The following is a guest post by Scott Dawson, a mortgage specialist with the BC-based Verico, Paragon Pacific Mortgages. From the initial consultation to mortgage completion, Scott is your man for all things mortgage. He’s one of the few mortgage brokers with an active Twitter, so get to following him fast.

Most people I know make it a daily habit to go to their local coffee shop on the way to or from work each day. It’s easy to spend $5 or more a day for the luxury of a cup of coffee.

As a mobile mortgage broker I’m guilty of it myself since I meet many of my face-to-face clients at the local Starbucks. Sitting down over a coffee, however, allows me to put into perspective the real savings you can achieve just by skipping something as simple as that morning latte.

Here’s how the numbers break down:

By forgoing the morning coffee each weekday and saving the $5, you would save an extra $25/week and be able to put an extra $1300 down on your mortgage each year.

Assuming a $250,000 mortgage with a 4.5% interest rate amortized over 25 years, making bi-weekly accelerated payments, if you made a lump sum payment of $50 each bi-weekly payment:

By skipping the weekday morning coffee you could pay your mortgage off 11 years and 9 months earlier and save a whopping $72,496.91 in interest over the life of your mortgage!

Think about that the next time you’re in line to order a grande latte.

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