In this issue of The Payoff Challenge:
Community Debt Payoff Snapshot
Submit your debt payoff totals for this week!
Dollar Designator: A simple envelope system budget app
Weekly Action: Are You Paying PMI Unnecessarily?
My Home Payoff Update
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Community Debt Payoff Snapshot
Congrats to everyone who paid off debt this week! Let’s put this into a fun comparison.
We paid off a total of $1328 last week! This is how much a nice E-bike costs. Which hey, if you live in a temperate area where your work is close, who needs a car?
$664 was the average paid off, which is about how much groceries cost for a family of 2. Just keeps going up but if you’re intentional, you can for sure curb your food expenses. We try really hard to keep our groceries to $500 but it frequently has to go higher than that for us and the two little kids.
$664 is also the equivalent of 170 gallons of chocolate milk.
Numbers only move if people act—which brings us to this week’s check-in!
Weekly Check In!
How Much Did You Pay Off This Week?
⏱ Takes under 60 seconds. Any amount. Any debt.
This isn’t about how big the number is—it’s about progress. If you haven’t made a payment yet, consider this your nudge to go make one right now. Missed a week? Just submit the total since your last entry.
Submissions will be included in future week’s Snapshots!
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Caleb’s Actionable Strategy
Are You Paying PMI Unnecessarily?
PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. This is what mortgage companies tack onto your payment to protect them from you defaulting on your loan if you put down less than 20% on your home. Once you get to 20%, you can get that PMI removed.
Action: This week, check with your mortgage company if you’re paying PMI unnecessarily with your regular mortgage payment.
Eventually, the mortgage company generally will drop the PMI, once you hit 22% equity in your home. But if you have a 30-year loan, this could take well over a year to get from 20% to 22% equity, which means you’re paying that PMI unnecessarily for a long time if you don’t request them to remove it!
Removing PMI could save you $100-$300 a month depending on your original loan amount. That’s a lot of extra cash you could put towards your debt!
Member Spotlight
I Want To Celebrate Your Wins!
But I need your help to do it. Get featured here for your wins!
Any amount of debt payoff is worth celebrating here in the member spotlight.
Caleb’s Challenge Update
Progress We Made Towards Our Payoff
Goal: Pay off our remaining mortgage ($70k) by our 10-year anniversary on June 17, 2027 (less than a year left).
262 days left
Mortgage Balance on January 1st, 2026: $70,000
Current Mortgage Balance: $47,157.96 (▼$1212.94 since last week)
Balance paid off since start of challenge: $22,842.04
Source: Paycheck, a bonus, savings, interest, an Escrow surplus payment, Etsy poster sales, selling scrap metal, a bicycle, a TV cabinet, and a laptop
*This includes monthly principal payments as well as additional payments.
Current Mortgage Balance
This week, we had some extra from our jobs and also our normal monthly payment for October. At this point, over $900 of our payment goes towards principal which is pretty encouraging.
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That’s it for this week! I already can’t wait for next couple week’s editions as we start getting numbers to include. If you have any feedback, respond to this email or drop me a line at [email protected].
Till next week!
Caleb
