At some point today, I'm not sure when, my mortgage will be completely paid off. Yay! I think. I'm actually not sure what to do now.
This house was not paid off with a pot of gold.
Cue the singing angels, and unicorns sliding down a rainbow - my house is paid off. At least at some point today it will be, I just don't know when. My plan is to stay at my computer and constantly refresh my browser until I see that the final payment has been made.
AND THEN ....... !!!!
I don't know.
I guess I could have a glass of champagne or burn my mortgage agreement in the fireplace. That's the sort of thing they do in movies but if the payment goes through at 9 a.m. it seems a bit silly to start drinking champagne unless I'm also wearing a feather trimmed organza house robe with matching slippers. And I don't own any of those things including the bottle of champagne so I guess I'll just keep a glass of ice water and an Alka Seltzer handy.
I'm toying with the idea of making up a big sign like this to put on the front lawn.
But that's a lot of effort. I mean it took too much time just to Photoshop the sign in this picture let alone make a real one. That's time that could be be spent deciding on what to do with all my extra money every month. Purchase a castle? Acquire a small country? Buy only organic?
I have to tell you. I thought paying off my mortgage was going to be a lot more exciting. I realize I'm part of the problem what with not having a bottle of champagne at the ready, but it's weirdly anticlimactic. Like trying sushi for the first time.
But paying off my mortgage doesn't mean I'm going to have mountains of money to blow. I'm just going to have a mediocre amount of money to blow.
Like maybe I could rent a dancing monkey for a week every month. Or start using premium gasoline in my car.
Or, if I want to be extremely practical and smart, every month I could invest the exact same amount of money I spent on my mortgage. Which of course is exactly what I'll do because I am no fun.
Seriously. Zero fun. I get a lot of people comment or email me saying they wish we were friends because we'd have so much fun together. No we wouldn't. You'd have fun and I'd be wishing you'd go home so I could get back to chopping wood and diagnosing my cat's skin condition.
Now if I WERE a fun kind of person I'd allow myself to live a little. Maybe buy a couple of things in my first few mortgage-free months. Things I want but am too cheap to buy. Which is stupid because they're all things I'd not only use, but probably use for a lifetime.
Like a KoMo flour mill.
Or a Dyson hairdryer.
Or 42 of these hand squirrel puppets.
I think we all know what I'd get the most use out of. I mean, as so many of us do, I already have a finger puppet stage built soooo.
The other way I could go is to finally hire someone to work for me part time. That's a kind of investment. But everyone knows that's not as much fun as playing out West Side Story with an all squirrel cast.
I suppose I don't have to decide right away. I mean it's not like they're going to suddenly stop making squirrel puppets. They'll be there next month if I decide to become fun Karen.
For now my extra money is going to stay in the bank safe and sound before I find out Amazon also carries sloth finger puppets.
Have a good weekend. I'll be here constantly refreshing my computer screen.
Dan Stoudt
Don't spend your extra money on stuff. Invest in experiences. Visit other places at home or travel abroad. If you come here I can be your tour guide.
Phyllis Kraemer
Congrats Karen!
Darlene Gardner
Thats amaazing!! new found freedom. I'd be hopping on a plane to somewhere exotic (but perhaps I'm more fun than you)! (joking-you are way more fun and way more rich than me)
Christine
If only Jaguar made a pick-up truck!
Gail Dedrick
I think this calls for Cannabis.
Beth W
Woooo Hoooo!!! Congrats! It's a huge accomplishment. I remember when my parents paid theirs off when I was younger... and it inspired me to get ours paid of early too (Feb 12, 2017 - yay!). I'm sure you've researched this, but make sure to request the discharge docs/paperwork. I'm glad we did, as for some reason the bank didn't fully release it (someone forgot to press a button I guess) so even though we owed $0.00... when we bought a cottage, it showed that we still had a mortgage. GRR. Incompetence is my biggest pet peeve.
Also... don't buy a cottage. That was trapped in 1979. And then think you can renovate it yourselves... on weekends... from 1.5hrs away. Or maybe do it. You seem just crazy enough to survive. Although I bet you're comfortable going pee outside in the winter, whereas I had to drive 15min into the nearest town for Timmie's. But, there are few things better than a Lake Huron weekend away from my real life in London
Sandy
Congratulations! For me, paying off my mortgage was joyful. Not the day it was actually paid in full, but the time leading up to that goal. That's when I realized that joy truly is in the journey. I've been steadily saving money since then, which allowed me to pay cash for my car when my last one was run over. I wish I had it in me to buy some investment property (so as to have a source of passive income), but I'm lacking that internal drive. Once I save another 30 grand, I guess I will start dumping most of it into index funds. One person's idea of fun isn't the same as another person's idea of fun, so do you :) Keep on gardening!
