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No-spend Wednesday

November 3rd, 2005 at 01:28 am

...I need more days like this.

I've been thinking about our mortgage. I've been trying to pay a little extra on the principal each month (basically making one extra mortgage payment a year, divided by 12). However, I read recently that it doesn't make as much sense to do this if you're not going to be in your house for very long. While I'm quite happy with this house, it's always been J's agenda to move out after 5 years to a house that's more in line with what we've always wanted (read: more land, large front porch, better storage space). Also, our mortgage moves from a fixed rate to an adjustable one after five years--we've already been here a little over two.

Basically I was paying more on principal to get rid of the blasted PMI--grrr--but chances are we won't be rid of it in three more years anyway. I tried to get rid of it earlier this year, based on the current value I got from domania.com (I'll try anything!), but was told we'd either need to get our loan balance down to $232,000, or that our house would need to appraise at almost $372,000. Even with the improvements we've made I'm not sure if it would appraise that high. I'd have to spend $275 on an appraiser--selected by the mortgage company--just to find out.

The five-year move-out date isn't set in stone, but I guess I still need to consider whether it's worth putting more money against the principal that could be used instead to PAY DOWN DEBT.

Given how many things there are to consider when it comes to your money (pay down principal or pay down other debts? Save or invest? Lease or buy?), it's not surprising to me that so many people choose just to not deal with it. Even though I usually like to think about these sorts of things, there are days when I wish I could just turn everything over to someone else who would do exactly what I would do if only I knew what I was doing.

I pledged $1000 for my Flexible Spending Plan for next year. My allergy treatments alone will carry me much of the way. I can't believe the limit went up to $5000 the year after I got LASIK--I could have paid for the whole operation through my FSA instead of putting some of it on my credit card. Grrr, again.

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