If you’ve been reading this series, you know our goal is to have our second mortgage paid off within a year. Part One in this series is here.

You may think our plan is silly, or unattainable. You may think we’ve been frivolous in the past – or that the cuts we’re making are ludicrous. Whatever frame of reference you’ve come from, I hope I’ve offered some food for thought.

A FEW LESSONS WE’VE LEARNED

We tend to spend what we have – in order to make mortgage-paydown a priority, we need to budget it like a bill.

If we didn’t look at the cumulative savings, we wouldn’t choose to tighten the belt at all. Saving ten dollars here and there did not offer us enough incentive to bother with a budget. A complete budget recalibration was in order. When I did the math to look at annual savings in multiple areas of the budget, I finally understood how much money was slipping through the cracks.

We don’t miss what we’ve cut out of the budget. So the fact some of the cuts are short-term (like travel) should make this whole process far simpler than we thought it would be.

Our pay-down went faster once the loan amount was less. The bank gets most of your payment early in the amortization, so the quicker you can reduce the balance, the better.

For instance:
• If you owe 100,000 at a rate of 5% and amortized at 15 years, only $375 of your $800 payment goes toward the principle on your loan.
• If you’ve paid it down to $50,000, $575 goes to principle.
• At $25,000, $685 of your $800 payment pays down your loan.

An excellent credit score translates to thousands saved in closing costs. Know your score and if it’s low, figure out what’s bogging you down.

Spreadsheets can be FUN - especially when you watch the loan balance decrease by leaps and bounds. The decreasing loan amount and budgeted monthly expenditures are tangible outcomes that validate your efforts when achieved.

Some budget cuts should be permanent. Some can be temporary. Both are good.

Ours is just a smaller second mortgage. But you have to start somewhere, right? Other families may need to start by paying off their car loans or credit card debt. Will we pay it off in a year? I hope so. Either way, we know we’ll have developed habits that last a lifetime – and we’ll have passed on these habits to our kids.

Our first mortgage? Well that’s a different story – and one that looks to be about 15 years from its conclusion. But with our new habits in place, after we reach our first goal, I bet we’ll find room in the budget for accelerating these payments as well – while loosening up on some of the sacrifices too.

Thank you for joining me on my Mortgage Payoff 101 series. What is your debt-control goal?

MORTGAGE PAYOFF 101 SERIES:
Getting Started
Monthly Charges
The Credit Card
Sell Your Stuff
Lessons Learned

My girl had her first major haircut a few weeks ago. At age 12! She cut off a foot and donated it to Locks of Love.

Going…

going…

Gone!

Her hair was so long that it’s still long after removing a foot, but it was a big step for her. She’d thought about it for a long time before cutting it. Of course, I sniffled a bit with the last snip, but the most shocking part is that after the hairdresser cut a few layers, her light blond hair was totally gone. It’s darker now.

Some little girl is going to get some beautiful hair to use while she recovers from chemo…

I’m a real fan of youth service and dedicated a whole chapter to it in my book. Since writing this month’s Positively Speaking column, I’ve read about many outstanding projects initiated and implemented by young people throughout the world for Global Youth Service Day. My daughter posted her literacy project on a map at the Global Youth Service Day website, and so can you!

One of our community’s service projects:
Fourth- and fifth-grade youth leaders are teaming with high school students to paint game templates on the blacktop. It’s been a very involved process, meeting weekly to discuss which games will work the best and fit in the space we have.

After the games are painted on the blacktop, the 4th and 5th grade youth leaders will partner with the physical education teacher to teach the games to the younger students. It’s all a part of the Peaceful Playgrounds curriculum.

What a fun and worthwhile project!

Now here’s your chance to share your own community’s youth service projects. Please share what your community’s young people are doing for Global Youth Service Day projects. We’d love to get new ideas for next year. Just describe the project here in comments, or leave your link. Be sure to mention the ages of the young people involved in the service.

