HOLY MOLEY:

Saving money on your home: Simple strategies for paying off your mortgage sooner and reducing expenses. (Lew Sichelman, March 7, 2010, LA Times)

Extra payments: Every time you make an extra principal payment you shorten your loan by a month and save a month's worth of interest.

One extra full principal and interest payment a year will cut a 30-year loan to about 17 years, and adding the next month's principal payment to this month's total payment will shear the loan almost exactly in half.

Here's an example: On a 30-year, $200,000 mortgage at 6%, the monthly payment for principal and interest is $1,199.10. But if you up the ante by $100 a month, you'll pay the loan off in 24 years and save $49,476.40 in interest. Throw an additional $100 at your loan every month, and you'll pay it off in just under 21 years, saving nearly $80,000 in interest.

You can save big bucks even if you add just $25 or $50 a month to your house payment, because the balance will be that much lower.