Paying regular additional payments on the principal balance provides enormous returns. You can accomplish this in various ways. Paying 1 additional payment one time per year may be the easiest to keep track of. But many folks can't pull off such a large extra payment, so dividing a single additional payment into 12 additional monthly payments works too. Another option is to pay half of your payment every two weeks. The result is you will make one extra monthly payment each year. Each of these options produces different results, but they will all significantly reduce the duration of your mortgage and lower the total interest paid over the life of the loan.
Some folks can't manage any extra payments. But you should remember that most mortgages will allow additional payments at any time. You can take advantage of this provision to pay extra on your mortgage principal any time you come into extra money. For example: several years after buying your home, you get a very large tax refund,a large legacy, or a cash gift; , you could apply a portion of this windfall toward your mortgage loan principal, which would result in huge savings and a shortened payback period. For most loans, even this relatively modest amount, paid early enough in the loan period, could offer huge savings in interest and in the length of the loan.
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