Mortgage Payoff for 2017

$109,000.00. Purchase price of our home in October of 2013.

$87,200.00. Our house debt. The loan we took took out in October of 2013.

$79,000.00. Amount left when God told us to get out of house debt in February of 2017.

$60,000.00. My original goal for December of 2017.

$54,362.40. How much we have left on our mortgage as we leave December of 2017.

When we started this journey in February, I took our remaining debt ($79,000.00) and broke it into bite size chunks using the house image above (from debt free charts). Originally we had hoped to make it down to $60,000.00 left on our mortgage by the end of this year, but God kept handing us extra money (ideas post, yard sale post) to put toward the mortgage, and the ball was rolling faster than we had imagined.

At the end of November 2017 we had already passed that goal, and so we changed our goal to get to the bottom line on the roof of the mortgage chart (above). When we saw how close that number ($54,692.32) was to 50% of our home's original purchase price ($54,500.00), we made our official 2017 goal to get to the 50% payoff of our home purchase price. The goal for the end of this month was officially set at $54,500.00.

Just like in September of 2017 (when we had our yard sale), Matt had another mandatory (unpaid) week off in December. So we knew that with that week off (and Christmas expenses and Charlotte's birthday), it would be incredibly difficult to hit this new goal. We needed over $3,000.00 extra this month to put toward the mortgage. I type these updates out periodically because it is absurd to me how God helps us when we obey Him.

He gave us a long list of verses directly from His mouth in February and said, "Get out of debt as fast as you can, so that I can use your money for something else." Recently He spoke to us again and said, "I don't care if it looks like it will slow down your debt payoff, I want you to give extra money to a specific, local charity every month going forward." When we listen to what God says, He rewards us with both hands. When we open our mouths wide, He fills them! (Psalm 81:10)

This month, we had a week off work, Christmas expenses, and our daughter's birthday, but God wrote us checks all month long. Over and over and over. I'm not talking about Christmas cash or expected gifts. I'm talking about a car accident that we had no fault in, and the kindness of strangers, and money we DIDN'T EARN. All month long, God handed us money we didn't earn. 

I sold $40.00 worth of stuff this month. Since we began this journey in February, that's our lowest month of sales. I had (logically so) thought that December would be a month full of people buying things from us, but God keeps pulling back and saying, "No, Amanda. I'm doing this. You're not doing it."

Matt made less than two hundred dollars doing extra jobs this month. That should have left us thousands of dollars short on our debt payoff goal for the year, but God handed us thousands of extra dollars. He quietly demands that I give Him glory on this journey. We're not doing it. We can't do it. We don't make enough money. 

We don't have a big enough income to pay off our mortgage, but we have a big enough God.

December closes this week, and we have less than 50% of our house left to pay off. $54,362.40.

How long will that take us to pay off? I don't know, but something tells me that God will do it way faster than I can.