Readers of this blog will know that I have no credit card debt. However, I do have a mortgage and even though my monthly payments are well within my means, I still feel “burdened” and really want to pay off my mortgage as soon as possible. Aside from feeling a weight on my shoulders, having no debt will mean a lot of things to me and what I can do with the spare change. It is also my motivation to reduce my mortage and perhaps will be an inspiration for you to reduce your credit card debt as well.

1. Not having to be a cheapskate

There is a fine line between frugal and being a cheapskate. But when you have to watch your dollars all the time, you end up being a cheapskate many times.

1. Being able to give my kids a more fancy birthday

OK - we do not have to spoil our kids with over elaborate birthday parties. But hey, I did not have any fancy parties when I was young and I would sure like my kids to have better parties than I had. But wherever birthday season comes (yes, all summer kids), Mrs Credit Card and myself get into arguments as to how much we should spend on their parties, how fancy should it be etc. I just wish I had enough cashflow so we do not have to agonize over this.

2. Being able to eat out twice a week

We eat at home most of the time perhaps except on one weekend where we would eat out. But Mrs Credit Card gets tired cooking all the time and I wish we could just go out for dinner when she does not feel like cooking or is too tired. Right now, we watch our budget and are frugal with regards to eating out.

4. Taking a nicer vacation

How much time do you waste planning your vacation. I don’t know about you, but when our whole family has to share a hotel room, I’d rather stay at home in my nice bedroom! But we always plan our vacations, get the best deals for flights and hotels because we have too. If we had a healthier cash flow, we would have nicer vacations. (Can’t wait for that day to arrive!)

5. Drive a nicer car

I drive a 12 year old Toyota. Frankly speaking, I am not crazy about cars and cannot be bothered with fancy ones. But I would like to drive something more “modern”. But since my second hand car is paid up, it makes financial sense to just drive it until it breaks down! But how I wish I could get maybe a second hand Lexus RX400 with a navigator and a nice stereo system!

6. Keep my house really warm during winter

Mrs Credit Card is really frugal with the household expenses. During winter, we turn our heater to only about 65 degrees. Mrs Credit Cards says we could save on our heating bills this way. All we have to do is to wear our sweaters. How I wish we could leave our thermostat on at 70 degrees or slightly higher! I really like to keep warm without wearing my sweaters at home! Well, when my mortgage is paid off, the thermostat is going to be set at 72!

7. Increase my tithing

I’ll be honest - I should be tithing more. But when your mortage is 25% of your gross and the other 30% is used for your household expense, it’s hard to get the 10% tithing going. After taxes, you are not left with much. Factor in contributing to your kids 529 and additional retirement savings, it becomes really difficult. In fact, I would attribute my mortgage to being the biggest mental block with regards to this.

8. Contribute more to my retirement account

Who wouldn’t want to do so? Even if you max out on your qualified accounts, you could still save in your taxable account and I would certainly do so. There is probably a balancing act with regards to paying off your mortgage and contributing to your retirement account instead. Mentally, I would rather pay off my debts first.

9. Contribute more to the kids 529 plans

How much will it cost to send your kids to a college 10 years later. Answers : Definitely much more than today. If only my mortgage is paid off, I will be able to contribute the necessary amount to fully fund their future college expenses.

10. Any leftovers and savings really become gravy when you have no debt

When you have no debt, credit cards, auto loans or mortage, any savings you make is really gravy that is added to your networth. And I will certainly sleep more soundly when I am totally debt free.

When my mortgage is paid off and I’m totally debt free, this is how I would spend the extra cash (though not in any particular order). I would certainly save more for our retirement and the kids college. We would tith more. And we would also want to have a better quality of life. These are what’s motivating me to pay off my debt (mortgage) faster. I hope this may inpire you if you have any debt. What’s motivating you to be disciplined and sticking to your debt reduction plan?

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 11:15 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.