Mortgage Payoff Plan – Mental Adventures

I have a bad habit of checking my bank accounts a million times a day. I am not sure how this compulsive behavior started, but the app on my phone has only increased the number of times that I view my balances. I woke up this morning feeling both sick and tired (literally, I was coughing all night). The first thing my husband said to me was that a friend needs a place to stay for the next few days. Then he shared that we now have a babysitter for the date night he planned. My daughter wakes up and I noticed she has the same skin infection my son has which has cost us over $300 to kind of, but not really cure. All I’m thinking is money, money, money.  In trying to prepare breakfast and pack lunches, I was frustrated at the lack groceries we have currently. As I sat on the couch drinking coffee, I wondered if this is what a panic attack feels like.

Then my obsession kicks in and I decide to check my balances for the 3rd time this morning. No change there. Money didn’t magically appear in my account in the last 45 minutes. Staring at my phone, it suddenly dawned on me. “What the hell am I doing?” Sure, paying off my mortgage is a good thing, but does it have to be this hard? I started singing “Let it go, let it go!” as I moved funds from my mortgage payoff account to the account we use for living expenses. I started thinking about the sad blog post I would write about this later on and how disappointed, but understanding my readers would be. The post would be titled “Be like Elsa!” and I would beg for kindness.

Feeling much better, I put my debit and credit cards back into my wallet and headed out. I happily handed over my credit card at my doctors office instead of worrying where the funds for the copay would come from. As I sat in the waiting room, I decided to play around with my budget and readjust my plan yet again to reflect how we could live comfortably within limits. When it was all said and done, I could still dedicate my paychecks to the mortgage payoff plan and add about $300 (instead of $906) a month from my husband checks. I would be chained to debt of mortgage for longer but I’m over it! Why put extra pressure on myself when I already have a lot going on.

The budget was updated and the last thing I had to do was tell my mortgage company, “Just kidding! More interest for you.” When I changed my monthly payment amount, I almost didn’t want to look at how much longer it would take to pay off the stupid thing. Drum roll…12 long months! That’s right. You read that correctly. Instead of making myself crazy to pay it off by 12/30/2020, I will comfortably and without much stress, pay it off by 12/30/2021. How crazy!! There was no rhyme or reason that I picked the year 2020 other than it sounds cool. Here I was stressing myself for no reason at all. I’m super happy to not think about the mortgage payoff plan for a little bit (like 3 days or so)!