<prompt> Human: A week ago, my husband and I paid off our mortgage--in exactly seven years. We bought the house for a little under 300K, and just scrimped and scrounged and put every single windfall toward the principal. We have basically been living off one income and putting the rest toward the mortgage.We grow most of our own food on our 0.10 acre lot we eat very little meat and have chickens and ducks, buy used and cheap, and shop around for electronics and entertainment.One of our big requirements for a house was that it be close to downtown, where we work. We found a beautiful house in a neighborhood not a lot of people were talking about, 6 miles away from downtown.We sold one car and kept the more reliable one, bought a scooter, and ride bicycles to work 2-3 times a week in order to get exercise and to save on gas. We always bring lunch to work and we make a lot of our food from scratch bread, kefir, cider, mead, soy milk.Learned to DIY a lot of repairs. Dont have cable. Play video games for entertainment a lot Very low per-hour cost, especially if you buy used. Got a lot of perfectly nice furniture off of craigslist for free.Thats the short version! Anyways, SUPER HAPPY! Wed saved a fancy bottle of wine for this occasion and were finally able to break it open. My goal is to one day make a killer living as a writer, so this provides me with more freedom and flexibility. One step at a time :ETA some more details:Out of respect for my husbands wishes, I wont post exact salary numbers. But we both work for the State of California. There were promotions and a voluntary demotion, but most of the time I spent working as an Associate Governmental Program Analyst, and him as a Personnel Selection Consultant. The salaries are readily available online. I make a little extra money on the side from writing, though thats consisted of 1-1.5Kyear. It goes toward fun stuff and vacations.We refinanced twice. Our mortgage started at 6.75, then we refinanced to 5.25, and finally to 3.5. We put 10 down, so had to pay PMI for a little bit.Neither of us had credit card debt, though I had minimal student loan debt no-interest, to my parents--yes I know Im lucky in this sense, and he had more. He worked his way through school, so it wasnt a lot. We paid it off in the first year of owning our house.As for children--I dont have any, he has two. So there were and are some expenses in that sense. One was old enough not to need daycare, and my husband paid half the daycare costs for the younger kid until recently. Our mantra is that experiences are better than material possessions, so weve tried to carry that through. Big ticket gifts are usually given by the grandparents.Windfalls consisted a few things. We received two personal injury settlements from two respective accidents while on bicycle 25K and 12K. Our neighborhood has since thank goodness! put in a bike path. Obviously not recommended and very painful. Our car was hit twice, with cosmetic damage, while at a standstill great drivers here, eh?. We received 1300 and 1700, which we put toward the principal. Inspired by a friends pregnancy and subsequent twins by donor eggs, I did egg donation twice 6K each time. I also, at one point, received a 1K prize from a writing contest.We looked into investing elsewhere a couple times, but my husband is risk averse, and the house prices in our neighborhood have gone up. Similar houses are listing for around 400K now. We chose the neighborhood very carefully, and I think prices will continue to rise.Ill be back on breaks and lunch to reply more and try to add any missing detail! But its our busy time at work and I dont want the next thing I do to be getting fired ;ETA 2: I seem to have angeredfrustrated some people. I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge my privilege, and my husbands. We are not white, but we grew up in nice neighborhoods, with parents who taught us about money and how to save it. My parents paid for most of my college education, for which I am eternally grateful. My husband footed the bill for his own plus grad school, but he has a wife who is happy to contribute toward his expenses and his childrens expenses.We make under 150K combined LOL this is as close as I will get to stating actual salaries, since I told my husband I would refrain, but this is vastly more than most couples in this country make. This is partially due to the aforementioned privilege.I struggle with whether getting hit by cars is an actual privilege it certainly didnt feel like it!, but nevertheless we were able to pay off our mortgage 1.5-2 years earlier as a result. I didnt die, my husband didnt die when he was hit, and I would encourage everyone to wear a helmet while riding your bicycle.I am privileged in that I was genetically and physically able to donate eggs, regardless of my intentions.For those of you who are angry or frustrated, you have every right to feel that way. Im not going to tell anyone that they could have the same if they simply worked hard enough. Not everyone can. It isnt fair and though I worked hard, I was also lucky. Not everyone is so fortunate. I wont down vote you for expressing your feelings.GARDEN!Some of you asked for photos of the garden, with more details. Here it is right now in late Springearly Summer. We have four 4x8 beds and two in-ground tracks that run the length of where the lawn used to be about 30. We have two smaller boxes that we built in between, plus a tire and a couple of whiskey barrels. As my husband likes to say, our backyard is a bit organic. Its not conventionally pretty, but I like it.We grow vegetables and fruits year-round, which is the fortunate thing about our area--we can do that. We kill a lot of stuff out of ignorance and chance, but a lot less than we did in the beginning. We rotate crops regularly, and supplement with a lot of compost chickens help with that, and my husband collects compost materials from work and our neighbors.We did a lot of reading about companion planting, which has helped immensely.Also, sorry, I majorly messed up my numbers on the car damage--fixed!  <response>: Nearly 60k in windfall is about 14 of your total mortgage. 