Thanks for spreading the word about this outstanding global initiative!

***GUEST SERIES BY SIXTH-GRADE DARLA***

Begin the “Start a Book Club” series here.

Although it doesn’t have to cost a lot, money can help your bookclub be more successful. Even a small corporate sponsorship can go a long way toward making your book club work. To give you an idea, here’s the request for funding that I wrote to my mom’s company.

Get creative! You can also ask for donations of activity materials, books or snacks from local stores. And my library has doubled since getting the word out to family members and neighbors. Just figure out what your book club really needs, and let people know. Adults often ask me how they can help, and it’s a lot easier to ask for quality items they might donate to GoodWill anyway.

We also receive a small, but regular funding from the affiliate income earned by purchases made from this Amazon search box. The money we use mostly goes toward the purchase of treats, activity materials and prizes. Here are some suggestions – but your situation will vary greatly, depending upon the resources in your community and neighborhood.

FUNDING SOURCE IDEAS:
• Two of my friends sponsored a dog wash and earned $9 to put toward materials and supplies.

• Encourage neighbor support by setting up a BookWorm Wednesday table at garage sales. All proceeds from one table can go to support the project.

• Ask for a grant from a sponsor, consider local businesses or sending fliers to neighbors.

• Include “wish list” items on the bottom of the fliers you give to participants.

• Mention “needed items” if you have the opportunity to be interviewed for a newspaper article. But be specific. You might get more than you bargained for!

• I make my money by receiving earnings from the Amazon links on this blog.

• I suggest buying prizes and crafts from Oriental trading, but don’t buy candy prizes there! It is cheaper at the grocery store.

I hope this series will get you started on a path toward hosting your own neighborhood book club! Please come back here and share your experience. I’d love to hear from you!!

Next week, we’ll ask readers to share what’s happening in their communities on Global Youth Service Day — the weekend of April 24-26. Please join us next week, by describing your project, or linking to your story. Thank you!

How to Start a Kid’s Book Club series:
Read Across America – Youth Leader for Literacy Project
How to Start Your Own BookWorm Wednesday
Adult Mentor
Book Selection
Activities
Safety
Marketing
Management
Teamwork
Money

Thank you for reading this series, a part of Read Across America, sponsored by NEA and Youth Service America. Darla is one of the select few youth named 2009 Youth Leaders for Literacy.

***GUEST SERIES BY SIXTH-GRADE DARLA***

Begin the “Start a Book Club” series here.

The most important factor which has contributed to the success of BookWorm Wednesday, is the team of friends that come every week to make it happen. Different friends bring different abilities and we all have an impact on the book club. We’re able to accomplish more, and manage the group better when several of us attend on a regular basis. Besides, it’s a lot more fun! For me, Wednesday is my favorite day of the week because it’s a social time with my friends too.

TEAMMATES
• A few friends to help you are great because they take a load off your back. Don’t recruit to many though! You don’t have that many jobs!

• I have two helpers, plus one that lives in another town that occasionally visits and sometimes we have a few other friends to help

• In my little group, Eliza checks out the books, and Cameron does attendance while I read. Then we all pitch in to do crafts

• Always mention that your friends are a major contribution to your book club. Honestly, BWW wouldn’t exist if they didn’t help me.

• To prove how badly you need helpers, imagine checking out books, taking attendance, supervising, reading and helping with the crafts in half in hour with seven 1st graders. YIKES!

How to Start a Kid’s Book Club series:
Read Across America – Youth Leader for Literacy Project
How to Start Your Own BookWorm Wednesday
Adult Mentor
Book Selection
Activities
Safety
Marketing
Management
Teamwork
Money

This series of articles is a part of Read Across America, sponsored by NEA and Youth Service America. Darla — named one of the 2009 Youth Leaders for Literacy — is sponsoring this campaign to help other youth start book clubs in their neighborhoods. Please come back next week for the continuation of this series, which will end the last week in April, in conjunction with Global Youth Service Day.