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.
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):
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.
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
Year 2
- Year 2 Goals
- Jan – Mar 2020
- Apr – Jun 2020
- Jul – Dec 2020 (plus, 2021 goals)
Year 3
Feature Image: Unsplash
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.
Thank you for all of your support, Katrice!! 🤗
congrats again ya’ll = what a feeling i can only hope to someday have!
Thanks Luke! You’ll get there brother!!
This is so great!! Congrats on the payoff!!! You guys are extremely inspiring…keep it up!!
Thank you, Kim!!