To be honest I've been struggling with the bills for the last year and can't seem to save a penny. I'm happy enough just to get the mortgage paid but what would it be like it you didn't have a mortgage??

First thing I'd do would be to take all my family on a nice little break! Then take those ballroom classes I've been wanting to take but can't justify at the mo.

I have no big savings tips but I did see that Globrix.ie and the Indo launched a new competition on Sunday. The prize is your mortgage paid for the year. The link is globrix.ie . . .... Does anybody ever win these things?

Here's hoping!

Tim's sister was left with no mortgage to pay after her previous fiance passed away. I think she just frittered a lot of her cash away until she got married to her present husband, and then...they bought a house to rent out. Sucker for punishment. She's just dropped a load of cash on a new house to live in as well, selling the 2nd house, and then renting the original house. Madness!

[Sorry, I typed this answer at the end of the wrong message]

Well since I have lived in this place for 37 years, the mortgage is indeed paid off - the house is entirely ours free and clear. So what happens?

Since the time it got paid off after being refinanced about six times for stuff like college for the kids, advantageous loan rates, down payments for my kids' first houses, down payment for a place I bought for them to live in while in college, but still kept as an investment, and the source for a home equity line which we use for stuff like buying cars, which we generally repay in a year, we spend an amount equal to or greater than the mortgages to fix stuff up and replace things.

Next week my heating, hot water and air-conditioning plant will be replaced and upgraded; $15,000. It's still working fine, but was really past its expected service life. I'd rather replace it on my terms than have to do it as an emergency. Newer systems also have far greater efficiency rates.

We replaced the decking on our sizable deck with composite stuff. $16,000. We love that...no splinters as from wooden decking.

We are currently redoing our entire basement...new floors/ceiling, new basement lavatory, removing "oh so 1970's" paneling (that I put up right after we moved here.) The cost for that probably between 7-10,000. My wife wants both bathrooms redone and she's hated the kitchen since the day we moved in. Estimates for that are about $45K (kitchen) which is exactly what we paid for the place and 5-6K for each bathroom.

So...it never ends. We are unlikely to move anytime soon. We don't wish to relocate. Going up in size makes little sense, there are only two of us now here and our living level is all on one floor...plus basement, which is an advantage to older couples as ourselves. Plus our kids still live around here.

You only THINK you have paid off a house once you actually get there. LOL

Jon

My husband and I are both 34, and thanks to purchasing our first home at just the right time for about $75000.00 AUD,then going at the mortgage like demons for three years before we had our daughter, before selling it three years later to upsize for $150000.00 (the market in Australia went through the roof in about 2003), I am lucky enough to be able to say that we have no mortgage.

We still live within our means, and we have only one child, a daughter who is seven. She does Highland Dancing, and it is nice to be able to afford for her to do this.

Even now, we do not purchase anything without first saving up for it, and this includes our overseas trip that we took this year for my sisters wedding to Dubai. If we cannot factor it into our budget to save and pay cash, it does not happen.

I am so glad that we did so well off our first house, as it can become a never ending cycle with a mortgage, and house prices are now so high, that if we did not buy when we did, I think that we would be stuck in a renting cycle!!!

I wish you all the best, and I hope that your "no mortgage" dream is fulfilled one day as mine is now!!!