SUMMARY SUNDAY IS A WEEKLY POST WHERE I PUT OUT A SHORT LIST OF THE PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG POSTS AND ARTICLES I LIKED THE MOST THROUGHOUT THE PREVIOUS WEEK. LINKS TO EACH POST ARE IN THE HEADERS. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM TOO!
How This Family Slashed Their Mortgage Payment By $700/month
Frugal Asian Finance – September 15, 2017
This guest post on Frugal Asian Finance shows how a family used two refinances to lower their monthly mortgage payments by $700. Plus, over the course of eleven years they lowered their interest rate from 8% to 4.75%. The post then goes on to discuss how to assess whether you should refinance your own mortgage.
This is, in my opinion, the most valuable part of the post. It’s always fun to hear about how somebody lowered their bills through a refinance, but the fact that it helped someone else doesn’t mean it will help you.
I’ve considered refinancing my rental property multiple times, but it simply isn’t worth it in my situation. I already have a pretty low interest rate and I think the absolute most I could lower it would be another .75%…probably more like .5%. It’s much easier for me to simply apply extra funds to the principal if I want to save money in the long term. Plus, that provides me flexibility on a house that may get sold as early as 2018.
On the other hand, a family member recently refinanced his house and was able to save over $400/month. He wants this home to be his forever home. The monthly savings will pay for the refinancing costs in less than three years. After that, it’s all upside. So you definitely should look at your particular situation to see whether refinancing is a good solution.
Turning Savings Hacks into Charity Hacks
Apathy Ends – September 15, 2017
Charitable giving is important to me. I’ve had a lot of things go “right” in my life – more than have gone wrong, at least. I recognize that not everybody has it as good as I do.
So I think it’s important to give. And when I find a way to increase the impact of my giving – well, that’s just a good day.
That’s what this post by Apathy Ends is about. I can’t take advantage of all of the hacks, but I have used some in the past and will add some to my toolkit. For instance – couponing for charity is such a great idea and back when I shopped at a normal grocery store, I did this often. I was one of those people who could buy a box of cereal for 31 cents. Don’t worry – I like to shop in off hours so I wasn’t holding anybody up in line. But it was a great feeling when I could buy an entire shopping cart worth of food for $20 and drop it off at the food bank.
Unfortunately my employer doesn’t match charitable contributions, but I kinda feel like the Air Force helps in other ways so I’m not mad about it!
How I Paid For College
The Billfold – September 15, 2017
This one probably isn’t much help directly to my readers, as most of you are either past college or already have ways to pay for it (tuition assistance, GI Bill, etc). But many of you either already have or will have children, and this may be a concern for them.
Cassidy Bowen, the author of this piece, lays out exactly how she is affording college without help from her parents. Having paid for college myself (including earning scholarships), I can appreciate both how difficult, and how rewarding, that is.
If you are thinking about paying for college for yourself or trying to figure out how to make it work for your kids, check this out.
Thank you SO much for the shout-out! I’m so glad your family member saved a good amount of money through refinancing. ^.^
You’re welcome!