<prompt> Human: I feel a bit defeated. After reviewing my monthly mortgage payments I learned that 46 is going towards interest, 33 is going towards property taxes and insurance and only 21 towards principle. About 15th of my very heafty monthly mortgage bill goes to actually paying down the cost of my home. I feel the system is broken and feel utterly defeated to learn this. My YTD principle payment was a slap in the face. What can I do?? Its a bit of an open ended question but how can I feel better about the breakdown of my monthly mortgage payments and feel like I am making a dent in paying things down?  <response>: The time to learn how 30 year loans work is before you sign up for a 30 year loan.What can you do? You can pay more money every month and every dollar additional will go towards your loan. 