Mortgage Progress - January 2012

Hi

One of the goals for our family is to become mortgage free much earlier than 2036 which is when this mortgage ends. In fact we want it gone in the next 6 years.

So at the beginning of January our mortgage sat at $141 532.
During the month of January we decided to transfer money that was saved in an online savings account over last year for a garden renovation to the mortgage account.  We are still undecided when we are going to do the garden reno so we thought the money would be better served sitting in the mortgage reducing the interest we have to pay.

We have also been paying more than the recommended weekly amount the bank says.  We had decided to bring the amount we are paying more in line with what we could expect to pay for rent of a similar house in our area.  So $380 is going weekly to the mortgage account.  In February the December interest rate cut will be passed on so we will be paying more to that debt ie BIG 4 bank says $268 per week and we will be paying $380. An extra $112/week

So at the close of January we have a balance of $135 553. A reduction of $5979. 
The interest for the month was $783.55
We paid $1520 in repayments. 
The transfer amount at the beginning of January was $5242 of which $242 has been earmarked for our USA holiday savings but parked in our mortgage to reduce interest payment.

Once I have looked at the figures for January I may be able to add a little extra money from savings we made. 

Mrs BB