If your keen to pay off the mortgage as soon as possible, there are heaps of experts recommending ways to do it. Most strategies work pretty well, but here are two super simple tips you can use straightaway to lose that debt asap!

Paying a Little Extra
This is probably the most simple, and best known way to reduce that debt. If you want to see how much impact even a small extra payment can make then have a play with this mortgage calculator and see how adding a little extra to your principal here and there can shorten the length of your home loan. Try a few different extra amounts, find one that suits your budget (and is sustainable) and go for it.

Quick tip - if your weekly payment is $551 (for example) round this up to $560. You probably won't miss the extra $9 and it could knock years off the lifetime of the loan.

Paying a bit more principal also gives you an added bonus. As your principal amount gets lower more of every payment from then on is directed to the principal amount, and less is used to cover interest expenses. Double whammy!!

Increase The Payment Frequency
Fortnightly payments take advantage of the fact that there are 52 weeks and 12 months in the year. If you pay half your normal monthly mortgage payment amount every fortnight, you'll make 26 'half-payments', which is the equivalent of 13 full monthly payments, by the end of the year. So, in effect you'll pay 13 instead of 12 months.
The difference this makes can be huge. As an example, on a $250,000 mortgage over 30 years with interest at 6% you will save $62,847 just by moving to fortnightly payments. Plus you'll knock 5 and a half years off the term! Use the mortgage calculator here to see how much it could save you.

Both of these tips are super easy to set up, and take no time at all. Reaching the end of a 30 year mortgage term can seem like such a faraway goal to a lot of us that apathy often takes over and we just do nothing about it.

For more tips and ideas check out our blog each week. We'll have videos, and articles to help you save time, save money and get the most out of your finances.

If your idea of a good time is freezing your bits off in the shower each morning then go for it! More power to you. Why not really go for it and bathe in the local river? You'll save loads!..

Sorry - being super 'frugal' (read 'tight') will save you a few dollars over time, but who wants to put themselves through this misery when there are far more effective, and less painful, ways to achieve much better results.

Do you know why the 'saving a little' by 'doing without' never works long term? It's something called will power. No one has it...If I tell you you can save $18,000 over 10 years by going without a flat white every day how long could you manage that for? If you're anything like most Wellingtonians you'll maybe last until tomorrow...The chances of you doing this for 10 years? Zip. Zero. Zilch...

So how do you make big savings without the pain?
Simple - you target the right areas. Over to Ramit Sethi to explain how you achieve this.