Category Archives: Entertainment

Mortgage Milestones, My Mortgage Countdown #4

by

This month I’ve finally broke thru the $5,000 dollar mortgage barrier!

I still have about $4,989 left to go.  That’s almost the cost of our upcoming Disney vacation (ouch.. thinking about it still hurts a bit)!

With my mortgage, I created “Mortgage Milestones“, each time I cleared one, we would go out to a nice restaurant to celebrate.  You can see from the list below, I increased the number of milestones as I get closer to $0 owed.  This added a bit of incentive to stick to the schedule, and reward the family for their patience and sacrifices.

  • $75,000
  • $50,000
  • $25,000
  • $10,000
  • $5,000
  • $0

Once we get to $0, We’re going to go to the nicest place I can think of in my area.  I’m expecting the freedom from a mortgage payment to be a huge change in my life.  Already, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the money saved from the mortgage.

If you plan on making extra payments on your mortgage as I did, I’d definitely recommend making “Mortgage Milestones” as I did.  If I had to do it all over again, I think I’d make the earlier milestones $10,000 increments instead of $25,000.  Keeping the $5,000 decrement amounts once you hit $10,000 in the end just to spice it up a bit.  This also keeps your whole family focused on the goal of paying off your house early.

So a better revised “Mortgage Milestone” configuration would be:

  • $100,000
  • $90,000
  • $80,000
  • $70,000
  • $60,000
  • $50,000
  • $40,000
  • $30,000
  • $20,000
  • $10,000
  • $5,000
  • $0

Forget the Economy, I’m going to Disneyland

by

Well, actually I’m going to Disney World, but hey… close enough!

Disney's Cinderella's Castle

Disney's Cinderella's Castle

WOW, I really underestimated the costs that are involved with a Disney vacation in Florida! I thought the trip would cost around $2,500.  It turns out that booking the tickets, flight and dinning plan has a price tag of $4,500!  Ouch! I’m sure the final cost will be closer to $5,000 dollars 🙁

I don’t like spending that much money!  But with my son approaching double digits in age (he’s 9), we figured we should go now while he is still young enough to enjoy it with us.  This might be the last trip to Disney we take, it really depends on how much the kids enjoy it.  But with a price tag that will approach $5,000, I’d rather use the money towards a good quality, used car 3 years from now.

On the new experiences side of the trip: The flight to Florida will be my daughter’s first ride on a jet.  Also, this will be the first time we’ve went on a vacation with friends instead of our family.

How am I paying for this?  I’m charging this trip to my credit card.  But wait, I’m not going over to the dark side of financial balance sheet!  I will pay this trip off next month!  We are just using the credit card for convenience, and the reward points.  This will be the most money I have ever spend on vacation.

This is one of those life balance milestones, that I can now check it off of the “need to do at least once” list…  Disney will be a great memory for kids, and I’ll make sure plenty of pictures will be taken.

-MR