[Metro]

Originally Posted by Chancie

I bought my not very big, not very fancy house when I was in my 40s and then I refinanced it when I was in my late 40s to save almost $200 a month.

I want to try to pay off my thirty year mortgage because I didn't start teaching in a public school until I was 42, and I won't be able to afford my mortgage when I retire.

I emailed my very helpful local bank manager and he said I'd need to pay about $770 extra a month to principal in order to pay off my mortgage by the end of the school year when I turn 60 years old.

I don't have to tell you how impossible that sounds, so I will just pay about $87 a month towards principal, which will shave off a few years.

But, it's important to me to be able to choose whether I stay here when I retire, so I have been thinking a lot about how to manage my budget with an eye towards the future.

Something to ponder...

This solution may not work for you (Chancie) or your particular circumstances, but it might be of interest to others who are seeking ways to boost their income to achieve specific life goals.

A friend of mine rents extra bedrooms in his home through an online rental service (i.e. airbnb.com) and has been quite successful in doing so. He decides when, for how long, and whom he wants to host -- the site takes care of all of the pre-rental communication and payments. IMHO, his particular success hinges on the fact that he lives in a town that has a lot of seasonal tourists, plus he lives in a convenient and safe neighborhood in that town.

Renting rooms in ones home may not be desirable nor feasible for many, but it is an option that has provided my friend with several hundred dollars in extra income per month. University towns may also have good potential for this kind of setup. NOTE: My grandmother did this sort of thing in the 1960s (and also during WWII), so the concept is not unfamiliar to me.