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Post Mortgage Payoff: It’s A Celebration

July 19, 2021 By Thinking of Someday

The last time we all gathered here (lol) we talked about how we were able to pay off our mortgage back in January after 2 years. Well, it’s been quite some time, so we figured it was time for a little bit of a post mortgage update.

When we paid off our mortgage, the first people we shared it with were our parents. So it seemed only right that once we finally decided to go ahead and celebrate, we ended up inviting our parents over as well so we could celebrate with them.

3 Months Post Mortgage

We actually celebrated back in March (3 months post mortgage) and kept it sweet and simple due to the panni. We had a crab boil, cake, and wine. In the end, we finished coloring our mortgage free chart! Coloring the chart was surreal although we had paid off the mortgage 3 months beforehand. We had waited so long for this moment that we couldn’t believe it was actually here. Overall, it was a great celebration.

It’s a celebration!! Cheers! Definitely couldn’t leave out the kids and their juice. 😂
We all got a chance to color. Started with the kids, then our parents, and then finally us!
Had to divide the last “brick” so we could both color it because neither of us wanted to give up the opportunity to color the last brick. Lol. And ultimately we colored it together because… #teampetty 🤣 Coloring it in felt pretty momentous; kinda like when we got married. Guess that’s why we were humming the wedding tune. Haha.
Can’t believe we didn’t take a picture with the kids. So I cut and paste them in! 😆
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kim + Omar | thinkingofsomeday (@thinkingofsomeday)

This is my favorite picture of my dad and me… Omar and I are forever grateful ♥️♥️♥️

6 Months Post Mortgage

After paying off the mortgage, for days… weeks… months… it felt surreal. We really couldn’t believe that we did it. We finally DID it! So, therefore, every time people would ask us if it felt any different yet, our answer was always, “No. It just still feels surreal.”

Well, now that we’re 6 months post mortgage, it’s definitely starting to feel real. It started to feel more real within the last month or 2 when people would ask us questions about our mortgage or refinancing and we would be like, “Uhhhhhh. Let me think about that because it’s been a minute since we really had to think about the mortgage.” Lol. It’s a good feeling to have though.

How Our Budget Changed Post Mortgage

The closer we got to paying off our mortgage, the more we talked about what we would do with our “mortgage payment” and the RSUs afterward. We set our goals before paying it off bc we knew if we didn’t come up with a plan beforehand, we would for sure just slowly spend more and more of that money. Lol. We learned from doing that after becoming debt free although we don’t regret what we did back then bc it was just sooo freeing (but we weren’t completely reckless).

Here’s a breakdown of what we decided to do (and literally started working on the day after we paid off our mortgage):

  • started contributing to a brokerage account
  • splitting the RSUs between the brokerage account and our “bathroom” / house fund
  • maxing out a 401k
  • maxing out both Roth IRA’s
  • we’re paying for our oldest son’s 529 from the budget now
  • increased our blow money / spending money for the first time ever from $60 each per pay period to $80 each per pay period

The Numbers

For those that like to see the numbers, this is what we literally discussed over and over again until we were both satisfied (yes we made a spreadsheet for it because this is what we do lol):

The part that says “budget changes” is roughly the part that used to be our mortgage of $1140.

As usual, we made some changes to our plan once we actually started to see how it was working out. We were going to do a 50/50 split with any money leftover in the budget after our regular budgeted expenses. We thought this would be easy to do since we didn’t have a mortgage and especially since we did the 70/30 split to help pay off the mortgage.

Welllll, that only lasted for about 3 months because it made the budget feel way too tight at times. Especially depending on how often I (Kim) worked or not and if I went over the grocery budget or not. 😬 So we changed that to a 70/30 split where 30% of the leftover money goes to the brokerage account. The other 70% is either spent or what’s left typically goes towards the “bathroom” / house fund, unless we need it in another sinking fund.

The other change we made was that instead of saving monthly for date night and family night, we took it out of the budget completely for now. Earlier in the year we still weren’t doing much due to the panni, so it was just kind of pointless to have it as a line item in the budget. However, we did go ahead and completely fill both of those sinking funds up front.

