The stay at home wife is the Real Housewives of 'your city'.

You are doing great! Good job on paying cash for the wedding and the mortgage progress.

haha, oh Lord I do not want to be lumped in with the Real Housewives genre!

Thanks for the encouragement, Kate!

DH and I sat down and talked about sacrifices and what will make it worth it for us to really "live like no one else now". When our mortgage is paid off we're going to save for an amazing three week vacation to a few Asian countries, namely Thailand and India. SOOO in order for that to happen, and in anticipation of it, we are not taking any trips until then. We will continue to take 'vacation days' from work, and either stay at home, or take short road trips and stay with friends, for weddings and things.

Beyond that, we've also talked about limiting restaurants. We go out to eat entirely too much, which of course is much less often than our circles of friends or family, but perhaps still out of line with our values. We've begun trying to see how long we can go without restaurants, fast food, and coffee shops. Today is Day 8. (lol)

We've also talked about setting a stretch goal for the mortgage. Of course, the on-paper goal is paying it off within the five years (before the rate lock expires). That is going to be difficult. Of course any earlier than that will be awesome, but its too early to predict something realistic.

Current Mortgage balance: $112,986.35

We have been kicking butt lately. I think the 30 day No Restaurant Challenge helped out some, and we are under budget for Christmas, too. He worked some over-time, and I performed a few "mystery shops", and I can't believe we made it under $113k... that was the 'stretch' goal for 2011! yay!

So the goal for 2012 is now $85,000.... which will be a stretch. And if we do hit that... we will be on track for a 4 year timeline, with a pay-off in 2015! I can't believe it.

We're getting a 'housemate' in January... renting out our spare bedroom to a friend for a 6 month trial period. That makes me feel like a 4 year timeline is not out of reach. We are living on less than one of our salaries, and basically the other goes to IRS or the mortgage!

CURRENT MORTGAGE BALANCE: $107,763.65

Woo hoo! We are chugging right along! Still on track for a 4 year payoff (Sept '15)!

We do have a 'housemate' now which means a few extra hundred, and I think that will give us even more traction over the next few months.

I do feel so fortunate to be able to have this extra money that gets dumped onto the mortgage each month, but I also feel a bit impatient to have this giant thing paid off and done with. I'm so looking forward to the things we will be able to do when we have no house payment. I'm 28 now, I'll be 32 (theoretically) when that happens. Is it too early to have a "wish list"??? Vastly increasing retirement and charity... Extended vacations... kitchen remodel...

No reason not to have a "wish list".

You can start one now and refine it over the years it takes you to pay off the mortgage. Spending time to prioritise what's on the list and investigating the best way to get what you want, i.e. a kitchen remodel could be done by you or by a contractor, what colours, bench tops, soft close cupboards/drawers, handles, tapware and so on.

We're working on our own wish list for when our minor debts are paid off next year. A trip overseas is one of them, just can't decide where or for how long

A trip overseas is like number one! We want to visit Asia... Thailand, maybe India.

I wanted to post a quick tidbit... I just (finally) decided to do a rundown on our budget using the Balanced Money Formula. This is the one JD loves, it basically dictates up to 50% Needs, at least 20% Savings, and up to 30% Wants.

Our current plan reflects we spend 35% on Needs, 57% Savings, and 8% on Wants.

The "Savings" is so big because one of our incomes + rental income is being thrown at the mortgage, which is not technically saving but apparently is where it fits into the formula. JD argued in his post that less than 20% spending on Wants is missing the point of money... hmmm.... uh oh.

Maybe consider the extra money (on top of the minimums) toward the mortgage as wants? It's not absolutely necessary since you'd still have a place to live if you stopped doing it.

Nothing to worry about. Remember, "do what works for you"! If you are not feeling horribly deprived, then just keep on keepin'on! I spend 53% on Wants, 33% on Savings, and 14% on Wants. But some of my Savings are for things I Want, and some are for things I will Need to buy later. So...it's fuzzy. But it's all good!

Thanks for the feedback ladies!

The funny thing is that prior to this year, we had been spending 5% on Wants (for probably about the last four years) and I was finally feeling pinched/ burned out/ what have you. So we added a few 'splurges' to the budget, like an Art Museum membership and grooming for our dog. And we also oh-so-luxuriously TRIPLED our Blow Money, from only $30 up to $100! And now I feel like a queen... massages each month!

It just goes to reiterate that everything is relative.

Side note: I hope to have a small get together at our house in May when the mortgage falls below $100,000. A five-figure gathering. Or a Hundred Grand party. I love themes, haha. Maybe we'll hand out those candy bars!

Holy cats, that's a great idea. Now I want to hand out $100,000 bars at the party to burn my mortgage!!

I'm not willing to wait until we burn the mortgage for a party! We're going to have a party this year when the mortgage drops below $100k (hence the candy bars).

Hopefully a mortgage burning in a few years, though!

Current Mortgage Balance: $102,680.

Now we are actually on track for a three year payoff. However, it is very early in the loan and I really don't believe that is possible. Unless something big changes, like one of us gets a much higher paying job, etc. And this is also if nothing major happens, such as one of the cars giving up the ghost. (haha- can you say that about a car?)

But it is fun to compare the lines on my little Excel graph!

How come you are 2 years + behind on your car goal . What happened ?

**Marcopolo

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see what prompts that question. On Oct. 13, 2010,

So how do you figure she's 2+ years behind her car goal?