Kathy
Congratulations! There is satisfaction in being mortgage free. I just have to have one of those squirrel hand puppets - it would be so much fun. ^^
Eileen
Congratulations. Our home is debt free and it’s comforting to know that taxes and maintenance are enough to deal with. Invest with a wealth manager, not from a bank, but someone who gets a fee annually based on results, not a kickback on what new investment they come up with or what they are connected with. If you have an advisor who keeps switching you to something else, that’s called “churning “ and they don’t have your best interests in mind. Also diversity of assets is good. Ok, enough. Congratulations.
Heather
Congratulations, Karen! Now we discover you have, among your many talents, the ability to manage money well. Maybe you could share a few tips with those of us for whom the idea of paying off anything is a pipe dream, because we can't budget properly. Please, help me!
Karen
Oh, I just don't spend more than I have, lol. It comes from always having a tenuous job (television shows that could be cancelled) or working for myself. I've never really had the kind of job where there's any sort of security so I was obsessive about not spending. Now I buy things, but still not anything that would put me in debt. So I'm afraid I don't have a trick other than fear of running out of money and being in debt. Ha! ~ karen
Ecoteri
Currently running UP my mortgage costs to renovate house #2 - but house #1 homes a lovely family who rent it and need a home, and house #2 homes me and is now re-insulated (and de-aspestosed) (rewired, replumbed, re-well-plumbed, re septic pumped, de-sheded, mostly re-painted, double re-bathroomed, and generally is more livable. ). However I am a long way from mortgage free.....I will "rent" until I am dead, meanwhile 3 different families will live in really decent homes. ... so, that is a good thing
Julie Kasner
Whohooo!! Congratulations!
We paid off our house, our cars and our credit cards, and you know what happened?!!!....... my credit score went down. Apparently credit card companies think that means you’re either about to die, or your moving to BFE and cutting up all your credit cards. I think their just jealous. Lol
Happy weekend!
Sarah McDonnell
buy another house, rip things up, put them back attractively, and start a Bed and Breakfast. Hire handymen and rename them all Larry, Daryl, or Darrell. Easy Peasey!
Michelle
Yay! Congratulations!
Jamieson
Congrats! How about investing in something fun AND practicaL, like building a gondola ride between your house and your garden plot?
Karen
Jamieson - Your jib? I like the cut of it. ~ karen!
Idaho Girl
And that monkey could be the gondola operator...
Jan
Congratulations! We also felt it was anticlimactic when we had our farm paid for. So we saved, and then realized we needed a bigger truck, hello LOC, then a better tractor. The good thing was we saved and paid our debt off as quickly as possible. Yes we're probably not lots of fun but when I was laid off, we managed. So it's all good.
Congratulations again! 👏👏
Claudia A Luiz
In Britain people gave friends so they can badmouth them later. That’s always fun.
Congrats...
Jeanne
Go for the Komo. It’s fun in a practical way. I love mine! Dump those little wheat berries in and out comes fluffy fresh flour that smells so good (who knew that flour has a smell). It’s not cheap, and I guess it would take forever to “pay for itself” but it’s good, healthy fun. Congrats on your accomplishment.
Grammy
I don't know how you'd withstand the siren song from that flour mill. Pizza and bread, oh my! So maybe splurge now on one cool thing and save the rest in whatever kind of interest earning account will let you have a lovely retirement when you choose to hang up the tools and keyboards and slow down a little.
I know it's not your nature to relax, but aging does have some impact on how much you continue to do in your golden years. Invest instead of save if you have a penchant for risk (I don't), but you are going to have a wonderful rest-of-your life just having taken care of the biggest financial burden because you have your head on straight. Congratulations!
LisaMc
It will truly hit you NEXT month when that money goes elsewhere! We did two things when we paid off our mortgage. First, I made a cake that vaguely looked like a house and we devoured it! I reasoned that like when there’s no body at a funeral it wouldn’t feel real if we couldn’t see it. Plus, my house is brown (yeah, I know—but it’s redwood from the Brady Bunch school of architecture) so it was chocolately delicious. Second, we started fixing what we had neglected in the rush to kill the mortgage. Oh yeah, third. I put some money away each month so we could pay cash when we needed to replace the car. I too am thought of as fun until people spend time with me. 😉