SN: “bathroom” fund is in quotes because we’ve saved twice in the past to get the bathroom done, but ended up spending the money elsewhere. At this point, we’re not sure when we’ll get it done, but since that particular column on our sinking funds spreadsheet has been known as the bathroom fund, that’s just what we continue to call it. And maybe one day the money will actually be used for that. Lol.

Post Mortgage Money Goals

If you’re wondering what’s the point in us making all these money moves now that we’ve paid off the mortgage, well the TL;DR version would be:

We’re doing all of this investing and continuing to budget because our goal, even when paying off the mortgage, was to become millionaires by 40. Specifically, have a net worth of $1 million by 40. It’ll take us a couple more years after 40 to reach $1 million invested.

And yes, we guess you could say the ultimate goal is FIRE!! Financial Independence / Retire Early. But we’re going at a slower pace than what most people in the FIRE community aim to do. Not exactly sure at what age we would like to be able to retire. However, having options is always a nice goal.

The $1 million net worth tracker on the left is colored in until the halfway mark, which we reached back in December 2019. And the $1 milli invested tracker on the right is colored in until the $100k mark, which we reached back in May 2018. We started investing mid 2015, after becoming debt free (minus the mortgage) at the age of 30. As you can see, it took us 3 years to reach our first $100k. The trend is that the first $100k is the hardest / takes the longest to reach, and then it skyrockets after that.

At this point, we’re beyond this on the trackers and are on track to reach our goals. If you’re interested in these trackers, you can find them at Simplistic Printshop, which I’ll discuss a little bit more below.

Simplistic Printshop

While paying off the mortgage, I (Kim) came up with an idea to create our own mortgage payoff tracker. I liked the one we had, but due to extenuating circumstances and the fact that I wanted something that we could keep and frame, I made a new one (which you see in several of the pictures above). Out of this idea, I thought, “Why not create some more printables that people could use if they’re interested?” Thus, Simplistic Printshop was born.

So far, I’ve created budgeting printables (of course… lol) and finance goal trackers. And since it’s important for kids and teens to learn about money, I created some of each that are geared towards them as well. I have several other ideas in the works like flashcards (sight words, colors, numbers, etc) for younger kids, along with some organizational ideas as well. Feel free to check it out if it’s something you’re interested in. And of course, there are some freebies available if you subscribe to the mailing list (if you’re already subscribed to the mailing list for this blog and you’re interested in the free printables, let me know and I can share the link with you).

Final Thoughts

It was a journey to get here. And it’s been a journey to wrap our heads around this accomplishment, but it feels like we’ve finally arrived at that point. Thank you all for cheering us on and sticking with us during this time!

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Let us know below!

Mortgage Payoff Plan Updates / Recaps:

Year 1

  • Our Mortgage Payoff Plan
  • Jan – Mar 2019
  • Apr – Jun 2019
  • Jul – Sep 2019
  • Oct – Dec 2019

Year 2

  • Year 2 Goals
  • Jan – Mar 2020
  • Apr – Jun 2020
  • Jul – Dec 2020 (plus, 2021 goals)

Year 3

  • Jan 2021
  • How We Paid Off Our Mortgage In 2 Years!!

Feature Image: Unsplash

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Filed Under: Personal + Finance Tagged With: debt freedom, mortgage free, mortgage free journey, post mortgage

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thinkingofsomeday

I quit my job at the end of April and it’s been I quit my job at the end of April and it’s been great so far.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Why did I quit?
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The TL; DR version is: It was a compromise between Omar and I when it came to having another baby. Some people might feel a way about this, but at the end of the day, our marriage  of 10 years and relationship of almost 20 years has survived off of lots of communication, compromise, and comprehension. This is how we have managed to do everything we’ve set out to do. And this phase of life is no different.
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If you want the full version of the story, you can check out my stories. 😉
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#piecesofsomeday #thislifeafterdebt
Some of the pics and excitement from our gender re Some of the pics and excitement from our gender reveal. Needless to say, this was an exciting moment to share with our boys and parents. 💖
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
(#piecesofsomeday #thislifeafterdebt #babynumber3 #partyof5 #budgetbuster)
It’s a… gender reveal!! 🖤💙💖🖤

