Gas prices have gone way up since you left. 

I'm in the process of refinancing my place.  I hope to pay off in approximately half the time.  I've been paying more than minimum for the past few years anyways, so I had gained a lot of ground there.  Even more so (hopefully) with the refi.

I just closed on refi last Friday. I locked in a 30 year fixed at 2.875% a few months back. Don't use Quicken aka Rocket Mortgage.  They are not quick or a rocket and closed on my loan after 88 days. One way to get your mortgage paid off sooner is to look at the amortization schedule you get with your loan.  Pay the principal portion of next month with this month's payment.  You just saved that month's interest which is in many cases, is $1500 to $2000 or more. The principal amount will slowly get slowly progressively higher and hopefully your income will get higher too, but you can get your mortgage paid off in about 7 to 8 years.

I just closed on refi last Friday. I locked in a 30 year fixed at 2.875% a few months back. Don't use Quicken aka Rocket Mortgage.  They are not quick or a rocket and closed on my loan after 88 days. One way to get your mortgage paid off sooner is to look at the amortization schedule you get with your loan.  Pay the principal portion of next month with this month's payment.  You just saved that month's interest which is in many cases, is $1500 to $2000 or more. The principal amount will slowly get slowly progressively higher and hopefully your income will get higher too, but you can get your mortgage paid off in about 7 to 8 years.

I locked about a month ago now.

Yeah. I’ve been throwing in a quite a bit more. Before refi, I’m tracking to pay off in 15 years.  After refi, in about 10 years. I had refi’ed about 5 years ago and I thought the rate was awesome at that time.

"Whatever it is it is a great feeling to no longer have that debt."

I became debt free in the mid 90's.
I paid cash for my place here in Hawaii when
I moved here from WA state.
I built my shop and my daughters house, all cash.
Get out of any debt, unless you are an investor type
and can afford to lose money. You only invest with money
you can afford to lose.
I'm a chess player, not a poker guy.

Being debt free, I don't live in fear
and that is Freedom.

I don’t want to get into the details because my retirement income strategy and tax situation is very complicated. And too much to write here. But I could be debt free at any time if I choose to be. Being debt free was the plan if we were able to retire to the BI. But due to our change of plans to move back to the mainland, I decided to keep a mortgage for the first year of my retirement. I was concerned about paying a lot of taxes my first year of retirement. Again, I don’t want to get into the weeds on my decision. I didn’t know we would have $30k in medical deductions in 2020 because most of it came at the end of the year. Otherwise I probably would have decided not to have a mortgage. However, based on my tax situation for 2020 I am going to keep my mortgage for at least the 2021 tax year. Assuming I don’t have $30k in medical for this year the mortgage deduction will help offset the taxes I am going to pay next year. Basically, due to our move we made a major change in our retirement strategy and income. More income equals more taxes equals more strategies to pay as little taxes as possible and take advantage of all IRS rules. Earned income vs. passive income deductions. I ride a tightrope every year. I hope that now that I am retired and my income will become consistent I can make more strategic decisions. Hopefully which will include paying off my mortgage. If I decide to keep the mortgage for the deduction, the current plan is to pay it off in 6-7 years. It’s kinda like playing a war game. 😂

I just closed on refi last Friday. I locked in a 30 year fixed at 2.875% a few months back. Don't use Quicken aka Rocket Mortgage.  They are not quick or a rocket and closed on my loan after 88 days. One way to get your mortgage paid off sooner is to look at the amortization schedule you get with your loan.  Pay the principal portion of next month with this month's payment.  You just saved that month's interest which is in many cases, is $1500 to $2000 or more. The principal amount will slowly get slowly progressively higher and hopefully your income will get higher too, but you can get your mortgage paid off in about 7 to 8 years.

I locked about a month ago now.

Yeah. I’ve been throwing in a quite a bit more. Before refi, I’m tracking to pay off in 15 years.  After refi, in about 10 years. I had refi’ed about 5 years ago and I thought the rate was awesome at that time.

Both of you are doing great! Taking advantage of the current low interest rates in order to maximize your principal payment (by making more than the minimum payment) every month is smart!