great job guys!

    1. Hey, thanks!

      The big prepayment was on our house. I think we are about 24 payments away from being mortgage free and I’m so excited! We will still owe on our rentals, but our tenants pay them so it is more of a business debt than anything. Thanks for your support!

  9. That is amazing. I was hoping that the further I read I would have seen my name on the check but I guess paying your mortgage is more understandable. I would love to be able to do that towards any of our debt right now.

    1. Awww….I *almost* wrote it to you. Seriously, I almost did.

  10. That’s awesome, congratulations! Hopefully, in the near future, I’ll be writing some large checks towards a few credit cards. Stay tuned, more to come!

  11. That’s fun!

    I use the GRS amortization spreadsheet for ours. Funnily, Wells Fargo sometimes does screw us over by a penny. I’m fairly sure they always round in their favor. So far I haven’t complained and occasionally readjust the spreadsheet.

    1. Also: still haven’t decided where to put our extra income. :\ Maxing out your retirement first doesn’t make sense when you could put 110K into retirement each year (if you had 110K free, which we don’t) and you’ll need some of that money before you’re old enough to access it! You’re probably right that we can’t make a bad decision, but it still bothers me that we haven’t decided yet.

      1. I know what you mean! We’re only 33 and I don’t want to put everything away for retirement since we will (hopefully) retire before we are legally able to tap our retirement funds. And it’s hard to know how much to save for college when you don’t even know if your kids are going to college, let alone where!
        But, we are making good decisions overall. My goal is to do a little bit of everything (saving for college, 401k, Roth IRA, real estate, other investments) and hope that I’ve got it all covered!

        1. And it’s nice to have these dilemmas, isn’t it? Instead of wishing we had money, we’re trying to decide what to do with it. Pretty sweet, I think! We’re obviously doing something right =)

  12. That’s too bad you couldn’t put it on credit card for some rewards points. That’s how I look at these big purchases now…an opportunity to get something back! Thanks for the blog mention!

    1. If I could pay my mortgage on credit cards, I would definitely do it. Without a doubt.

  13. That’s awesome guys! I bet it feels great to pay down a chunk of your mortgage. However I plan to pay down my house a bit differently. I plan to save all the extra cash to pay off the house in a separate savings account and once I’ve reached the full balance I plan to pay it off in one big check.

    The reason I chose this route is that if I extra pay towards the mortgage company all the time it will make me more vulnerable if a huge financial issue were to arise, and if I were not able to make my mortgage payments for several months I could lose everything including all the extra cash I paid down on my mortgage.

    The only downsides to this plan is, one you could end up splurging the money on something else, and two you will end up paying more interest towards your loan, but with the extra cash in my pocket it will eliminate that risk.

    Have good weekend.

    1. Totally understand. We have a separate emergency fund so we don’t have the same concerns but I see why you would do it that way!

  14. I have use online income to invest! Maybe not as much fun as just spending it, but I feel better about it.

  15. Wow, that’s an amazing amount – a huge congrats!!! Mortgage murder on 🙂

  16. Financial Black Sheep says:

    Seriously, you made me snort a little when I saw your spreadsheet! Not only is that awesome that you paid extra to your mortgage, but the name is killer too. It reminds me of something I would do.

  17. Wow, that`s great! Good for you! I can understand the contrasting feelings about it, but I think you really made a good decision! Have a nice weekend:-)

  18. That’s awesome! I have a date marked on my calendar of when my mortgage should be down to $20,000, and I can pay it off in one lump sum. It’ll be awhile, but I can’t wait!

  19. Congrats on murdering a chunk of your mortgage! Bet it felt great! 🙂 I’d say it’s a better investment than breast implants, but I live in LA and honestly some can rightfully claim otherwise. 😉 Have a wonderful weekend!

  20. Awesome!! The biggest single pre-payment I’ve made on mine is a little over $9,000, from a bonus. The biggest month pre-payment was in that month, for almost $15,000! I’ll doubt I’ll ever pre-pay $15,000 in one month again, but the $9,000 month is a little more do-able. Right now, I’m paying an extra $2,000/month on average.

    My mortgage payoff spreadsheet isn’t as colorful or funny as yours, but it does have a lot of math and charts in it, which is what I enjoy! 😀 I think my favorite is the one that shows that more of my regular payment each month is going to principal than to interest!

  21. CT - Cashtastrophe says:

    Wow, congrats! that is a huge payment and it must have been awesome to see it go on your mortgage. I love your spreadsheet 🙂

  22. That is quite a lot of money. But at least you are using it for a wonderful purpose.

  23. Family Fandango says:

    Well done! I wish I could take a chunk out of our mortgage, but at the moment I’m too close to the bone to risk not having some liquid assets handy. Have you calculated what you are saving in the long run by paying off that much more this month? That would be interesting, I bet…!

  24. Well done, good for you using blog money to pay down your mortgage. I can only imagine the money I’m missing out on now 😉 In no time at all you will be having the mortgage burning ceremony. I know when you said it hurt , I understood.. we just paid over $32k on the mortgage last week. I’ll be blogging more about it later… but you know what.. it’s just a great feeling!! Keep up the awesome work you two! Mr.CBB

  25. I agree it’s so hard to pay those big amounts, but having the debt gone will be amazing. It must make your really happy that you started Club Thrifty and stuck with it. You’ll be a serial killer before you know it at this rate.

  26. Man Holly, that hurts to think about, but at least you are paying down the principal which is always a good thing! Congrats to all the hard work on the blog that afforded that online income, KUDOS!!!!

  27. Mr. Bonner says:

    That’s awesome! You’re fucking killing it! Haha!

  28. wow…!!! This is fantastic. It has to feel great being able to write a big fat check, like that, towards your mortgage. Congratulations! Please send me a copy of your spread sheet. I’d love to use it for my mortgage.

  29. Um, can I say how much I absolutely love that murder picture up there? That’s way more awesome than colouring in little squares and stuff. I want. We’re super, super close to killing our mortgage. This summer. Die f***er, die!

  30. Whoa, I’m late on this train, but congrats!! That’s a hefty chunk of change. You are doing great! How nice will it be to not have mortgage payments one day?

  31. Congrats on the big payment, but I seen where it came from online income. I been looking for ways to build me a income online, to even think about doing something like that. Can any help me towards the true way or ways to earn money online. I’m in need badly to earn extra money please someone help me here is my email …..bernoski85@gmail.com please contact me if you can help. Thank you for your time.

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