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
(#piecesofsomeday #thislifeafterdebt #babynumber3 #partyof5 #budgetbuster)
🖤 🖤 + 🖤
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
(#piecesofsomeday #thislifeafterdebt #babynumber3 #partyof5 #budgetbuster 😆)
As of 1/8/2022, it’s been one year since we beca As of 1/8/2022, it’s been one year since we became mortgage free. What better way to celebrate than a date night in our paid off home?! 😏
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
So how does it feel?
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Financially, we invested the most money we've ever invested. We also increased our lifestyle a bit as well to keep a healthy balance.
 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Kim’s Perspective: 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s been great. For the longest it felt surreal and unbelievable that we actually did it. I never really worried about paying off the mortgage because I knew that worst case scenario, it would be paid off in 15 years, which would’ve been when we were 45 (and that’s not a bad age at all). However, it’s been nice to know that it’s not something that Omar is stressing over anymore. And since it was one of his biggest dreams/goals, it’s nice knowing that I was able to support him 100% of the way in making this happen for us and our family. I’m glad this is something he wanted to pursue and that I was actually on board with it. What I’ve enjoyed most about it is being able to spend more money (of course 😆) because a lot of things were put on hold while we focused on the payoff. So now I feel like I’m at that point where I can make our house more of a home for us. It literally feels like we’re in a new space (mentally and physically) and we’re loving it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Omar’s Perspective:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This past year has probably been the best year I've had in life. I've been the least stressed I've ever been, but took on the most responsibility at work I've ever taken on which lead to a promotion and an increase in income. This boggles my mind as more responsibility at work usually means more stress. I feel like I’ve been able to focus on other areas of my life more (my health/weight as well as making more of an effort to maintain my relationships with friends/family). Most importantly, I realize the strength of my marriage.  With the state of dating/relationships these days, I realize I won the lottery with Kim.  She's an amazing wife and mother. We've always had a good relationship but we're stronger than ever.  We started from the bottom now we're here (in my Drake voice). 🎶 #thislifeafterdebt
After taking some time to think about what we want After taking some time to think about what we wanted to focus on for this year, we decided that our word for the year is health.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Overall we both want to continue making healthier choices when it comes to eating. And we both want to focus on exercising more than we have in the past and be way more consistent with it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
At the end of the day, what’s money, financial freedom/independence and wealth if you’re not healthy? And we definitely have high blood pressure, diabetes, etc that run in our families. We have kids to live for and that’s what we plan to do to the best of our ability!
This is what our financial goals ended up looking This is what our financial goals ended up looking like for this year. We’re pretty pleased with the outcome and the fact that we still enjoyed ourselves throughout the year and even made some pretty big purchases (like that whole couch saga I shared in my stories 😆). We’re looking forward to seeing what the next year holds! #thislifeafterdebt
We didn’t officially choose a word for 2021, but We didn’t officially choose a word for 2021, but if we had to say a word that was our word for this year it would be “intentional” by far.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
At the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021 we were very intentional about pulling money from an inherited IRA so that our tax bill wouldn’t be ridiculous like it would have been if we pulled a lump sum at one time. We then used the money to help pay off our mortgage 8 days into 2021.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What we were even more  intentional about was our plan for what we were going to do with our mortgage payment once we didn’t have a mortgage anymore. We didn’t want to frivolously spend that money. So we actually came up with our plan a couple months before making our final payment. But literally after that payment on January 8, 2020, our new mortgage-free budget was in full effect! So yea, “intentional” is definitely a good word to sum up 2021 for us. #thislifeafterdebt
Some of the things we automate are:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Our Budget:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
For the longest we use to type everything we were going to spend or save into our budget template. It wasn’t super time consuming but it wasn’t efficient when it came to our regular bills/expenses. Then one day we decided to prefill the template and copy and paste it month to month for our regular bills/expenses. All we have to do is add anything else we spend.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Savings / Investing:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Most of our savings/investing and even our gas and spending money our automated transfers. It beats having to go in and make multiple transfers to our personal accounts and our sinking funds. The 529 accounts for the kids and the Roth IRAs are automatically transferred. But for the brokerage account we have to manually transfer the money because it’s never the same amount each paycheck.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Bill Pay:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I’ve never been a fan of bill pay because I don’t like companies having that type of access to my money. 🥴 And whenever they mess up and charge you too much, they’ll try to just credit your account instead of putting the money back in your bank account. 🙄 However, I’m a tad bit more trusting these days. Lol. Our home alarm had no option but to be auto drafted. Since the amount wasn’t much and is always the same price, I agreed. And the only other bill auto drafted is our cell phone bill after many many years (gasp! haha). Some of the other bills are paid via online bill pay via our banking account. #thisfinancialconfession
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Doing all of this has been a game changer and time saver. Are you team automate or team manual?
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Comments

