The Least/Most Frugal Thing — A Paid Off Mortgage
by Katy on September 20, 2025 · 53 comments
Sooo . . . my husband and I paid off our mortgage.
We bought our house in 1996 with an 8.58% 30-year mortgage, which we later refinanced over and over again as interest rates went down. A couple of those times we folded other debt into the mortgage, which I later regretted. (Think credit card debt related to rehabbing our fixer-upper and my husband’s student loans.) Repeat refinancing lowered the amount of interest we paid, but pushed the finish line farther into the future.
2013 brought one final refinance at 2.875% interest as a 15-year loan. We threw extra money at the mortgage when we had it, but the years of sending kids to college put a stop to this practice.
We’ve since had the money to pay off the mortgage, but our high yield savings account was at 5.5%, so it didn’t make sense mathematically. (especially since the mortgage was now mostly principal.) However, HYSA rates dropped and my husband especially wanted the peace of mind of a paid off house. We have no credit debt or car payments, so this was our last financial goal to reach.
I’ve yet to experience that “great sense of relief” that people talk about, but perhaps that’ll happen in time as October and November roll around and there’s no mortgage to pay.
Either way, we’re now officially debt free. Yippee!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
Yippee is right. congratulations.
Without having that monthly suck, you can focus on ‘adding’ to whatever savings you are doing.
Even if it all literally IS the same pot, there is something different about paying into your depleted savings versus into the black hole of the never-ending mortgage.
When it comes to money, perception is just about everything.
Congratulations. We got our 30 year mortgage and had a similar pay off course! We paid it off 2 years ago, which allowed us to retire early!
Congratulations! This is a great milestone. i would think just knowing your home is paid for will make you appreciate it even more. I agree with your husband about getting it paid off.
congratulations and welcome to the club. It feels wonderful to not have a mortgage. Congratulations again to you both
Congratulations! DH and I did nearly two years of not buying a single unnecessary thing to pay our mortgage off early, so we had full-on “whee, the burden is lifted!” joy. It made it possible for him to retire early.
It’s a great feeling! Congrats. We pay off our mortgage early 10 years ago after moving a set amount from my husband’s paycheck monthly over to savings, and meticulously noting it “M” for mortgage. Each year I wrote an extra check marked Extra Principle to the mortgage co. At that time one could get a quote for paying down a mortgage. Our oldest was in high school. It was our last debt, and we’ve been debt-free ever since and we’re both retired.
Congratulations! I sure wish I could do that. But I will keep plugging along. At least I am paying a low fixed rate and my payment is reasonable. Enjoy your new freedom — as soon as it sinks in!
Congrats! We paid ours off in February and have zero regrets.
Yay! Congratulations!
Congratulations! Feelings come and go, but a paid off house, that’s solid.
Congratulations! We paid off ours last year. It was a bit underwhelming at first, but boy oh boy, did it feel great the first day of the next month when the mortgage payment did NOT come out of the account.
Good for you!
If you avoid lifestyle creep from having more money each month (which I expect you will), keeping the money you are not putting into a mortgage to put into some savings or investment each month will eventually make up for what you paid out. The money is now yours to save for years, or spend as you wish.
I have to confess that the idea of Katy falling prey to lifestyle creep made me smile. 🙂 And, Katy, I add my congratulations to everyone else’s.
That is a beautiful thing!
Congratulations!!
Congrats! You will get that great sense of relief in time. And it’s a great feeling.
If you used escrow for taxes and/or insurance, don’t forget to update those.
Congrats!! That’s a huge accomplishment and something I’m working towards too. Like your husband, I want the piece of mind of zero debt. And not having that payment anymore will greatly reduce the amount I need to make each month to cover living expenses.
Congrats, that’s great. Good job
Congratulations. We have similar stories. Got a fixer upper in 2000. Rolled our debt from it into a lower rate with another 30 year. Re financed again with 2.75% in 2016 for a 15 year. Paid it off earlier this year. Helped 3 kids go through college, 2 weddings and now we are debt free. We went yesterday to meet with our financial planner to see how our retirement funds are doing. He said Hubby can definitely retire by 60.
But do factor in health care. Sad to say the ACA is not a reliable choice for health care. And at what age does your financial planner say for your husband to collect SS – I expect FRA is 67 for him, like it is for me.
My employer health plan is less expensive per year than paying Medicare Part B. PLUS I can continue to contribute to my HSA (including “catch up”). As it stands today, I can work 3 days a week. Even at 3 days, there is no break on health insurance premiums (nor should there truth be told). And I can make a one time contribution from my IRA to my HSA (within the annual contribution limits mind you).
We did factor in health care and long term care insurance. I know a lot of people don’t. Hubby has talked about maybe working part time at his current job if they would allow it to keep health benefits.
Congratulations!
Way to go!
Congratulations!!! I can’t wait to hit that milestone!
