My stepmother told me it was a sweet feeling to know there are no more payments to make to the bank. At my dental examination this morning the hygienist told me she was one year away from ending her mortgage.

Mind you these two women are numbers-oriented: one had a career in insurance (she is NOT happy with the scooter), and another invests much the way I do (she rides a Harley-Davidson). Neither of them are of the "oh, I was just a housewife while my husband brought home a well-above-average salary" type either so I think this is really doable.

It seems so far away from where I am: five years ago we started out with $175,000. I know the principal is incremented with each passing month, but only by $2.63 with no prepayment. Just three weeks away from getting to the magic $140K. And that seems still very large to me. I don't know how my friends with larger mortgages manage -- they must have greater patience.