  1. Katrice says

    July 20, 2021 at 5:06 pm

    Thank you both for always paying it forward and sharing your testimony on how you both became financially disciplined, which produced you becoming debt free. It starts with discipline and you guys are showing how being disciplined pays off. I truly enjoy reading your posts. I am grateful for the insight that you continue to provide to the community. My saying each one, teach one 😊. I am so proud of you guys and your continuous contributions to bring generational wealth to your family and the community. I love the post about your father. He set the example by paving the way and leaving wealth for the next generation. That’s what it’s all about it. He is living in luxury in Heaven. That’s where it really counts 😊. I continue to root you guys on as you reach your next set of goals.

    • Thinking of Someday says

      July 23, 2021 at 11:11 am

      Thank you for all of your support, Katrice!! 🤗

  2. Luke says

    July 23, 2021 at 11:55 am

    congrats again ya’ll = what a feeling i can only hope to someday have!

    • Thinking of Someday says

      July 23, 2021 at 3:21 pm

      Thanks Luke! You’ll get there brother!!

  3. Kimberly S Wiggins says

    July 25, 2021 at 1:40 pm

    This is so great!! Congrats on the payoff!!! You guys are extremely inspiring…keep it up!!

    • Thinking of Someday says

      July 29, 2021 at 11:05 am

      Thank you, Kim!!

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Hey! We’re Omar + Kim.

A married couple making someday a reality all while balancing family + finances + avoiding debt. Find out more about us, here.

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See what’s happening on Instagram

thinkingofsomeday

I quit my job at the end of April and it’s been I quit my job at the end of April and it’s been great so far.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Why did I quit?
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The TL; DR version is: It was a compromise between Omar and I when it came to having another baby. Some people might feel a way about this, but at the end of the day, our marriage  of 10 years and relationship of almost 20 years has survived off of lots of communication, compromise, and comprehension. This is how we have managed to do everything we’ve set out to do. And this phase of life is no different.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
If you want the full version of the story, you can check out my stories. 😉
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#piecesofsomeday #thislifeafterdebt
Some of the pics and excitement from our gender re Some of the pics and excitement from our gender reveal. Needless to say, this was an exciting moment to share with our boys and parents. 💖
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
(#piecesofsomeday #thislifeafterdebt #babynumber3 #partyof5 #budgetbuster)
It’s a… gender reveal!! 🖤💙💖🖤

