We Paid Off Our Mortgage in Only Three Years and Now are Free!
We paid off our mortgage in only three years and now are free! Financial freedom was our goal and we finally reached it!
It’s not rocket science how we were able to pay off this home in three years. Although it does take a lot of dedication and commitment. And we obviously had to be on the same page with that.
When we first purchased this little fixer upper cottage, we had no idea what we were really in for. This was all new to us. We had never owned a home before~ let alone renovate one.
After we had closed on the house, we stopped by to check out the work we had cut out for us. The list of things we needed to tackle started to add up pretty quickly. As we looked at each room, we shared our thoughts of how we could bring this little old gem back to life.
Yet at the time, we didn’t realize how much we’d actually end up doing! I mean we ended up changing a lot of things and basically gutting the entire house and then rebuilding it back together. Make sure you check out our library of YouTube videos to see exactly what we’ve done!
PAYING OFF MORTGAGE IN THREE YEARS
How we were able to pay off our house in three years was that we obviously had to pay more than the monthly payments.
Well, let’s back up~ Nate reminds me – “First of all, you have to get a house that’s not too expensive.” There you go! As simple living minimalist type people, we are all about living below our means.
And this is exactly why we also decided to attempt most of the renovations on our own DIY style, and of course, watching YouTube videos for help. So we may not have done everything perfectly or the best way at times as we were really just learning as we go.
Sometimes you gotta just go for it and try stuff. Even if your not sure what your doing. I feel that’s the best way to learn. And boy~ did we ever learn a lot!
PREPARATION BEFORE BUYING A HOUSE
It’s very difficult to pay off a house in even 15 years for some people. So before we bought the house, the whole year of 2019~ we challenged ourselves to live off half of our combined income. This was before we even had goals or plans to buy a house.
We wanted to live simply and basically ended up living off half our total combined income! This was a goal we ended up accomplishing in 2019. Then at the end of the year, we decided to buy this house.
LIVING BELOW OUR MEANS
It has really helped us to live below our means and to take everything we could scrape up and throw it into the mortgage. So we didn’t buy anything really. I wore the same three dresses for the last three years if you noticed from the blog and our YouTube channel. Black, navy blue, and gray.
So we didn’t buy any clothes for a long time. We definitely could use a new wardrobe. But, at the end of the day, we really both just prefer freedom!
FREEDOM IS THE KEY!
So freedom is really the key! And we’re willing to live in a house that’s under construction, bathe in a little kiddie pool until we got a real bath.
These are things that not everyone would probably be ok with. And they’re not always the right way, it’s just what we’ve done. It’s our way! Yet we really had to sacrifice to make this all a reality.
There was a speaker that Nate was eye balling at Costco. Drooling over it! But, he’s really proud that he didn’t actually buy it. Because to him, what it represents is living for the feeling versus what you should be doing. He still hasn’t bought that speaker! I’m so proud of him too. Now he wants to know if he can buy it. My response~ nope!
STICKING TO A BUDGET
We had to really stick to a budget and stay focused. I was actually telling people at work when we first bought this house that we would pay it off in three years. Then I was like, hmm.. maybe I shouldn’t tell people that because what if we don’t actually do that. It kinda kept us accountable though in some ways when we started to tell people.
Then when we were down to the last year, we were like~ we only have a year left! That’s when we really got focused. It was our goal to have the mortgage paid off in one year at that time. We mainly just told close friends and family when the topic came up in conversation. It was something that we couldn’t just hold inside! We’re so proud to be able to do something like this.
Another big thing that helped us pay this mortgage off is being willing to live in a construction zone. That’s huge! Not everybody is going to be ok with that and we don’t blame you! And it might not be the right thing for you, if you have kids or pets or if you’re working from home. Well, I was working from home. I just didn’t turn my camera on!
MIRACLE HOUSE
This house has also seemed like a miracle to us. Especially because we were able to find a house that was under 1,000 sq ft~ 744 sq ft. It was at a price that we could afford because we could have easily gotten a mortgage for a lot more than what we got on this house. So we definitely wanted to buy less house than what we could actually afford.
We’re also in an incredible prime location in this cute little historic district. We have the most amazing community and neighbors. Now we’ve been able to pay off this house in only three years!
It has been a tremendous blessing. Really a miracle. I don’t know how this happened, but it seems like God just really provided this home for us. It’s almost like He knew there was a pandemic coming and He’s like, I gotta stop these guys from traveling and we need to get them in this house.
I don’t know if that’s what really happened, but I feel like we’ve been really blessed and protected by being able to do something like this during a world pandemic! The timing couldn’t have been more perfect!
FINANCIAL FREEDOM
The goal is freedom! Financial freedom and independence! Whatever gets us there the quickest so we can start traveling again, we are all for that!
Luke 14:28
Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?
CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS
Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic cottage mostly on our own. Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead!
You can also watch a video about this here.
To see more adventures of our tiny fixer upper journey, click on the links below.
🏚 BUYING A LITTLE FIXER UPPER COTTAGE INSTEAD OF TRAVELING 🧳
