Purchasing a home is the American dream, but it requires you to take on a massive amount of American Financing. This debt can prevent you from retiring earlier, sending your children to college, or going on a dream vacation. You want to pay off your mortgage debt as soon as you can. Yet, paying off hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt is daunting.

Thankfully, there are ways for you to take years off your mortgage payments while increasing the equity in your home. These strategies can help you save thousands of dollars in interest payments. Here are five ways you can pay off your mortgage faster:

Make Extra “Principal Only” Payments

You may notice that most of your monthly mortgage payment goes toward paying the interest. Paying down the principal is a small percentage of your monthly mortgage payment. You can make monthly mortgage payments that are above the minimum. This extra money can go toward paying down the principal. You can pay off your mortgage faster by adding $50 to $100 to your minimum payment and directing this money to pay the principal.

Put Your Financial Windfalls Into Your Mortgage

Winning millions of dollars in the lottery is great, but you do not need this kind of windfall to pay off your mortgage faster. You can use a bonus from work, a tax refund, a birthday gift, or any other monetary windfall to add to your mortgage payment. Designate this extra windfall mortgage payment as “principal only.”

Refinance Your Mortgage

Refinancing your 30-year mortgage to a 15-year mortgage will help you pay off your mortgage a lot faster. You may also qualify for a lower interest rate on a 15-year mortgage. A lower interest rate will help you save money that you can use to pay extra on the principal.

Make Frequent Mortgage Payments

There is nothing that prevents you from making more than one mortgage payment a month. You can make a full mortgage payment twice a month. You can also pay half of your mortgage payment biweekly. Paying half of your monthly mortgage biweekly will result in 13 payments in one year.

Buy a Home You Can Afford

You want the home of your dreams, but that can be financially unrealistic. Buy a home you can easily afford so you can use the money you save to make extra payments on your mortgage.

These strategies will help you pay off your mortgage sooner and improve your financial situation. You can treat yourself by saving for the future, investing for your retirement, and being financially independent.

Guest Post By:

Lizzie Weakley is a freelance writer from Columbus, Ohio. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and walks in the park with her husky, Snowball.