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
(#piecesofsomeday #thislifeafterdebt #babynumber3 #partyof5 #budgetbuster)
🖤 🖤 + 🖤
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
(#piecesofsomeday #thislifeafterdebt #babynumber3 #partyof5 #budgetbuster 😆)
As of 1/8/2022, it’s been one year since we beca As of 1/8/2022, it’s been one year since we became mortgage free. What better way to celebrate than a date night in our paid off home?! 😏
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
So how does it feel?
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Financially, we invested the most money we've ever invested. We also increased our lifestyle a bit as well to keep a healthy balance.
 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Kim’s Perspective: 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s been great. For the longest it felt surreal and unbelievable that we actually did it. I never really worried about paying off the mortgage because I knew that worst case scenario, it would be paid off in 15 years, which would’ve been when we were 45 (and that’s not a bad age at all). However, it’s been nice to know that it’s not something that Omar is stressing over anymore. And since it was one of his biggest dreams/goals, it’s nice knowing that I was able to support him 100% of the way in making this happen for us and our family. I’m glad this is something he wanted to pursue and that I was actually on board with it. What I’ve enjoyed most about it is being able to spend more money (of course 😆) because a lot of things were put on hold while we focused on the payoff. So now I feel like I’m at that point where I can make our house more of a home for us. It literally feels like we’re in a new space (mentally and physically) and we’re loving it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Omar’s Perspective:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This past year has probably been the best year I've had in life. I've been the least stressed I've ever been, but took on the most responsibility at work I've ever taken on which lead to a promotion and an increase in income. This boggles my mind as more responsibility at work usually means more stress. I feel like I’ve been able to focus on other areas of my life more (my health/weight as well as making more of an effort to maintain my relationships with friends/family). Most importantly, I realize the strength of my marriage.  With the state of dating/relationships these days, I realize I won the lottery with Kim.  She's an amazing wife and mother. We've always had a good relationship but we're stronger than ever.  We started from the bottom now we're here (in my Drake voice). 🎶 #thislifeafterdebt
After taking some time to think about what we want After taking some time to think about what we wanted to focus on for this year, we decided that our word for the year is health.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Overall we both want to continue making healthier choices when it comes to eating. And we both want to focus on exercising more than we have in the past and be way more consistent with it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
At the end of the day, what’s money, financial freedom/independence and wealth if you’re not healthy? And we definitely have high blood pressure, diabetes, etc that run in our families. We have kids to live for and that’s what we plan to do to the best of our ability!
This is what our financial goals ended up looking This is what our financial goals ended up looking like for this year. We’re pretty pleased with the outcome and the fact that we still enjoyed ourselves throughout the year and even made some pretty big purchases (like that whole couch saga I shared in my stories 😆). We’re looking forward to seeing what the next year holds! #thislifeafterdebt
We didn’t officially choose a word for 2021, but We didn’t officially choose a word for 2021, but if we had to say a word that was our word for this year it would be “intentional” by far.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
At the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021 we were very intentional about pulling money from an inherited IRA so that our tax bill wouldn’t be ridiculous like it would have been if we pulled a lump sum at one time. We then used the money to help pay off our mortgage 8 days into 2021.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What we were even more  intentional about was our plan for what we were going to do with our mortgage payment once we didn’t have a mortgage anymore. We didn’t want to frivolously spend that money. So we actually came up with our plan a couple months before making our final payment. But literally after that payment on January 8, 2020, our new mortgage-free budget was in full effect! So yea, “intentional” is definitely a good word to sum up 2021 for us. #thislifeafterdebt
Some of the things we automate are:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Our Budget:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
For the longest we use to type everything we were going to spend or save into our budget template. It wasn’t super time consuming but it wasn’t efficient when it came to our regular bills/expenses. Then one day we decided to prefill the template and copy and paste it month to month for our regular bills/expenses. All we have to do is add anything else we spend.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Savings / Investing:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Most of our savings/investing and even our gas and spending money our automated transfers. It beats having to go in and make multiple transfers to our personal accounts and our sinking funds. The 529 accounts for the kids and the Roth IRAs are automatically transferred. But for the brokerage account we have to manually transfer the money because it’s never the same amount each paycheck.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Bill Pay:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I’ve never been a fan of bill pay because I don’t like companies having that type of access to my money. 🥴 And whenever they mess up and charge you too much, they’ll try to just credit your account instead of putting the money back in your bank account. 🙄 However, I’m a tad bit more trusting these days. Lol. Our home alarm had no option but to be auto drafted. Since the amount wasn’t much and is always the same price, I agreed. And the only other bill auto drafted is our cell phone bill after many many years (gasp! haha). Some of the other bills are paid via online bill pay via our banking account. #thisfinancialconfession
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Doing all of this has been a game changer and time saver. Are you team automate or team manual?
Follow Us

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