Popping a bottle of virtual champagne to celebrate this incredible financial milestone with you and your DH! Shake it up good and spray yourselves with the bubbly as you do your happy dance. Woo hoo!!! Now, no matter what, they can’t take your house away from you. And, trust me, you are going to get very, very spoiled having an extra $X amount of money (the amount that used to be your mortgage payment) in your non-consumer bank account every month! Now that you’ve paid off your biggest bill, it’s OK to go out on the town and have a steak dinner or something. Celebrate big! Ya done did it!!!!
Congratulations!
You’ll do a happy dance when your subconscious self tells you that it’s time to send a mortgage payment, and your conscious self says, “Nope! I’m done!”
Super, duper!!! Congratulations
Congratulations!!!
If you had your property taxes in your mortgage escrow you now have to save to that bill. When we first bought our house we had both insurance and property taxes in the payment. The relief of having a house paid off was soon replaced with we pay that much for insurance and property taxes are that high. Why does the bill come due just before Thanksgiving? Now we live in Washington state and the bill is the end of April. So we get to pay the Feds and then the state in the very same month. And what were reasonable property taxes when we moved her are rapidly becoming outrageous.
Dancing to “what a feeling…”
My fin advisor told me when I paid off my mortgage that it was the new status symbol, replacing the schwanky status car. Ha!
Seriously, congratulations this is a huge accomplishment.
I’ll also say that I’ve had the experience of stating that I’m debt free, and having a pedantic jerk disagree with me because they think I must have a mortgage. Boy, does it feel good to retort that I don’t have a mortgage! Ha!
Big Congratulations! Way to go!
Patricia
Well done!
You should be proud.
An impressive accomplishment that I envy.
Congratulations. You paid off your mortgage and other debts in 30 years.
We paid off our mortgage a while back. With just one child and their choice to attend a local college and live at home while in college meant our spending for that was much less than it otherwise would have been. Also we are both 65+ and have been in our house for 32 years. Having no debt becomes a new normal.
Our homeowners insurance is a perpetual policy that we have had for 25+ years. I think it has saved us a lot of money over the years.
Congrats!!
CONGRATS!!! I also thought I would have a great feeling of relief wash over me and I’d be over the moon with feelings – but no. After a few months of being able to chuck away some serious cash into savings, up all our investment accounts to 15% then that’s when the WOOHOO hit – tangible results. 🙂
Congratulations!
When we downsized in 2020 the house we were selling had no mortgage, but it had not yet closed when we bought our condo. We took out a bridge loan, which we had to make monthly payments on for six months before paying it off. After six months and one day it was a great feeling to be mortgage-free again.
Congratulations! Such a coincidence as we did exactly the same thing on Thursday!! We only had a year to go but being able to clear it now means we saved around $1000 in interest, and it is such a relief to know that it’s ours and can’t be taken away by the bank if things go pear-shaped in the next year.
That is a crazy coincidence! Ours was paid off 2-1/2 years early.
Wow, congratulations!!! What a huge accomplishment! A lot of “five frugal things” lists have contributed to this day. 🙂 Savor this moment, for sure. Will definitely feel good reflecting on this big step in the days and months ahead.
Good for you, Katy. I don’t think you’ll regret this.
Congrats! So happy for you.
We sold our house in 2011 and were able to buy a right-size house with no mortgage. (I hate to call it downsizing, because while it was a smaller house we gained a 4th bedroom, country-ish living, and a fantastic school district)
Not having a monthly mortgage let us sock away a lot more $$ into savings/investments, and allowed me to leave full time work a few years later to be home with the kids.
Congratulations! That’s a great accomplishment!
We are hoping to pay off our mortgage in the next six months by selling an investment. It isn’t by the book the absolute best financial decision but for us the freedom is 100% worth it. We’ll save 11 years and around $95,000 in interest.
We did a similar move that wasn’t the optimal financial move but – like you, the freedom is so worth it! Thanks for sharing, it helps knowing there’s others who went down the same path without regrets. 🙂
Congratulations!
Well done!
Lea
Congratulations!! Such a huge accomplishment <B
Wow! Congratulations!
Congratulations!! I paid mine off back in 2017 – it was a 30 year, and I paid off in 16 years by being diligent and sending any extra dollar towards it! There were times I thought i would never see the end of it, but I did and I still celebrate it! I have the payoff letter from the bank hanging in my walk in closet where I can see it daily.
Congratulations! I hope this gives you both long term comfort and stability and more financial freedom. Great job!!
Congratulations! That is a wonderful achievement. I’m excited for the day we get to that point. 🙂
Thank you!
Congratulations! We paid off our mortgage in 2020, a year before we had to cover university costs for two children. I never regret it, even though it did have the same nice low rate yours did (2.875). We also made the mistake of adding in some house related debt when refinancing, but it all worked out in the end, taking us 19 years total to pay off a mortgage in a HCOL area.
Rather than feeling giddy, I find it’s a feeling of warm contentment, especially because it was the final piece of the zero debt puzzle. We got those kids through school and then started aggressively funding the non-retirement savings, in the hopes of DH taking retirement in 2026.
Congratulations on paying off your mortgage!!!!!!