Paid in Full

Well, it is a happy day!  After 40 years of house payments, we have officially paid off our mortgage.  Our house is paid for, free and clear.  This is a goal my husband and I have had since his retirement 12 years ago.  That goal being that when I retired (which was 2 years ago) our mortgage would be paid off.  It took 2 extra years but we reached that goal. 

In this day and age when seniors are worried how far their money will go in retirement and what kind of "paring down" they might have to do to survive, this is quite a load off our minds.  My husband and I have spent quite a bit of time working on what we have to have and what we can let go.  We went from 2 cars to one.  We now grocery shop once a month and have been stocking up the freezer and pantry.  We have locked away the credit cards to be used only in case of emergency.  We use cash whenever we want something and if we don't have the cash, we don't get it.  It may sound like we don't have any fun now that we are both retired, but that is not the case.  If anything, we are
enjoying our lives much more than when we worried about the credit card balances, mortgage payments, etc.  Yes, it would be great to be able to afford to go away every winter to AZ and/or NV to avoid all the snow, but at least we can afford to run away for a little while to escape the winter nutsies and enjoy the fact, we won't have to give up eating or a warm house to live in to afford it.